Sport in brief

● The European Tour’s Cyprus Showdown will be played under a unique format as the 16 leading golfers and ties after two cuts face a final-round shootout.

The Cyprus Showdown will have a 105-man field for the first two rounds of strokeplay, with the top 32 players and ties advancing to Saturday’s play with their scores reset. The top 16 and ties after 18 holes then advance to Sunday, again with their scores reset, with whoever shoots the lowest score that day claiming the 200,000 euro first prize.

Lewis Hamilton, on the brink of his seventh Formula One title, has aimed a thinly-veiled slight at Sir Jackie Stewart after accusing past legends of always speaking negatively about him.

Ahead of the weekend race at Nurburgring, Stewart, 81, described Hamilton as having an unfair advantage over his rivals such is the dominance of his allconquering Mercedes team but he replied: “I get knocked by many people, particularly by older drivers,” said Hamilton, 35. “I have so much respect for the past legends, even though they do continue to speak negatively about me all the time.”

Sri Lanka head coach Mickey Arthur is “really positive” about the prospects of hosting England’s Test cricket tour early next year.

England aborted their original twomatch trip in March as concerns over the coronavirus pandemic spiralled. There is a window at the start of January for the rescheduled series to take place and Arthur believes the Sri Lankan government’s insistence on a 14day solitary could be relaxed to allow England to train at remote stadium in Dambulla during their two-week quarantine. the