West Indies left-hander Nicholas Pooran combined elegance with power to score 98 with eight sixes on Monday and propel his team to a 104-run win over Afghanistan in the final first-round match of the Twenty20 World Cup at Gros Islet in St Lucia.

Eyebrows were raised when France recalled N'Golo Kante after two years in the international wilderness but coach Didier Deschamps knew what he was doing and the midfielder looked as if he had never been away in Monday's 1-0 win over Austria at Euro 2024.

With a combined age of 106, Germany's three remaining 2014 World Cup winners Manuel Neuer, Thomas Mueller and Toni Kroos are leading the hosts' charge for Euro 2024 glory.

Brazil has an embarrassment of riches in this category, but the feature man is Vinicius Jr., who some believe is the current best player in the world after leading Real Madrid to yet another Champions League title.

When you have the greatest living player on Earth, you're going to be a favorite. That's certainly the case with Lionel Messi's Argentina, who have an extremely high-quality supporting cast around the still-magical, soon-to-be-37-year-old

The France captain, to his credit, was sublime in creating the goal that beat Austria 1-0, but his failure to score at a Euros will weigh heavily on a player who has found the net 12 times at World Cups, including a hat-trick in the 2022 final.

Lockie Ferguson made history as he bowled four maidens to return the format's most economical figures, taking 3-0 against Papua New Guinea, playing a big hand in his team's seven-wicket win.

Ivan Schranz took advantage of a horror defensive error to put Slovakia ahead in the seventh minute and kept Belgium at bay

The Kiwi pacer finished with unthinkable figures of 3-0 in his four overs as Papua New Guinea were bundled out for 78 in a dead rubber match with both sides already out of the Super Eights' race.

Stunning long-range strikes in each half, one from captain Nicolae Stanciu and the other from midfielder Razvan Marin, shocked Serhiy Rebrov's Ukraine

The 38-year-old said he "could not yet reveal" whether this would be his last dance in Germany colours, adding "I'll turn my mind to it after the tournament."

"It is not possible that every day the bowlers will make the team win. I hope they make us win every day, that's what I hope for but the batsmen also have a responsibility.

A section of seating from a stadium in war-torn Kharkiv went on show in Munich on Monday, as Ukraine prepared to take the field for their opening game of Euro 2024.

Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon suggested Monday it was not French captain Kylian Mbappe's place to speak up "against extremes and divisive ideas" ahead of a general election in France.

Left-arm pacer Trent Boult has ruled himself out of future ICC Men’s T20 World Cup appearances for New Zealand. 

Pakistan captain Babar Azam said on Sunday the team's batting let them down at the Twenty20 World Cup and apologised to fans for failing to reach the Super Eight stage.

The veteran forward, 39, says his team "deserve" to win another major international trophy to add to their singular triumph, at Euro 2016.

While the bowlers delivered excellent efforts in all the group matches, the batters -- with the exception of in-form Towhid Hridoy, one comeback innings from Shakib Al Hasan, and Mahmudullah Riyad’s few efforts -- have largely misfired.

"I listen to the Beatles a lot. My style of music is a bit old, so that that's right on my street," Bellingham told a press conference.

With the Super 8s berth, the Tigers also secured a direct qualification for the 2026 T20 World Cup, to be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka.