NOTTINGHAM: Pakistan captain Salman Butt hopes some of the magic of Imran Khan, his cricket hero, will rub off when he leads the team in the first Test against England here on Thursday.Butt`s captaincy debut went better than even the most fervent Pakistan supporter could have hoped with a

COLOMBO: Star batsman Sachin Tendulkar hit 203 and debutant Suresh Raina made 120 as India bettered Sri Lanka`s run-spree in the high-scoring second cricket Test on Thursday.India, kept on the field for the first two days during Sri Lanka`s massive 642-4 declared, responded by piling up

NOTTINGHAM: Paul Collingwood is adamant there is no reason why he or his fellow England batsmen should feel daunted by the challenge of facing Pakistan`s bowlers here at Trent Bridge.Pakistan go into the first of four-Test series starting Thursday on the back of a dramatic three-wicket

COLOMBO: Sachin Tendulkar hit his 48th Test century to lead India`s fightback in the second Test on Wednesday after Sri Lanka`s new-look bowling attack ran through the top order.The world`s leading international run-scorer was unbeaten on 108 as India, replying to Sri Lanka`s 642-4

KARACHI: Cricket teams from Afghanistan and Hong Kong are to appear in a club-level event in Pakistan, in a tentative step towards reviving the sport in the violence-hit country, an official said Wednesday.Pakistan has not hosted any international cricket since Islamist militants attacked

KARACHI: Shakoor Rana, the Pakistani umpire who became famous for his furious row with England captain Mike Gatting during a test in Faisalabad, later regretted the incident, his son said."My father was a very jovial and temperamental person and he gained a lot of fame and attention after

BERLIN: Lothar Matthaeus was a footballing legend, captaining West Germany to their 1990 World Cup triumph and much more besides. But the 49-year-old`s personal life has not always been so glorious.On Wednesday the latest installment in his roller coaster love life was that his

BERLIN: Real Madrid`s talismanic striker Raul, forced out of the Bernabeu after 16 record-breaking seasons, has signed for Schalke at the age of 33, the Bundesliga club said on Wednesday.Raul, who scored 323 times in 741 games for Real, notched 66 Champions League goals and is Spain`s

NOTTINGHAM: Mushtaq Ahmed has urged Pakistan to persist with the combination of captain Salman Butt and coach Waqar Younis.Former Pakistan leg-spinner Mushtaq, now England`s spin bowling coach, will find himself on the opposite side to his compatriots when a four-Test series gets underway

SINGAPORE: Qatar is optimistic on its chances of hosting the 2022 World Cup, the bid`s chief executive said Wednesday in the countdown to a decision by football`s governing body FIFA on December 2.Hassan Al Thawadi said he expected tough competition but believed the Gulf state had made

LONDON: World number four Andy Murray has sacked his coach Miles Maclagan, his management company 19 Entertainment said on Tuesday.Former professional player Maclagan, 35, had been on Murray`s coaching team for two and a half years.Murray, 23, is currently competing in Los Angeles in the

NOTTINGHAM: Paul Collingwood is adamant there is no reason why he or his fellow England batsmen should feel daunted by the challenge of facing Pakistan`s bowlers here at Trent Bridge.Pakistan go into the first of four-Test series starting Thursday on the back of a dramatic three-wicket

BARCELONA: Britain`s Dwain Chambers and Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre are set for a much-anticipated showdown in the 100 metres at the European championships in Barcelona Wednesday.Assuming both athletes, the only two in the field to have broken 10 seconds this season, make it through

BUENOS AIRES: Diego Maradona accused Argentine soccer chiefs of betraying him on Wednesday, a day after they voted unanimously to end his tenure as national team coach.The Argentine Football Association (AFA) decided not to renew Maradona`s contract following the team`s 4-0 drubbing by

LIVERPOOL: Argentina skipper Javier Mascherano wants to leave Liverpool, the club`s manager Roy Hodgson confirmed on Tuesday.Hodgson has been speaking to the key figures in the team since taking over from Rafael Benitez at Anfield.While captain Steven Gerrard has indicated he wants to

MADRID: Spanish champions Barcelona posted a loss last season of just over 77 million euros, its first in seven years, instead of a profit as had been claimed by the previous board, the club said Tuesday.The previous board, led by former Barcelona president Joan Laporta, announced at the

BERLIN: German midfielder Michael Ballack, who missed the World Cup because of an ankle injury, is not fit enough to play in next month`s friendly against Denmark, his Bayer Leverkusen coach said on Tuesday.The former Chelsea midfielder, who joined the German club during the summer, began

BARCELONA: Russian teen Stanislav Emelyanov produced an upset in the men`s 20km walk to take the first gold of the European Athletics Championships and push favourite Alex Schwazer of Italy into second here on Tuesday.The 19-year-old is the latest walker to emerge from the successful

NEW DELHI: Suspended Indian Premier League (IPL) chief Lalit Modi called an investigation into him a "witch hunt" ahead of a second hearing of an inquiry set up by the country`s cricket board.Modi, 46, said he was unwilling to co-operate with the board`s current disciplinary panel because

RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil`s new coach, Mano Menezes, said Monday he intended to build a side capable of achieving his nation`s football "dreams," as he was officially presented in his new job.The successor to Dunga, who was axed after Brazil was knocked out of this year`s World Cup in the