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Coach Diego Andres Cruciani will definitely make some changes in the starting eleven in their final group match of the SAFF Championship against India at the People’s Sports Complex Stadium today. But the coach warned his players against complacency as it was not in his grammar book.
   With both teams already assured of a place in the last four, the keenly awaited contest between the two heavyweights of South Asian football will only help to determine who finishes top of Group B.
   However, defending champions Bangladesh are not worried about who they will meet in the semi-finals as they enjoy a better a goal difference than India having not conceded a goal in the competition so far. On the other hand, India have let in one goal from two matches.
   Hosts Pakistan and Maldives moved into the semi-finals from the other group.
   Though Bangladesh have met their neighbours the most number of times but the record is not convincing. Their fierce rivalry that began way back in 1978 has seen the two sides meet on 19 occasions but Bangladesh have only three wins under their belt whereas India have posted nine victories. The remaining seven games have ended in a tie.
   But this time Cruciani’s team can draw inspiration from the epic 2003 semifinal tussle which Bangladesh won 2-1 in Dhaka.
   Most of that Cup-winning side remain present in the fourth edition of the regional meet with Aminul, Hasan-al Mamun (Titu), Sujon, Nazrul, Rajani, Parvez Babu (Farhad), Motiur Munna, Arman, Joy, Kanchan and Alfaz (Uzzal) all expected to be in the starting eleven for today’s match that kicks off at 7pm (Bangladesh time).
   Cruciani, who will decide his first eleven today, though hinted he might not risk fielding those players who were cautioned against Nepal on Saturday.
   ‘But there is no place for complacency, we will play a serious match,’ said the Argentine.
   The coach was particularly happy with the performance against Nepal.
   ‘The team is improving day-by-day and against Nepal. The attack and the defence was good but if you say that they performed to my expected level the answer is no, improving is the right word,’ said Cruciani.
   The Bangladesh coach said he had seen India play and termed them sound opponents. Striker Baichung Bhutia, midfielder Mahtab Hossain and Venkatesh has attracted his eye so he will be chalking out some special strategy to counter them he explained.
   Indian coach Naeemuddin believed his team was not in a position to relax against arch-rivals Bangladesh.
   ‘Bangladesh are a good team and we need to play better. We need to raise our standards and start well. The match is very important as we want to win the title and not lose any match. We don’t to think about who will be our opponents in the semis,’ said Naeem.
   The former coach of Dhaka Premier League champions Brothers Union was trying to be diplomatic when he said he couldn’t reveal secrets about the Bangladesh players.
   Naeem had Shujon, Nazrul, Alfaz, Arman, Rajani, Parvez Babu, Biplob under him while he was the coach of the orange outfit.
   ‘In my work book silence is very useful for success.
   I want to be silent and the team also. All I can say that we will field a full strength team against Bangladesh,’ added Naeemuddin.

Anil Kumble led India’s fightback with four quick wickets after Sri Lanka’s fellow spinner Muttiah Muralitharan had demolished the hosts with a seven-wicket haul in the second Test here on Sunday.
   Sri Lanka were strongly placed at 175-2 in their first innings in reply to India’s modest 290 before floundering against leg-spinner Kumble to finish the second day on 198-6.
   India had looked set to post a big total when they resumed on 245-3 but collapsed dramatically against veteran off-spinner Muralitharan, who claimed five of the seven wickets to finish with 7-100.
   The home side lost their last seven wickets for 36 runs as Muralitharan completed his 48th haul of five or more wickets in a Test innings.
   ‘I think what is going to be crucial on this pitch is who will be batting fourth. That way I think we have the disadvantage and Kumble also has a chance to bag more wickets than me,’ Muralitharan said.
   ‘We will try to take the lead or at least get close to India’s total. If we can manage that it will be fine, but I don’t think a lead of 20 or 25 runs to either team will mean much.’
   Sri Lanka then got a dose of their own medicine when Kumble (4-54) shattered their hopes of a healthy lead with four wickets in seven overs.
   The visitors looked in control as skipper Marvan Atapattu (88) and Mahela Jayawardene (60) batted comfortably against both pace and spin to add 113 for the third wicket. The experienced Indian spinner broke the stand in the closing session when he trapped well-set Jayawardene leg-before and then accounted for Thilan Samaraweera and Tillakaratne Dilshan off successive deliveries.
   Jayawardene, who scored a solid 71 in the rain-hit drawn first Test at Chennai, batted fluently during his 103-ball knock before being dismissed. He hit nine fours in his 25th Test half-century.
   Kumble got a big wicket when he had Atapattu caught bat-pad by diving Gautam Gambhir at short-leg in the day’s last over. The Sri Lankan skipper hit 11 fours in his 14th half-century.
   Kumble, who bagged all 10 wickets in a Test innings against Pakistan here in 1999, built on left-arm seamer Irfan Pathan’s double-strike.
   Pathan trapped opener Avishka Gunawardene (25) leg before with a ball that came in and then had Kumar Sangakkara (three) caught by Kumble at gully with a delivery that kicked up.
   Muralitharan was in the limelight in the morning session, troubling the Indian batsmen with his variations on a slow track to return the best figures by a Sri Lankan bowler on Indian soil.
   The wily off-spinner began the slide with the dismissal of former captain Sourav Ganguly, who could add only one to his overnight score of 39 before being trapped lbw.
   Muralitharan then got the prize wicket of Sachin Tendulkar (109), who smashed a world-record 35th Test century on Saturday.
   The Indian batsman hit one six and 14 fours in his 196-ball knock before being trapped leg-before attempting to sweep.
   Muralitharan then made short work of the lower-order batsmen, dismissing Pathan, Mahendra Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh in quick succession.
   Muralitharan bagged 5-23 off 10.4 overs in the morning session.

International Cricket Council president Ehsan Mani on Sunday hit back at comments made by former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram alleging bias by the ICC against Asian countries.
   Akram had claimed that white people were dominating cricketing affairs in the ICC and that Asian cricketers were being neglected. But Rawalpindi-born Mani dismissed Akram’s views as ill-informed.
   ‘It is a great disappointment to see this former great player, particularly as he is from my own homeland, make such ill-informed, offensive and inaccurate comments,’ said Mani, who was appointed ICC president in 2003.
   ‘As a Pakistani I am honoured by the privilege given to me to lead the ICC in carrying out its responsibility to act without fear or favour to any nation. The reality is that what Wasim has alleged is offensive not just to me but to everybody involved with the ICC – the directors, the umpires and referees, the staff and the many former great players from across the cricketing world, including many from Asia, who are involved with the ICC through its Cricket Committee,’ he said.
   Mani, a chartered accountant by profession, quoted the examples of former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar and former South African vice-captain David Richardson, who are working for the ICC.
   ‘With former Sir Lankan captain Ranjan Madugalle and Sri Lankan player Roshan Mahanama amongst the Emirates Elite Panel of Referees we have access to some outstanding cricketing people to deal with cricket issues. The views of the Asian region are well represented,’ insisted Mani. In reality the ICC today is a multi-cultural body that reflects and embraces the diversity of the cricket world. This is reflected at the Board table, at all levels of the administration and in the critical operational areas of the Cricket Committee, umpiring and refereeing and anti-corruption.’
   Akram had branded the ICC as ‘a forum for white cricketers’.
   He said, ‘Mani may be a Pakistani but he has never played cricket and never been associated with Pakistan or India or Bangladesh. He has never watched a first-class game.
   ‘My objection is that why players like Imran Khan and Kapil Dev do not get the top job in ICC? But people from Australia and England – all these one-Test wonders – get the job. We have the passion, money and the crowds. But nobody from India, Pakistan or Sri Lanka ever gets the top job in ICC.’

The dream run of the Bangladesh Under-19 team came to an end on Sunday when they lost to Sri Lanka by 14 runs in the final group match of the triangular tournament at the Fatullah Cricket Stadium.
   It was the first defeat for the Bangladesh boys after they went down to the same opponents in the Afro-Asian Under-19 tournament in India last month. Since then, the team has won eight matches in a row including five matches in the ongoing competition.
   Bangladesh had a chance to win this match as well, but they ruined it due to the failure of the lower-order batsmen, who hardly got an opportunity to bat in the previous matches. The team had restricted Sri Lanka to 240 for eight in 50 overs with two left-arm spinners Mehrab Hossain and Sakib Al Hasan doing their jobs splendidly.
   Mehrab took three wickets for 42 runs while Sakib returned with two for 49. Sri Lanka, who lost eight wickets for 174 in 42.4 overs, added 66 runs in an unbeaten stand between Perera and Pusphakumara in the remaining overs.
   Opener Tamim played yet another electrifying innings of 55 off 45 balls but once he departed clubbing eight fours and a six the team looked vulnerable having lost wickets at regular interval in one end.
   Number-four Sakib Al Hasan, however, hung on at the other end until 46.3 overs
   when he got out as the ninth batsman after notching up 77 off 76 balls, leaving the
   team stranded at 226. Two balls later Bangladesh were all out on the same score conceding defeat in the dress rehearsal of the final.
   Both the teams will meet again in the final at the Fatullah Cricket Stadium on December 13.

Bangladesh skipper Arif Khan Joy wore a worried look while talking to newsmen about the curse of the yellow cards Bangladesh players received in Saturday’s match against Nepal.
   ‘I was a happy man after we clinched the last four berth. We started under pressure against Nepal as we had no option other than a victory but my players responded wonderfully to the challenge and we won,’ said Joy on Sunday.
   ‘The win has gelled us into a total unit and we are feeling more confident, I think the coach is also happy with his disciples. We are yet to produce our best and there are some players who are the match winners. I hope they will deliver when it is needed. Alfaz is not getting goals, I hope he will get it when the team needs, ‘ said Joy.
   ‘The match against India is a matter of prestige and we will not let anything go unchallenged. We will definitely try to win the match but a draw will not be bad either,’ said the captain.
   ‘I am worried about the yellow cards that Aminul, Kanchan, Rajani, Farhad and Titu received in the previous match. It is very unfortunate that Aminul was cautioned while he was about to kick a dead ball. Titu was looking for his team-mates before taking a throw-in and Kanchan was booked while he was being substituted while another player got a yellow card midway through the second half for a minor infringement. The referee did not even warn him. These kinds of things put added pressure on the team,’ said Joy.
   Coach Diego Cruciana also was concerned at the standard of refereeing.
   ‘I don’t want to comment too much on the refereeing except to say I want sensible decisions from them. The decisions against Aminul, Titu were not sensible. Maybe the decision of Kanchan is also too harsh, some referees sometimes think differently.’

Australian leg-spin great Shane Warne has been named BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year 2005.
   He will receive the award from Richie Benaud during Sunday’s programme, which is shown on BBC ONE from 2000 GMT.
   Warne, 36, was Australia’s shining light this year, taking 40 wickets in the Ashes defeat to England.
   ‘I am very proud of this achievement and am delighted to receive this award,’ said Test cricket’s leading wicket-taker with 645 victims.

India was united in its praise for Sachin Tendulkar after the batsman stroked his way to a world record-breaking 35th Test century on Saturday.
   ‘The nation is proud of you and may you achieve success in future in all your ventures,’ President Abdul Kalam said.
   The stylish batsman reached his century off the last ball of the opening day of the second Test against Sri Lanka in New Delhi on Saturday to break Sunil Gavaskar’s 19-year-old record.
   Gavaskar was effusive in praise of his successor, who he has watched mature into one of the world’s greatest players after bursting onto the international stage as a talented 16-year-old back in 1989.
   ‘When a record is taken, there is a tinge of sadness, but when it is broken by a talent as prodigious as Sachin and a fellow Indian, that tinge is forgotten in a trice and one rejoices as a new benchmark being set,’ Gavaskar wrote in a newspaper column on Sunday.
   ‘Make no mistake, he is not going to stop at 35. He will score many more and give pleasure to cricket lovers all over the world. These lines are being written from near Mount Everest, and it’s a sight to behold, just as Sachin Tendulkar has always been on the field. Congrats Sachin and God bless,’ Gavaskar wrote.
   ‘His 35th century was always a matter of time. For his fans, who expect a ton from his every time he goes in to bat, it may have taken a bit long, but if one looks at the frequency of his centuries, they are coming at a great rate, second only to Sir Donald Bradman,’ the first cricketer to reach 10,000 Test runs said.
   ‘Now that this is done, I’m sure that he will go on to score many more, for he is only 32 years old and should be able to play for another six years at least, if not eight. He could well finish with 50 centuries in Tests and be the first to score 100 international centuries,’ Gavaskar added.
   Apart from 35 Test centuries, Tendulkar has scored 38 one-day international hundreds.
   Tendulkar’s latest achievement dominated primetime television on Saturday and the front pages of most leading newspapers a day later.
   ‘HATS OFF,’ screamed the front page headline of Hindustan Times, while Times of India trumpeted ‘Batsman Forever’.
   Both also carried multi column photographs of the batsman looking skyward.

Anna Kournikova left open the possibility of a return to professional tennis.
   The 24-year-old Russian, who hasn’t played professionally since 2003 because of back problems, said she doesn’t have any plans to return to the WTA Tour any time soon, but added that ‘the possibility is not completely out of the question.’
   Kournikova made the comments in Brazil ahead of Saturday night’s match against Martina Hingis on a court set up on Rio de Janeiro’s famed Copacabana beach.
   Hingis recently announced she is returning to the professional circuit. The 25-year-old Swiss player retired from the WTA Tour in 2002 after battling a series of injuries.
   ‘I’m just waiting for a wild card to play in the Australian Open,’ Hingis said Friday. ‘To face Anna will be a good test for me.’
   Kournikova and Hingis teamed up to win the Australian Open doubles title in 1999 and 2002.
   Hingis won five Grand Slam singles titles in her career and was only 16 1/2 when she took over the top ranking in March 1997.
   On Friday, three-time French Open winner Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil beat Mariano Puerta of Argentina to win an exhibition tournament at Copacabana beach. Nicolas Kiefer of Germany and Robby Ginepri of the United States also took part in the event.

Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar can go on to score 50 Test hundreds after he notched a world record 35th century in the second Test against Sri Lanka, Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer says.
   ‘It is a wonderful achievement to get the highest number of Test hundreds and I think the way he is playing he can go on to achieve the magic 50 mark also. He is that good a player,’ Woolmer told Reuters on Sunday.
   Tendulkar made history when he beat compatriot Sunil Gavaskar’s world mark of 34 Test hundreds at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground in Delhi on Saturday.
   Tendulkar is due to tour Pakistan with the Indian team early next year to play three Tests and five one-day internationals.
   Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq said Tendulkar is set to break many other records.
   ‘He has been enjoying his cricket since coming back from his elbow injury and he deserves this record,’ Inzamam said.
   Inzamam, who himself joined the list of batsmen who have scored more than 8,000 runs during the Test series against England last month and also became Pakistan’s highest century maker with his 24th ton in the second Test in Faisalabad, made his debut just two years after Tendulkar.
   Tendulkar debuted in Nov. 1989 against Pakistan at Karachi and was bowled by fast bowler Waqar Younis for 15. Waqar himself was making his debut in that match.
   ‘From the moment we saw him we knew he was an exceptional talent and he has gone on to prove that beyond doubt,’ Waqar said.
   Former Pakistan captain Rameez Raja who played in that Test said Tendulkar had shown from his first match that he was going to be around for a long time in international cricket.
   ‘It is not surprising that he has got 35 hundreds now. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends with the highest number of Test runs scored also. He and Brian Lara are the greats of modern day cricket,’ Raja said.

Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq said the super sub rule benefits teams winning the toss and his side would like to cash in on it in the second day-night one-day match against England today.
   ‘The super sub advantage lies with the team that wins the toss. Had we won the toss we could have utilized our super sub had we bowled second, so we would like a better use of it next time,’ Inzamam said on Sunday.
   Pakistan named off-spinner Arhsad Khan as their super sub in the first of five one-day internationals on Saturday but could not use him at any stage during their 42-run defeat.
   England compiled their highest one-day score against Pakistan in Pakistan - 327-4 in 50 overs - before reducing the home side to 285 all out in 46.5 overs.
   The super sub rule - implemented in May this year - allows teams a soccer-style replacement at any stage in a limited overs international.
   The replaced player will be ruled out of the rest of the match while the replacement will be entitled to assume any remaining batting or bowling duties.
   England benefitted from the rule as they replaced Kevin Pietersen, who scored a brisk 36-ball 56, with debutante paceman Liam Plunkett who took 3-51.
   Inzamam said Pakistan conceded 30 extra runs.
   ‘Toss did not make difference. The main thing was that we allowed England to put a stiff target and chasing 328 was not easy even on a batting wicket,’ said Inzamam.
   Four Pakistan batsmen hit half-centuries but none went on to finish the match.
   ‘At one stage we were looking to chase those runs when Salam Butt and Younis Khan were playing and average was going good, but I think England bowled well after that,’ said Inzamam.
   Andrew Strauss, who won the man-of-the-match award for his 94, said the win was important for England after a 2-0 defeat in the preceding three-Test series.
   ‘There is no substitute to winning and I think we are delighted to come through a pretty tough game,’ said Strauss, who managed just 44 runs in the two Tests against Pakistan.
   Strauss agreed the super sub rule complicates matters for teams.
   ‘It (the rule) makes selection meetings pretty difficult. I would have thought with who to sub and who not to, and when to sub, it makes things more complicated for the captain,’ said the left-handed opener.

South Africa’s batsmen showed a marked improvement Sunday on the opening day of a three-day tour match but there were growing concerns that all-rounder Jacques Kallis may not be fit for the first Test against Australia starting Friday.
   Captain Graeme Smith opened the batting against a Western Australian XI at Perth’s James Oval, smacking 50 from 59 balls before he was caught behind.
   Top-order batsmen Ashwell Prince, who retired on 68 not out, and Herschelle Gibbs with 62 also showed flair as the Proteas declared at 292 for 8 in their first innings.
   In reply the Western Australian XI was 26 for 2 at stumps.
   Although the South African performance was a marked improvement on their opening tour match which ended in an innings defeat by the full Western Australian side, Kallis’s injury is a concern.
   He suffered inflamed tendons in his left elbow during the team’s tour of India last month and then tore a tendon in the same area while batting in the nets shortly after arriving in Perth last week.
   Kallis, the number-one ranked Test batsman, cannot lift a bat without pain and has been given until Tuesday to prove his fitness for the Test.
   ‘We’re not going to take a chance,’ said team physiotherapist Shane Jabaar, adding that Kallis would have to be fit to practise in the nets on at least two days to be eligible for selection.
   ‘We’re going to be governed by his responses and what the clinical picture shows us. If he’s not ready, he’s not ready,’ said Jabaar.
   ‘He’s been receiving ongoing treatment and we feel he’s still got a chance to heal completely before the first Test and to net before that Test.’
   Kallis averages 57.07 from his 94 Test matches and also boasts 184 wickets at 31.63. He was the joint winner of the ICC player of the year award for 2005 with England’s Andrew Flintoff.
   The all-rounder’s withdrawal would be a major blow to a team facing Australia in a Test series for the first time in more than three years. South Africa have failed to beat Australia in a Test series since being readmitted to international cricket in 1991.
   Despite injury problems, Kallis still averaged a team-high 80.50 with the bat in the drawn one-day series in India.
   Jabaar is confident Kallis will be fit for the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne if he fails to recover in time for Friday.
   But there was also some good news for the tourists, with Smith showing he had all but shrugged off a troublesome finger injury.
   And officials said spinner Nicky Boje, who required seven stitches after splitting webbing in his left hand during Friday’s one-day victory over a Chairman’s XI, will also be fit for Friday.
   Speedster Shaun Pollock led the bowling on Sunday, claiming 2-11 after the home side were sent in shortly before stumps.
   Spinner Aaron Heal was the pick of the home side’s bowlers, finishing with 3-67.

Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne warned South Africa Sunday they may well need their team psychologist after the host side has finished with them in the upcoming three-Test series.
   Referring to South Africa’s plans to fly corporate psychologist Francois Hugo from Johannesburg to motivate the players before the first Test starting in Perth on Friday, Warne noted that it may be a good idea.
   ‘They might need one by the time we’ve finished with them,’ the flamboyant Australian said.
   There is little love lost between the two Test nations and South Africa are aiming to regain some lost pride, having failed to beat Australia in a Test series since being readmitted to international cricket in 1991.
   Warne is a particular concern for the visitors, who seldom have to face such a formidable spinner in their own country.
   He has an excellent Test record against the Proteas, having taken 101 wickets at an average of 22.35 against them.
   The visitors have also rankled the Australians by claiming the Aussies use hostile comments known as ‘sledging’ to upset and distract their opponents.
   Batsman Herschelle Gibbs said last week the players had come to expect such tactics from Australia and would think something was wrong if they weren’t sledged.
   ‘... as usual, the South Africans have had a bit too much to say, they should worry about their own backyard, get (it) in order first,’ Warne said.
   The world’s leading Test wicket-taker, who has recovered from recent back soreness, said he was looking forward to the first Test even though the Western Australian Cricket Association Ground is not known for taking spin.
   ‘Yeah, I’m looking forward to Friday,’ he said. ‘I feel pretty good, I’ve done a lot of yoga, I’ve done stretching, I’ve done pool and all the strengthening for my back.
   ‘It’s still a bit stiff, hopefully it will loosen up with another three or four more days of treatment.
   ‘It’s an ongoing thing I suppose at 36. I’ve bowled a few balls over 15 years - I’m going to have to put up with some sort of soreness.’
   But he was under no illusions about his role on the pace-friendly WACA wicket, saying he would be called upon more to break partnerships than as a front-line strike bowler.
   ‘You know when you go there that you’re not going to take a big haul of wickets,’ Warne said.

Pakistan have asked Mushtaq Ahmed to act as a bowling advisor for the one-day series against England, and could become full-time assistant coach.
   The leg-spinner, 35, was a surprise call up to the Test squad but did not play, with Danish Kaneria preferred.
   ‘Mushtaq has a good knowledge and understanding of the game and he knows the England players well,’ said cricket board chairman Shaharyar Khan.
   ‘We have retained him as bowling consultant for the one-day series.’
   ‘He works well with coach Bob Woolmer and captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and the players,’ Shaharyar added.
   ‘He is one the candidates we are looking at to appoint as assistant coach on long-term basis maybe until the next World Cup in 2007.’
   He added the appointment of the assistant coach should be made before the home series against India early next year.

Charlotte Edwards is hoping to get another chance to captain England’s women in the future after leading them on the tour of Sri Lanka and India.
   ‘I’ve really loved doing it. It was a real challenge in the last week with the injuries and illness we had.
   ‘It’s been tough but the girls have been brilliant,’ she told BBC Sport. After winning the opening one-day international, Edwards’ team slumped to four successive defeats.
   But she insists it has not put her off taking the top job if it becomes available again.
   ‘It’s been hard at times, particularly when we’ve been losing but everyone’s tried their hearts out for me and I’ve enjoyed captaining them,’ Edwards said.
   ‘I feel it’s helped my own game, playing under increased pressure - it’s not affected me adversely, I’ve done okay with the bat. But the team is more important to me and I don’t care how many runs I get as long as we are winning.
   ‘Hopefully in the future I’ll get another chance to do it, but I have no problem handing the reins back to Clare when we play India next summer.’

Australian cricketer Michael Hussey will have to think twice about taking sharp singles in the near future, with dark plans afoot in his team to bring his phenomenal one-day average down to size.
   His unbeaten 88 during Saturday’s match here against New Zealand lifted his average from 129 to 151, a world record for any cricketer who has played 15 one-day internationals.
   The next best is England’s Kevin Pietersen, who averaged 87.33 after 15 innings.
   In 21 games and 15 innings Hussey has scored 604 runs and been dismissed just four times.
   ‘A few of the boys are talking about running him out, actually,’ Australian captain Ricky Ponting quipped after his side’s two-run loss at Jade Stadium.
   The highest batting average for any player to have played 30 games or more is 53.58, held by another Australian, Michael Bevan.
   ‘I’m copping a bit of stick about it from the boys. But I can assure you I’m doing everything I can at the end to try and get out, but at the moment it seems to be going my way,’ Hussey said.
   ‘It’s amazing really, I can’t really understand it. But I guess batting where I do (No 7) there are going to be opportunities to get the big not out at the end of the innings.
   ‘I’ve just got to ride the wave while it’s going.’
   Rather than batting cautiously to build up his average, Hussey has racked up the runs in rapid style with his 88 against New Zealand coming off 56 balls.
   He now returns to Australia for the first Test against South Africa starting on Friday.
   And his average from six Test match innings? A paltry 120.33.

Brendon McCullum called New Zealand’s win over Australia the best moment of his career after the Black Caps chased a one-day international record 332.
   ‘It’s probably the best feeling you’ll get in the game, it’s certainly the best feeling I’ve had,’ he said.
   Wicket-keeper McCullum dropped Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting early in the game but then smashed 50 from 25 balls.
   ‘It was frustrating but I had to let it go because it could affect your batting,’ he said of the missed catch.
   Styris admitted: ‘I never actually thought we had a genuine chance until about 10 overs to go.’
   Captain Ricky Ponting added, ‘The last eight or 10 games we’ve played against New Zealand have been unbelievable.
   ‘There’s just something about when Australia and New Zealand play, the intensity tends to lift up a bit.’

The postponement of the six-nation Asia Cup will hamper the development of cricket in the region and deprive the sport of much-needed revenue, an official said Sunday.
   ‘It (postponement) is a significant loss to cricket in the continent, because the finances generated were due to be spent on development,’ Ashraful Haq, chief executive of the Asian Cricket Council, told AFP from Kuala Lumpur.
   The biennial event scheduled in Pakistan early next year was postponed last week over India’s complaint that their players faced a gruelling schedule and it would not be feasible to hold the tournament.
   Defending champions Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates and Oman were due to take part in the event scheduled from February 16-28.
   Hosts Pakistan, who have yet to hold the event since it began in 1982, agreed to India’s request to postpone the limited-overs tournament.
   Haq said the event now cannot be held until 2008.
   ‘Since the schedules of teams at international level are so hectic it would not be possible to hold the Asia Cup until 2008,’ he said, adding, ‘an ideal opportunity to distribute funds among member countries was wasted.’
   Haq said 18 Asian countries would be hurt by the postponement.
   ‘Countries like Oman, Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Nepal and the Maldives needed these funds to raise the infrastructure, but they now have to wait for a few more years,’ said Haq, a former secretary of the Bangladesh Cricket Board.
   The Asia Cup was expected to generate around 16.5 million dollars from television rights and sales.
   The Asian Test-playing countries—India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka—received 2.5 million dollars each from the 19 million dollars in revenues from the Asia Cup held in Sri Lanka last year.
   Hong Kong and the UAE, who featured in the Asia Cup 2004, received 300,000 dollars each, while the rest of the fund was spent on developing cricket in the associate member nations.

Premier League leaders Chelsea beat Wigan Athletic 1-0, Liverpool kept pace with a 2-0 win over Middlesbrough but 10-man Arsenal were cast adrift after losing 1-0 at Newcastle United on Saturday.
   Captain John Terry headed Chelsea’s winner in the 67th minute at Stamford Bridge, sending Jose Mourinho’s runaway champions 12 points clear at the top of the table.
   European champions Liverpool moved up to second place with their seventh consecutive league win, courtesy of second-half goals from Spanish forward Fernando Morientes.
   Arsenal’s already faint title hopes look dashed after they lost Brazilian midfielder Gilberto to a 58th minute red card and Newcastle’s Peruvian winger Nolberto Solano fired in an angled winner after 82 minutes.
   Unbeaten in their title-winning season in 2003-04, Arsenal’s fifth away defeat this season in an ill-tempered game kept them rooted to sixth place with 26 points. Chelsea are top on 43, with Liverpool on 31 and third-placed Manchester United (30) hosting Everton on Sunday.
   Charlton Athletic ended a run of six league and cup defeats with a 2-0 win over bottom club Sunderland, Blackburn Rovers beat West Ham United 3-2 and Aston Villa snatched a late 1-1 draw at Bolton Wanderers.
   Pressure will ease on Birmingham City manager Steve Bruce after they edged Fulham 1-0 at St Andrew’s, while fellow relegation battlers West Bromwich Albion also snaffled the points with a 2-0 win over visiting Manchester City.
   Having waited 50 years for their second league title, Chelsea will almost certainly have to wait barely a year for their third.
   Wigan put up a fight, as they did before losing 1-0 to a late winner in Chelsea’s season opener in August.
   Terry’s header from a Frank Lampard corner means Jose Mourinho’s men have won all nine of their league games this season at Stamford Bridge.
   It was a good day too for Liverpool as Rafael Benitez’s side maintained their own superb run of form.
   Liverpool came through their 10th match without conceding a goal in all competitions—a feat not achieved since Kenny Dalglish’s championship-winning side in 1987-88.
   Down at the wrong end of the table, Sunderland, who suffered their 10th defeat in a row in all competitions, are bottom on five points. Portsmouth have 10, Birmingham 12 and Everton, West Brom and Fulham all have 16.

The World Cup began as a grandiose idea in the minds of FIFA’s French founders, who decided that they alone could organise a global championship.
   It has grown to its present state of top-heavy gigantism in the 75 years since the first finals were held in 1930.
   It could be seen as the logical extension of the Olympic Games football tournament, born in 1900 and won three times by a powerful British team made up of crack English amateurs playing for professional clubs. By the time it came to the post-Great War tournaments, professionalism was rife.
   A splendid Uruguay team won the Olympic tournaments in 1924 and 1928. As a consequence, they were made hosts to the first World Cup finals in 1930.
   It was hardly a logical choice, since the sea voyage to Uruguay from Europe took three weeks each way.
   Consequently, none of the main European teams made the trip, except France, presumably entering as a matter of noblesse oblige.
   Since the home nations were still out of FIFA and would stay that way until after the second world war, no British team was eligible.
   Hungary, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria and Italy all refused, to the ire of the Uruguayans, who in turn refused to attend the European tournaments of 1934 and 1938.
   King Carol II of Romania visited the big oil companies in Bucharest, persuading them to let players they employed go to Uruguary.
   Eventually just 13 teams took part and were divided into four pools or mini-leagues, only one of which consisted of four teams, including France and the favoured Argentines, who had lost the 1928 Olympic final to Uruguay.
   The other three pools had just three sides.
   Uruguay were involved in a three-team group that played only two matches each.
   The United States, their team consisting largely of former British pros nicknamed by the French ‘The Shot Putters’, beat Belgium and Paraguay 3-0, but in the semi-finals they lost 6-1 to Argentina.
   The Argies then lost a thrilling final 4-2 to Uruguay in what was labelled the Battle of the River Plate.
   In 1934 Fifa contentiously decided that the tournament should take place on a straight knockout basis, meaning that teams could travel huge distances to play a single game. Hosts Italy duly won, but in those fascist times made few friends.
   In France in 1938, Argentina joined Uruguay in boycotting, which they would do again in 1950.
   They resented the fact that France and not themselves had been given the tournament.
   Spain were embroiled in civil war and did not go.
   Austria had been swallowed up in the Anschluss and contributed players to a greater Germany team.
   In desperation, England were invited but refused.
   Sweden got a bye into the second round while Italy, playing smoother football now, won again.
   You might have expected a full complement in Brazil in 1950 when the tournament was revised.
   Not a bit of it. France refused, complaining of the distances to be travelled.
   Idiotically, Scotland wouldn’t go because they had finished only second in the British Championship, which doubled as a qualifying group. The Czechs also refused.
   So only 13 teams competed. Uruguay were the eventual winners in a superlative decider against Brazil.
   There were full complements of 16 between 1954 and 1978. But in Spain in 1982, under the impetus of a controversial FIFA president, Joao Havlange, who was anxious to retain African support, the tournament increased to a lopsided 24 teams.
   In France in 1998 it was bloated to an admittedly more manageable 32. A World Cup made possible, if hardly safe, for minnows.

Argentina’s press were in full cry on Saturday, bemoaning the country’s ‘cursed’ luck at Friday’s World Cup draw.
   The double champions find themselves for the second successive finals in the so-called ‘group of death’ against the Netherlands, Serbia and Montenegro and Cote d’Ivoire.
   Argentina’s best selling daily Clarin summed up the mood of an aggrieved nation.
   ‘Argentina are going to play against the teams they feared......in the cursed Group C.’
   The Argentina v Netherland’ clash, in Frankfurt on June 21 and a repeat of the 1978 final won by the South Americans, looks the heavyweight clash of the opening group round.
   And La Nacion blamed ‘the twist of fate which repeated the same scenario as four years ago’, a reference to the 2002 World Cup in which Argentina also found themselves in a treacherous group alongside England, Sweden and Nigeria.
   That proved so hazardous Argentina failed to make it into the second round.
   On its front page Ole suggested the draw was the equivalent of bumping into Didier Drogba in a dark corridor, the article accompanied by a dramatic photograph of the Cote d’Ivoire star in full flight.
   ‘But it’s not a bad thing to go to Germany knowing that it’s going to be complicated,’ the paper added, looking on the bright side.
   ‘That will force us to work harder to be better, which, aside from the final result, is a victory in itself.’
   Cronica failed to see much to cheer about, suggesting ‘it would have been easier for Argentina to go and play in Iraq’.
   And it recalled what the commentator for Brazilian station TV Globo shouted out gleefully when Pele pulled out the Netherlands’ name - ‘Goal for Pele’.

Wayne Rooney on Saturday vowed to lift the World Cup insisting ‘we owe it to Sven-Goran Eriksson and the country’.
   The Manchester United striker believes the current England squad can win the most prized trophy in football in Germany next summer.
   And Rooney revealed how skipper David Beckham has been a great friend – despite their on-pitch bust-up during the qualifying defeat against Northern Ireland.
   Rooney said, ‘There is a feeling we should win the World Cup for Sven. He’s a great manager.
   ‘All the players like him and respect him, he respects us and, more importantly, he trusts us.
   ‘He treats us as professionals. He believes we know what is best for ourselves – he is good like that.
   ‘He is a great manager and has been so unlucky in the way we have gone out of tournaments in the past.
   ‘Hopefully this time we can win it and if there is anyone who deserves that success it is him.’
   After watching Friday’s draw in Leipzig, which has pitched England in Group B with Paraguay, Trinidad and Tobago and Sweden, Rooney insisted we can go all the way.
   He added, ‘We have done pretty well out of it.
   ‘We have avoided some really dangerous teams like Holland and the Czech Republic. England can win the group – I have no doubts about that.
   ‘We don’t fear anyone but we cannot be complacent. We know we have to be totally focused.
   ‘The best thing is we have a path that could take us all the way to the Final and Brazil.
   ‘That would be the dream scenario –,to face Brazil in the Final and hopefully score the winner.
   ‘Brazil are probably the best team in the world and if we are going to win it, we will have to beat them.’
   Rooney insists his high-profile bust-up with Beckham during England’s dismal defeat in Northern Ireland has been forgotten. And he believes the fact that words were exchanged proves at least they care about winning and losing.
   He added, ‘David has been a great friend to me. He is a great captain and a terrific player. We speak to each other off the pitch.
   ‘He is so up for the World Cup Finals, probably more than anyone else because he takes so much more stick.
   ‘It has been very unfair, especially if you look at his performances for England, which have been great. I was very frustrated when so much was made of our argument during the Northern Ireland game.
   ‘Arguments happen on and off the pitch but they happen because you try and help one another and because you care.
   ‘I would be more concerned if they didn’t happen. Then there would be something wrong.
   ‘It was blown up out of all proportion. We had an argument on the pitch and that was it. The next day we were on the phone talking, we spoke in the dressing room afterwards and everything was sorted out.’

Rafael Benitez claims Liverpool will fly out to the World Club Championship in Japan in near perfect shape after consolidating their position as the English Premiership’s form team.
   The Reds earned their seventh successive league
   victory against Middlesbrough on Saturday and also
   equalled a club record ten successive clean sheets in the 2-0 win.
   That impressive run has taken the European champions up into second place, 12 points behind Premiership leaders Chelsea ahead of their enforced eight-day break from domestic battles.
   But while the manager accepts that his side’s current progress has surpassed even his own expectations, he fought shy of declaring Liverpool to be genuine challengers to Chelsea’s crown.
   ‘You can see by the number of games we have won and the clean sheets we have had that it is an almost perfect situation,’ Benitez said.
   ‘But for me the most important thing is for us to have the team solid, to continue to keep on doing the same things and then maybe in two months we can see if we have the possibility of challenging.
   ‘It is good to see the team near the top of the table but we are going to Japan where we will play four games in eight days and a lot can change in that time.’
   Middlesbrough manager Steve McClaren, however, believes Benitez is underplaying his hand.
   ‘I said they were title challengers at the start of the
   season and I still believe that,’ he said.
   ‘When you win the European Cup you develop a special
   kind of confidence and Liverpool have that air about them now.’
   The victory over Middlesbrough was marked by two goals for Fernando Morientes, the former Real Madrid striker who has struggled for goals since his 6 million pounds (10.8 million dollars) transfer from the Bernabeu last January.
   In fact, the Spaniard had managed just one league goal this season prior to Boro’s visit to Anfield and
    with Peter Crouch also breaking his goal-scoring drought seven days earlier, Benitez was confident his new look strike-force was now finally bedding in.
   ‘Strikers are always thinking about goals. Peter Crouch was playing well but needed a goal when he got one last week,’ said Benitez.
   ‘And Fernando was playing well and needed to score.
   ‘Now he must be delighted and the team can have the confidence that in Crouch, Morientes and Djibril Cisse we have a lot more options in front of goal.’
   The trip to Japan has been described by some as an unnecessary burden on an already over-crowded fixture list but Benitez insisted Liverpool were going there with the aim of winning more silverware.
   He did concede, though, that it would place an additional burden on his squad.
   ‘I know from my experience that a team that goes to Japan needs time to acclimatise but we will go with a lot of confidence.
   ‘We are trying to use all the players in the squad and we will use all the options that we have available to us.’

Australians were Sunday coming to terms with drawing champions Brazil in the 2006 World Cup finals, with press reports upbeat that the Socceroos could match the favourites.
   Under a frontpage headline of ‘We’re ready to do battle’, The Sunday Telegraph quoted star striker Harry Kewell as saying the Socceroos were excited about the prospect of playing.
   ‘I’m not fussed about who we are playing. We’re just looking forward to it,’ the Liverpool player told the paper.
   ‘Look what happened at the last World Cup with the top countries like France and Argentina. They were knocked out in the first round. Look what Greece did when they won the Euro (European Championship) in 2004. No one gave them a chance.’
   But a photograph of soccer fans watching the draw live early Saturday morning Sydney time published in The Sun-Herald told a different story—all pictured had their heads in their hands or looks of anguish on their faces.
   ‘It’s not the ‘group of death.’ But it feels like it,’ soccer journalist Michael Cockerill wrote in the same paper. Brazil, the best team in the world. Croatia, the most motivated team in the world. And Japan, the best resourced,’ he wrote in describing Australia’s companions in Group F. But while Brazil were certain to win the group, Australia had the benefit of having beaten all three teams previously, and Brazil had gone down 1-0 at the 2001 Confederations Cup in South Korea, he said.
   The optimism was backed by Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer who, in an article published in The Sun-Herald, said the Socceroos would go into the World Cup believing they were world-beaters.
   ‘Playing Brazil in the World Cup is going to be massive,’ he wrote in a column for the paper. ‘They are justifiably rated No. 1 in the world, but anything is possible in the World Cup.
   ‘Even though people might say we are crazy and have no chance of beating Brazil, I think that if we don’t hold that belief and that mentality before we play then there is something wrong.’
   The Australians, who are ranked 49th in the world, also won some support from an unusual quarter with Brazilian legend Pele telling The Sun-Herald that Australia could pose a threat to the boys from Brazil.
   Asked if Australia had a chance of beating Brazil in their group match in Munich, Pele replied: ‘I think yes. They beat Uruguay, so why not?’
   But he added: ‘I think it will be a little bit different here though.’
   The Socceroos earned their first spot at the World Cup in 32 years in November when they beat Uruguay in a dramatic 4-2 penalty shoot-out win after extra time.

Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson is urging England fans to drop their song about aerial combat in World War II when they follow the team at next year’s World Cup in Germany.
   The song, known as ‘10 German bombers’, was sung by a minority of England fans during World Cup qualifying and Football Association officials are keen to avoid any embarrassment at the tournament.
   Paying tribute to England’s support at the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, and Euro 2004 in Portugal, Eriksson told the FA website: ‘It’s hugely important, the great work and great attitude they’ve shown at the past two major tournaments.
   ‘They were undoubtedly the best fans, not just in numbers but in terms of behaviour...and it’s really important they continue that in Germany.
   ‘One thing that I and the players would really call on is for them to stop chanting one particular song about 10 German bombers.

Villarreal’s Argentine playmaker Juan Roman scored a magnificent goal to set the seal on a come-from-behind 3-1 win Saturday at Real Sociedad to move his club into third place in La Liga.
   Sociedad had got off to a flier with Turkish forward Nihat Kahveci firing them into a fourth-minute lead, but thereafter there was only one side in it - the visitors from the northeast.
   Having scored a midweek winner over Lille to take Villarreal through to the last 16 of the Champions League at the first attempt Antonio Guayre was again on target from close range on 35 minutes after Riquelme, over his recent hamstring nightmare, crossed from the left.
   Nine minutes after the break Guayre repeated the dose from inside the six-yard box before Riquelme nonchalantly floated home a beauty from outside the penalty area with 18 minutes left to give Villarreal 26 points from 15 games, five less than leaders Barcelona, who host Seville on Sunday.
   That was enough to take Villarreal’s ‘Yellow Submarine’ outfit into third spot ahead of Valencia on goal difference and leave Sociedad in midtable obscurity.
   Earlier, Valencia had to settle for a 1-1 home draw with struggling Athletic Bilbao, whose coach Javier Clemente saluted a never-say-die showing as his charges exited the bottom three.

Ronaldinho has urged his Barcelona bosses to break the bank to sign Thierry Henry and Frank Lampard.
   The Spanish champions have been tipped to move for the Arsenal striker and Chelsea midfielder, valued jointly at £60m.
   And Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho, the European Footballer of the Year, insists he would welcome the Premiership aces’ arrival at the Nou Camp.
   ‘Everybody at Barca is talking about Henry and Lampard joining,’ said the 25-year-old midfielder.
   ‘It would not upset me at all to see these two players arrive. I love watching Henry in action - he plays beautifully, with fine technical skills. I have great respect for him, and he is someone who loves his football. He and I are two of a kind. It would also be a great idea to bring in Frank Lampard. If it was down to me, I would buy both.’

Real Madrid will this week launch an audacious £15million bid to prise Arsene Wenger from Arsenal.
   Real vice-president Emilio Butragueno is poised for talks with Gunners counterpart David Dein at the Champions League draw in Switzerland on Friday.
   And Wenger will be offered £5m a year for three seasons — a record salary for a Madrid boss.
   A top Real source said: ‘It is well known that Florentino Perez is a great admirer of Wenger and has never given up hope of finally persuading him to manage Madrid.
   ‘There could be some developments this week as Emilio Butragueno will meet Mr Dein. ‘Perez has not been put off by Wenger’s public declarations about the matter as he knows the French manager holds Real in very high regard.’
   Publicly, Wenger has insisted he will honour his Arsenal contract, which runs to 2008.
   But Real are determined to lure Wenger to Spain as a successor to Vanderlei Luxemburgo, who was sacked last week.
   Sport of the World exclusively revealed secret meetings between Perez and Wenger three years ago.
   But the Frenchman stayed and led Arsenal unbeaten to the league title in 2004.

Ronaldo dreams winning Nobel
Peace Prize
Brazilian World Cup winner Ronaldo said on Saturday that he dreams of winning the Nobel Peace Prize and would do everything he could do to achieve that goal. ‘I am going to work all of my life in this area and work to win the prize,’ the 29-year-old Real Madrid striker told Epoca magazine. ‘It would give me a lot of satisfaction. It’s a sacrifice worth making. I want to leave a good image and not just in football but also as a special ambassador for the United Nations.’
— AFP

‘Ronaldinho and Rooney to do battle’
Former Germany World Cup winning skipper Lothar Matthaus reckons Wayne Rooney and Ronaldinho will do battle to be the superstar of next year’s World Cup. The Italia 90-winning captain is convinced England striker Roon and Brazilian Ronaldinho are the players most likely to set the tournament on fire.
— Agencies

Germany only have Ballack: Poland
coach
Poland manager Pavel Janas is not afraid of facing hosts Germany at the 2006 World Cup claiming the three-time winners only have one top player in captain Michael Ballack. Poland lock horns with Germany on June 14 in Dortmund for their second World Cup Group A match and Janas insists the current German team lack quality. ‘I have respect for them but am not afraid,’ Janas told Bild daily. ‘We will not be intimidated as Germany do not have the big stars they had in the past. They only have Michael Ballack.’
— AFP

Rummenigge blasts Juventus’ transfer policy
Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge claimed Sunday that Juventus were acting like the mafia when trying to sign new players. ‘I do not want to have anything else to do with Juventus sporting director Luciano Moggi,’ Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said in Bild am Sonntag. ‘They are not gentleman. That is the mafia.’ Juventus captured Croatian international Robert Kovac on a free transfer from Bayern last season and Rummenigge has indicated that Juventus did not respect FIFA rules by speaking to the club before negotiating with their player. French international Willy Sagnol, out of contract at the end of the season, is the latest Bayern star to interest Juventus who are expected to complete a deal in January 2006 when the Frenchman is allowed to speak with other clubs. Juventus and Bayern have met at the Champions League group stage for the past two seasons with the Italians finishing top ahead of Bayern on both occasions.
— AFP

Mourinho pleased with MU’s
European exit
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho said on Saturday he was pleased with Manchester United’s exit from the Champions League following a 2-1 defeat at Portuguese champions Benfica. ‘Being Portuguese, I am very proud,’ he wrote in his weekly column in sports magazine Record Dez. ‘Benfica was great! This is how the best teams win – with organisation, discipline and will. They deserved to win and now they deserve luck in the draw. The negative side is that with Manchester out of European competitions they will think only of the Premiership...but it is worth it,’ he added.
— AFP