Former Australia opener Usman Khawaja says the whole team knew about the 2018 ball-tampering scandal and that players discussed ways to alter the ball during the previous Test in Port Elizabeth. Cricket Australia said it stands by its original investigation, which found that Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were the only players with prior knowledge, but remains open to new evidence.
Key Facts
Khawaja made the claims in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald ahead of his autobiography’s release.
The 2018 scandal took place during a Test in Cape Town, South Africa.
Khawaja said he urged the team after the Cape Town Test to take collective responsibility.
He said discussions about roughing up the ball took place during the second Test in Port Elizabeth, now called Gqeberha.
The original Cricket Australia investigation found Smith, Warner and Bancroft were the only players with prior knowledge of the plot.
Smith and Warner each received 12-month suspensions, while Bancroft received a nine-month suspension.
Cricket Australia said it remains comfortable with its investigation findings while staying open to relevant new information.
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Goalkeeper James Trafford said limited playing time at Manchester City last season was difficult, though he valued the experience and the two trophies he won with the club. After moving to Leeds United for regular football, he said he hopes to become England’s first-choice goalkeeper.
Key Facts
Manchester City re-signed Trafford, an academy graduate, in July 2025 after he had played for Burnley.
Gianluigi Donnarumma joined City less than six weeks later and became the club’s first-choice goalkeeper.
Trafford started City’s first three matches of the campaign and made one more Premier League start in the next 35 games.
Trafford started the League Cup and FA Cup finals, which City won.
Trafford said his season at City helped him improve, despite periods of disappointment.
He was in England’s squad for the 2026 World Cup but did not play.
Trafford moved from City to Leeds United in a deal worth up to £45 million, a record fee for a British goalkeeper.
Trafford said becoming England’s starting goalkeeper is a long-term aim.
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A New South Wales parliamentary inquiry is examining whether collision-running and face-slapping competitions should be regulated as combat sports. Neurologist Rowena Mobbs warned that the impacts could cause fatal injuries and said she knew of no modification that would make the competitions safer.
Key Facts
Mobbs told the inquiry that collision running and Power Slap can involve impacts similar to a “king-hit,” and that death is a distinct possibility.
Run Nation involves two players running toward each other and colliding; Power Slap has players take turns slapping one another across the face.
A 19-year-old died in New Zealand last year after a critical head injury in a tackling game believed to be inspired by the “run it straight” challenge.
A New South Wales Supreme Court judge ruled in September that Run Nation was a combat sport, upholding cancellation of a Sydney event that month.
Run Nation’s event was rescheduled for 28 November after the state Combat Sports Authority’s medical advisory board approved its permit.
Combat Sports Authority chair Darren Kane said regulation would require systems such as accredited staff, concussion training, doctors, and medical support.
Run Nation’s organisers say their events have on-field doctors and paramedics; Power Slap has not held an official event in Australia.
Mobbs said repeated impacts can contribute to brain disease and that stronger impacts may mean fewer hits are needed to trigger neurodegenerative disease later in life.
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Altrincham will try to extend its record of FA Cup upsets when it faces League One side Notts County. Former midfielder Graham Heathcote says the club’s giant-killing history can inspire the current team, which is seventh in the National League and hopes to challenge for promotion to the English Football League.
Key Facts
Altrincham have beaten 17 Football League opponents in the FA Cup, more than any other club that has spent its entire history outside the league.
The club reached the FA Cup third round in four consecutive seasons, from 1978 to 1982.
Graham Heathcote made more than 500 appearances for Altrincham and scored a penalty against Liverpool at Anfield in the 1981 FA Cup.
Altrincham drew against first-division Everton in 1975 and Tottenham Hotspur in 1979.
In 1986, Altrincham beat first-division Birmingham City away from home.
The club twice won the Alliance Premier League but missed election to the Football League by one vote in 1980.
Manager Neil Gibson joined Altrincham last year and has guided the team to a strong start in the current National League season.
Altrincham face Notts County, a League One team, in the FA Cup.
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Major League Rugby plans to play with five teams in 2027 and is considering expansion for 2028. The league has signed a letter of intent with the Buffalo Thunderbolts and is discussing possible teams with 17 other groups.
Key Facts
MLR had 13 teams in 2022, but several teams left in 2025 and Anthem RC will not return in 2027.
The five teams expected to play in 2027 are Seattle Seawolves, Chicago Hounds, New England Free Jacks, Old Glory DC and California Legion.
Co-president Alex Magleby said MLR hopes six of the 17 groups will enter a formal bid process, with three teams selected for 2028.
The league aims to reach 12 teams by 2031, when the United States will host the men’s Rugby World Cup.
The Buffalo bid includes former Toronto Arrows executive Mark Winokur and local filmmaker and rugby fan Joe DiPasquale.
The Buffalo group is exploring a possible shared venue with Buffalo Pro Soccer, which does not yet have a stadium.
Canada has had no MLR team since the Toronto Arrows left in 2023.
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Cristiano Ronaldo announced his retirement from international football on Thursday, ending a 23-year career with Portugal. He leaves the team with world records of 234 appearances and 146 goals, and helped Portugal win Euro 2016 and two Nations League titles.
Key Facts
Ronaldo is 41 and plays for Saudi club Al-Nassr.
He served as Portugal captain.
Portugal won the Nations League in 2019 and 2025 during his international career.
Ronaldo’s announcement followed weeks of tension with head coach Jorge Jesus, after he left the Portugal squad in September.
Marseille beat Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 in the Europa League, with Amine Gouiri scoring.
Monaco beat Nordsjaelland 2-0 in the Conference League, securing a third win in three matches.
Paris Basketball beat Anadolu Efes 95-90, led by Nadir Hifi’s 28 points and nine assists.
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The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Baltimore Ravens 33-10 on Thursday night, extending Baltimore’s losing streak to four games. Trevor Lawrence threw for 242 yards and a touchdown, while first-time starter Joe Fagnano threw for 60 yards and had two interceptions.
Key Facts
Jacksonville improved to 6-2 and holds a three-and-a-half-game lead in the AFC South.
Baltimore fell to 4-5 after its fourth consecutive loss.
Lamar Jackson and Tyler Huntley were injured, so rookie Joe Fagnano made his first career start.
Bhayshul Tuten scored on a one-yard run to cap Jacksonville’s opening drive.
Lawrence connected with Parker Washington for a 50-yard touchdown late in the first half, giving Jacksonville a 17-3 lead.
Baltimore lost a fumble on a kick return that set up Chris Rodriguez Jr.’s two-yard touchdown run.
Justice Hill scored on a 65-yard run, Baltimore’s first touchdown after halftime since Week 5.
Hill’s run ended Jacksonville’s 24-game streak without allowing a 75-yard rusher.
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Ireland beat Argentina 42-12 in Dublin in their Nations Championship opener, scoring six tries after conceding an early try. Coach Andy Farrell said Ireland failed to make the most of their territory and chances, while several players left the match with injuries or concerns.
Key Facts
Hugo Keenan scored three tries in his first home match since the 2025 Six Nations.
Dan Sheehan, Sam Prendergast and Ronan Kelleher also scored for Ireland.
Ireland held 59% of the territory and edged possession but did not score after the 55th minute.
Argentina’s Mateo Carreras scored the opening try.
Sheehan left after failing a head injury assessment; Robert Baloucoune, Sean Jansen, Josh van der Flier and Mack Hansen also had injury concerns.
Ireland next face Fiji, and Farrell will assess his squad after the Argentina match.
Farrell said Ireland had opportunities to be more ruthless despite the 30-point win.
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Real Madrid are set to visit Valencia on Saturday, November 7, in a La Liga match at Mestalla. Madrid have won their last seven games in all competitions and sit third, three points behind Barcelona, while Valencia are second bottom with nine points from 11 matches.
Key Facts
The match is scheduled for 9 p.m. local time (20:00 GMT) at Mestalla Stadium in Valencia.
A win would provisionally bring Real Madrid level on points with league leaders Barcelona.
Barcelona are scheduled to face second-placed Atletico Madrid on Sunday.
Valencia ended a three-match winless run with a victory over Elche, secured by a second-half goal from substitute Sadik.
Jude Bellingham scored and was named player of the match in Madrid’s 3-2 Champions League win over AEK Athens.
Bellingham became the youngest player to make 60 appearances in the Champions League, at 23 years and 128 days, according to the article.
The article cites an Opta prediction giving Madrid a 70.4 percent chance of winning, Valencia a 12.7 percent chance, and a draw a 16.9 percent chance.
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Brian Devine, an English amateur cricketer known online as “Clicky Ponting,” received a two-year suspension after admitting to using finger clicks to imitate the sound of a ball hitting a bat. The league also fined Saltburn Cricket Club and penalized its second XI; the club appealed its original sanction, and the league says the disciplinary process is complete.
Key Facts
The North Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League said Devine is suspended from all cricket under England and Wales Cricket Board jurisdiction from September 30, 2026, to September 29, 2028.
The suspension bars Devine from playing, coaching, umpiring, scoring, and managing junior teams.
A three-person disciplinary panel reviewed video footage, interviews, and written statements before imposing the ban.
Devine and Saltburn Cricket Club admitted the charges.
Saltburn was fined £300, and its second XI was relegated to Division Three.
Saltburn’s second XI will begin the 2027 season with a 60-point deduction.
The club appealed its sanction and said it accepted the appeal decision following the league’s original ruling.
The league said its formal process is complete and asked people to respect those affected by online and in-person abuse.
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Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall scored in Everton’s 3-1 comeback win over Coventry after learning he had been left out of England’s Nations League squad. Thierno Barry scored twice, and the victory moved Everton to fifth in the Premier League table.
Key Facts
England manager Thomas Tuchel selected Borussia Dortmund’s Jobe Bellingham instead of Dewsbury-Hall for the latest squad.
Dewsbury-Hall said missing out on England was disappointing but that he would keep working toward a call-up.
Everton came from behind to beat Coventry City 3-1.
Barry scored twice within five minutes at the start of the second half.
Dewsbury-Hall’s goal was described as a powerful strike.
The win gave Everton back-to-back Premier League victories and lifted them to fifth place.
Dewsbury-Hall has scored 11 Premier League goals and provided seven assists for Everton since the start of last season.
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Portugal’s football federation pledged to honour Cristiano Ronaldo after he announced his retirement from international football. Coach Jorge Jesus named a squad for November’s Nations League matches without Ronaldo and faced questions about the dispute that preceded the departure.
Key Facts
Ronaldo announced his international retirement on Thursday, ending a Portugal career with 234 appearances and 146 goals.
Federation president Pedro Proença said Portugal would celebrate Ronaldo’s contribution, but did not say whether Ronaldo would accept a farewell appearance.
Jesus selected seven new players for matches against Wales and Denmark, including five from Portugal’s under-21 team.
Ronaldo left Portugal’s training camp without permission at the end of September and did not return.
Ronaldo later said broken promises by Jesus led to his departure.
Jesus said Ronaldo remained on his squad list until the retirement announcement and that he had not contacted Ronaldo afterward.
Proença, Jesus and the federation said they respected Ronaldo’s decision.
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Everton came from behind to beat Coventry 3-1, leaving Coventry 16th in the Premier League. Coventry manager Frank Lampard said his team should have received a penalty for James Tarkowski pulling Caleb Yirenkyi’s hair and disputed two other decisions; Everton manager David Moyes disagreed over the handball claim and criticized the hair-pulling rule.
Key Facts
Yann Gboho put Coventry ahead after the break.
Thierno Barry scored twice, and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall added a late goal for Everton.
Referee Stuart Attwell dismissed Coventry’s first-half penalty appeal after Tarkowski tugged Yirenkyi’s hair.
Lampard also argued that Taiwo Awoniyi was fouled by Vitalii Mykolenko before Coventry scored, though replays showed the contact was outside the penalty area.
Lampard disputed the decision to allow Barry’s second goal, claiming Barry handled the ball; VAR official Timothy Wood ruled it was not a handball offence.
Everton moved to fifth in the Premier League after the win.
Moyes said Barry did not handle the ball and called for changes to the hair-pulling rule.
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No. 9 LSU defeated Texas Southern 131-22, setting a program record with a 109-point margin. LSU scored 40 unanswered points in the second quarter and held Texas Southern scoreless in the period.
Key Facts
LSU improved to 2-0, while Texas Southern fell to 0-2.
Jada Williams scored 16 of her 18 points in the second quarter.
Freshman Anna Minaeva led LSU with 21 points, and six other LSU players also scored at least 10.
LSU led 65-13 at halftime.
Texas Southern shot 8-for-55 and committed 38 turnovers.
LSU scored 55 points off turnovers.
ESPN Insights reported the 109-point margin was the largest in NCAA women’s basketball history between Division I teams.
LSU honored former All-American Angel Reese, who helped the team win its first national championship in 2023.
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Cristiano Ronaldo announced his retirement from Portugal’s national team at age 41, ending a career that began in 2003. He leaves as the team’s record holder for international appearances and goals, but his final years brought reduced influence, public tensions with coach Jorge Jesus and an unfulfilled goal of winning the World Cup.
Key Facts
Ronaldo made his Portugal debut in 2003.
He finished with a record 234 international appearances and 146 goals, according to the article.
He helped Portugal win Euro 2016 and Nations League titles in 2019 and 2025.
Portugal exited the 2022 World Cup in the quarterfinals and Euro 2024 without winning either tournament.
At the 2026 World Cup, Ronaldo scored three times, including his first World Cup knockout-stage goal.
Portugal lost to Spain in the 2026 World Cup last 16.
Ronaldo announced his international retirement in a video shared on Thursday.
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WTA chair Valerie Camillo apologized to Jessica Pegula after a private conversation in which Pegula called Mirra Andreeva a “diva” was broadcast from a practice court. The WTA said it had removed recording equipment from practice areas, while Pegula and other players renewed calls for greater privacy at tournaments.
Key Facts
Pegula made the comments to her coach after a practice session ahead of the WTA Tour Finals.
The WTA said players had not received advance notice or clear signs that microphones were operating in the practice area.
Camillo called the broadcast “regrettable and unacceptable” and apologized to Pegula and her coach, Mark Knowles.
The WTA said it removed all audio recording equipment from practice areas after the incident.
Pegula said she had been unaware that courtside microphones could pick up her conversation.
Pegula said the incident highlighted concerns about increased surveillance and recording of players at tournaments.
The WTA removed the practice-session videos from YouTube, but footage had already circulated on social media.
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Olympic gold medalist Imane Khelif says she will make her professional boxing debut in Paris on December 15, against Clarida Sarabia in the super-welterweight class. It will be her first bout since winning welterweight gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics; she postponed a planned return in April because of a training injury.
Key Facts
Khelif announced the bout at a news conference on Friday with her coach, Kamel Abdesselam, and promoter, Yacin Berrabah.
Khelif holds a professional boxing licence from France’s boxing federation.
She said she had missed being in the ring and that the past two years had been difficult.
Abdesselam said he believes Khelif could win a world title within three to five fights.
Khelif won Olympic welterweight gold in Paris in 2024.
In an interview with L’Équipe in February, Khelif said she had undergone hormone treatment to lower her testosterone before the Paris Olympics.
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Amedspor, a club that has become a symbol of Kurdish identity in Turkey, is second in the Super Lig after 10 matches in its first top-flight season. The article attributes its strong start to its coach, players, large home crowds and a more favorable political climate amid a peace process between the Turkish government and the PKK.
Key Facts
Amedspor was formed in 1972 and spent much of its history in Turkey’s lower leagues.
The club adopted the name Amed, a Kurdish name for Diyarbakir, in 2014.
Amedspor faced fines, supporter bans and other hostility during years of conflict in Turkey’s southeast.
After successive promotions, Amedspor reached the Super Lig for the first time.
The team is second in the league after 10 games and could move to first with a win over league leaders Galatasaray.
Nigerian striker Gift Orban has scored nine goals in 10 games.
Amedspor have won all six of their home games, with crowds exceeding 30,000.
A Kurdish Studies Center study published in March 2026 found the club’s support among Kurdish adults in Turkey had quadrupled to four million over four years.
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Usman Khawaja says all members of Australia’s team knew about ball tampering during the 2018 Test series against South Africa, and that discussions began before the Cape Town Test. The four bowlers who played in Cape Town, including Pat Cummins, have denied knowing that sandpaper was used, while Khawaja says he was not asked to give evidence in Cricket Australia’s investigation.
Key Facts
Khawaja made the claims in extracts from his autobiography, Sabr, published by the Sydney Morning Herald.
He says the team discussed tampering during the second Test in Port Elizabeth, now called Gqeberha.
Khawaja says Steve Smith did not want to know about the plan after those discussions.
Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were banned after the Cape Town ball-tampering incident.
Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon said in 2021 that they did not know a foreign substance had been taken onto the field.
Khawaja says he was surprised that Cricket Australia did not ask him to provide evidence during its investigation.
Cummins said in October that the matter had been investigated and dealt with at the time.
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