Sports

(BBC) Nottinghamshire all-rounder Samit Patel has withdrawn from the Indian Premier League auction to focus his efforts on winning a place in England’s Test side.

(Reuters) – Injury-weakened Australia return to test action on home soil this week for the first time since their humiliating Ashes defeat, taking on a New Zealand team convinced conditions might just be right for an upset.

(Reuters) – The National Basketball Association (NBA) began stirring back to life yesterday with player agents and team officials formally allowed to begin discussions about free agents in anticipation of next month’s start of the delayed season.

The 22nd edition of the Kashif and Shanghai football tournament got another shot in the arm with the contribution the organizers received from Giftland Office Max yesterday.

Defending champion Taffin Khan remains unbeaten in his quest to defend his national title  following last weekend’s matches of the Geddes Grant/Seven Seas 2011 National senior chess championships being played at the Ocean Spray Hotel in Kitty.

VISAKHAPATNAM, India, CMC – West Indies arrived here yesterday for their second One-Day International against India, following their heart-breaking loss in the first game in Cuttack.

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Paceman Mitchell Johnson is likely to be sidelined for up to five months with a foot injury, Cricket Australia said yesterday, almost certainly ruling him out of upcoming test series against New Zealand and India.

KINGSTON, Jamaica,  CMC – Injury-prone West Indies pacer Jerome Taylor has been omitted from a Jamaican 25-man squad to prepare for the upcoming Caribbean Twenty20 Championship.

ZURICH (Reuters) – FIFA needs to bring its member associations into line as well as cleaning up its own act, the man called in to head its new independent watchdog said yesterday.

ZURICH (Reuters) – FIFA should keep a close eye on its elected officials and limit their mandates, an independent report into soccer’s governing body said  yesterday.

(Reuters) – The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) does not have the jurisdiction to rule on an appeal by the Swiss Anti-Doping agency that could lead to a life ban for former cyclist Jan Ullrich, the body said yesterday.

MADRID (Reuters) – Barcelona fullback Adriano Correia has pulled a thigh muscle and will be out of action for up to seven days, the Spanish champions said yesterday.

CUTTACK, India, CMC – India withstood a lethal early burst from pacers Kemar Roach and Andre Russell, to sneak home by one wicket with seven balls to spare, in a tense opening One-Day International against West Indies here yesterday.

HARARE, Zimbabwe, CMC – Estranged West Indies opener Chris Gayle smashed a whirlwind unbeaten century but his Matabeleland Tuskers crashed to a seven-wicket defeat with three balls to spare in the domestic Twenty20 Championship here yesterday.

Guyana’s Under-17 Lady Jags football team was beaten 8-0 by Trinidad and Tobago’s Soca Princesses in the first game of the second round of the  CONCACAF Women’s World Cup Qualifying competition yesterday.

A contingent of seven amateur boxers, including one female and four officials will wing out today for Barbados to compete in the inaugural Ronald Wilson Memorial tournament.

The semi-finals of the 2011 Carib Beer/Pepsi nationwide Twenty20 competition bowls off today at the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) Ground, Bourda from 9:00am.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – West Indies A manager Colin Borde has reiterated the value of the High Performance Centre, noting it played a key role in the recently concluded A series against Bangladesh.

(Reuters) – Fatigue among Spain’s players could help a well-prepared Argentina spring a surprise at this week’s Davis Cup final in Seville.

DHAKA, (Reuters) – Off-spinners Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik grabbed two wickets apiece to lead Pakistan to a comfortable 50-run win over Bangladesh in a low-scoring, one-off Twenty20 international yesterday.