Sri Lankan spin star Muttiah Muralitharan promises to unleash his full repertoire, including the infamous doosra, in the one-day cricket series between a World XI and New Zealand starting here Saturday.
   ‘Nobody from ICC (International Cricket Council) has told me not to bowl it. I can bowl whatever I want, but if I get reported again I will have to go to another hearing,’ he said on arrival here Thursday for the series which does not carry official one-day international status.
   Last March, he was reported for chucking his doosra – a leg-spinner bowled with an off-spinner’s action – and warned he could be banned for a year if he continued to bowl the ball with a 14 degree bend in the elbow, well above the permitted five degrees for spin bowlers.
   The ICC meanwhile looks set to change the rules which could see the doosra permitted once again with a meeting next month expected to approve a recommendation that all bowlers be allowed a 15 percent bend in the arm.
   Muralitharan welcomed the move.
   ‘Not only me, I think most of the bowlers will look forward to that,’ he said.
   ‘Always I bowl well with the doosra.’
   Muralitharan, the former world Test wicket recordholder who is returning after six months recovery from surgery, will bowl in tandem in the three-match series with Australia’s Shane Warne, the man who overtook his haul.
   Muralitharan had surgery on his bowling shoulder last August, which ruled him out of international cricket until last week’s tsunami relief match in Melbourne where he took three for 59 off 10 overs.
   Muralitharan, who has 532 wickets from 91 tests and 369 wickets from 238 one-day internationals, said his shoulder was still sore and he remained one or two months away from his best form.
   Having been deeply affected by the tsunami tragedy in his homeland and played a significant role in the relief effort, he was determined to give a good account.

Three good partnerships helped Zimbabwe post a respectable 251 runs in the first one-dayer at the BNS as the Bangladesh bowlers failed to keep up the pressure they created at the beginning of the innings.
   Nazmul Hossain and Tapash Baisya provided a good start for the home side eliminating the first two wickets of the visitors for 14 runs in 2.4 overs but later the bowlers could not maintain the same pressure.
   Basically the three partnerships by the Zimbabwean middle-orders boosted the team total with the first coming from Hamilton Masakadza and Stuart Matsikenyeri, who added 70 runs off 80 balls for the third wicket.
   Matsikenyeri’s patient innings of 33 off 47 balls was ended by Khaled Mahmud but by then the scoreboard ticked to 84 for three from a meagre 14 for 2 wickets. Masakadza followed Matsikenyeri a few minutes later after completing his career’s second fifty from 63 balls.
   Zimbabwe captain Tatenda Taibu continued his dominance over the Bangladeshi bowlers and looked confident as usual. He produced 65 runs off 87 balls with Brendan Taylor in the fifth wicket stand. Rajin Saleh had the watchful Taibu run out by a brilliant throw from the short-cover when the captain was on 28. However, Taylor plundered the second fifty for Zimbabwe putting on a chanceless 58 which was also the highest of the innings.
   In addition, Elton Chigumbura and Tinashe Panyangara contributed a quick-fire 38 runs off 33 balls which enabled Zimbabwe to throw a big target for Bangladesh to chase on a very good batting wicket. Chigumbura took only 32 balls to score his 41 runs. He struck three boundaries and a huge six for about 20,000 thousand spectators to cheer about.
   Bangladesh captain used his part-time bowlers, Alok Kapali and Rajin Saleh, to break the partnerships but to no avail. Alok and Rajin, however, were economical compared to the regular bowlers.
   Abdur Razzak, who retuned to the team after correcting his bowling action in England, was not impressive. The left-arm spinner got a disappointing greeting from Masakadza, who smacked three consecutive boundaries in his first over which cost 14 runs. Razzak conceded 51 runs in his ten overs, costlier than the other bowlers.
   Aftab Ahmed, who recently picked up six wickets against New Zealand, could not produce anything special.
   Apart from them one-day specialist Khaled Mahmud and teenager Nazmul Hossain bowled well but that was not enough to contain the Zimbabweans.

Centurion Park, venue of the final Test between South Africa and England starting on Friday, was an implausible backdrop for a corruption scandal which threatened to rip international cricket apart.
   Five years ago in the last clash between the teams at Centurion, rain poured solidly for three days after South Africa had reached 155 for six in their first innings.
   South Africa had already clinched the series and England were preparing to go through the motions in a match destined for a draw. Then South Africa captain Hansie Cronje, a man not previously noted for his sense of adventure, approached his opposite number Nasser Hussain with an unprecedented offer.
   Cronje proposed forfeiting the next two innings for the first time in Test cricket. He would then set England a target of 255 from 73 overs on the final day.
   The eventual declaration was even more attractive. England were set 249 from 76 overs and, with their current captain Michael Vaughan stroking 69 from 108 balls, they won by eight wickets in the final over.
   The initial reaction was positive, although Cronje’s decision to bowl his innocuous medium pace for five overs and the ineffectual spinner Pieter Strydom for six excited some comments.
   Cronje was robust in his defence of his unexpected action and said ‘whispers’ from the International Cricket Council condemning the two forfeitures were unwarranted.
   ‘I would be disappointed if this is the attitude and do not want to be part of the game if this is their thinking,’ he said.
   ‘I am playing in a very positive side and today was another chance to back their ability throughout to beat England.’
   Hussain swallowed any misgivings he might have had when first approached by Cronje.
   ‘Of course I would have been gutted had we lost,’ he said. ‘I think we all would have been.
   ‘But Hansie deserves every support for what he did. He gave us a chance, he gave his side a chance and we gave the public a great day.’
   A match destined for the dustbins of history was now acclaimed as one of the most exciting ever, ranking with the famous tied Test between Australia and West Indies in the 1960-61 series.
   Except, as was to be revealed in chilling detail over the coming months, the final day had been a fraud. On April 7, Cronje was charged by Indian police with involvement in match-fixing during a one-day series against India in March. The denials were immediate, vehement and initially believable.
   After all, was not Cronje the acceptable face of post-apartheid South Africa, a pillar of Afrikaaner integrity and a born-again Christian who flaunted a bracelet inscribed WWJD - ‘What would Jesus do?’.
   Four days later his reputation was in tatters. United Cricket Board of South Africa managing director Ali Bacher told a hushed news conference that Cronje had confessed to not being ‘entirely honest’ in his denials of match-fixing. A scandal which was to lead to life bans for Cronje, India captain Mohammad Azharuddin and Pakistan skipper Salim Malik had erupted.
   In his confession Cronje mentioned the Pretoria Test. At the ensuring South African inquiry held by Judge Edwin King, he gave the details. Cronje said his offer to Hussain followed a late night visit by bookmaker Marlon Aronstam. Even though the deal with Hussain was too late for Aronstam to place his bets, he still gave Cronje 53,000 rand, around $9,000, and a leather jacket for his wife.
   Two years later Cronje died in a plane crash in the Western Cape, carrying most of his secrets to the grave. Just how much money he had made was unclear, although he claimed to have accepted at least $130,000 from bookmakers.
   Unconfirmed newspaper reports said he may have possessed up to 72 bank accounts in the Cayman islands. The result in the Centurion Test of January, 2000, is just another of his tarnished legacies.

Sri Lanka cricketers Avishka Gunawardene and Kaushal Lokuarachchi have been cleared of misconduct during the ICC Champions Trophy last year, officials said on Thursday.
   An official disciplinary inquiry had been launched after the tournament into allegations in a local Sunday newspaper of drunken misconduct during Sri Lanka’s rain-affected first round match against England.
   But a disciplinary panel, chaired by Michael de Zoysa, could find no evidence or witnesses to corroborate the allegations and cleared the players of any wrongdoing.
   ‘No one was prepared to give evidence and there was absolutely no evidence to substantiate the article’s allegations,’ Sri Lanka Cricket’s chief executive Duleep Mendis said.
   Gunawardene, 27, a hard-hitting opener, and Lokuarachchi, a 22-year-old leg spinning all rounder, were dropped from
   the national squad after Sri Lanka’s tour of Pakistan in October.

Pakistani cricket chiefs said Thursday they had to wait for a report before clearing the riot city of Ahmedabad as one of the venues for the national team’s first full tour of India in six years.
   ‘I will not comment on any venue like Ahmedabad, or any other city for that matter, until our team gives us a report,’ Pakistan Cricket Board spokesman Abbas Zaidi told AFP.
   India has proposed the major western city of Ahmedabad—where at least 2,000 people were killed in bloody Muslim-Hindu religious riots in 2002 — as one of the Test venues for the tour starting next month.
   Pakistan is predominantly Muslim, as were those who died at Ahmedabad, while India is majority Hindu.
   ‘We are still waiting an official announcement from the Board of Control for Cricket in India and would clear the tinerary only after our two-men venue inspection committee gives us a report by next week,’ Zaidi added.
   PCB official Zakir Khan will accompany police official Sohail Khan to India and inspect all the venues before submitting a report by next week.
   The Pakistani team are due to arrive in India on February 25 to play three Tests and five one-day games.
   Former captain Javed Miandad disapproved of using Ahmedabad for one of the Tests.
   ‘Instead of Ahmedabad, which has always been a troubled venue, I would have liked Mumbai to have hosted a match, because it’s a great, cricket-loving city,’ Miandad told AFP.
   ‘When a city is so troubled and has a history of riots they should not take such a risk. We had to field in helmets when we played a Test in Ahmedabad in 1987,’ added Miandad, who coached Pakistan when they last toured India in 1999.

World champions Australia, seeking a third straight win and a place in the finals of the tri-nations competition, will turn to their heavy hitters when they meet West Indies on Friday.
   The West Indies face a daunting task in securing their first win as the Australians welcome back the powerful opening combination of Matthew Hayden—who was rested for the first two matches—and Adam Gilchrist, who missed one match with a knee injury.
   They are also contemplating bumping out-of-form but renowned one-day slogger Andrew Symonds up the order at Brisbane’s Gabba ground in an attempt to make the most of his power-hitting.
   The Australians have a wealth of talent to call on, with Michael Clarke—the fill-in opener for Hayden in the last two matches—dropping back to the middle order after impressive innings of 66 and 97.
   The boost in strike power won’t just be limited to the batting, with pace bowler Jason Gillespie shrugging off a calf strain and cleared to play.
   Selectors must also decide whether to use all-rounder Shane Watson in place of the in-form spinner Brad Hogg in a four-pronged pace attack.
   For the West Indies, winless after matches against Australia and Pakistan, the situation is far bleaker.
   All-rounder Chris Gayle further aggravated shoulder tendonitis during their six-wicket loss to Pakistan on Wednesday and may not bowl again on tour.
   Without him, captain Brian Lara was forced to rely more upon part-timers Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Wavell Hinds who went for a total of 128 runs from 17 overs.
   Lara admitted his side was struggling to find the right balance without Gayle. Rising all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, a surprise omission on Wednesday, is likely to return to bolster the attack.
   Symonds enters the day-nighter desperate for runs after scoring four ducks from his last five innings for Australia, dating back to September.
   He has been in electrifying domestic one-day form during that time but is still no certainty to play ahead of Simon Katich and Darren Lehmann.
   Captain Ricky Ponting said Symonds was often on ‘a hiding to nothing’ while trying to score quick runs late in the innings.
   Ponting had a lengthy chat with Symonds at training on Thursday and said he felt he was ready to return to the form which had earned him 1,525 runs at 54.46 from the 2003 World Cup until the start of the current season.
   ‘I’ve watched him closely at training the last couple of days and he’s striking the ball nicely,’ Ponting said.
   ‘That (late order) position he comes in, in our side, can be a hard one to fill.
   ‘Batting any lower than five or six in our side, quite often you only come in until the final overs and you’re almost on a hiding to nothing.’
   Ponting said he had been toying with promoting Symonds to number four since he went for a duck in the four-wicket win against Pakistan on Sunday.

India discovered a new sporting star other than a cricketer Thursday as petite teenager Sania Mirza hit the headlines after winning two rounds of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne.
   The 18-year-old may only have entered the third round—where she runs into the formidable Serena Williams—but the usually cricket-obsessed Indian media celebrated as if she had won the title.
   Colour pictures of the Hyderabad girl were splashed on the front and back pages of all major dailies with the Hindustan Times running a banner headline, ‘Game, set, match milestone.’
   ‘Super Sania’ said The Times of India over a front-page picture of Mirza, while the Statesman described the ensuing euphoria as ‘Sania Mania’.
   It was the first time an Indian woman had reached the third round of a grand slam event and the country will tune in to Mirza’s clash with Williams on Friday even though few give her a realistic chance of defeating the former champion.
   ‘My family and I will be watching the match for sure and cheer Sania on every point,’ said Indian Tennis Association secretary Anil Khanna. ‘Win or lose, she has already done the country proud.’ Added college student Rakesh Verma: ‘The girl’s a stunner. She deserves more endorsements than Anna Kournikova. Hope she gives Serena a fight.’
   Even as Mirza’s parents followed her trail from Mecca where they are on the hajj pilgrimage, her first coach Narendra Nath said he could not keep his eyes off the television during Mirza’s first two matches. ‘A wildcard for the Australian Open was just the break she needed,’ Nath said. ‘She is a big match player and I think she will surprise a few people on Friday.’
   Mirza, ranked 166th in the world, breezed past world number 84 Petra Mandula of Hungary in the second round on Wednesday dropping just three games. She had defeated Australian Cindy Watson in the first round.
   The youngster’s achievement betters the second round showing of Nirupama Vaidyanathan at Melbourne Park in 1998.
   Bhupathi, whose sports management company signed Mirza last year, predicted a top-50 placing for her in the current season.
   ‘She has the game to go so far,’ Bhupathi said. ‘This could be her year to break into the big league.’

Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq Thursday vowed to keep using offspinner Mohammad Hafeez in the triangular international series despite his being reported to the International Cricket Council for a suspect bowling action.
   Inzamam admitted his country’s bowlers had a throwing problem but said he had few selection options and it wouldn’t stop him using Hafeez.
   Hafeez became the fourth Pakistani in recent times and the second off-spinner in two months to be cited for a suspect action.
   He was reported by umpires Rudi Koertzen and Peter Parker and match referee Chris Broad during Pakistan’s tri-series win over the West Indies in Brisbane on Wednesday.
   Inzamam said he did not believe his team was being targeted by umpires and match referees and agreed they had an inherent problem.
   Quick bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Shabbir Ahmed have also been reported for suspect actions while off-spinner Shoaib Malik has been banned from bowling after being found to illegally flex his elbow by human movement experts at the University of Western Australia in Perth last month.
   ‘This is definitely not being targeted, but definitely there is a problem there,’ Inzamam said on arriving at Sydney Airport on Thursday.
   ‘I think (Hafeez’s) problem is not much, it’s very little and hopefully he will cope with that problem.’
   Under ICC rules, Hafeez must meet with approved biomechanics in the next six weeks for testing of his action but he is allowed to bowl in
   international matches during that period.
   If it is found that he flexes his elbow in a delivery more than the five degree tolerance limit set for spinners, Hafeez would be banned from bowling until he corrects the fault.
   But Malik’s current ban and a hamstring tear to opening bowler Shoaib Akhtar mean Pakistan have little choice but to continue bowling Hafeez during his six-week non-reporting period.
   ‘We have a limited choice and we are carrying a lot of injuries and that’s why we don’t have choices, so he’s bowling in the next game,’ Inzamam said.

Ricky Ponting has expressed his appreciation of the International Cricket Council’s efforts to root out illegal bowling actions from the game. Ponting made his comments after the match between Pakistan and West Indies in Brisbane, where Mohammad Hafeez was reported by the umpires and the match referee.
   According to ABC Online, Ponting was happy that the ICC were no longer taking the soft option. ‘They’ve spent a lot of money on it, technology at different times to be able to I guess get a closer look at some of the suspect actions around the world,’ he was quoted as saying. ‘It is good to see now that they are patrolling it very closely and I’m sure that anyone that’s outside those boundaries will be pulled up pretty quickly.’
   Ponting was also insistent that the ongoing wrangle with Cricket Australia over a pay deal wouldn’t result in his team losing focus. Cricket Australia has proposed a new payment scheme which has yet to be accepted by the players’ representatives.
   ‘Hopefully this whole thing can be sorted out, and obviously what we want is nice smooth negotiations to occur,’ said Ponting.

The top seeds maintained their relentless march into the later rounds of the Australian Open Thursday despite some persistent snapping from the underdogs.
   Second seed Andy Roddick, third seed Lleyton Hewitt and women’s world number one Lindsay Davenport dropped sets before reaching the third round, while Venus Williams and Anastasia Myskina were also given some awkward moments.
   But upsets have been thin on the ground. At the end of day four, only one top 10 seeded player from both the men’s and women’s draws had been eliminated.
   Hewitt, aiming to become the first home winner of the Australian Open since Mark Edmondson in 1976, came through a nail-biting encounter with unseeded American James Blake 4-6, 7-6 (10/8), 6-0, 6-3 to keep his dream alive.
   Former world number one Hewitt now plays Argentina’s 25th-seed Juan Ignacio Chela in the last 32 on Saturday, staying on course for a semi-final with American power-server Roddick, who defeated Britain’s Greg Rusedski 6-0, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 in 1hr 33min.
   Roddick, who now plays Austria’s Jurgen Melzer on Saturday, got off to a flier against Rusedski, racing through the first set in 18 minutes and going on to make just eight unforced errors through the entire match, with 49 winners.
   ‘I felt really good out there tonight,’ said Roddick, a beaten quarter-finalist here last year. ‘You don’t really expect that against someone like Greg.
   ‘You always want to serve and return that well, but tonight it just clicked.’
   In other ties, Britain’s seventh seed Tim Henman made sure of his place with a 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 defeat of Romania’s Victor Hanescu in 1hr 53min.
   In earlier matches, 18th seed and Olympic champion Nicolas Massu of Chile limped out injured while Spanish youngster Rafael Nadal produced a stirring fightback to beat Russian 15th seed Mikhail Youzhny 6-1, 4-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.
   Chile’s Athens Olympics singles and doubles gold medallist Massu retired from his contest with German Philipp Kohlschreiber while trailing 6-0, 2-0 with an injured left foot.
   Elsewhere, Argentinian 12th seed Guillermo Canas advanced over Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-0 and Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero accounted for Argentine Mariano Zabaleta in straight sets.
   In the women’s draw, Davenport came from a set down to defeat Michaela Pastikova of the Czech Republic 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 to book her place in the third round alongside Myskina, who beat Israel’s Tzipora Obziler 6-4, 6-2.
   ‘I knew I wasn’t playing my best today, so I knew that no matter what, I just had to try and do my best to get a win and do what I needed to do,’ said Davenport, blaming poor concentration for her first-set loss.
   Russia’s third-seeded French Open champion Myskina was similarly slowly away, trailing 1-3 in the first set, before pulling clear.
   Myskina, well-known for having a fiery temperament, showed flashes of her passionate nature when things weren’t going her way early on, yet kept her emotions in check to prevail.
   The talented right-hander said she had been working hard to exorcise her on-court demons in the close season.
   ‘We have been talking to my coach a lot about this,’ Myskina said. ‘You know, I saw myself on TV, and I don’t really like it. So I think that maybe change a lot,’ added Myskina, who now plays American veteran Lisa Raymond on Saturday.
   Venus Williams overcame the challenge of rising Chinese star Peng Shuai to record a 6-3, 6-1 to reach the third round, where she will face Israeli Anna Smashnova, seeded 27.
   Peng, who last week defeated world number three Myskina on her way to the Sydney semi-finals, gained the early advantage, breaking in the opening game when Williams netted.
   But Williams broke back immediately in a lengthy second game before asserting her authority to advance.
   Williams saw the match as an improvement on her first round struggle against Greek Eleni Daniilidou. ‘Still had a few errors,’ said Williams. ‘I definitely want to bring those down. But just in general I think my game was very solid.
   ‘I think when I needed my serve, it was there. When I needed to get to the ball, I was there. When I needed to make my shots so.
   ‘You can’t expect every match to be perfect. First round for me still was a very good match because I got to hit a lot of balls. With each match I’m playing better, serving better, returning better.’
   In other action Thursday, Russian sixth seed Elena Dementieva—a beaten finalist in the French and US Opens last year—was a comfortable 6-2, 6-1 victor over compatriot Anna Chakvetadze.
   Last year’s beaten semi-finalist Patty Schnyder, seeded 12, was made to sweat before quelling the challenge of Netherlands’ Michaella Krajicek, winning 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
   But France’s Russian-born teenager Tatiana Golovin, seeded 20th after reaching the quarter-finals here last year, was bundled out by American Abigail Spears, losing 7-5, 6-1.

Brazil have named most of their big guns, including Cafu, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Adriano, in their squad for next month’s friendly against Hong Kong in a move that is likely to upset European clubs.
   Hard-tackling Juventus midfielder Emerson was recalled after an absence of more than one year while Santos forward Robinho, still the subject of speculation over a possible move to Real Madrid, was also named for the match in Hong Kong on February 9.
   Emerson last played in the World Cup qualifier in Peru last March and Robinho made his only international appearance as a substitute against Bolivia in September.
   Brazil’s last visit to Asia, a friendly in China in February 2003 that ended in a goalless draw, had infuriated European clubs who were forced to release their players for the game.
   Last August, AC Milan refused to release Kaka, Cafu and Dida for the so-called peace match in Haiti.
   The Hong Kong fixture has already sparked controversy in Brazil itself, with the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) publicly denying that it is receiving a $1 million fee for the fixture.

Real Madrid were dumped out of the King’s Cup by Valladolid on the away goals rule after the second division side claimed a deserved 1-1 draw at the Bernabeu on Wednesday.
   Valladolid forward Xavi More grabbed the all-important goal when he cut inside defender Roberto Carlos and fired a low shot into the far corner 12 minutes from time to cancel out a Michael Owen strike and put his side into the quarter-finals.
   Athletic Bilbao comfortably avoided a similar upset in their tie against third division Lanzarote when they recovered from a 2-1 defeat in the first leg to claim a crushing 6-0 win over the Canary Islanders at San Mames.
   The performance of the night came from Bilbao youngster Fernando Llorente who scored a hat-trick and set up another as his side cruised to their 7-2 aggregate victory.
   Earlier, Osasuna survived a stern test from Getafe to book a place in the quarter-finals with a 4-3 aggregate win.
   The Navarrans, who won last week’s first leg 2-0, were put under severe pressure throughout the all Primera Liga tie, but a fine double from midfielder Inaki Munoz allowed them to scrape through against the modest Madrid-based side.
   Real Betis did the bare minimum to go through, drawing 0-0 with third division Mirandes after a comfortable 3-1 victory in the first leg.
   Primera Liga strugglers Numancia also joined them in the next round after substitute Miguel Perez cancelled out a 1-0 first-leg deficit against second division Elche following the break and his side went through on penalties.
   Real, who once again adopted the risky strategy of fielding a side of second string players in the Cup, were outplayed by their determined second division opponents in the first half.
   Valladolid midfielder David Sousa hit the bar with a dipping free-kick in the sixth minute and strikers More and Roberto Losada were a constant menace to the Real Madrid back four.
   Real’s new signing Thomas Gravesen and Albert Celades were unable to take control in the centre of midfield, while strikers Owen and Javier Portillo barely had a sniff of the ball up front.
   The home side’s only clear chance of the half came three minutes before the break when Portillo had a long distance effort tipped over the bar by Valladolid keeper Francisco Lledo.
   Coach Wanderley Luxemburgo clearly did not like the look of what he saw in the first half and threw on Ronaldo, Raul and Zinedine Zidane in place of former youth team players Jurado, Javi Garcia and Portillo after the break.
   Valladolid were the first to threaten once again and it took a brilliant reaction save from
   keeper Cesar to stop a rasping shot from More in the 52nd minute.
   The in-form Owen looked as though he had secured his side a place in the next round when he raced on to a neat pass from Raul and fired a perfectly-placed angled shot inside the far post 20 minutes into the second half.
   Real’s celebrations were cut short, however, when the visitors drew level 12 minutes later thanks to More’s fine individual goal.
   Real, who were the losing finalists in last season’s competition, join Barcelona, Valencia and Deportivo Coruna on the list of high-profile victims in this season’s Cup.

Holders Manchester United were given an FA Cup fright before beating minor league Exeter City 2-0 in a nervy third round replay on Wednesday.
   Portugal winger Cristiano Ronaldo scored after nine minutes but the Conference side put United under pressure midway through the second half and had a potential equaliser disallowed before England striker Wayne Rooney killed the tie in the 87th minute.
   United, whose second string side were held to a shock 0-0 draw at Old Trafford on January 8, lined up an all-Premier League fourth round tie at home to Middlesbrough.
   Two other Premier League clubs made it through their replays against second division opponents, with Fulham beating Watford 2-0 and Blackburn Rovers seeing off Cardiff City 3-2.
   Fulham’s reward is a tie at second division Derby County on January 29, while Blackburn host third division Colchester United.
   Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson paid tribute to plucky Exeter after it took two of the best players at Euro 2004 to see off the minor league team.
   ‘It’s just a great reminder of the romance of the FA Cup,’ he told Sky Sports News. ‘When any small club in the country gets drawn against a big team it’s so inspirational for them.’
   Exeter manager Alex Inglethorpe told the BBC, ‘I’m very proud of the team. After the early goal, we showed that we could be solid and kept going.’
   The comfortable scoreline belied the fact that United had to scrap for their win in the blustery conditions.
   Hugely embarrassed by the draw at Old Trafford, Ferguson wheeled out the big guns with Rooney, Ronaldo and Ryan Giggs thrown into the attack from the start, backed by Paul Scholes.
   There was an early dividend when Ronaldo was put through by Scholes and his angled shot got beneath Exeter’s teenage keeper Paul Jones.
   But the expected avalanche of goals from United never materialised as Exeter matched their millionaire opponents for sheer effort.
   They could even have been level in the 61st minute when unmarked striker Sean Devine volleyed their best chance wide from the edge of the six-yard box. Devine did find the United net in the 75th minute but his strike was offside.
   Rooney, who had been denied by Jones all night, finally relieved the pressure on the holders when he rounded the keeper and slotted into an empty net.
   German defender Moritz Volz fired Fulham into a 13th-minute lead in their replay against League Cup semi-finalists Watford after pouncing on a defensive error at Craven Cottage.
   Andy Cole set up Canadian striker Tomasz Radzinski to put the result beyond doubt in the 65th minute.
   Two goals from midfielder David Thompson in the first half, either side of Joel McAnuff’s equaliser, put Blackburn in charge at Ewood Park.
   Norwegian midfielder Morten Gamst Pedersen added a third just after the break, but Cardiff’s James Collins kept the tie alive with a 54th minute strike.
   Adam Boyd got the winner as third division Hartlepool beat fourth division Boston United 1-0 in the night’s other replay.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho insisted Wednesday he was not feeling any pressure with his side clear at the top of the Premier League and said it was rival bosses Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson who should be worrying.
   Chelsea are 10 points clear of second-placed champions Arsenal and 11 ahead of United.
   While the war of words between Gunners manager Wenger and United counterpart Ferguson shows no sign of slowing down, Mourinho said he had no wish to be part of their so-called ‘mind games’ and didn’t even pay attention to their teams’ results.
   Both Ferguson and Wenger have tried to suggest that Chelsea’s collective lack of championship-winning experience – the Londoners have not won a top-flight title for 50 years – will count against them as the season wears on.
   But Portuguese chief Mourinho, who last season lifted both the Portuguese and Champions League titles with Porto, told Chelsea TV he was not feeling the strain.
   ‘I have never felt that pressure. They can say what they want, it doesn’t interfere with what I think.
   ‘This may be my first year in England but I have the experience of other leagues. For me, there is no pressure to lead. The pressure is being second or third.
   ‘Every week, you have to win and then be on television or radio, asking for the leader to lose points. When you lead, you can forget the other teams.
   ‘I don’t see Arsenal or Manchester United on television, I am not waiting for their results on the radio. I just want to play.
   ‘If we win, the job for that week is done.
   ‘So I don’t feel pressure and I carry on saying that to the players. Now we have a 10-point lead, I tell the players that we can afford to make a mistake.
   ‘Even if we lose a game, like we did at Manchester City, we have to win the next one and we still have a seven-point lead.’
   Mourinho, whose star-studded side has been bankrolled by Chelsea’s Russian billionaire owner Roman Abramovich, insisted winning the Premier League in his first season at Stamford Bridge was always on his mind.
   ‘Since the first day, we have just thought about winning the championship. We believed we could do that, in spite of competing against Manchester United and Arsenal, who have had a lot of years with the same managers and players, and didn’t need time to adapt.’
   Now only the kind of collapse that saw Newcastle blow a 12 point lead over United nine years ago can prevent Chelsea winning the title for the first time since then future England great Jimmy Greaves led their strikeforce back in 1955.
   ‘In this league, we cannot sleep. Of course, 10 points is 10 points, it is better than seven and it is better than five,’ said Mourinho.
   ‘But if one day we lose a game or two points and the gap goes from 10 to seven or eight, we are ready to accept it as natural and keep going, controlling the distance.
   ‘The reality is that if it goes from 10 to 12 or 13 points then maybe it (the title race) is over.’
   Injuries though could still play a part. Even with a squad of their depth, Chelsea would still be troubled by the loss of in-form skipper John Terry from the heart of their defence or England midfielder Frank Lampard.
   But the Blues have made light of the absence of centre-backs Ricardo Carvalho (broken toe) and Robert Huth (twisted ankle) with Terry and William Gallas having featured in six consecutive clean sheet league victories during the past month.
   Huth is now back in full training but Mourinho said Portugal international Carvalho, who came off injured against Arsenal last month, would be missing for several more weeks.
   ‘Ricardo will be out for a few weeks more. He is not yet in training and, because we don’t need him, we can wait for him to be 100 percent.
   ‘If we had a problem and needed him, he could play at 75 per cent, but there is no need, especially with Robert Huth now ready again.’

England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson could give Shaun Wright-Phillips a starting berth in next month’s friendly against the Netherlands, but maybe not in right midfield.
   The 23-year-old, who has made two substitute appearances for England, has been in great form in that position for Manchester City, scoring some superb long-range goals and providing a constant threat.
   But for England, the right flank belongs to captain David Beckham, an untouchable as far as Eriksson is concerned.
   Beckham has been playing, with limited success, in central midfield for Real Madrid, but Eriksson has never taken to the idea.
   ‘It is definitely possible to play both of them in the same side,’ the Swede said. ‘It’s not his best position but I’m sure Shaun could also play on the left even if it’s better for him to be on the right.
   ‘The fact is that David is our captain and he will go on being our captain.
   ‘David has played central midfield for Real Madrid for one and a half years, so of course it’s possible he could do that maybe for the national team as well.
   ‘That depends on the way we want to play.’
   Eriksson also refused to join criticism of Beckham’s uninspired performances in Spain.
   ‘I don’t agree with it or understand it,’ he said. ‘He is playing regular football for Real Madrid which is not that bad, so I will pick him and he will probably play from the beginning.’
   Eriksson, like most England managers before him, has struggled to successfully fill the left midfield berth and Wright-Phillips, strongly right-footed, has rarely played there.
   Another option, and one the Swede appears to be warming to, is Middlesbrough’s uncapped 20-year-old Stewart Downing.
   ‘He’s very interesting,’ said Eriksson, speaking at the launch of the women’s European championship in Manchester on Tuesday.
   ‘He’s another young one and probably he will be picked. He deserves to be picked. I don’t know if he will start but he is playing better and better.
   ‘It’s good to talk abut players like Wright-Phillips and Stewart Downing. They are two young boys, both very talented and playing very good football at this moment, very consistent.
   ‘I don’t know who’s going to start. First I will pick the squad, 22 players or maybe 23, and I will see if they are tired or not.
   ‘But for sure I will try to start with the best team because it’s the only chance we have to play together before the qualification games in March.’
   The February 9 friendly against the Dutch at Villa Park is Eriksson's only chance to work with his squad before World Cup qualifiers against Northern Ireland and Azerbaijan in March.

Former Argentina coach Carlos Bilardo, a man famous for his ruthless approach and gamesmanship, was in the middle of a row on Wednesday involving a bottle of water, Brazil and the 1990 World Cup.
   Bilardo appeared to imply in an interview with a Buenos Aires magazine that Argentina offered Brazil’s players a bottle of water which had been drugged with a tranquiliser as the South American rivals met in a 1990 World Cup tie.
   ‘I’m not saying it didn’t happen,’ the controversial coach known as Big Nose told the magazine Veintitres.
   However, as Brazilians, believing that Bilardo had confirmed what they had long suspected, were calling for action to be taken, the coach later denied the episode in an interview with Brazil’s Estado News Agency.
   ‘Not this again,’ he was quoted as saying.
   ‘I don’t know anything about it,’ added Bilardo, who led Argentina to World Cup victory in 1986. ‘These magazines always put what they want.’
   ‘Since then, I’ve spoken to Falcao, Casagrande, Junior, Dunga, (Carlos Alberto) Parreira, (Luiz Felipe) Scolari ... and nobody said anything about it.’
   Brazil were dominating the second round match, which was played in stifling heat, when an Argentine player went down injured in the second half and the team doctors and physiotherapists came on to the pitch.
   The Argentine players took advantage to drink some water and some of their opponents, including left-back Blanco, came over to share some.
   Argentina, who went on to reach the final, sneaked a late breakaway goal to win 1-0. Two days afterwards, Branco said that he had felt dizzy after drinking the water.

When ‘Eats, Shoots and Leaves’ - a stinging polemic on the decline of English punctuation - is listed as his favourite book, it is clear that the 21st century soccer fan has come a long way.
   The biggest annual outlay of today’s supporter is on health and beauty products, gym membership and haircuts, where a combined average of almost 700 pounds ($1,306) is spent, more than on clothes.
   When it comes to books, Lynne Truss’s spirited defence of the apostrophe is a surprise number one, while autobiographies of David Beckham and Paul Gascoigne also lag behind ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’ and ‘The Da Vinci Code’, with a Jamie Oliver cookbook just off the pace.
   The music favourite ‘Keane’ is neither United’s Roy or Tottenham Hotspur’s Robbie, but the chart-
   topping band whose
   album ‘Hopes and Fears’ was rated by fans as the best of the year.
   These revelations and many more appear in the 2004 Barclays Fans’ Spending Report, a document that illustrates emphatically that the days of working class, tabloid-reading male dominance are long gone.
   The loutish image formerly associated with the game is also put to bed by the news that the average supporter spends 400 pounds annually on DIY, 150 on gardening and, whisper it, 65 pounds on flowers.
   The last figure is likely to be influenced by the ever-increasing numbers of women attending matches - no distinction was drawn by the research based on 275,000 bank accounts - but it does not disguise the fact that ‘new man’ is very much established as the 21st century supporter.
   London clubs, led by Arsenal and Chelsea, are the top five spenders on
   flowers but whether that reflects their softer side or merely the high profit margins of the capital’s florists is unclear.
   Londoners also spend the most on pets, followers of Fulham topping the chart with 193 pounds annually. The upmarket west London district also leads the way when it comes to health and beauty, fashion, eating out and books.
   The United States is the most popular holiday destination but ‘progress’ has not reached every corner - Bolton Wanderers fans outspend their Premier League rivals by lavishing 411 pounds every year on caravans and camping.