Sports
England opt to bat first against Australia in Ashes opener
PERTH: England elected to bat first against Australia in the Ashes series opener on Friday after captain Ben Stokes won the toss under clear blue skies at Perth Stadium.
After naming a 12-man squad for the match, the visitors opted for all-out pace in the starting side, leaving out off-spinner Shoaib Bashir in favour of Brydon Carse.
“We’ll try and get some runs on the board and then see where we are then,” Stokes said. “We’ve got to clear all of what we want to achieve out here in Australia, it starts today.”
Australia’s Steve Smith, standing in as captain for the injured Pat Cummins, struck an optimistic tone after losing the toss.
“Hopefully it seams all over the place this morning. I think the cracks will come into play, they seem to every year,” said Smith. “I think if we get the ball in the right areas this morning, there’ll be enough there for sure.”
Australia awarded first test caps to specialist opener Jake Weatherald and fast bowler Brendan Doggett, who put his hand up for selection with 13 wickets in two matches for South Australia in a dynamic start to the domestic Sheffield Shield season.
“He sort of glides through the crease, makes it look pretty easy,” pace spearhead Mitchell Starc said of Doggett.
“So, yeah, he’s got some air speed, he’s got some great skills, some swing, some seam and he’s coming off a hot streak, so hopefully that continues this week.”
Australia: Usman Khawaja, Jake Weatherald, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland, Brendan Doggett
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes, Jamie Smith, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood
It’s the final day of the month, and we have great matches across Europe for you to enjoy!
We kick things off in the Premier League, as the race for the top four becomes tighter. Liverpool needing a win against relegation battlers West Ham United to stay in touch in the fight for a spot in the Champions League next season. Later, we have Leeds United looking to spoil Manchester City‘s title hopes as they host Pep Guardiola’s team at Elland Road.
Elsewhere, in LaLiga, Barcelona look to continue to remain top of the league as they host Levante, and, in the Bundesliga, it’s Der Klassiker as Borussia Dortmund hope to halt Bayern Munich‘s potential title hopes.
Enjoy all the updates from Saturday’s matches.
Pakistan’s Sahibzada Farhan plays a shot during the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup Super Eights match between England and Pakistan at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy on February 24, 2026. Photo: AFP
Pakistan opener Sahibzada Farhan set a new benchmark at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 after becoming the highest run-scorer in a single edition of the tournament.
Farhan achieved the milestone during Pakistan’s Super Eight match against Sri Lanka at Pallekele on Saturday, moving past former India captain Virat Kohli, who scored 319 runs in the 2014 edition.
The right-handed opener now leads the run charts with 323* runs, underlining a standout campaign that has included a century and two half-centuries for Pakistan at the T20 World Cup 2026.
Farhan’s consistency at the top of the order has been one of the few certainties for Pakistan in a tightly contested tournament.
Most runs in a single T20 World Cup edition
323 – Sahibzada Farhan, Pakistan (2026)*
319 – Virat Kohli, India (2014)
317 – Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sri Lanka (2009)
303 – Babar Azam, Pakistan (2021)
302 – Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lanka (2010)
The match also saw Pakistan shatter several records. Farhan and Fakhar Zaman stitched together a 176-run opening partnership — the highest ever for the first wicket in T20 World Cup history.
The pair surpassed the previous record of 175 set by New Zealand’s Tim Seifert and Finn Allen against the United Arab Emirates in Chennai earlier in the tournament.
It was also Pakistan’s highest-ever partnership in T20 World Cup history, eclipsing the unbeaten 152-run stand between Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan against India in the 2021 edition.
Inter Miami will visit the White House in March to mark the club’s 2025 MLS Cup triumph, with Argentine superstar Lionel Messi expected to attend, the Miami Herald reported Friday.
The newspaper cited an unnamed Inter Miami source saying “everyone” on the team will attend the ceremony with US President Donald Trump, two days before Inter plays DC United in the US capital on March 7.
Messi, 38, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by former president Joe Biden in January 2025, the highest civilian honour in the United States, but did not attend the ceremony at the White House.
Trump’s affinity for soccer has grown in recent months, with multiple meetings with Fifa president Gianni Infantino and a high-profile visit by Cristiano Ronaldo to the White House.
Trump took part in the trophy presentation at the Club World Cup in the United States last year and was on stage at the draw for the 2026 World Cup, where Infantino took the opportunity to award the president the first Fifa peace prize.
Inter Miami wrapped up a slate of international friendlies on Thursday with a 2-1 victory over Independiente del Valle in Puerto Rico.
They fell to Los Angeles FC in their MLS season-opener last weekend and face Orlando City on Sunday.
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