Pakistan suffer a major setback ahead of the first Test against England as newly reappointed captain Babar Azam is ruled out with a finger injury. Babar injures the middle finger of his right hand while batting against the West Indies and aggravates it during a warm-up game in Beckenham.

“Pakistan captain Babar Azam is unavailable for the first test match,” Pakistan coach Sarfaraz Ahmed said. “Salman Agha will be the captain for the first test.”

Babar ruled out, Agha takes charge

Ahmed confirms that Babar’s finger is not broken but says the team hopes the pain settles in time for the second Test at Lord’s, starting August 27. Babar’s absence is a significant blow after he recently returned as captain and was Pakistan’s leading run-scorer against the West Indies.

Agha is set to captain Pakistan in a Test for the first time, having already led the team in T20 cricket. Shan Masood, who was replaced by Babar as captain, also returns after recovering from a broken finger.

“Our practice match gave us a lot of confidence,” Ahmed said. “Whatever bases we needed to cover with bat and ball, we did. We believe we’ll do very well here.”

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England also enter new era

England, meanwhile, begin the series under a changed leadership setup. Joe Root returns as captain following Ben Stokes’ retirement, while Brendon McCullum has also left the coaching role. Marcus Trescothick takes interim charge as new coach Stephen Fleming misses the series.

Root, who previously led England from 2017 to 2022, says his experience has prepared him for another stint as captain.

“I feel as ready as any other England captain that’s ever been before,” Root said. “To have that amount of experience is invaluable.”

Harry Brook remains vice-captain, with Root confident of his support.

“I fully feel he’s got my back like the rest of the guys do,” Root said.

Anthony Joshua is edging closer to facing Tyson Fury in a heavyweight bout pencilled in for November 20 at Madison Square Garden in New York

Anthony Joshua is drawing ever closer to finalising terms for a bout with Tyson Fury in New York.

Joshua agreed to face his heavyweight rival on the condition that the all-British showdown was staged on home soil. The former two-time world champion has acknowledged that his legacy will be tarnished should the fight be taken abroad.

However, broadcasters Netflix – and the bout’s Saudi Arabian backers – are adamant the clash must be held in the Big Apple.

They have provisionally scheduled the fight for 20 November at Madison Square Garden, despite Joshua’s objections. His promoter Eddie Hearn has maintained that no agreement has been struck to shift the venue from London, telling Mirror Fighting: “We are in constant communication with Turki and SELA but as of yet there is no agreement to any variation within the contract.”

Yet Hearn has conceded that a deal could be sealed within the coming days. “We don’t want to change the venue or the host country,” he told About Boxing.

“But if they’re that desperate, we will find a way to help. It’s been going for a month now and they haven’t changed their mind; there’s not even been a conversation about the UK.

“We are talking through a roadmap of what it might look like to change the deal. “If they do all the things we’ve discussed and agreed in principle, there is a very good chance the fight will take place in America. Its a ballache; it’s an arduous process we’re going through.

There is a way that we would be, not happy, but comfortable with doing the fight in America. “Right now there is absolutely no agreement to change the contract we signed. From our side, no announcement is imminent; everything has to be locked down if they want to do this.”

Fury, unconcerned about the fight’s location, took to social media to hastily declare that a deal had been finalised, reports the Mirror.

“I’ve got some big news going to be dropped very, very soon,” he said. “There is a big fight on the horizon, it’s the one you’ve all been waiting for and it’s about to be announced imminently.”

For a little while, safety has been a key Vikings position. Leaning on an all-time great in Harrison Smith can do that. Plus, Brian Flores happens to have a proclivity for the position since it often boasts versatile talents.

Is there enough in-house depth?

The current outlook is suddenly looking a bit dicier. Losing veteran Jamal Adams for the season hurts. So, too, is it at least somewhat concerning to see rookie Jakobe Thomas missing some time due to a minor back issue. Can the remaining talent be leaned on to shoulder the load for the Vikings?

A Key Vikings Position Now Feeling Thin

To begin, there’s some merit in the recognition that corner is looking as deep as it has ever been with Coach Flores as the DC.

Both of CB1 Byron Murphy Jr. and CB2 Isaiah Rodgers are returning. Solid start. There’s then CB3 James Pierre (free agency add) alongside CB4 Chuck Demmings (5th Round draft selection) to further shore up the position. Adding these long-and-strong options for the boundary helps to give the defensive playcaller options when opting for nickel and dime packages.

Better yet, sophomore Zemaiah Vaughn has generated some hype due to building up his body. And then there’s still Dwight McGlothern hanging around. Getting to a solid crew of five CBs shouldn’t be too difficult.

Go ahead and consider what the safety depth currently looks like post-Adams injury:

• Josh Metellus
• Theo Jackson
• Jay Ward
• Jakobe Thomas
• Tavierre Thomas
• Kahlef Hailassie
• Jacob Thomas

Quite possibly, that’s going to be enough to get the job done. After all, the corner talent is deeper than in years past. Furthermore, the linebacker position sits in a nice spot with all of Blake Cashman, Eric Wilson, Jake Golday, and Ivan Pace around. Seeing these positions stuffed with options helps to insulate the defense more broadly.

But then there’s another factor: Metellus and Jackson are coming off down seasons. Ward is promising but hasn’t been a full-time starter since going pro. Jakobe Thomas is battling a small health ailment that will hopefully remain so: small. Assuming the best with health, does Thomas become a strong player as a rookie?

Generally speaking, finding safety talent isn’t particularly difficult. Adams had just been added at the beginning of training camp, coming to the Twin Cities for cheap. Could something similar occur with a different player? Or, perhaps, is there a willingness to dip into the trade market for somebody?

The wild card all along has been Harrison Smith, the veteran who has gone from excellent down to solid. Where he still adds so much value is as somebody who is incredibly smart and still super versatile.

Rolling with the in-house options at safety could end up being just fine but Minnesota is playing with fire. Essentially, the hope is that nobody at the top gets hurt, but that’s never a sure thing for a sport like NFL football.

Per Over the Cap, the Vikings still have more than $22 million in cap space. The actual amount that’s free and clear is smaller due to the offseason’s top-51 cutoff. Regardless, there’s enough open room to do business.

The Vikings host the Ravens for joint practices this week. Watch for some updates on the safety talent and try not to be too upset about seeing the excellent football that inevitably arises from Kyle Hamilton.

Senior Editor for Vikings Territory & PurplePTSD . Twitter & Bluesky: @VikingsGazette. Email: k.joudry[at]vikingsterritory[dot]com. Canadian. Jude 1:24-25.

Cagliari forward Yael Trepy is out of a medically induced coma and off mechanical ventilation two days after being pulled unconscious from a swimming pool.

Trepy, 20, was airlifted to hospital after the incident at a villa in Sardinia on Sunday afternoon.

His club shared a statement, external on Tuesday evening from the Santissima Annunziata Civil Hospital in Sassari, where Trepy is being treated.

It said his ventilation and sedation was reduced gradually through the day, allowing him to wake from the induced coma.

“Upon awakening, the patient showed a full recovery of consciousness: he is alert and co-operative and, at present, shows no evident neurological deficits,” said Dr Stefania Milia, director of the Emergency and Intensive Care Unit at the hospital.

However, Trepy remains in intensive care and “continues to receive close clinical and respiratory monitoring,” Dr Milia added.

A statement earlier on Tuesday had said Trepy was “fever free” and his “respiratory function” had improved compared with his severe condition when he was admitted, though it added “the prognosis remains guarded”.

BBC Sport has been told the player was in the swimming pool with friends and it is thought he got into difficulty after reaching an area of the pool where he could not touch the bottom.

Cagliari players had the weekend off after they beat Arezzo 1-0 in the Coppa Italia on Friday, in which Trepy played 54 minutes.

Trepy scored once in eight Serie A appearances last season after being a Cagliari youth player.

He joined the club’s academy in 2022, having started his youth career with Parisian side US Creteil-Lusitanos.

Not much has gone the way of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers over the last 10 months. Between a tremendously disappointing second half of the 2025 season, key personnel departures, questions about the coaching staff’s future and a contract standoff involving the team’s starting quarterback, there is not much room for optimism heading into 2026. Unless you ask Baker Mayfield.

Baker Mayfield still has his sights set on a prolific year. Perhaps every blow the Buccaneers suffered and all of the noise surrounding them will fuel him to deliver just that.

“I think we’re going to shock a lot of people this year,” Mayfield said Tuesday after practice. “I’m excited to just get on the road and do that.”

Mayfield is deeply familiar with critics and regularly proves them wrong. He has done so at every stage of his football career.

After finishing high school as an underrecruited prospect, Mayfield at Texas Tech became the first FBS walk-on true freshman quarterback to start a season opener. At Oklahoma, be shined as the only former walk-on to ever win the Heisman Trophy. While some said his antics and physical shortcomings would prevent him from finding professional success, he flew off the draft board as the No. 1 overall pick in 2018 and is now a two-time Pro Bowler.

The moral is to count Mayfield out at your own risk. He seems to thrive on adversity, and he and the Buccaneers face no shortage of it ahead of the 2026 season.

Skepticism for Buccaneers’ upcoming season abounds

Everything that plagued Tampa Bay from the middle of last season onward led to widespread pessimism for their 2026 outlook. Good luck finding many pundits who foresee the Buccaneers doing anything beyond treading water in the NFL’s weakest division.

“You can’t avoid it,” Mayfield said of the negative discourse. “There’s TVs everywhere.”

From their Week 9 bye last season onward, the Buccaneers went just 2-7 and sustained losing streaks of three and four games. The offense regressed into being far too schematic and predictable, and the defense was not strong enough to bail it out. A team that seemed destined for the postseason limped across the finish line in a division where no team logged a winning record.

Then came a slew of moves that, in aggregate, seem to lower the Buccaneers’ ceiling. An offensive coordinator change makes Zac Robinson the fourth different play-caller Mayfield will have operated with in four years in Tampa Bay. Franchise legends Lavonte David and Mike Evans are gone following the former’s retirement and the latter’s exit in free agency.

Even some of the players who remain on the roster are discontented. In addition to Mayfield’s own contract gripes, standout defensive tackle Vita Vea is at odds with the front office. The Buccaneers faced a concerning start to training camp when Vea requested a trade, and he has yet to practice as he conducts a hold-in while in search of a contract extension or a move out of town.

Yet, amid all the turmoil, Mayfield said he is confident his team will catch people by surprise.

“Hell yeah, I am,” Mayfield said. “Everybody’s picking us probably to have a losing record. We’ll see.”

How Baker Mayfield’s own adversity sparks bounce-back year

Last year was Mayfield’s worst since joining the Buccaneers in 2023. After he earned the first two Pro Bowl selections of his career, finished third in Comeback Player of the Year voting and even emerged as an MVP dark horse over his first two years in Tampa Bay, he logged the lowest completion rate and fewest passing yards and touchdowns of his tenure in 2025.

Baker Mayfield by year in Tampa Bay

The front office clearly wants to see Mayfield turn things around before it invests in his long-term future. This is the final year of his contract, and while he wants an extension, the team did not meet his demands in time to get a deal done. The quarterback wanted the contract finalized before training camp, said he would not negotiate during the season, and is now set to play out his final year with no future guarantees.

Mayfield wants to join the $50 million-per-year club, and he said the offers he received from the team were “pretty far” from that echelon. In the weeks since training camp opened, Mayfield has been outward with his frustration. He said he feels “disrespected” and that the team is undervaluing what he brings to the table as a franchise quarterback.

Time and time again over the last decade and a half, Mayfield disproved his detractors. To give him a multi-million-dollar chip on his shoulder — in addition to the one that exists because of the team’s perceived weakness — is like feeding raw meat to a starving wolf. It could give him the kindling he needs to blaze his way to a bounce-back campaign.

Ryan Garcia and Conor Benn are scheduled to square off next month, and ‘King Ry’ has reacted to news that this will be the Briton’s final bout at welterweight, following a difficult weight cut.

Benn has not fought at 147lbs since a knockout victory over Chris van Heerden back in April 2022, but he was installed as the WBC’s mandatory challenger for the welterweight division earlier this year, after revealing his intentions of returning to the weight.

Reality seems to have hit home for ‘The Destroyer’ during this camp though, as he has already announced that this will be his last contest in the division following a brutal weight cut, regardless of the outcome, signalling that he has outgrown the weight.

In a clip captured by Ring Magazine, Garcia responded to Benn’s announcement and declared that his upcoming opponent is already making excuses ahead of their meeting.

“We know you can’t make weight. This is why Conor Benn said this is his last time at 147lbs. My guy is making excuses before he loses, who says that, ‘this is my last fight at 147’. 

“My guy, you gonna go backwards just to get that a** whooped? Oh my gosh, bro. It’s fine, bro, he is just going to run into it. F**k that dude.”

Garcia-Benn takes place on Saturday, September 12, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, with Zuffa Boxing cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia poised to take on current WBC cruiserweight titleholder Noel Mikaelian – although he may no longer be champion come fight week.

Parkour may conjure images of rowdy teenagers swinging from building to building in urban landscapes, but since 2017, coach Tan Shie Boon has been using these techniques to improve Singaporean seniors’ strength and agility. Tan’s Movement Singapore classes have gone viral online, showing people in their 60s and 70s climbing structures, vaulting over railings, rolling down slanted surfaces and jumping off platforms. 

Quarterbacks are usually not involved in training camp fights, but Broncos quarterback Bo Nix was today. And he said afterward that he enjoyed it.

Nix grabbed Broncos pass rusher Nik Bonitto by the leg and pulled him out of a pile, which infuriated Bonitto, who had to be held back by teammates. Prior to that, Nix had been pushed down on a sack — despite the rule that quarterbacks are not to be touched in practice — and got up angry about it, throwing the ball. Other offensive and defensive linemen scuffled, but Nix said afterward that it was all good.

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“I love it. It’s football,” Nix said. “It’s getting me ready for the games coming up. It’s a physical practice played by physical people. So it got intense and we were really enjoying it, and sometimes in the dog days of summer, practice gets long and the intensity gets high.”

Nix may have loved it, but Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph acknowledged afterward that his players were wrong to hit Nix, saying, “We don’t want anyone near Bo.”