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Mohammedans 1 Brothers 1
   In front of thirty thousand howling spectators Brothers Union and Mohammedans played out 1-1 draw on Friday taking the title fight of the Premier Division Football League to a play-off scheduled to be held on Monday.
   At the Bangabandhu National Stadium the duel between the black-and-white side and the orange outfit was full of attacks and counter-attacks. The first half belonged to Brothers Union but Mohammedans came out of their shell after the breather and dominated the scenario. After Brothers Union left-back Parvez Babu was sent off in the 60th minute for an off-the-ball foul on Rony, Brothers Union turned into a rudderless ship. They somehow survived the onslaughts and were fortunate that Nakib’s header off a Motiur Munna cross just two minutes from time hit the side post.
   Mohammedans started brightly but faded midway through the first half as their midfield quartet – Arman Aziz, Asad, Faisal Mahmood and Motiur Munna – failed to have the control of the ball. The defence was left with wide gaps as the defenders moved forward to increase pressure on the opponents and Brothers Union went up in the 17th minute through in-form Russian striker Victor Edwards.
   Pranotosh gave a long pass to Parvez Babu who floated a neat cross to unmarked Victor Edwards near the post. Victor sent a vicious right-footer from the middle of the box that crashed into the net after deflecting off the side bar.
   Mohammedans took some time to settle and started counter-attacking but Alfaz was short of a striking partner as Donald Robert of Sierra Leone was not responding to his duties properly. In the 28th minute, Motiur Munna’s back-heel from a Faisal Mahmood pass kissed the side post and two minutes later Donald Robert blasted the ball over the bar off a Rony cross.
   Victor again came close to a goal in the 32nd minute as his neat volley off a Siraji cross went straight to Mohammedans custodian Biplob who was visibly nervous throughout the match.
   Mohammedans inserted Khokon Das at the start of the second half and the change worked. Brothers took a defensive strategy and Mohammedans started to use the flanks as well as the midfield. In the 59th minute when Parvez Babu sent a cross to Emily who headed the ball to Biplob but the referee Monsur Azad flashed the red card to Parvez Babu as he kicked Rony before initiating the attack. As Rony was lying down and later stretchered off the field, the referee after consulting with the linesman sent Babu off.
   From then on Brothers Union were a disjointed unit. Mohammedans increased the pressure and in the 67th minute Donald Robert’s left-footer was blocked by second choice Brothers custodian Mohammad Ali and the rebounder was shot straight to him by Munna. Alfaz’s left-footed placing shot rolled outside beating Ali in the 69th minute.
   Motiur Munna levelled the score in the 67th minute as Rony beat the off-side trap and set up Munna who neatly slipped the ball between the legs of Ali.
   Abul’s floater in the 81st minute stretched Biplob to his limits. But Nakib, who is renowned for his headwork, spoiled what could have been the goal of his life as he headed the ball into the side post off a Munna cross.
   Both the teams will now turn their focus on the play-off to decide the championship. The result also confirmed the third place of Abahani.

Bangladeshi middle-order batsmen Mohammad Ashraful and Aftab Ahmed geared up for the first Test against Sri Lanka with gutsy half-centuries in a drawn practice match here on Friday.
   Ashraful scored 87 and Ahmed 67 as Bangladesh made 273-6 in their second innings on the third and final day of the match against a Sri Lanka Cricket Development team after conceding a lead of 217.
   Cricket minnows Bangladesh clash with Sri Lanka in the first match of a two-Test series here on Monday.
   Bangladesh were facing defeat at 92-4 in the morning session against a second-string side before Ashraful and Aftab came to their team's rescue with a defiant 123-run stand for the fifth wicket.
   Ashraful struck one six and 11 fours in his 150-ball knock, while Ahmed hit one six and seven fours.
   Tushar Imran (23 not out) and skipper Khaled Mashud (14 not out) then added 58 for the unfinished seventh wicket.
   Sri Lanka have already clinched a one-day series against the tourists.
   Brief scores:
   Bangladesh: 195 (J Omar 81, T Baishya 54; G Rupasinghe 3-31, G Wijekoon 3-35) and 273-6 (M Ashraful 87, Aftab Ahmed 67; G Wijekoon 2-24)
   Sri Lanka Cricket Development XI: 412 (J Mendis 95, G de Silva 74, S Kalavithigoda 59, T Samaraweera 48; Syed Rasel 4-85)
   Result: Match drawn

England (373) lead Australia (112/0) by 261 runs at tea, day 2
    Australia gave England a reminder of how Ashes contests used to be with an unbroken century stand between Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden leaving them well-placed at tea on the second day of the crunch fifth Test at The Oval here Friday.
   Australia were 112 without loss, 261 behind England’s below par first innings 373, in a match the tourists had to win to square the series at 2-2 and so retain the Ashes they’d held since 1989.
   Langer was 75 not out and Hayden 32 not out with the left-handers’ partnership their first three-figure stand of the series and well in excess of their previous best of 58 in the drawn third Test at Old Trafford.
   One small consolation for England, who only needed to avoid defeat to win their first Ashes series since 1986-87, was that the skies had clouded over and rain seemed imminment. Covers were placed over the pitch as a precuation.
   Australia resumed after lunch on 19 without loss.
   Langer was 16 not out and Hayden, who hadn’t scored more than 70 in his last 30 Test innings, unbeaten on two.
   With a becalmed Hayden taking 53 balls to get to double figures, it was left to Langer to do the bulk of the scoring in a reversal of their usual roles.
   England though were without in-form fast bowler Simon Jones, who’d taken 18 wickets at 21 in the first four Tests of the series.
   The Glamorgan quick was missing because of an ankle injury and England, who had called up fast bowler James Anderson into their squad, instead chose all-rounder Paul Collingwood, a medium-pacer, as his replacement.
   England, needing only to avoid defeat to win their first Ashes series since 1986-87, had clearly hoped for runs from Collingwood but he only scored seven.
   The balance of England’s attack placed a heavy reponsibility on left-arm spinner Giles to ensure England’s frontline quicks did not have to carry too heavy a burden.
   But Langer, looking to disrupt England’s plans, drove Giles’s second and fourth balls for six as 14 runs in all came off the bowler’s first over.
   That over also saw Langer complete a 63-ball fifty with two sixes and six fours.
   Giles was immediately replaced by Collingwood, the spinner switching ends.
   Collingwood almost proved a partnership breaker when Langer, on 53, tried to cut a ball that was too close to him and Marcus Trescothick, at slip, failed to hold on to a difficult one-handed chance high to his right.
   Earlier leg-spin legend Shane Warne, in his last Test in England, finished with six for 122 after keeping Australia in the match all but singlehandedy on Friday when he dismissed five England batsmen, including left-handed opener Andrew Strauss for 129 made in nearly six hours.
   Warne’s haul gave him 34 wickets for the series, equalling his best for a Test campaign in England, in the 1993 six-match encounter.
   England, who began Friday on 319 for seven, saw their last three wickets add 48 runs.
   A total of 400 appeared to be the bare minimum on such a good surface. But South Africa made 484 in the first innings at The Oval two years ago and still lost by nine wickets.
   However, Australia’s best first innings total in the series so far had been the 308 they made in England’s two-run second Test win at Edgbaston.

Top seed and title-holder Roger Federer produced his best tennis of the championships at the US Open on Thursday to score a straight sets quarter-final victory
   over old nemesis David Nalbandian.
   The Swiss star won 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 in a disappointing tie that never looked in doubt after Federer blitzed his opponent in the opening set.
   He will play Australian third seed Lleyton Hewitt in the semi-finals on Saturday in a repeat of last year’s final, which Federer won in straight sets.
   ‘It’s great. I’m very happy. I didn’t expect this before the match. It’s just the way I should be playing at this stage of the tournament,’ he said. ‘I had a really great rhythm against David.’
   Federer dropped his opening serve but a game later he
   was already back on level terms and then abruptly stepped on the accelerator to power ahead 4-1 winning 12 points in a row.
   A third break of serve in the eighth game gave Federer the opening set in just 27 minutes and already Nalbandian was looking concerned.
   It was a very different Federer to the player that struggled through four sets in the last round against Nicolas Kiefer.
   But Nalbandian was never an opponent he was going to take lightly as the muscular slugger from Cordoba held a rare winning 5-2 record over him, including a fourth round tie here two years ago.
   Federer brushed off two break points on his serve to open the second set, but he failed to repeat the dose four games later as Nalbandian grabbed his second break of the match.
   As in the first set though, the top seed counter-attacked with a vengeance and he drew level at 4-4.
   Two games later, Federer was two sets up, breaking the Nalbandian serve again with a crisp forehand crosscourt winner followed by a backhand bombshell that the Argentinian at the net found too hot to handle.
   Nalbandian smashed his racquet to pieces on returning to his chair at the changeover but the histrionics did nothing to change the script as Federer quickly opened up a 5-0 lead in the third with two breaks of serve.
   The Argentinian did get one game on the scoreboard after saving a match point, but he was heading home two
   minutes later as Federer converted on his fourth match point It was Federer’s 69th match win against three losses this year and his 33rd straight win on hardcourts this year since losing to Marat Safin in the semi-finals of the Australian Open in
   January.
   On playing Hewitt whom he has beaten in their last eight encounters Federer said: ‘I’m looking forward to a great match.
   ‘Two different styles of play, it should be a good match.’

Bangladesh’s bowling attack further lost its bite before the crucial Test series against Sri Lanka as paceman Tapash Baishya also has been declared unfit after his new ball partner Mashrafee bin Murtaza and both are being sent home by the same flight today.
   Talha bin Zubaer has already left Dhaka on Friday to replace Mashrafee in the squad but no one has yet been
   chosen as the replacement for Tapash.
   ‘We will sit tomorrow (Saturday) to discuss the issue and only after that we will be able to tell you whether there will be any replacement for Tapash,’ chief selector Faruque Ahmed told New Age last evening.
   Team sources in Colombo said the team management is happy with the three-pronged pace attack involving Talha, Shahadat and Russel and hence the chance of sending anyone in place of Tapash is very slim.
   Tapash was originally scheduled to play in the Test series but he was called back shortly before the one-day series after Mashrafee
   showed signs of injury which eventually cost him the whole series.
   Tapash played all three one-day internationals and also featured in the three-day practice up match against Sri Lankan development team.
   But the gangling speedster from Sylhet recently aggravated his ankle injury that he sustained during the England tour.
   According to the team sources, Tapash will need at least eight weeks to recover from the injury.

World No. 1 Roger Federer returned to his dominant ways on Thursday, moving into the US Open semi-finals in straight sets, and that’s just the way he likes it.
   ‘The first round here was great, the next three were close matches. I wasn’t happy to see that,’ said Federer, who caused jaws to drop when he dropped a set to German Nicolas Kiefer in the fourth round.
   ‘Especially against Kiefer I was really under pressure,’ he said. ‘To come out and play a match again quite dominant is a good feeling.’
   Not that Federer can’t appreciate a close match. He stayed up until the wee hours of Thursday morning watching on TV Andre Agassi’s five-set come-from-behind victory over fellow American James Blake.
   ‘This was great because it was so late in the night, two great players, two Americans in America,’ he said. ‘The way they pushed each other - the quality of tennis stayed great to the end. The quality of the game was extraordinary, I thought.’
   Federer was full of praise for Agassi but he was in no doubt: ‘James gave it away. He should have locked it up many times.’
   He said the emotional gauntlet of such matches was an interesting test of a player.
   ‘It’s nice to be in them,’ he said. ‘You learn a lot about what kind of player you are, what kind of person you are. You go through so many emotions. When I was watching it my pulse was going.
   ‘I’d almost rather watch them to be honest.’
   Lately, Federer’s experience of close matches often comes as a spectator.
   Federer pounded American Andy Roddick in the Wimbledon final, just as last year at the US Open he beat Australian Lleyton Hewitt 6-0, 7-6 (7/3), 6-0.
   His straight sets win over David Nalbandian in Thursday’s quarter-final moved him a step closer to levelling his career record with one of the few players to boast a winning mark against the Swiss.
   Nalbandian wasn’t surprised that Federer stepped up his game for the clash.
   ‘I thought that he was going to play better than the other days,’ he said.
   Federer admitted the record was on his mind a bit early in the match. He dropped his serve in the first game, but settled down with a break in the next game and he was off.
   ‘I was a little tense going into the match, because I knew the record against him,’ Federer said. ‘It was a matter of giving him a taste of what he gave me with the early break.’

Andre Agassi is tired of all the retirement talk and wants to simply let his racquet do the talking as he takes aim at becoming the oldest US Open champion in 35 years.
   ‘It’s all going to come to an end at one time or another. Until that point, I want to be committed to this and see it through,’ said Agassi, who moved a step closer to his goal with a five-set comeback win over fellow-American James Blake in the quarters.
   Thirty-five seems to be a lucky number for Agassi, who at that ripe old tennis age has battled his way through the Open draw with only unseeded fellow-American Robby Ginepri standing in his way for a crack at a third Open title and ninth grand slam singles crown.
   After losing in the first round of the French Open and then missing Wimbledon due to a chronic back problem, Agassi appeared to be headed to his grand slam swan song in his 20th successive trip to Flushing Meadows.
   Agassi had a cortisone shot to ease his pain and then eased back into training.
   He came out swinging on the hard courts this summer and showed he was far from through by winning Los Angeles and finishing runner-up in Montreal.
   ‘You never know when it’s your last go,’ Agassi said after his thrilling fight back Wednesday after losing the first two sets to Blake.
   ‘I’ve been around long enough to know how short-lived all of this is.’
   Agassi said he was surprised by his own sudden turnabout.
   ‘It’s pretty amazing. It just feels great. The time I spent during Wimbledon at home, just not knowing if I’ll play again, let alone be ready in just a few weeks’ time.’
   Agassi, US Open champion in 1999 and 1994, is the oldest US Open semi-finalist since a 39-year-old Jimmy Connors reached the last four in 1991.
   Two more match wins would make Agassi the oldest US Open champion since 35-year-old Ken Rosewall in 1970.

Australian media Friday lauded spin genius Shane Warne for single-handedly keeping Australia’s Ashes hopes flickering against England with one of his greatest bowling performances in the fifth cricket Test at The Oval.
   The master leg-spinner, who turns 36 on Tuesday, captured 5-118 as Australia doggedly restricted England to 319 for seven after Thursday’s first day of the final Test it must win to level the series at 2-2 and retain the Ashes they’ve held for 16 years.
   ‘Thank heavens Australia still has Shane Warne,’ Robert Craddock said in the Herald-Sun in Melbourne.
   ‘Warne’s brilliance has helped to paper over the cracks in the rest of the (bowling) attack, which has lost its aura.
   ‘The game looked all but gone when Warne appeared in the attack at 0-61 after 14 overs. The (English) batsmen were set. The wicket was doing next to nothing. Then Australia roared back.’
   Prime Minister and cricket fan John Howard also praised Warne’s contribution early in the deciding Test.
   ‘I think we’ve got off to a very good start, although there is a long way to go. But Shane Warne has had a terrific start to this match—he just seems to go from strength to strength,’ Howard said on radio.
   ‘First time he’s bowled the first five batsmen out ever in a Test match—terrific. He’s a great bowler.’
   Australia may have struggled for much of this series, but Warne has stood as a colossus against the recharged Englishmen with 33 series wickets at 20.27, significantly better than his 127-Test career average of 25.25.
   Warne is far and away the best-performed bowler of both sides in the five Tests of the Ashes and is even averaging more with the bat at 31.12 than his Test career 17.08.
   Should Australia retain the Ashes it will have everything to do with Warne, agreed The Sydney Morning Herald.
   Warne ‘through sheer skill and strength of will in the fifth Test gave his country reason to believe the little urn (Ashes) might not yet be lost’, the daily said.
   ‘Warne’s already monumental influence on his last series in England grew with every delivery as he kept his country’s hopes flickering on the first day of a match he had earlier described as the biggest of his life.
   ‘The Australians finished the first day of the deciding Ashes Test with their noses slightly in front of England.
   ‘It was the incomparable leg-spinner’s 31st five-wicket haul, but this occasion will no doubt outshine all the others if it helps Australia level the series and, hence, retain the Ashes urn in his last series on English soil.
   ‘Mark this one down as his greatest series,’ Craddock wrote.
   ‘Australia had major fears Warne would mentally collapse during this series following the breakdown of his marriage. But, quite incredibly, he has managed to mentally arrange his thoughts to the point where he has become a driven man.’
   Warne’s mental state was questioned going into the series amid his marriage break-up, blamed on several highly-publicised affairs with women which reportedly occurred since he moved to England to play for Hampshire this year.
   His wife, Simone, and three children returned to Melbourne, but Warne assured Australian fans he wouldn’t allow his personal life to impact on his performance during the Ashes, and based on on-field performances, it hasn’t.
   ‘Yet still he bowls like a champion,’ Craddock said. ‘People who say he is not the bowler he was have been proved wrong. Cold statistics say so. He might not turn the ball as much as he used to, but his skills are as silky as ever.’
   Warne, the first bowler to claim 600 Test wickets, has now captured 616 wickets in his 128th Test with a maximum of 13 English wickets left in the series.

Muslim clerics sharply criticised Indian tennis star Sania Mirza on Friday for wearing short skirts on court, accusing the teenager of being a ‘corrupting influence on young women’.
   ‘Sania Mirza is a Muslim and she stands half-naked on the tennis court while playing, which is against Islam,’ Siddikulla Chowdhury, secretary of the Jamiat-Ulama-Hind Islamic movement in Kolkata, told AFP by telephone.
   ‘She is trying to ape some Western tennis players who dress in a similar way,’ said Chowdhury, whose group has a strong base in two eastern states.
   ‘The dress she wears on the tennis court not only doesn’t cover large parts of her body but leaves nothing to the imagination of voyeurs,’ another cleric, Maulana Hasheeb-ul-Hasan Siddiqui, told the Hindustan Times daily.
   ‘She will undoubtedly be a corrupting influence on these women,’ said Siddiqui, general secretary of a group called the Sunni Ulema Board which is influential in Mirza’s home town, the southern city of Hyderabad.
   The gutsy 18-year-old, who reached the fourth round of the US Open before losing to top-seeded Maria Sharapova on Sunday, has received attention in India for wearing short skirts and T-shirts emblazoned with cheeky slogans.
   At a press conference on Thursday in Hyderabad, Mirza, who is asked almost as many questions about her wardrobe as she is about her playing, declined to respond to reports that a ‘fatwa’, or religious edict, had been issued by Islamic clerics against her.
   ‘I have nothing to say about that,’ Mirza told reporters.
   But Zafarul-Islam Khan, editor of The Milli Gazette, a bi-monthly publication with a focus on Islamic issues, told AFP no fatwa had been issued.
   ‘It is just for sensation,’ he said. ‘There is no fatwa.’
   According to Khan, a fatwa is a response given in writing to a specific question, and can only be given by a qualified scholar, or ‘mufti.’ ‘But every time a bearded person says something it is called a fatwa,’ he said, adding that Mirza’s attire was not an issue among most Indian Muslims.
   ‘The community is proud that a Muslim girl has done this,’ he said.
   Sania mania gripped India when the teenager reached the third round of the Australian Open in January, won the WTA Hyderabad Open in February and beat reigning US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in Dubai in March.
   Till Mirza came along, Indians rarely looked beyond their obsession with cricket. Now they can’t keep their eyes off her.
   Sponsors, attracted as much by her good looks as her powerful strokes on court, have flooded her with the kind of offers usually reserved for top cricketers.
   Siddiqui, of the Sunni Ulema Board, however, wished Mirza would take a leaf out of the book of the Iranian female players who were in Hyderabad earlier this week for the Asian Badminton Championship.
   They were fully covered up, an approving Siddiqui told the Hindustan Times.

Rawle Brancker, who stepped down as chairman of the Cricket World Cup committee last week, blamed Chris Dehring, MD of Cricket World Cup West Indies, and Teddy Griffith, a former president of the West Indies board, as being the main reasons for his resignation.
   ‘I would never wish to be in a position where Dehring makes it a ‘you or me’, and I must admit that neither was I comfortable to be sitting around the table with Teddy Griffith,’ Brancker told the Barbados-based Nation, ‘because, if you remember, (Ken) Gordon announced that Teddy was appointed a member of the Cricket WC board after he resigned as president.
   ‘And given the experience of attempts to remove me, together with the fact that Teddy has presided over West Indies cricket at its worst, I could neither trust or respect his opinions, so considering those factors, I said goodbye.’
   Brancker, who was associated with the committee for two years, also accused Dehring of failing to introduce more transparency in the committee’s operations.
   ‘Let me solemnly state to you that if the transparency, accountability, and the best practice that I insisted upon, on behalf of the board of Cricket World Cup, are too much for Dehring to live with and some board members cannot see that he should go, then I am gone. I have no place in that company.’
   Brancker also warned against relying too much on Dehring.
   ‘I don’t think he is the only person who can now deliver the best World Cup ever,’ he continued.
   ‘I think the people who will do that and the people who have planned to do that are the brilliant local organising committees (LOCs) we have in place.
   ‘The LOCs have planned a water-tight World Cup and once they execute it in the way it is planned, it will happen and happen well.
   ‘This marvellous game of cricket and its World Cup are much bigger than any one of us and it is going to happen with or without us.’
   Dehring, however, remained undeterred with Brancker’s comments, and assured his commitment to the 2007 World Cup.
   ‘My focus is on the Cricket World Cup and delivering this event,’ he continued.
   ‘I have worked alongside the International Cricket Council, the Global Cricket Corporation, the West Indies Cricket Board, CARICOM governments and every day I have that constant workload.
   ‘I just have to focus on that workload. With 500 days to go I can’t spend the day with peripheral issues.’
   He further added: ‘If I allowed personal things to impact the World Cup then I wouldn’t be a very good manager. I just have to remain focused to deliver. I had very healthy relationships with Brancker and the entire board. I don’t have any ill will towards anybody.’

India’s Test squad were provided with unexpectedly stiff opposition by a Zimbabwe Board XI at this small border town close to Mozambique on the first day of a three-day match.
   The Zimbabwe Board XI captain Hamilton Mazakadsa won the toss and decided to bat in the match which is being used by both sides as a warm-up for the first Test in Bulawayo starting next Tuesday.
   Dion Ebrahim, who had been dropped for the one-day international against India at Harare last Sunday, made a strong case for inclusion in the Test team by scoring an almost faultless undefeated 163 against the tourists.
   India for their part fielded all their Test squad with the the exceptions of Harbhajan Singh and Ashish Nehra, who has had to return home with a muscle problem in his buttocks and has been replaced by Ajit Agarkar.
   Ebrahim hit a six and 25 fours and he was at the wicket for all but the first half hour of the day. The Zimbabwe Board XI finished the day on 265-7 and will resume batting on Friday in a strong position, with Ebrahim resuming leadership.
   Ebrahim has been out of form in recent weeks and in any event is generally regarded as a marginal player but he is much more suited to the longer game, being able to take his time, which his natural style.
   Best of the India bowlers was Anil Kumble with 3-42 in 29 overs.

An 11-member Australia A cricket squad arrived in Pakistan for a five-match tour early Friday, the first tour by any Australian team in seven years.
   Australia’s senior cricket team, which last toured Pakistan in 1998, refused to come back in 2002 over security fears sparked in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States and the ensuing troubles in neighbouring Afghanistan.
   Two years later, Australia’s hockey team pulled out of the six-nation Champions Trophy in Lahore after a series of bomb blasts in Punjab province renewed their fears.
   Only a pre-tour security assessment cleared the Australia A tour, during which they will play only in Rawalpindi—near the capital Islamabad—and the eastern city of Lahore.
   A security officer is also travelling with the team.
   But Australia A team manager Bernard Robertson said it was good to be in Pakistan.
   ‘Cricket Australia and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) discussed and agreed to the security arrangements for the players and we are delighted to be here,’ Robertson told AFP on squad’s arrival.
   ‘I don’t think the players have anything on their minds other than cricket and it’s a great opportunity for them to make their mark.’
   Australia A captain Brad Haddin, understudy to current Australian wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist, and two other players—Brad Hodge and Stuart Clark—will arrive from England later Friday.
   Paceman Shaun Tait, who was required to play in the fifth Ashes Test against England, was replaced by upcoming Queensland pacer Mitchell Johnson.
   Australia A will open their tour with a four-day match against Pakistan A at Rawalpindi from Sunday while the second four-day match, also at Rawalpindi, will be played from September 17-20.
   The three one-day matches are all scheduled in Lahore on September 23, 25 and 27.
   Pakistan named Test discard Misbahul Haq to lead the Pakistan A side, which also include Test openers Yasir Hameed and Salman Butt, allrounder Shoaib Malik and fast bowlers Mohammad Sami, Umer Gul and Shahid Nazir.
   ‘PCB has approached this series very seriously by naming a strong squad and I hope it’s going to be a very exciting series played in the true spirit,’ said Robertson.
   Australia A: Brad Haddin (captain), Michael Hussey, Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark, Daniel Cullen, Brad Hodge, James Hopes, Phil Jaques, Michael Lewis, Marcus North, Dominic Thornely, Shane Watson, Mitchell Johnson, Cameron White.

International Cricket Council chief executive Malcolm Speed has pledged to address the controversial substitute fielder rule next month.
   Speed will meet with Test captains and umpires in Sydney to discuss the issue after Ricky Ponting hit out at England’s use of substitutes.
   ‘It’s something we want to talk to the captains about and the umpires,’ Speed told BBC Sport.
   ‘But it’s a delicate issue and a difficult issue.’
   Ponting was docked 75% of his match fee in the fourth Test for an angry outburst after he was run out by substitute fielder Gary Pratt.
   He called England’s repeated use of replacements a ‘disgrace’ and, while he admitted it was within the rules, he added that it was ‘not within the spirit of the game’.
   Durham’s Pratt was on the field to replace the injured bowler Simon Jones, but Ponting feels England have manipulated the current International Cricket Council (ICC) regulations to their own advantage.
   England’s bowlers have regularly left the field for short periods after spells, although coach Duncan Fletcher has insisted the breaks are merely to answer calls of nature.
   Speed stressed Michael Vaughan and England had ‘done nothing wrong’ by using substitutes during the Ashes.
   ‘I think Ricky Ponting has a point there - we need to be careful that we keep it under control, define what’s acceptable and the captains buy into that,’ he said.

Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova completed a career mixed doubles Grand Slam here Thursday, teaming with Indian doubles expert Mahesh Bhupathi to win the US Open title.
   The pair, who saved a match point against China’s Sun Tiantian and her Swedish partner Simon Aspelin in the first round, defeated Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik and Serbian Nenad Zimonjic 6-4, 6-2 to lift the trophy.
   ‘I feel fantastic,’ said Hantuchova, ranked 19th in the world in singles. ‘It’s something really special.’
   The 22-year-old won her first Grand Slam mixed doubles title at Wimbledon in 2001 with Leos Friedl.
   She teammed with Zimbabwe’s Wayne Ullyet to claim the Australian Open mixed crown the following year, and won with France’s Fabrice Santoro at Roland Garros in July, defeating the formidable duo of Martina Navratilova and Leander Paes in the final.

Alex Ferguson admired Stuart Pearce sufficiently as a player to try and sign him for Manchester United.
   And the Scot has been equally impressed with the way the former England left-back Pearce has acquitted himself since slipping into the manager’s chair at Manchester City.
   In the build-up to today’s Manchester derby, Ferguson was full of praise for the way that Pearce has turned City’s fortunes around since taking over from Kevin Keegan in March.
   ‘Everyone remembers Stuart Pearce as a determined, aggressive player, who played with great heart and enthusiasm that gave him a great career in the game,’ Ferguson said.
   ‘And I think his team are playing exactly like that, I think his team is mirroring Stuart Pearce as the player he was.’
   The steel Pearce has injected into City’s soul has been reflected in a 12-match unbeaten run and an encouraging start to the new season that has left them sitting second in the table with three wins and a draw from four matches so far.
   United have won all three of their matches so something has to give when Pearce takes his side to Old Trafford on Saturday for his first Manchester derby as a manager.
   And while Ferguson may hold all the aces in terms of experience, the younger man believes it is United that will be feeling the pressure as they seek to prevent Chelsea from opening up an early lead they way they did on their way to the title last season.
   ‘We’ll be treating it the same as every other game, we’ll have to, but it’s a derby game and we’ll be desperate to win it,’ he said.
   ‘They know full well with their aspirations of winning the league that they can’t lose too many if they want to stay on Chelsea’s coat tails.’
   Having served as City’s head coach under Keegan, Pearce is revelling in the pressure that comes with his current role.
   ‘In some ways I found it a little bit frustrating being a coach and not being the one with the final say – now it is my responsibility and my head on the block I do quite enjoy that in a perverse sort of way.’
   Pearce has injured duo Robbie Fowler and Sylvain Distin available after they came through a reserves match in midweek while United winger Cristiano Ronaldo is expected to miss the game following the death of his father on Tuesday.
   United’s hopes of closing the gap on Chelsea at the top will not be encouraged by the fact that Sunderland, the visitors to Stamford Bridge today, have lost all four matches since their return to the top flight.
   Chelsea will be without injured skipper John Terry, although that could actually be a blessing in disguise for manager Jose Mourinho as it gives him a chance to appease Ricardo Carvalho, who has made no secret of his frustration at a lack of first team chances so far this season.
   Mourinho will also have Arjen Robben available again, the Dutch winger having returned to action for Holland in midweek, after missing Chelsea’s last Premiership outing, the controversial 2-0 win over Tottenham at the end of last month.
   Arsenal centre-back Sol Campbell is nearing full fitness after recovering from a calf problem. But Gunners boss Arsene Wenger is unlikely to risk him in today’s clash with Middlesbrough at the Riverside.
   ‘Sol is back to full fitness - he has had two reserve games now, so there is no problem, but he is maybe not competitively fit yet,’ Wenger said.
   ‘I have not made up my mind completely, but I don’t think I will play him on Saturday.’
   Wenger was relieved to report that all his internationals had returned from action for their countries without any injuries.
   ‘But I will rotate the squad a little bit because some have played two international games. Also we’ll be playing on Wednesday next week and then the Monday after that.’
   Thierry Henry, France’s match-winner against Ireland on Wednesday, needs one more goal for his club to equal Ian Wright’s Arsenal record of 185 goals.
   ‘For me, Ian Wright was a legend and still is a legend, so to beat his record would be something really amazing,’ the Frenchman said.
   ‘But I don’t want to speak too soon because things in football can happen really quickly, so I just want to concentrate and keep scoring goals for my team.’

Alan Shearer has backed Michael Owen to knock him off his throne as Newcastle's leading goalscorer.
   The 35-year-old teams up with the Magpies 16.5-million-pound acquisition today when Owen makes his debut against Fulham at St James' Park.
   And he insists he will not be the slightest bit put out if he finds himself in the shadow of the younger man during his final season as a player.
   'I've no doubt that Michael can finish top scorer and I sincerely hope he does,' Shearer said.
   'The manager and chairman have brought him in to score goals. I'd be more than happy if Michael was to take that away from me.''
   With one point from four games so far, Newcastle urgently need to start winning games and the Fulham home match is one from which they would expect three points.
   With Owen and 9.5-million-pound Spaniard Albert Luque on board, Shearer believes better times are at hand.
   'We have a point - which is not enough,' he said. 'But whatever has happened in the past month has gone. Our season starts as of Saturday against Fulham.'
   Suspension means Nolberto Solano must wait for his chance, after sealing a return to Tyneside following 19 months with Aston Villa, where he was top scorer last year.
   'It's a shame he can't play on Saturday,' added Shearer. 'It'd have been nice to have him on the right, Luque on the left and us two up front, all guns blazing.'
   Owen will be desperate to get rid of the taste of defeat he was forced to endure while on England duty in Northern Ireland on Wednesday.
   'I had a good record of scoring at St James' Park (for Liverpool) and let's hope that can continue,' he said.
   'Everyone, even in the England squad, was saying, 'I bet you can't wait for Saturday'.'

Coach Carlos Alberto Parreira has already made up his mind - Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Kaka, Adriano and Robinho will not play together at the same time in Brazil's line-up.
   Parreira said Thursday that one of them will have to sit on the bench in future matches, beginning with Brazil's next World Cup qualifier against Bolivia in October.
   'We can't reinvent the wheel,' Parreira told the OGlobo Web site after the team's 1-1 draw against Sevilla on Tuesday in Spain. 'Soccer has developed a lot in the past 40 years, but some concepts can't change.'
   Brazilians were hoping the coach would field all five stars together, which in theory would give Brazil an unheralded offensive power. 'Our team is already playing upbeat soccer,' Parreira said. 'Starting five strikers would play right into our opponents' plans, which are to see Brazil return home early from the World Cup.'
   Brazil beat Chile 5-0 Sunday in a South American World Cup qualifier with Kaka, Ronaldo, Adriano and Robinho in the line-up, guaranteeing their 18th straight Cup appearance. Adriano netted a hat-trick, Robinho scored one of the goals, and Kaka and Ronaldo helped with assists.
   Ronaldinho, FIFA Player of the Year, was absent because of a suspension, but he will be available - as will the other four - to play against Bolivia and in the finals in Germany. Parreira argues that a line-up with all five players would render Brazil defenceless, putting too much pressure on a single defensive midfielder. The coach has previously said that even four attacking players may be too much on certain occasions.
   Parreira has said he's in no rush to decide who will play and who will be benched. 'There are still 10 months left to the World Cup, we haven't even decided on the 23 players who will be summoned, let alone the starting eleven,' Parreira said. 'We already know that we will have a headache to choose only two players for each position, a lot of good players will have to be left out.'

Having splashed out 27 million euros on Spanish international Sergio Ramos last week, Real Madrid fans are wondering whether he will be thrown in at the deep end against Celta Vigo today.
   The former Sevilla central defender is the first domestic player signed during the era of president Florentino Perez, who is now in his sixth season in charge, and Ramos knows that all eyes are on him.
   'Let no one doubt that I've come here to work hard and sacrifice myself so that the dreams of the supporters and the club can be realised. I know I have got to prove myself and earn my place,' said Ramos on Thursday.
   Ramos, still only 19, didn't play any part in Spain's disappointing 1-1 draw with Serbia-Montenegro on Wednesday and that fact will probably encourage Real coach Wanderley Luxemburgo to name him to the starting line-up.
   If Ramos, who takes over the number four shirt last worn three seasons ago by Real icon Fernando Hierro, then it means either Francisco Pavon or Ivan Helguera will be reduced to sitting among the substitutes.
   Luxemburgo has a number of dilemmas to resolve ahead of the visit of Celta Vigo, and not just at the back.
   With question marks over the fitness of Ronaldo, Luxemburgo could decide to start with his Brazilian compatriot Robinho, who was in fine form on his debut for Real during the final 20 minutes of their 2-1 win at Cadiz two weeks ago.
   Another area that may require some attention from Luxemburgo is the midfield as Zinedine Zidane limped off 20 minutes before the end of France's 1-0 win in Ireland and the former World Player of the Year is also doubtful.
   Newly-promoted Celta come to the Spanish capital full of confidence after a year away from the top flight.
   The Galicians were impressive 2-0 winners over Malaga on the opening weekend of the season and their own new Brazilian striker Fernando Baiano, who scored on his debut for the club, could turn out to be the bargain buy of the season.
   Another man fully motivated at the thought of playing in the Santiago Bernabeu stadium is former Real midfielder Antonio Nunez.
   Nunez, Madrid born-and-bred, was a graduate of Real's reserves and made a handful of appearances for the first team two seasons ago only to be discarded and used as a makeweight in the deal that brought Michael Owen to the Spanish capital at the start of last season.
   Reigning Spanish champions Barcelona play host to Real Mallorca on Sunday and have a lot to prove after their lacklustre start to the season when they were held 0-0 at Alaves.
   'Life is always difficult the season after you have won a championship. This is going to be a tough year. It's absolutely vital that we beat Mallorca,' said Barcelona's Dutch defender Giovanni van Bronckhorst earlier this week. Mallorca, however, appear to have already started quaking in their boots at the thought of visiting Barca's ever-intimidating Nou Camp.
   'Barcelona have got many options going forward. They've got probably the best attack in Europe,' commented Mallorca defender Fernando Navarro on Thursday.

Empoli coach Mario Somma will pit his wits against his role model on Sunday when the Tuscan side host Serie A champions Juventus.
   Somma has long been an admirer of his Juventus counterpart Fabio Capello, religiously watching the six-time Scudetto-winning coach to try and find out what makes him so successful.
   'I've studied him for years,' said the 41-year-old Somma, who guided Empoli to promotion last season and is coaching in the top division for the first time.
   'When Capello was in charge of Roma I used to watch the club's satellite channel day and night, keeping a close eye on his training sessions.
   'I wanted to learn from him and discover his secrets - now on Sunday I'll be playing the master.'
   Somma, who is 18 years younger than Capello, first came face to face with Juve's coach two decades ago.
   'I was playing for Genoa's youth team and he was coaching AC Milan's youth team.
   That was about 20 years ago, but I remember how he inspired his youngsters.'
   The last time Empoli
   hosted Juventus was in the 2003-04 season when they held the Turin giants to a 3-3 draw.
   In the first round of matches played before the break for internationals, Juventus ground out a 1-0 home win over Chievo while Empoli lost by the same score away to Udinese.
   Juventus will be without their captain Alessandro Del Piero after he suffered a thigh strain while training with the Italy squad.
   His absence could see Adrian Mutu, who scored twice for Romania against the Czech Republic last week, given his first league start.
   'Hopefully what I did will send out the right message to Capello,' said Mutu, who joined Juve after being sacked by English Premiership side Chelsea for taking cocaine. 'Those goals were a real boost for my morale.'
   AC Milan, who were held to a 1-1 draw at Ascoli in their opening match, host Siena at the San Siro today, while Inter Milan's title credentials will come under heavy scrutiny away to Palermo on the same day.
   Udinese defender Vincent Candela has admitted it will be strange to play against his former club Roma on Sunday.

Beleaguered England football boss Sven-Goran Eriksson was conspicuous by his absence as the country's cricket team pursued their attempt to reclaim the Ashes from Australia at The Oval on Friday.
   Eriksson, under fire after the football team's 1-0 defeat by Northern Ireland in a World Cup qualifier on Wednesday, had been intending to take in the second day's action of the fifth and final Test.
   'I hope to go see it on Friday. If you live in England, you should go to see it at least once to know something about it,' the Swede said earlier this week.
   Those plans were scrapped at the last minute on Friday with Eriksson said to have decided to stay away for fear his presence would generate a media circus that would distract attention away from the cricketers.
   Cynics however will inevitably conclude that Eriksson might have feared unfavourable parallels between the woeful recent performances of his own charges and those of Andrew Flintoff and co, who have spent the summer surpassing all expectations.

Alex Ferguson expects today's Manchester derby at Old Trafford to raise the spirits of his vanquished England players.
   The United manager admitted that Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand will need a tonic after being part of the England side which suffered a shock 1-0 defeat to Northern Ireland in a World Cup qualifying game on Wednesday.
   He told reporters on Friday, 'It was an important week for most of the players. Some will come back disappointed and some will come back pretty elated. It's something you've got to deal with.
   'Particularly for Wayne and Rio it's been a bad week. It was an important week for all the players, but they've had the worst result.
   'You hope a derby game lifts them and brings a bit of edge to them. I think there has to be some motivation and I think the derby game helps in that respect.'
   Ferguson believes returning to the club environment will help Ferdinand and Rooney at a time when United are enjoying an impressive start to the season winning their opening five games without conceding a goal.
   The pair will certainly get the chance to focus on club matters with the clash against Manchester City followed by a Champions League fixture at Villarreal on Wednesday and then next Sunday's visit to Liverpool.

A leading sports psychologist says Manchester United star Wayne Rooney's temper could lead him into 'catastrophic decline'.
   Keith Power, who works with several England players, thinks the 19-year-old may need professional guidance.
   'There is something called the catastrophe theory,' he told the Guardian. 'To perform at their top level some sports performers need to be really pumped up; some need to be really relaxed.
   'When Rooney is playing at his best he is fairly hyped up but the issue is whether it has a negative effect on his performance when he becomes too hyped.
   'Research has shown that, when a sports performer gets in this state, it is not a gradual decline . . . but a rapid and catastrophic decline. That person becomes too agitated and they can't perform at their best.'
   There is little doubt this applied to Rooney as he deliberately kicked the ball at the Northern Ireland striker David Healy (he missed), was booked for clattering into Keith Gillespie and verbally abused the referee, David Beckham, Steven Gerrard and Rio Ferdinand.
   Gillespie described England's youngest player as having 'lost his head', although Rooney offered him an apologetic handshake at half-time.
   'He was getting frustrated at not getting free-kicks,' said Gillespie. 'If the likes of Italy or Argentina saw that they would definitely try to wind him up.'

Real Madrid offered Ronaldo to Inter Milan in exchange for Adriano, it has been revealed.
   Agent Ernesto Bronzetti, who brought to Inter former Real trio Luis Figo, Santiago Solari and Walter Samuel, also revealed that Real president Florentino Perez offered the sensational Brazilian swap to Inter patron Massimo Moratti.
   'The patron of Inter has said no to the offer of an exchange with Real Madrid, even if to was made nearly at the end of June,' said Bronzetti.
   'The problem was Moratti also wanted some cash for Adriano, while Perez insisted on a straight swap.'

Manchester United coach Alex Ferguson claimed on Thursday that the UEFA Champions League is of a higher standard than the World Cup.
   Ferguson has spent the past week discussing the finer points of the game with the world's finest, at the seventh UEFA Elite Coaches Forum.
   Ferguson is the chairman of the Coaches Circle and having debated with the likes of Fabio Cappello and Arsene Wenger, has concluded that the best club football has to offer beats the equivalent on the international scene.
   The Scottish tactician believes the World Cup has proven of a real disappointment over the past 20 years, citing the 1986 tournament as the last truly memorable event. 'I think that the Champions League and Premier League in England are of a fantastically high standard,' Ferguson told the League Managers Association.
   'I think the Champions League is better than the World Cup. I think people find it hard to remember when the last great World Cup was. It was probably 1986 and that's nearly 20 years ago. When the Champions League began nobody could have envisaged the level it would reach.
   'So the UEFA Football Circle is dedicated to the overall quality of coaching standards to get them to a high, high level.'

Big Sam wants England job
Sam Allardyce wants to succeed Sven-Goran Eriksson as England manager - and he has his chairman's blessing. The Bolton boss has been strongly linked with the job since England's embarrassing defeat in Northern Ireland on Wednesday. Trotters chairman Phil Gartside is a prominent member of the Football Association board and is said to be keen on Allardyce taking over the England side.'Sam wants the job whenever Sven leaves - and the Bolton chairman knows it,' says Allardyce's agent Mark Curtis. Steve McClaren is still the bookies' favourite, but Charlton boss Alan Curbishley has made it clear that he would be happy to talk to the FA.
— FOOTBALL365

Barca will better Arsenal offer to Henry
Barcelona are willing to better any contract offer Arsenal table their captain Thierry Henry. Henry's current deal still has more than 18 months to run and the Gunners have begun talks over a new deal. The Guardian says Henry has entered negotiations with Arsenal over a new deal, but Barcelona are understood to be willing to trump whatever Arsenal offer. The Gunners are under financial pressure after a House of Lords ruling forced them to pay more than four times as much tax in 2004 as in 2003.
— SPORTINGLIFE

United hoping to boost Asian market
Manchester United hope to build on their immense popularity in the Far East and open up lucrative markets in the region after securing a sponsorship deal with Air Asia. The Premier League club, who were taken over at the end of last season by US sports tycoon Malcolm Glazer, have agreed a one-year partnership with the Malaysian low-cost airline, with the option of a further 12 months. United signed the deal during a pre-season tour of Asia and are hoping to reach further agreements with other partners in the key region. 'It's the first time we have done a deal with a company based in Asia which is a huge step forward as we have such a big fanbase there,' commercial director Andy Anson told a news conference on Friday.
— Reuters

‘Bureaucracy’ to keep Messi sidelined
Barcelona's Argentine star Leo Messi will miss Sunday's game with Real Mallorca owing to administrative problems, the club said Thursday. Spokesman Xavier Cambra said the paperwork for his recently-signed first professional contract had not been completed but added he was confident the issue would be resolved by the end of September. The teenage star, recently called into the full Argentine squad, made his name with a stellar showing for the Under-20 side in the recent World Championships.
— AFP