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Cricket: Australia’s Mit-chell Johnson (right), the most devastating fast bowler of his era, retired from all international cricket at the conclusion of the second test against New Zealand yesterday. The 34-year-old left-armer, who was named ICC Player of the Year in 2009 and 2014, made the announcement before the day’s play at the WACA and took two wickets to finish with 313 victims at an average of 28.40. That tally puts him fourth on the list of Australian test wicket-takers behind only Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Dennis Lillee.
Equestrian: Former world number one eventer William Fox-Pitt has been discharged from hospital as he continues his recovery from a serious fall. The 46-year-old had been receiving treatment in France before returning to England last week after he suffered head trauma at the World Young Horse Championships last month. His horse Reinstated was unharmed in the incident at Le Lion-d’Angers. Fox-Pitt is Great Britain’s most successful rider with 20 major championship medals and will now recover at home.
Golf: Chief executive Keith Pelley has confirmed major changes to the European Tour’s membership criteria and its season-ending Final Series. The Final Series will feature just three events in 2016, with the HSBC Champions dropping out due to its different entry criteria as a WGC event and the BMW Masters coming off the schedule entirely. The Nedbank Golf Challenge, currently limited to a 30-man invitational field, will replace the BMW Masters and see 72 players competing for a prize fund of $7million, with the Turkish Airlines Open and DP World Tour Championship completing the line-up. The number of tournaments required to maintain Tour membership has been reduced from 13 to five, excluding the majors.
Snooker: Robin Park Arena and Sports Centre in Wigan will once again host many of snooker’s top names in December. The qualifying rounds of the German Masters world ranking event will run from December 17 to 20, followed by the World Seniors Championship qualifiers on December 21 and 22. The same events were staged in Wigan last season, with the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Jimmy White, Judd Trump and Mark Selby in action. World Snooker confirmed they will be offering free access to the arena for fans. “We saw a good level of support last year and we hope to see even more people coming to the venue this time to see the world’s best players live,” it said.