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Worldwide Sports News

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Challenge Cup romance returns but has RFL’s revamp backfired?

New format was supposed to send Super League teams to lower-league grounds but things haven’t quite gone to plan

It is officially the start of the new Super League season this weekend, but not quite as you may remember it. The road to Old Trafford begins next Thursday when the reigning champions, Wigan, take on Leigh in a mouthwatering local derby. But before then, all 12 top-flight clubs enter a revamped and remodelled Challenge Cup much earlier than usual.

In recent years, Super League clubs have entered as late as round six. This year, they come into the competition at round three after the Rugby Football League decided to try to pump some magic into the cup’s earlier rounds by guaranteeing all Super League sides would be drawn away at lower-league opposition. However, it hasn’t quite gone to plan.

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Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Starc fire in second Test before Sri Lanka dig in

Australia may have a fight on their hands to seal a rare subcontinent series win against Sri Lanka after a see-sawing first day of the second Test in Galle.

Nathan Lyon (three for 78) and Mitch Starc (three for 37) were Australia’s key men on a hot Thursday, the former orchestrating a Sri Lankan collapse before tea and the latter coming just short of a hat-trick after it. But the hosts showed improvement from their dismal series opener, finally able to piece together partnerships on a dusty wicket already offering plenty of turn. They finished the day at 229 for nine, with the deck likely to become very tricky for batters as the Test goes on. Kusal Mendis (59) and Lahiru Kumara (0) were unbeaten at the crease, the former batting with the kind of tenacity rarely seen from Sri Lanka in the first Test.

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