Joe Schmidt to stand down as Wallabies coach after Rugby Championship

  • Huge blow for Rugby Australia before home World Cup
  • New Zealander to face All Blacks for last match in charge

Joe Schmidt will step down as Wallabies coach at the end of this year’s Rugby Championship in a blow to Australia’s hopes in the 2027 World Cup.

The New Zealander confirmed on Thursday he would extend his contract beyond the British and Irish Lions tour, but won’t continue through to the showpiece tournament on home soil. His last Test in charge will be against the All Blacks in Perth on 4 October.

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Sam Konstas leaves Australia’s Sri Lanka tour early to play Sheffield Shield

  • Batter flies home after Travis Head was preferred in first Test
  • Konstas will line up for NSW against Queensland this weekend

Sam Konstas’s Sri Lanka tour is officially over with the teenage batter returning to Australia to play Sheffield Shield for NSW.

Despite an impressive first two Tests, Konstas was replaced at the top of the batting order by the more experienced Travis Head in last week’s series opener in Galle.

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‘Icon and pioneer’: Australia’s ODI great Michael Bevan elevated to Hall of Fame

  • Batter finally inducted after committee reviews selection criteria
  • Bevan acknowledged for revolutionising white-ball game

Michael Bevan has been elevated to the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame after a tweak to the criteria governing selection.

Bevan, one of Australia’s greatest white-ball players, scored 6,912 runs at 53.58 from 232 ODIs while routinely steering his side to victory in chases.

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Olympic champions reunite to seal Australia’s Davis Cup win over Sweden

  • Australia defeat Sweden 3-1 to seal home tie in next round
  • Peers-Ebden beat Bergevi-Goransson 6-7 (7-9), 6-3, 6-2

Olympic champions John Peers and Matt Ebden have reunited to seal an emphatic Davis Cup triumph in Sweden and celebrate their Australian team earning a rare tie back on home soil.

With Lleyton Hewitt’s outfit 2-0 overnight in the first-round qualifying tie after the first-day singles in Stockholm, the golden veterans teamed up on Saturday for the first time since their Paris triumph to win the tie-clinching doubles rubber.

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Australia hammer hapless Sri Lanka inside four days as records fall in Galle

Australia have recorded their biggest Test win on the subcontinent, trouncing a hapless Sri Lanka by an innings and 242 runs in the series opener in Galle.

Australia took a staggering 15 wickets either side of enforcing the follow-on during day four, wrapping up the series opener by tea. Veteran Nathan Lyon (three for 57, four for 78) and left-arm off-spinner Matthew Kuhnemann (five for 63, four for 86) inflicted the bulk of the damage, the latter barely two weeks after dislocating his thumb playing Big Bash League.

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Alex de Minaur powers Australia into Davis Cup lead against Sweden

  • World No 8 defeates Mikael Ymer 7-5, 6-1 in qualifier
  • Aleksandar Vukic beat Leo Borg 6-4, 6-4 for 2-0 lead

Trusty Davis Cup old hand Alex de Minaur and late-blooming new boy Aleksandar Vukic have put Australia well on the road to victory in their first-round qualifying tie against Sweden in Stockholm.

World No 8 de Minaur, in his first outing since his Australian Open quarter-final drubbing by Jannik Sinner, had to subdue comeback man Mikael Ymer before running away to a 7-5, 6-1 victory on Friday (Saturday AEDT).

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Australia might need Sri Lanka follow-on after rain claims most of third day

Steve Smith may need to enforce the follow-on to seal an Australian win over Sri Lanka that appeared guaranteed before rain hit Galle in the Test series opener.

The entire second and third sessions on day three were lost to rain on Friday after Australia continued their dominance of the hosts with two key wickets before lunch to reduce them to 136 for five.

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No Nick Kyrgios in Davis Cup team as Australia turn to Aleksandar Vukic

  • Kyrgios withdraws from Sweden tie due to more injury concerns
  • Jordan Thompson and Thanasi Kokkinakis also ruled out

Captain Lleyton Hewitt has not given up on a potential return to Davis Cup action for Nick Kyrgios despite the former Wimbledon finalist having predictably pulled out of Australia’s first-round qualifying tie with Sweden because of more injury concerns.

In the meantime, Hewitt is happy to rely on Alex de Minaur, a hungry newcomer Aleksandar Vukic and the veteran Olympic champion doubles pairing of Matt Ebden and John Peers to steer his side to victory in Stockholm.

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Josh Inglis hits debut century to turn the screw on Sri Lanka in first Test

  • Usman Khawaja’s 232 helps tourists declare on 6-654
  • Bowlers reduce hosts to 3-44 on second day in Galle

Usman Khawaja played the greatest innings of his Test career to help Australia tighten the screws on Sri Lanka in a series opener fast slipping away from the hosts.

Khawaja (232), Steve Smith (141) and debutant Josh Inglis (102) made life hell for Sri Lanka in Galle, as Australia declared on 6-654, their largest total for any innings on the subcontinent.

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Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith hit tons as Australia dominate Sri Lanka on day one of first Test

Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith each belted centuries as Australia bullied a wasteful Sri Lanka team on a one-sided opening day of the first Test in Galle.

Travis Head, promoted to open the innings, silenced the critics of those who wanted Sam Konstas at the top of the order by smashing 57 off 40 balls before Khawaja and Smith took control in an unbeaten 195-run third-wicket stand.

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Travis Head to replace Sam Konstas as Australia opener for first Sri Lanka Test

  • Experienced batter gets nod to open alongside Usman Khawaja
  • Konstas, Nathan McSweeney and Josh Inglis contenders at No 5

Travis Head will replace Sam Konstas at the top of Australia’s batting order for the first Sri Lanka Test despite the teenager’s heroics in the triumphant India series.

Stand-in captain Steve Smith would not rule out finding a place for Konstas elsewhere in the order for the match that begins in Galle on Wednesday, with a vacancy now open at No 5.

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Alexander Zverev knocks over Tommy Paul in return to Australian Open semis

  • No 2 seed books spot in last four with four-set win
  • German will now face Djokovic in semi-finals

Alexander Zverev has survived an extraordinary meltdown to sink Tommy Paul in four sets and charge into the Australian Open semi-finals.

Second-seeded Zverev, chasing an elusive grand slam title, was almost knocked down by, of all things, a feather before he steadied to prevail 7-6 (1), 7-6 (0), 2-6, 6-1. Zverev will next face 10-time champion Novak Djokovic in his third Melbourne Park semi-final.

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