Pakistan tour a goer

SRI Lanka’s cricket board has approved a tour to Pakistan, eight years after a deadly militant attack against the team brought top international games there to a standstill, officials said yesterday.

Sri Lanka Cricket chief Thilanga Sumathipala said after a security assessment, the team had been cleared to play three Twenty20 internationals including one in Lahore, scene of the 2009 attack which left eight people dead.

Any tour would require government approval before the team is sent abroad. Leading cricket nations have shunned playing in Pakistan since the 2009 assault, in which gunmen ambushed the Sri Lankan team bus en route to the Lahore stadium.

Wallaroos winless

AUSTRALIA have lost 48-0 to France to crash out of semi-final contention at the women’s rugby union World Cup in Ireland.

The Wallaroos are winless after conceding eight tries in their second group match in Dublin on Sunday.

They sit third in pool C after their narrow loss to hosts Ireland.

Winger Shannon Izar did the damage for France, completing a hat-trick by the 25th minute as the world No.4 side took a 29-0 lead into halftime.

Australia’s attack was undone by turnovers while the opposition benefited from the dominance of their forwards, completing 16 offloads to two.

Wilkinson drops lead