Cricket: Joe Root was appointed England’s test cricket captain yesterday, replacing Alastair Cook who resigned last week after four and a half years in charge. “Joe Root is the perfect choice for England Test captain,” said Colin Graves, chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), in a statement. “I’m delighted that he has accepted the role and will now help to take the team to the next level.” Ben Stokes was named vice-captain. Root, 26, has scored 4,594 test runs since his debut in 2012 and will become England’s 80th test skipper with his first game in charge set to be against South Africa at Lord’s on July 6.

Snooker: Alex Borg is through to the second round of the Welsh Open after beating Hatem Yassen, of Egypt, 4-1 at the Motorpoint Arena, in Cardiff, yesterday. The Maltese pro compiled breaks of 73, 64, 63 and 69 to surge into a commanding 3-0 lead. Yassen pulled one back when claiming the fourth but Borg wrapped the match after winning the fifth frame following a run of 52. Borg will be in action again tomorrow when he plays the winner of the match between Judd Trump and  Andrew Higginson.

Cycling: Bradley Wiggins has revealed he suffered a small leg fracture while participating in celebrity skiing competition The Jump. The retired cyclist, 36, has withdrawn from the television show and tweeted details of the injury that forced him out on Sunday evening. “Gutted to be leaving The Jump. Seen a specialist, I have a small leg fracture & need to rest for 3/6 weeks,” Wiggins wrote.

Golf: Jordan Spieth shrugged off an unexpected birdie drought in the final round as he clinched his ninth PGA Tour victory, by four shots, at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in California. A commanding six strokes ahead overnight, the world no.6 carded a bogey-free two-under 70. Spieth, 23, became the first player since Tiger Woods to win nine times on the PGA Tour before the age of 24. The Texan finished at 19-under 268, while fellow American Kelly Kraft, the 2011 US  amateur champion, fired a 67 for second place at 15-under.

Rugby: Former Wallabies back-rower Scott Higginbotham has been cleared to play for the Queensland Reds after the Australian Rugby Union completed an “initial” investigation into his arrest and charging for assault on police in Brisbane last week. The 30-year-old, who played the last of his 32 tests in 2015, was involved in an incident at a police station in Fortitude Valley, a lively bar district in the Queensland state capital. He was charged with “one count each of assaulting police and being found in a police establishment without a lawful excuse”, police said.

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