It did not pay off: just when he appeared to be loosening

It did not pay off: just when he appeared to be loosening up with a trademark whipped boundary through midwicket, he dragged one on to his stumps. And when the crowd started to throw bottles at Salim Malik, the batsman – Ajay Jadeja – went over and made beseeching gestures to implore them to stop.
India won the toss, batted, and took few chances against an attack that was without Wasim Akram, whose side muscle could not have taken the strain. Sachin Tendulkar, who normally bats as if there were no tomorrow, for once decided to sniff the air before committing himself. Somehow they managed to keep their heads in the hysterical atmosphere that surrounded the game, but it was a close thing. When Venkatesh Prasad bowled Aamir Sohail, the two visibly exchanged rude words and the umpires had to hand out stiff lectures. INDIA won what might have been the biggest and most highly charged match in their history here yesterday when they beat Pakistan, their co- hosts in the World Cup and their bitterest rivals, by 39 runs. If the Australian Rugby League’s winning roll continues, they will succeed in blocking Super League there until the next millennium – March 2000, to be precise.Alec Shand QC, who is acting for the RFL, has indicated to the court what is likely to happen in that event.

Having exhausted various appeals, Murdoch would pull out of a commitment to Europe that no longer makes any commercial sense to him. The game in Britain would be left high and dry.This is not a state of affairs that gives any satisfaction, even to those who had their doubts about the deal from the day it was announced.As Shand also said in Sydney – and this is one statement that is unquestionably true – more than half Britain’s professional clubs would face bankruptcy and extinction if the comforting rug of Murdoch money were pulled from under them.The clubs have been told by Lindsay to sit tight and wait for matters to come good, but many of them have a nasty feeling that they are not going to.. The temptation to put forward two different versions for two different audiences has proved irresistible, but it has exposed a basic contradiction.If the affidavit is the truth and the propaganda aimed at domestic ears is a bluff then Britain must look forward to the next series of judgments on Tuesday with dread. Only one thing is certain – they cannot both be entirely true.It is unlikely that the undisputed leader of the game in Britain would be so cavalier with the truth as to authorise the submission of false evidence to a court in order to try to influence the outcome of a case.In that case, all the bold assurances that have been given about the future of Super League here are lent a certain hollowness. But in court Down Under a QC retained by the Rugby Football League – the British governing body – has tabled an affidavit from Lindsay which states that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation will have grounds to scrap its pounds 87m contract with Europe if Super League is scrapped in Australia.
Those two statements have flown around the world to collide head-on with one another. WITH less than three weeks to go before the start of Super League, the game in Britain is at best subject to a glaring contradiction and at worst in serious doubt. On one side of the world, Maurice Lindsay, the chief executive of the European Super League, insists that the competition here is safe and secure regardless of what happens in Australia.

The number of substitutes allowed on the bench will be increased from five to seven but the number who can be used will stay at three All changes will be introduced on 1 July.. Fifa’s general secretary, Sepp Blatter, said the board had also decided that the linesman will be renamed the referee’s assistant, partly because of an increasingly important role and partly because there is an increasing number of women linesmen. Kelly said Fifa would send out a directive stipulating the maximum time a referee could allow play to continue before going back and awarding a free-kick, and said it would be only a few seconds. “There has been a lot of reaction around the world to what was no more than a tentative suggestion,” England’s Graham Kelly said. “The reaction was such that the board felt it was inappropriate to even consider the matter in more detail.” The board approved a proposed change to the advantage rule, which will allow referees who play it to stop play and award the free-kick if the advantage does not materialise.

The idea of carrying out an experiment with bigger goals was briefly discussed at a meeting of Fifa’s International Association Board, the sport’s rule-making body, before it was quickly ditched, according to delegates. Football

Fifa refuse to move goalposts
World football’s governing body, Fifa, meeting in Rio de Janeiro yesterday, ruled out any possibility of making goals bigger, saying reaction had been so negative that they had nipped the idea in the bud. The pre-race favourite, Yorkshireman Andrew Pearson, dropped out just after 11 kilometres, feeling unwell when contesting the lead.. Hockey

Win for ‘experimental’ England
England spoilt Ireland’s centenary celebrations of the first recorded women’s international in Dublin yesterday when, with an experimental side, they beat the Irish 2-1, writes Brian Tatlock. Jackie Crook gave England a fifth-minute lead from the penalty spot after Kath James, playing in her first international, had been floored by Ireland’s goalkeeper, Alison Vance. Ireland equalised through Claire Samways three minutes before the interval, but James completed a useful first international when, after being put through by Crook, she scored England’s winner in the 38th minute.. Wyeth, 31, covered the six-kilometre course in 21min 59sec but was beaten in the finishing straight by Oxford University’s Nnenna Lynch.