Cricket: England have rested Alastair Cook, James Anderson, Ian Bell, Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann for the five-match one-day international series against Australia next month. Eoin Morgan will captain the side in Cook’s absence, while pace bowlers Chris Jordan and Jamie Overton are included in an England squad for the first time. The first one-day international against Australia is at Headingley on September 6.

Speed Skating: US skater Simon Cho has been banned for two years by the International Skating Union (ISU) after confessing he had tampered with a Canadian rival’s skates at the 2011 world team short-track champion-ships in Poland. The suspension, announced by the ISU in Lausanne, started retroactively on October 5, 2012 and will end on October 4 next year, ruling Cho out of the 2014 Winter Olympics. Cho said last October he had been ordered by his coach Chun Jae-su to tamper with Olivier Jean’s skate.

Basketball: Seven-time All-Star Tracy McGrady, a shooting guard renowned for his exceptional athleticism, announced yester-day that he was retiring from the NBA after 16 years in the league. A two-time scoring champion who played a small role for the San Antonio Spurs in the play-offs last season, McGrady ave-raged 19.6 points per game in a career that began with much promise in 1997 when he was drafted out of high school.

Rugby League: The Burgess brothers are set to make history this weekend by be-coming the first quartet of siblings to play in the top grade in Aus-tralia for more than a century. Luke, Sam, George and Tom Bur-gess have all been named in the 19-strong South Sydney squad for the NRL match against Wests Tigers at Allianz Stadium on Friday. If all make the cut, it will be the first time since 1910 four brothers have played in the same side in the top grade. The last to do it were the Norman brothers – Ray, Roy, Rex and Bernard – from the now-defunct Annandale club.