🗞 Pat Cummins & The Wrong Trousers

G'day sports fans,

“We’ve lost seven of our last eight matches. Only team that we’ve beaten was Western Samoa. Good job we didn’t play the whole of Samoa.” - Gareth Davies (Welsh Rugby Player).

🏏 Australia's batters spent valuable time in the middle, racking up a huge total against Pakistan in Hyderabad.

Glenn Maxwell has rocketed back to form just in time for the World Cup, lifting Australia to a massive 7-351 in their final warm-up match against Pakistan at Hyderabad.

David Warner (48) and Mitch Marsh (31) put on 83 for the first wicket and appear locked in as Australia's first-choice openers for the World Cup.

Match Report: Australia win by 14 runs (Scorecard)

🚨 Police are investigating after Bulldogs’ Josh Addo-Carr was reportedly knocked out during an ugly brawl at the Koori Knockout on the NSW Central Coast on Saturday.

The Daily Telegraph reports a brawl erupted during the clash between the Sydney All Blacks, who Addo-Carr was playing for, and Walgett.

“Some players and spectators attempted to break up the fight, which then spread off-field, whilst others became involved.

“Police and event security broke up the brawl a short time later and the crowd dispersed, before the game was called off”. - Local police

📺 The AFL narrowly pulled in a larger TV audience for its grand final than the NRL, with the gap in average viewership at around 220,000. Both sports increased their viewership on last year’s finals.

• Channel Seven confirmed its broadcast of the AFL grand final averaged 3.75 million viewers nationally

• The NRL grand final on Nine averaged 3.52 million across the country.

🏏 Pat Cummins believes that despite the sport's significant carbon footprint, cricket can play a role in addressing climate change.

Cummins, who won Athlete of the Year in the BBC Green Sport Awards, has established the Cricket for Climate Foundation to make Australian cricket carbon neutral.

Cummins said a tour of Bangladesh in 2017 was played in the most eye-opening conditions he has experienced.

"I like to think of myself as quite fit and I can bowl six, seven, eight overs in a spell. But two overs into a spell I had to leave the field and jump in an ice bath, it was that extreme."

On average, a long-haul return flight, like one to India for a World Cup, for example, can produce approximately 3-6 metric tons (tonnes) of CO2 per passenger.

A typical passenger vehicle emits about 4-5 metric tons of CO2 per year.

🥛 Rugby Australia boss Hamish McLennan has [for some unknown reason] revealed details of an altercation with a menacing Wallabies fan who he believed was going to glass him after demanding he drink a glass of milk.

McLennan revealed that he was at a restaurant in the French city of Lyon with family members on the night after the Wallabies were thrashed 40-6 by Wales when an irate fan sat down at his table.

'I took a sip. He told me milk was what all he and his family were all drinking following the Wales defeat.

'He sat there for 10 minutes. He was particularly aggrieved, which I understand, but I think he crossed the line. It got so messy I thought he was going to swing a punch at me or try to glass me.

🇦🇺 North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson has continued the rebuild of his coaching staff by adding Michael Barlow and Jed Adock as assistants for 2024. Adcock will join the Kangaroos from Brisbane while Barlow is fresh off taking VFL side Werribee to the grand final on the back of a 17-game winning streak. (Fox)

🙋‍♂️ The full list of club award winners from the 2023 NRL Premiership season have been announced by each team (with some exceptions like Broncos, Panthers & Rabbitohs)… (NRL)

• Raiders: Joe Tapine has clinched back-to-back Meninga Medals.

• Sharks: Hooker Blayke Brailey.

• Dolphins: Jamayne Isaako named the first winner of the Arthur Beetson medal.

• Sea Eagles: Skipper Daly Cherry-Evans.

• Storm: Maroons winger Xavier Coates

• … were among the winners.

🎾 Australian Open director Craig Tiley says event organisers have listened to “players and fans” after confirming the first grand slam of 2024 would start a day earlier to avoid marathon night sessions that stretched into early morning.

The tournament will now start on Sunday, January 14 and become a 15-day event for the first time.

It comes as data shows matches go for longer, with the move meaning the event will cover three weekends for the first time.

⚽️ Liverpool are interested in Wolves' 23-year-old Portugal winger Pedro Neto if Egypt forward Mohamed Salah, 31, leaves next summer. Arsenal, Aston Villa and Atletico Madrid are also keen.

❤️ In a heartbreaking situation for Fiji's Josua Tuisova. With one point needed to make the quarter finals, Tuisova will sacrifice attending his 7 year old son’s funeral in order to represent his country for the crucial final pool match against Portugal.

Affectionately known as "Tito," passed away after a prolonged battle with illness.

🩼 Google says most people are put in a cast or walking boot for 12 weeks after Achilles surgery. But Aaron Rodgers had his surgery just two and a half weeks ago and is already walking like this. He might actually be back this season.

🎱 Ding Junhui was docked the opening frame during his 4-3 win over Ma Hailong at the English Open for turning up in the wrong trousers.

China's Ding wore brown trousers, forgetting that the dress code at the event in Brentwood is all black.

The 36-year-old sent a friend to buy some trousers from a shop nearby, but had to forfeit the opening frame after starting the match late.

"I totally forgot I needed a black shirt and trousers," - Ding

📺 America can’t get enough of Taylor Swift. Tuesday’s Chiefs-Jets thriller - featured 17 cutaways to the pop superstar - and, drew the largest viewership of any U.S. television program since February’s Super Bowl (27 million).

🏈 The NFL's "Toy Story Funday Football" game’s first show was an animated broadcast of the Jaguars vs. Falcons games taking place in London last Sunday.

NFL: Andy’s room replicates the on-the-field gameplay, where each Falcon and Jaguar player had animated representation on a traditional looking field, catered to the 'Toy Story' setting.

The NFL has a chip in each player's shoulder pads to track movement & then combines that with Hawkeye optical tracking (like cricket) to animate the game in real-time.

🏀 icymi: Jimmy Butler had a new look for Media Day. It’s become a trend of sorts for Butler, who went through the Media Day gamut last year with dreadlocks in a deviation from his usual look.

“I’m very emotional right now. This is my emo state and I like this. This is me, this is how I’m feeling as of late.”

⛳️ Golfers Sungjae Im and Si Woo Kim helped South Korea win gold at the Asian Games, exempting them from serving two years of mandatory military service before age 35. phew!

TODAY

06:00 - UEFA Champions Lge - Inter Milan v Benfica (Stan Sport)

06:00 - UEFA Champions Lge - Napoli v Real Madrid (Stan Sport)

06:00 - UEFA Champions Lge - Lens v Arsenal (Stan Sport)

06:00 - UEFA Champions Lge - Manchester United v Galatasaray (Stan Sport)

10:30 - Sheffield Shield - New South Wales Blues v Queensland Bulls (Kayo Sports)

11:00 - Sheffield Shield - South Australia Redbacks v Tasmania Tigers (Kayo Sports)

13:30 - Sheffield Shield - Western Australia v Victoria (Kayo Sports)

THURSDAY

03:45 - UEFA Champions Lge - Atletico Madrid v Feyenoord (Stan Sport)

06:00 - UEFA Champions Lge - Porto v Barcelona (Stan Sport)

06:00 - UEFA Champions Lge - RB Leipzig v Manchester City (Stan Sport)

06:00 - UEFA Champions Lge - Newcastle United v Paris Saint-Germain (Stan Sport)

06:00 - UEFA Champions Lge - Borussia Dortmund v Milan (Stan Sport)

06:00 - UEFA Champions Lge - Celtic v Lazio (Stan Sport)

10:30 - Sheffield Shield - New South Wales Blues v Queensland Bulls (Kayo Sports)

11:00 - Sheffield Shield - South Australia Redbacks v Tasmania Tigers (Kayo Sports)

13:30 - Sheffield Shield - Western Australia v Victoria (Kayo Sports)

17:30 - NBL - New Zealand Breakers v Brisbane Bullets (ESPN or Kayo Sports)

19:05 - Women's T20 Series - Australia v West Indies (7mate, Fox Sports)

19:30 - NBL - Cairns Taipans v South East Melbourne Phoenix (ESPN or Kayo Sports)

19:30 - Cricket World Cup - England v New Zealand (Channel 9, Fox Cricket, GEM)

22:30 - Alfred Dunhill Links Championship (Fox Sports, Kayo)