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Sakib al Hasan complemented a career best bowling performance of Abdur Razaak with a blistering century to propel Bangladesh to seven-wicket victory, levelling the five-match one-day series 1-1 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Thursday.
   Razzak had 5-29, his second five-wicket haul, to restrict Zimbabwe to 219 in 47.2 overs, but victory was still not assured until Sakib sparkled with his bat to score 105 off 69 balls, lifting the hosts to 221-3 in only 29.3 overs.
   Sakib shared 165 runs in the unbroken third wicket stand with Roqibul Hassan (39 not out), the third highest ODI partnership for Bangladesh.
   Habibul Bashar and Rajin Saleh share the record highest 175-run stand against Kenya, five runs more than the 170-run opening stand of Mehrab Hossain and Shahriar Hossain against Zimbabwe in 1999.
   All of them can now thank Zimbabwe for setting a modest target otherwise their names could have been easily erased from the record book given the way Sakib and Roqibul were batting.
   Junaed Siddique and Tamim Iqbal gave Bangladesh an explosive start scoring 44 runs in just 3.5 overs, but a lack of responsibility in them and one-down Mohammad Ashraful had reduced the hosts soon to 56 for three.
   From that point onwards, Sakib gave the Zimbabweans no chance to make any impact on the game and raced to his fifty in only 44 balls. His second half-century came off 24 balls which made him the 12th quickest centurion in ODI.
   He had also scored a century against Zimbabwe off 63 balls in the previous series, which still remains the quickest century for Bangladesh. When he faced the 62nd ball, the all-rounder was on 94, which means he could have equalled the record in this game also. On his way to the century, Sakib became the third Bangladeshi cricketer to amass 2000 runs in ODIs after Habibul Bashar and Mohammad Ashraful. He needed 83 runs to achieve the feat in the game.
   Sakib may have made the win very easy in the end, but it did not look that easy at all especially when Bangladesh were bowling. Naeem Islam broke a 59-run opening stand with a controversial lbw appeal against Masakadza and Mohammad Ashraful had Chibhabha removed in his first over to earn the second breakthrough for Bangladesh.
   The next over, bowled by Razzak, was the real turning point with Brendan Taylor and Charles Coventry being totally deceived by the sharp turn of his first and sixth balls to be bowled for 21 and 0 respectively which saw Zimbabwe slip from 96-1 to 96-4.
    Taibu was still there and had his share of luck having been dropped by Nazmul Hossain twice on 22 and 24, but Naeem ended his resistance dismissing him for 38. Still, Zimbabwe entered their last 10 overs with 184-5.
   Sakib was forced to take Dollar Mahmud off after the wayward pacer, who conceded 39 runs in his 4.5 overs, bowled the second beamer to Chigumbura, who later became the only victim of Sakib.
   Razzak mopped up the tail to complete his second five-wicket haul, a feat that no other Bangladeshi achieved more than once.

Left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak gave a fitting reply to his critics by returning with a career best bowling figures of 5-29 in the second one-day international against Zimbabwe at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Thursday.
   Razzak, who had been grappling with so many problems since his action was reported last year for the second time in his career, has now become the first Bangladeshi bowler to take five wickets in an ODI more than once.
   Razzak, who claimed his previous career best 5-33 against the same opponents at Bogra in 2006, was one of the five bowlers who have the distinction of taking five wickets in an ODI for Bangladesh.
   While Aftab Ahmed, Mashrafee bin Murtaza, Mohammad Rafique and Farhad Reza had failed to repeat the act after their maiden five-wicket hauls, Razzak did it at a time when it was needed most.
   After a shock 1-0 lead in the series Zimbabwe were flying high coming into the second match and Bangladesh needed someone with a magic wand to stop them from doing further damage.
   None could have been a better choice for the job than Razzak, though his role as a spinner has nowadays become secondary in the team following the meteoric rise of Sakib al Hasan.
   He has never been an automatic choice for Tests, but it was expected that Razzak would be Bangladesh’s main one-day spinner after Mohammad Rafique decided to quit international cricket. But things had never gone straight for him.
   The umpires had discovered major flaws in his action and when he rectified it and made a successful return with a man-of-the-match performance against West Indies, he has fallen victim to freakish injury.
    He missed the one-day series in Zimbabwe and made his comeback in domestic cricket this time only to be betrayed by his form. But when Mohammad Rafique smacked three sixes off his successive deliveries that marred the title hopes of Gazi Tanks in the Premier Twenty20 final, it put his inclusion in the Bangladesh squad into serious question.
   The selectors thought twice before including him in the squad and it was evident in their confession that at times they also harboured an idea of picking up Sohrawardi Shuvo instead him. The squad had been announced only for the first three matches of the series, so Razzak had to deliver anyway. And he did it beautifully.
   In the first match, Razzak had picked up three wickets in a single over that had raised the prospect of an unlikely Bangladesh win although the hosts could manage to score only 186 runs.
   Now in the second match he also derailed Zimbabwe to restrict them to 219 in 47.2 overs.

Holders Abahani began their title defence in style when they beat newly-promoted Kalabagan KC by eight wickets in the opening match of the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League at the BKSP ground two on Thursday.
   In the other two matches of the day, Mohammedan SC beat Victoria SC by five wickets while Surjo Tarun also won by the same margin against Khelaghar SKS.
   
   Abahani v Kalabagan
   Kalabagan batted first and were bundled out for a paltry 110 runs in 39.5 overs.
   Shubhashish Roy and Rabiul Islam of Abahani destroyed the Kalabagan batting line-up by grabbing four wickets apiece giving away 35 and 22 runs respectively.
   Kalabagan’s number seven batsman Jubaer Ahmed scored highest 57 runs from 99 balls with six fours and a six.
   Later, Abahani raced to the winning target in 20.5 overs losing only two wickets.
   Opener Rony Talukder remained not out on 66 playing 68 balls that included four boundaries and four sixes.
   One-down Sahagir Hossain made 19 while two-down Indian recruit Ajay Kudva remained not out on seven runs.
   Ariful Haque and Murad Khan took one wicket each for 13 and 27 runs respectively for Kalabagan.
   
   Mohammedan v Victoria
   Sent in to bat first at the Dhanmondi Cricket Stadium, Victoria were able to make 191 runs in 47 overs.
   Number eight batsman Arafat Salauddin top-scored with 49 runs off 62 balls that included four fours.
   Arsian Mir (39), Kamrul Islam (33) and Abul Bashar (32) were the other notable scorers.
   Nabil Samad and Marshall Ayub bagged three wickets each for Mohammedan giving away 30 and 20 runs respectively.
   In reply, Mohammedan reached the target scoring 193 runs for five wickets with 8.5 overs to spare.
   Marshall Ayub remained not out on 71 facing 86 balls that included six fours and two sixes.
   Aftab Ahmed (53), Foysal Hossain (26) and opener Shamsur Rahman (19) were the other notable run-getters for the winners.
   
   Surjo Tarun v Khelaghar
   Away at the Bogra Divisional Stadium, Khelaghar SKS made 162 for nine in the stipulated 50 overs after losing the toss.
   Batting at No 10, Monwar Hossain remained unbeaten on 53 off 45 balls that featured four fours and two sixes.
   Biswajit Haldar and Aslam Ali contributed 33 and 19 runs respectively.
   In reply, Surjo Tarun made 166 for five in 36.3 overs with former national skipper Habibul Bashar making 56 not out.
   Former national all-rounder Rajin Saleh scored 31.
   Masum Khan and Biswajit Haldar took two wickets each giving away 36 and 24 runs respectively for the losers.

World champions Australia said Thursday they were struggling to focus on the ongoing one-day series in India because the team had been decimated by a string of injuries to key players.
   With the seven-match series tied at 1-1, the injury-plagued tourists are down to the bare bones for the third international at the Ferozeshah Kotla here on Saturday.
   ‘With a few little niggles around, the focuses do tend to go towards that,’ said left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Johnson, himself battling an ankle injury.
   ‘But we have got to regroup, sit in our team meetings and talk about what went wrong in Nagpur and what we thought we did right out there.’
   Australia won the first match, in Vadodara on Sunday, by four runs, before crashing to a heavy defeat in Nagpur on Wednesday after India piled up a mammoth 354-7 and bowled out the tourists for 255.
   Ricky Ponting’s men came to India depleted by the absence of four one-day regulars, vice-captain Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, Nathan Bracken and Callum Ferguson.
   Pace spearhead Brett Lee (elbow) and all-rounder James Hopes (hamstring) missed Nagpur, while Johnson only just made it.
   In a further blow, wicket-keeper Tim Paine—a replacement for Haddin—broke a finger during the demolition in Nagpur and has been asked to return home.
   The selectors, who flew in young all-rounder Moises Henriques to reinforce the injury-stricken squad, have now called up Graham Manou to replace Paine.
   If Manou arrives in New Delhi by Friday, he is certain to play a day later, but it is unclear if Lee and Hopes will be available for selection on Saturday.
   ‘I am hoping to be fit, but it all depends on Friday’s training session,’ Lee, 32, told reporters here.
   ‘I’ll have a bowl in the nets and assess how it goes. I sat out of Nagpur more as a precaution.
   ‘It’s not a long-term thing but just a mild injury.
   ‘When you try and bowl 150 miles an hour all the time, a time will come when there will be a niggle or two. I have been playing a lot recently, so I was due for rest anyway,’ he said.
   India need to win the series to overtake Ponting’s men as the top-ranked one-day team in the world.

A 22-member Bangladesh national U-19 football squad flies to Bangkok today with high hopes of qualifying for the final round of the AFC U-19 Championship.
   Bangladesh are in Group E with Asian powerhouse South Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Macau and hosts Thailand. Bangladesh will face South Korea in the opening match of the qualifiers on Sunday. Vietnam will be their second opponent on November 3, hosts Thailand will the next on November 6 and Macau and Laos will the last two opponents on November 8 and 11.
   Bangladesh Football Federation in a bid to boost the team’s morale has declared a daily allowance of $10 for each player, $30 as match fees and $100 per head for a win in each of the first three matches and $50 for the last two matches. It is the first instance of providing allowances to the U-19 players.
   Coach Shafiqul Islam Manik was hopeful of making the final round. ‘I have prepared my players to cope with the international level pressure putting emphasis on their fitness, I am hopeful that Bangladesh will qualify for the finals as the group runners-up or as one of the best third-placed teams,’ said Manik.
   In their build-up the U-19 team played three practice matches in which they lost 1-2 to Shuktara Jubo Sangsad, drew 0-0 with Rahmatganj and won 1-0 over Feni Soccer Club. Playmaker Shahedul Alam and forwards Nadim and Bipul were ruled out due to overage and injury.
   National coach Edson Silva Dido pointed out the team’s potentials. ‘The team have the potentials and I have every hope that they will reach the finals with their efficient football,’ said Dido.
   Captain Naimur Rahman Shahed said the players are ready for the ultimate challenge. ‘I would say that our endurance level is good and we will try our best to keep the Bangladesh flag flying high,’ said the midfielder.
   Team leader Ekramul Kabir Chowdhury promised full support for the youngsters. ‘We will be there to ensure they get all the required support to bring the best out of them,’ said Kabir.
   Squad: Shahidul Alam, Nurul Karim, Shakil Ahmed, Saddam Hossain, Nahidul Islam, Rasel Alam, Habibur Rahman Shohag, Md Sohel, Naimur Rahman Shahed, Md Shohag, Rashed Khan, Md Javed, Saidur Rahman,, Asif Hossain, Shuikhing Ching Marma, Md Saifuddin, Shaikat Bhowmik, Saidul Huq, Naim Hossain, Rubel Mollah, Sohel Rana and Faruk Hossain.

Bangladesh Under-19 cricket team clinched the seven-match one-day series against England Under-19 when they took an unassailable 4-0 lead with a four-wicket win over the visitors in the fourth match at the Fatullah Stadium on Thursday.
   Batting first, England U-19 were all out for a paltry 151 runs in 44.4 overs.
   Pacer Abul Hasan wrecked the English batting line-up when he removed both the openers with just two runs on the board.
   At one stage England Under-19 were seven wickets down for just 62 runs with number three Joe Root making a patient half-century and keeping one end intact.
   Later he was dismissed for 54 runs off 119 balls without hitting any boundary or a six.
   At the stage a triple figure on the board for the visitors seemed a bridge too far.
   But a brisk 41 off 40 balls from No 9 batsman Danny Briggs, who hit six boundaries, helped the Junior Lions cross the 150-run mark.
   Left-arm spinner Shaker Ahmed was the pick of the bowlers claiming three wickets for 26 runs while Abul took 2 for 33. But it was Saikat Ali who was the most economical of them as his two wickets cost him just 17 runs.
   In reply, the Junior Tigers raced to their target making 152-6 in 34.2 overs.
   Saikat again shone with the bat scoring 46 off 53 balls while the last match’s half-centurion Tasamul Haque remained unbeaten on 50 from 87 balls.
   Both Mathee Dunn and Danny Brigss captured two wickets each for 20 and 14 runs respectively.
   Saikat Ali was later adjudged match of the match for his all-round show.
   The fifth match of the series will take place at the venue on October 31.

Arambagh KS shrugged off their Federation Cup woes and started their Citycell Bangladesh League campaign with a 6-1 thrashing of Chittagong Mohammedan SC at the MA Aziz Stadium in Chittagong on Thursday.
   Kenyan forward Nicodemus notched the first hat-trick of the league to chalk up the big victory.
   Arambagh, who were thrown out of the Federation Cup due to a poor performance in the group stages, took the lead through Nicodemus in the 35th minute and the Kenyan completed his hat-trick scoring the two more goals in the 58th and 64th minutes.
   Ace forward Alfaz Ahmed scored a brace in the 89th and 91st minutes while Ugandan midfielder Dominic Kabouye netted a goal in the 62nd minute.
   Farhad scored the lone goal for the losers in
   the 67th minute from a penalty.
   In the other match of the day at the Bangabandhu National Stadium, Farashganj and Chittagong Abahani played out a drab goalless draw.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni smashed a blistering century as India whipped injury-hit Australia by 99 runs on Wednesday to level their seven-match one-day series 1-1.
   Dhoni hit 124 off 107 balls and Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina chipped in with half-centuries as India, sent in to bat, accumulated their highest one-day total against Australia — 354-7 from 50 overs.
   In reply, the world champions, who won the first match by four runs in Vadodara on Sunday, were bowled out for 255 in the day-night international, with left-hander Michael Hussey top-scoring with 53.
   Indian seamer Praveen Kumar took two wickets in his first spell before young left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja polished off the middle order with figures of 3-35.
   Some 40,000 home fans cheered lustily as Dhoni put on 119 for the fourth wicket with Gambhir (76) and a swashbuckling 136 from 93 balls for the fifth with Suresh Raina, who made 62.
   ‘This win was very special,’ said Dhoni, who was named man of the match. ‘We maintained a run-rate of over six an over when we batted and the bowlers gained in confidence.
   ‘It should be a very interesting series.’
   Australian captain Ricky Ponting admitted the two teams will once again ‘start from scratch.’
   ‘The wicket was very good, but it was a hard run chase,’ he said. ‘Full credit to India, who outplayed us today.
   ‘We needed to get partnerships going but the loss of three quick wickets at the start made the job tougher. But I am sure we will bounce back.’
   Enjoying perfect batting conditions at the Vidarbha Cricket Association stadium, the hosts plundered 108 runs in the final 10 overs, overtaking their previous best against Australia of 315 all out in Bangalore in 2001.
   Dhoni reached his fifth one-day century by smashing Shane Watson for a straight six, and celebrated the landmark with another six off the next ball in the same area.
   The aggressive Indian captain was one of three batsmen to be dismissed in the 50th over, but not before he had taken nine boundaries and three sixes off the truncated Australian attack.
   The tourists, already without one-day regulars Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin and Nathan Bracken for the series, were further depleted by injuries to paceman Brett Lee and all-rounder James Hopes.
   However, left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Johnson was declared fit from an ankle sprain and claimed the important wicket of Virender Sehwag in the 11th over, caught at mid-off attempting a big hit.
   Sehwag smashed a typically robust 40 off 31 balls to give India the momentum after veteran batsman Sachin Tendulkar was removed by Peter Siddle in the fourth over.

Martin Snedden, the former New Zealand Cricket chief executive, believes John Wright must be installed as the team’s coach following the removal of Andy Moles.
   Wright, the country’s high-performance manager, has been mentioned whenever the side has had a vacancy at the top, but has never done the job.
   ‘I’m going to put my hand up and say John Wright’s time is now, he would be great,’ Snedden told the Dominion Post.
   ‘Right at the heart of this is John Wright has the know-how. So much of what he brings is required. The skill of batting, the passion, he was so nationalistic as a player, we need that right now.’
   The options for New Zealand have been reduced after the Australians Tom Moody and Greg Shipperd said they were not available.
   Stephen Fleming, the former captain, has also ruled himself out. However, Steve Rixon, who has held the post before, is interested in a reunion. ‘The timing is quite good,’ he said. ‘I think that the job that needs to be done is very similar to the job that had to be done in 1997 and the challenge is appealing.
   ‘They need to get back to simple basics, be more disciplined and possibly look at the make-up of the side.’
   Wright spent four years with India and has been the high-performance manager for two years without showing the necessary interest in another full-time international role.
   ‘There is talk of perceived shortcomings - if that’s the case you cope with that,’ Snedden said.
   ‘It is far better to have a coach with John Wright’s skills and know-how than someone else who might have that [an ability to organise] and very little else.

International Cricket Council president David Morgan said the sport had lost a ‘true gentleman’ following the death of former Test umpire David Shepherd.
   ‘David was a true gentleman of the game,’ said Morgan in an ICC statement after Shepherd’s former county Gloucestershire announced Wednesday the Englishman had died aged 68 from cancer.
   ‘He was a fine player and a match official of the very highest quality,’ added Morgan, a former chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board.
   ‘He will be remembered fondly by players, spectators and administrators who saw him as a great entertainer but also as one of the best umpires the game has ever seen.
   ‘The example he set as someone who took the art of umpiring very seriously while also enjoying what he did immensely will leave a lasting legacy for the game. He was an engaging character which meant players and other umpires were always delighted to be around him.
   ‘We have lost someone whose positive influence on our great sport has been immense,’ Morgan said.

Explosive West Indian allrounder Kieron Pollard has signed for South Australia to play in their Twenty20 ‘Big Bash’ campaign in December-January, team officials said on Thursday.
   Pollard, 22, joins Pakistani all-rounder Shahid Afridi in the Redbacks’ ranks for the series of matches against the other Australian state sides.
   The towering Pollard is a big-hitting right-hander who also bowls medium pace and was impressive in the recent Twenty20 Champions League for Trinidad and Tobago in India.
   He was largely responsible for Trinidad and Tobago’s preliminary match victory over the New South Wales Blues with 54 runs off 18 deliveries.
   Pollard clubbed 14 sixes overall in the competition and has an impressive Twenty20 strike rate of 143.
   ‘We have been talking with Pollard for a while, even before his match-winning efforts in the Champions League, and we were thrilled to secure his signature,’ South Australia Cricket Association high performance manager Jamie Cox said.
   ‘The addition of both Shahid Afridi and Kieron Pollard will add an explosive dimension to the Redbacks’ Twenty20 Big Bash campaign this summer.

Napoli scored two goals in injury time to hold 10-man AC Milan to a draw in Serie A on Wednesday and end the seven-time European champions’ recent winning run.
   Juventus went second in the table as they thrashed high-flying Sampdoria, who drop to third, 5-1 in Turin.
   But the real drama came in Naples where late goals from Luca Cigarini and German Denis earned Napoli a richly deserved point after Ignazio Abate was sent off four minutes from time.
   Having developed a habit of starting slowly this season, Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani had promised president, and Italy prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi that they would stop torturing him.
   The team seemed to heed the advice and came flying out of the blocks, only to then collapse late on.
   ‘We started the way we should have, we had spoken a lot about what we should do but we scored two goals too quickly because then it’s not easy to manage the next 85 minutes,’ said Milan coach Leonardo.
   ‘It was an incredible finish, the sending off was decisive. But we played well, the way we played can’t be held against us.’
   After six minutes they were already 2-0 ahead as Napoli’s defensive line was ruthlessly exposed.
   Filippo Inzaghi ran onto Clarence Seedorf’s chip over the top on two minutes before finishing left-footed.
   And four minutes later he flicked on a long ball for Alex Pato to run onto from a suspiciously offside-looking position before outstripping the defence and finishing with aplomb.
   Thereafter, though, it was all about goalkeeper Dida and some profligate shooting from the hosts, in particular Cristian Maggio who failed to beat a stricken Dida from six yards out early in the second period.
   But after Abate earned a second yellow card Napoli finally found the finish they had been lacking as Cigarini lashed home a left-foot volley.
   And then deep into injury time Denis headed home a cross from the right to send the San Paolo crowd into delirium.
   In Turin Juventus rediscovered their form in a stroll against the only team that stood between them and leaders Inter Milan.
   Juve leapfrogged Sampdoria into second and just one point behind Inter, who host Palermo on Thursday, thanks to goals from Amauri (two), Giorgio Chiellini, Mauro Camoranesi and David Trezeguet.
   ‘Tonight we played better than in Rome and in Genoa, everything worked perfectly,’ said Juve coach Ciro Ferrara. The lads gave everything, they pulled off a great match, and hence we scored five goals but it was the desire that was most important.’
   Amauri opened the scoring on 26min when the ball fell kindly to him, after his initial header hit team-mate Momo Sissoko, to shoot home.
   He then turned provider on 42min as a marauding Chiellini, up from the back, found himself between Sampdoria’s centre-backs when the Brazilian’s deflected cross landed at his feet five yards out.
   The game was soon over as Diego sent Sebastian Giovinco free down the left and he picked out Camoranesi to side-foot home from the penalty spot.
   Camoranesi then sent in a delightful curling cross from the right for Amauri to head home his second as Sampdoria crumbled.
   Giampaolo Pazzini pulled a goal back for the visitors before French veteran Trezeguet rounded off the scoring late on.
   Newly-promoted Parma moved up to fourth, and a Champions League position, as they beat fellow Serie A newboys Bari 2-0.
   AS Roma lost for the third game in a row as they fell 2-1 at Udinese in a game in which both teams had a player sent off.
   Lowly Livorno won their second match in a row since new coach Serse Cosmi took over as they beat Atalanta 1-0.

Florentino Perez, president of troubled Spanish giants Real Madrid, would like general director Jorge Valdano to take over as team coach, according to sports daily AS on Thursday. AS said that Perez ‘wants to get rid of’ embattled coach Manuel Pellegrini, after losing three of the last five matches.
   The final straw for Perez was Tuesday’s 4-0 meltdown in the King’s Cup away to third division part-timers Alcorcon, generally considered one of the biggest humiliations in Real’s proud 107-year history.
   Pellegrini seems to have already lost control of what has always been a difficult dressing-room.
   According to Marca on Thursday, Pellegrini had an irate slanging match at half-time in Alcorcon with veteran playmaker Guti, who apparently swore violently at the coach - and has still not been punished for it.
   An online poll in AS - in which 51,990 votes had been registered by Thursday morning - revealed that 63 per cent of readers who like to see Pellegrini sacked.
   However, according to AS, Valdano is reluctant to axe the Chilean - and to take over as coach himself.
   Valdano, who helped Argentina to win the World Cup in 1986, played for Real 1984-1987, was coach at the Estadio Bernabeu 1995-1996, and sporting director under Perez from 2000-2004, quitting when Perez’ infamous ‘Galactico’ team was on the decline.
   The laconic Argentine has the image of a kind of ‘philosopher prince’ of Hispanic football, after having written several short stories and coined several memorable phrases for the media.
   Not everyone is enamoured of Valdano. Argentina coach Diego Maradona, one of Valdano’s team-mates in 1986, recently said that ‘I am not a philosopher, for that role there is Valdano, who tells more lies than ‘el truco’(a popular Argentine card game)’.
   Perez, however, swears by Valdano, despite the way the Argentine abandoned the sinking ‘Galactico’ ship in 2004. Perez insisted upon him as right-hand man when he decided to return to the Real presidency five months ago.
   Valdano usually does everything that Perez asks of him - except taking over as coach.
   It was Valdano who signed up Pellegrini in July, on the basis of the latter’s five years of success at modest Villarreal.
   According to AS on Thursday, the favourites to succeed Pellegrini, if Valdano continues to refuse to step in, are Michael Laudrup and Luciano Spalletti.
   However, an online poll in AS shows that the fans’ favourite is Liverpool coach Rafa Benitez, with 37 per cent of the votes.
   Laudrup has 22 per cent, Victor Fernandez 15 per cent, Juande Ramos (Real coach in the second half of last season) 12 per cent and former Spain manager Luis Aragones seven per cent.

C’Ron sidelined for another week
   Crisitano Ronaldo’s ankle sprain is recovering but the Portuguese international winger will have to undergo further medical tests in a week before the can return to the pitch, Real Madrid said Wednesday. The announcement means the 94-million-euro signing will likely miss the Spanish giants’ Champions League match at AC Milan on Tuesday. Real said the 24-year-old underwent an MRI on Wednesday which showed the injury was ‘healing favourably and that swelling of the bone edema has decreased’. ‘Despite this improvement, a minor bone edema has been found in the centre of his right ankle. The player must remain inactive until he undergoes another examination in one week’s time,’ it said in a statement posted on its website. Ronaldo has been injured ever since Real’s 3-0 Champions League win over Marseille at the end of September when he was tackled by the French side’s Senegalese defender Souleymane Diawara. At the time the club said the player would likely be out for between three and four weeks but Ronaldo aggravated the injury during Portugal’s 3-0 victory over Hungary on October 10 when he limped off the pitch after just 27 minutes. Real has suffered three losses without Ronaldo, including a 4-0 Cup rout away to third-division club Alcorcon on Tuesday.
   — AFP
   
   Bayern set to sell several stars
   Bayern Munich are set to sell several members of their squad during the Bundesliga’s winter break, team manager Uli Hoeness said on Wednesday. Striker Luca Toni, as well as defenders Breno, Christian Lell and Andreas Goerlitz, plus midfielders Anatoli Timoschtschuk, Jose Sosa and Alexander Baujohann are all possible candidates for the transfer market in January. ‘The squad will surely be smaller after the winter break,’ Hoeness told German magazine Sport-Bild with Bayern fourth in the league table. ‘People will stay as long as they prove themselves, but I assume there will be some changes.’
   — AFP
   
   Mourinho backs Zenga as successor
   Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho on Wednesday gave his backing to former Italy goalkeeper Walter Zenga as his eventual successor at the San Siro. Mourinho’s league leaders Inter host fourth-placed Palermo, coached by Zenga, on Thursday in a match the former Italy goalkeeper would like to believe is a title clash. Zenga caused a stir last week by claiming he wants to win the title this season with Palermo while it is also no secret that we would like to one day coach Inter. So far his team have delivered with a 1-0 victory over Juventus, the highlight of a positive start to the season. And Mourinho believes there is more to come from Zenga. ‘Walter is a great friend of mine. I like him because he doesn’t worry about his image, he’s original and he defends his team,’ said the Portuguese. ‘It wasn’t crazy talk when he said he wants to win the title but a great motivation for his players. It certainly won’t be me who decides but I’d like it a lot if one day he took my place.’ Zenga spent 12 years of his playing career with Inter, winning the title in 1989, before going on to coach in the United States, Romania, Serbia and Turkey before joining Catania in 2008. After just one successful season at Catania Zenga left to join their bitter Sicilian rivals Palermo.
   — AFP

Arsenal’s young stars dazzled in the League Cup once again as the Gunners reached the quarter-finals with a 2-1 win over Liverpool, while Chelsea and Manchester City also romped through on Wednesday.
   Arsene Wenger uses the League Cup as his training ground for each crop of youngsters emerging from the academy and the Arsenal manager looks to have found another gem or two judging by their victory at the Emirates Stadium.
   Spanish teenager Fran Merida announced his arrival on the big stage in impressive style when he netted his first Arsenal goal in the 19th minute.
   The 19-year-old former Barcelona midfielder drilled in a fine strike from the edge of the penalty area.
   Emiliano Insua drew Liverpool level in the 26th minute with his first goal for the Reds – a blistering 25-yard volley.
   But Nicklas Bendtner, 21, produced a powerful finish after 50 minutes to put Arsenal into the last-eight in Wenger’s 750th game in charge of Arsenal.
   The only bright spot for Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez was a brief cameo appearance from Italy midfielder Alberto Aquilani, who was finally fit to come off the bench in the closing stages for his long-waited debut after his pre-season move from Roma.
   Chelsea cruised through with a 4-0 victory over Bolton at Stamford Bridge despite resting the likes of John Terry, Frank Lampard and Petr Cech.
   First-half goals from Salomon Kalou and Florent Malouda put the home side in command before Deco and substitute Didier Drogba finished off Gary Megson’s side after the break.
   Manchester City destroyed Scunthorpe 5-1 at Eastlands as Roque Santa Cruz scored his first goal for Mark Hughes’ team.
   Stephen Ireland got City’s early opener but Scunthorpe hit back with a Jonathan Forte equaliser in the 26th minute.
   Once Santa Cruz restored City’s lead with a 38th-minute header there was only going to be one winner.
   Joleon Lescott increased City’s lead in the 56th minute before Carlos Tevez netted after 71 minutes. Michael Johnson, on as a substitute, added City’s fifth in the 77th minute.

Pedro scored twice to give holders Barcelona a 2-0 lead over third-tier side Cultural Leonesa in the last 32 of the Copa del Rey on Wednesday.
   Real Madrid’s astonishing 4-0 defeat to another Segunda B team Alcorcon on Tuesday had raised expectations that Cultural might surprise Pep Guardiola’s weakened Barca, but that was never really on the cards.
   Bojan Krkic’s snaking run helped set up Pedro for the opener after 41 minutes, and another product of the Barca youth system, forward Jeffren, curled in a cross that left Pedro free to volley the second just after the hour mark. The second leg is at the Nou Camp in two weeks time.
   Earlier, three second division sides complicated the lives of their top-flight visitors by establishing first-leg advantages.
   Rayo Vallecano beat last season’s finalists Athletic Bilbao 2-0 with early goals from former Bilbao midfielder Nestor Susaeta and veteran striker Sergio Pachon.
   Hercules came from behind to win 2-1 against Almeria and Celta Vigo overcame Tenerife by the same scoreline.
   Joaquin earned 2008 winners Valencia a narrow 1-0 victory over Segunda B Alcoyano, and the 2007 and 2008 finalists Getafe beat La Liga rivals Espanyol 2-0 at home with goals from Juan Albin and Jaime Gavilan. The last three first legs take place on Thursday.

Bayern Munich’s Miroslav Klose scored two early goals on Wednesday to help the German giants on their way to a 4-0 demolition of Eintracht Frankfurt and book their place in the German Cup quarter-finals.
   ‘This is the sort of strong performance from Bayern Munich which I had imagined,’ said Bayern team manager Uli Hoeness.
   ‘This is the Bayern Munich who show how strong they are.’
   Frankfurt coach Michael Skibbe admitted his side were outclassed from first to last whistle.
   ‘We didn’t cope with fairly standard situations at all well,’ he said.
   ‘Mistakes were made for each of the four goals.
   ‘The difference in quality was obvious from the first to the last minute.’
   After both Stuttgart and Dortmund suffered third-round exits on Tuesday, there was no such problem for fellow Bundesliga sides Bayern, Werder Bremen, Hoffenheim or Schalke 04 who all enjoyed easy wins.
   After Bayern had laboured to a 2-1 win over Frankfurt in the Bundesliga last Saturday, they totally dominated the cup match with German international striker Klose showing his world-class finishing with expert goals on 14 and 19 minutes.
   They were his first of the season in all competitions, but the Germany hot-shot – the top-scorer at the last World Cup – looked sharp in front of goal and caused havoc in the Frankfurt defence.
   Munich’s rising star Thomas Mueller then benefited from being set up by Klose when he put Bayern 3-0 up on 29 and then Italian World Cup winner Luca Toni – who has been linked with a move away in January – also scored his first goal of the season for the German giants with a header on 52 minutes.
   Hoffenheim will also be in the draw for the last eight after they strolled to a 4-0 win at home to second division Koblenz after midfielder Sejad Salihovic started the scoring with a free-kick on 50 minutes.
   Striker Vedad Ibisevic scored after a darting run on 67 minutes before Brazil striker Maicosuel put the match beyond doubt on 71 minutes only for Germany defender Marvin Compper to head home the fourth on 90 minutes.
   Schalke 04 booked their place in the next round after defender Benedikt Hoewedes scored twice in a 3-0 win over second division 1860 Munich and Bremen barely got out of second gear in their 3-0 win over Kaiserslautern.
   But VfB Stuttgart held a crisis meeting on Wednesday to decide the future of coach Markus Babbel after the Bundesliga club had suffered a 1-0 shock defeat on Tuesday in the third round at second division Greuther Fuerth.
   Stuttgart went behind on 32 minutes through midfielder Bernd Nehrig after team-mate Leonhard Haas found him with a pinpoint accurate pass and the 23-year-old’s shot gave former Germany goalkeeper Jens Lehmann no chance.
   Dortmund also crashed out of the cup when they were beaten 3-2 at third division Osnabrueck, who had claimed Hamburg’s scalp in the second round, after Italian midfielder Angelo Barletta scored twice for the home side.
   And Augsburg also booked their passage into the next round with a 5-0 hammering of fellow second division side Duisburg.

Russia’s Dinara Safina hobbled out of the WTA Championships here on Wednesday, surrendering the year-end world number one ranking to Serena Williams in the process.
   Williams then celebrated the landmark by beating sister Venus 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4), sending the defending champion to a second defeat and virtually certain of exiting the 4.55 million dollar tournament.
   The 23-year-old Safina quit her opening match against Jelena Jankovic with a lower back injury with the score at 1-1 in the first set and after only 13 minutes on court.
   ‘My body just gave up, and I couldn’t handle the pain anymore,’ said Safina, who had gone back to the top of the rankings on Monday, but only with a 155-point lead on Williams.
   The American won her opener in this 4.55 million dollar event on Tuesday against Svetlana Kuznetsova, and then added more ranking points by defeating Venus.
   ‘It’s a great feeling to be world number one, but I feel really sorry for Dinara. She’s a great player and never gives up,’ said Serena, who was also the year-end number one in 2002.
   ‘It’s a shame for the tournament that she couldn’t get through to the final.’
   Organisers said that fellow Russian Vera Zvonareva, the 2008 runner-up, would take Safina’s place in the competition.
   Safina said she had started feeling the inflammation in her lower back on her way to her third title of 2009 in Portoroz in July, but had been determined to keep playing to stay on course for the year-end top spot.
   ‘I was advised to take a break after the US Open. But I thought that I
   was chasing this No. 1 place, I was fighting with my body.
   ‘Maybe I should have stopped after the US Open. But for two tournaments - in Beijing and Tokyo - it didn’t bother me that much.’
   Safina, whose earlier 25-week reign as world number one ranking had come under fire due to the glaring absence of a major title on her CV, said she was confident that surgery wouldn’t be required.
   ‘It’s the time, then it’s the rehabilitation. I have to work on my muscles, on my core stability. As I’m tall, I need to be strong. This is going to be a very long procedure.’
   Safina added that she will also have to make a decision on whether or not to skip the 2010 Australian Open in order to complete her recovery.
   Safina’s retirement leaves the White Group in the eight-player WTA Championships evenly-poised with Jankovic, Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka all with one win with the top two making the semi-finals.
   The Maroon Group has Serena Williams on top with two wins, Elena Dementieva has one win while Kuznetsova and Venus Williams are winless.
   Serena’s victory over Venus was her 12th in 22 family meetings, but it came in a gruelling encounter which finished after midnight.

Diego Maradona was ‘in a state of violent emotion’ when he made lewd remarks at journalists after Argentina qualified for the World Cup finals, the Argentine Football Association’s lawyer said on Wednesday.
   FIFA opened an investigation into Maradona’s outburst at the globally broadcast news conference after his team beat Uruguay 1-0 in Montevideo on Oct 14 to secure their place at the 2010 finals in South Africa.
   Maradona could be fined and banned for at least five matches, according to the FIFA disciplinary code, which could affect his hopes of being in charge of Argentina at the finals.
   Lawyer Hugo Passos told reporters on Wednesday the AFA report sent to FIFA said ‘Maradona was acting in a state of violent emotion over arguments with journalists in the days before the match (in Uruguay).’
   The AFA is looking to pour cold water on the issue to try to avoid a sanction for Maradona, who has refused to apologise, saying he had felt aggrieved over criticism of his work.
   Maradona’s tenure has been marked by clashes with players, coaches, journalists and directors since he took charge midway through the qualifiers in November 2008 following the resignation of Alfio Basile.
   Playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme, a central figure at the 2006 World Cup and for Basile in the 2010 qualifiers, quit saying Maradona did not live by ‘the same codes’.
   Maradona has also had differences with 1986 World Cup-winning coach Carlos Bilardo, who was appointed as the AFA’s technical director of national teams.
   Bilardo appeared to have been named as someone whom Maradona could turn to for support but the coach has said he will make all the decisions and the older man should stay up in the directors’ box in suit and tie with AFA president Julio Grondona.
   Maradona has begun building a staff for the World Cup by adding former Argentina defender Fernando Gamboa, who is coach of Chacarita Juniors, while Bilardo ally Miguel Angel Lemme will leave when his contract expires next week.
   Gamboa’s appointment is expected to put Maradona on a collision course with Chacarita, who are fighting for top flight survival.

Troubled Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko could be forced to leave the Premier League club in search of more regular first-team football, his agent said Thursday.
   The Russia forward failed to impress in the 2-0 League Cup win over Everton on Tuesday having been handed a rare start.
   Agent Oleg Artemov said in the Sun: ‘His poor performance recently is not due to a lack of match practice but psychological problems.
   ‘Of course, not getting into the starting line-up, sitting on the bench is not good for any player.
   ‘But Roman is much more affected by the feeling that the manager doesn’t trust him and prefers to use other forwards.’
   Pavlyuchenko, who was brought to White Hart Lane by former manager Juande Ramos, is competing with Jermain Defoe, Robbie Keane and Peter Crouch for a place in the Spurs attack.
   And Artemov hinted he may have to leave the club to avoid harming his international chances ahead of next summer’s World Cup in South Africa.
   He added: ‘The World Cup is next summer, to waste another half a year on the bench may be very bad for his international career.’

Borussia Dortmund had the second-highest average number of spectators through their turnstiles in Europe last season and were only bettered by English giants Manchester United, a survey has revealed.
   Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park stadium boasts one of the biggest capacities in Germany with the ability to host 80,552 fans and they had an average gate of 74,748 last season in a survey carried out by Futebol Finance.
   Manchester United came out top of the survey with an average gate of 75,304 packed into their Old Trafford stadium for every game with Champions League winners Barcelona third with 71,045 attending the Nou Camp for their games.
   Real Madrid are fourth with Bayern Munich fifth and in total nine German clubs are in the survey’s top 20.

Ex-Germany captain Lothar Matthaeus on Wednesday rejected an offer to coach Argentinian side Racing Club de Avellaneda.
   ‘After a lot of consideration, I must unfortunately reject the offer from Racing – the whole idea does not really fit,’ the 48-year-old told the Cologne Express.
   Matthaeus, who lifted the 1990 World Cup with Germany and won 150 caps for his country, was supposed to be on the bench with the club from the Buenos Aires’ suburbs for Saturday’s game against Tucuman.
   But Matthaeus told the German newspaper he got cold feet about the deal.
   ‘Racing did not send the necessary paperwork about the contract through until Tuesday night,’ said the German.
   ‘There have already been missing payments in the past and without some security, I could not embark on an uncertain adventure.’
   Matthaeus’ decision leaves Racing red-faced as the Argentinian club announced the German was their new coach last weekend.
   But Carlos Alvarez, a former vice-president of Argentina and a passionate Racing fan, told German tabloid Bild he never thought Matthaeus was the right man for the job.
   ‘Mattheaus was a great player, but as a coach, he has achieved no real results,’ he said. ‘On the contrary, he has shown very poor achievements.
   ‘To recruit him seemed a high risk and the decision to sign him was incomprehensible.’

Markus Babbel will remain as Stuttgart’s coach after the club held a crisis meeting on Wednesday in the wake of the Bundesliga side’s five consecutive defeats and German Cup exit.
   Stuttgart’s bosses met in the aftermath of their side’s cup exit on Tuesday night at second division Gruether Fuerth where they suffered a humiliating 1-0 defeat.
   Babbel took training on Wednesday afternoon after meeting with his bosses and director of sport Horst Heldt said the 37-year-old will remain in charge with his side 14th in the league table.
   ‘We looked at the overall situation and the entire executive committee made the decision: we will continue to hold onto this team,’ said Heldt.
   ‘We are convinced that the club will find their way out with this team.
   ‘Markus Babbel has given the impression that he can do it.’

Ponting still laments
McGrath’s loss
Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes his limited overs bowling attack is still missing the late innings skills of former fast bowler Glenn McGrath, more than two and a half years after he retired. While Cricket Australia has praised the rebuilding efforts that have taken place since McGrath and other members of the team’s ‘golden generation’ retired, Ponting admitted he was yet to see another bowler who could constrict an opposition’s hitting at the death quite so effectively. ‘It has been (an issue) for a long time, ever since Pigeon (McGrath) moved on, bowling at the death, ‘Fox Sports quoted Ponting, as saying. ‘We have mixed and matched trying new guys over the past few years to try and find the guys that can do that well for us,’ he added.
   — Agencies

Messi supports
Red Cross
humanitarian work
Argentinian football star Lionel Messi joined Thursday a campaign to support the humanitarian work of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The ‘Our world. Your move’ campaign, launched in May, aims to highlight humanitarian problems and the roles individuals can play to effect change. ‘In life, as in sport, we are able to do more and achieve more when we work as a team,’ the Barcelona player Messi said in a statement. ‘The International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies are hopeful that Mr Messi’s involvement will encourage his fans to take an interest in helping others,’ the movement said. Messi joins a growing list of international celebrities who have backed the Red Cross campaign, including James Bond director Marc Forster. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the formulation of the basis for the international Red Cross movement by Henri Dunant, a Geneva businessman.
   — Agencies