Durban (S. Africa), Oct. 29 : Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke has said he had nothing to do with the axing of opener Simon Katich from the national contracted players list, and added that Katich''s latest outburst were not good for the team''s morale, and therefore, he wouldn''t be rushing to bring him back into the national squad.

Lahore, August 28 : Out-of-favour Pakistan batsman Ahmed Shahzad, often criticised for his attitude, is not ready to accept the allegations about his lack of discipline, insisting that he has done nothing wrong.

Shahzad has a history of disciplinary issues since his club-cricket days, and his attitude problem was first highlighted in 2008, when the then team manager Abdul Raqeeb had reported his disruptive behaviour during the ICC Youth World Cup in Kuala Lumpur.

London, Aug 21 - India find themselves facing the ignominy of a whitewash after England seamers ripped through the top order to leave the visitors struggling at 103/5 at the close of the rain-interrupted third day's play of the fourth and last cricket Test at The Oval here Saturday.

The Indian batsmen once again failed to dig in their heels after England declared their first innings at the lunch time score of 591/6. Heavy showers during the lunch break washed out the second session.

London, Aug 21 - Scoreboard at close of third day's play of the fourth and last cricket Test between India and England at The Oval here Saturday:

England first innings:

Andrew Strauss c Dhoni b Sreesanth 40 Alastair Cook c Sehwag b Sharma 34 Ian Bell lbw b Raina 235 Kevin Pietersen c & b Raina 175 James Anderson c Laxman b Sreesanth 13 Eoin Morgan c Dhoni b Sreesanth 1 Ravi Bopara not out 44 Matt Prior not out 18

Extras: (b-6, lb-8, w-7, nb-10) 31

Total: (for six wickets decl in 153 overs) 591

Full proof security arrangements were made for the ambitious President's Cup final between Al Jazira and Al Wahda football clubs. Police and the security agencies in the city did not want to take any chance and thus also deployed private security guards in the vicinity of the stadium.

Col Rashid al Ali, head of the security committee for the final match of the President's Cup, said that security cover around the private security guards had been made and separate routes for parking places were put in place for the convenience of visitors.

The Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, one of the region's most important motorsport events, is all set to bring pride for GCC countries. Two Omani rally stars Nizar al Shanfari and Ahmed al Hajri will bring the event at culmination, at a challenging and stunning terrain in the Middle East.

Mohammed ben Sulayem, the Federation International de l'Automobile (FIA) vice-president for sport and chairman of the Desert Challenge organizing committee told, "The Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge is one of our region's most important motorsport events and we want our fellow GCC countries to be as proud of it as we are in the UAE."

Chennai is the proud host of the ongoing Aircel ATP Chennai Open. The opening has given chances to a lot of budding tennis talent in the country.

One of such exciting talent is the 23 year old Andhra Pradesh player, Vishnu Vardhan. The nation was expecting a lot from him when the tournament started, and he has not disappointed anyone.

He beat third seeded Conor Niland of Ireland 4-6, 7-5, 6-4. With this win he will be moving forward to the second round of the qualifying tournament. His ranking was a not so impressive, 386 as against 29-year old Conor's 129.

Ace Indian shuttler and world no 2 Saina Nehwal will receive the India's highest sports award, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna.

The award's panel chaired by the country's renowned athlete P. T. Usha met today to finalize the winners of 2020's national sports awards.

A sports ministry representative stated that the Arjuna Awards will be announced in next couple of days.

Saina has been in superb form and recently bagged three back-to-back tournaments, which comprised two Super Series titles.

Indian Premier League (IPL) team Kings XI Punjab finished up on the wrong side of the law today when a court issued bailable arrest warrants to its three owners including actress Priety Zinta, industrialist Ness Wadia and businessman Mohit Burman.

Chief Judicial Magistrate J. S. Sidhu issued the arrest warrants after the three owners failed to appear before the court in a case against them.

The case against the team owners was lodged by the Registrar of Companies (ROC) office during April, accusing them of not forwarding their balance sheet and returns.

Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga will not be a part of the second Test at Colombo against India because of an injury.

Malinga led the Lankan pace attack during the first Test at Galle and took seven wickets.

Lasith was also announced man of the match.

Lankan physiotherapist Tommy Simsek advised the bowler to take complete rest as the player complained of a stiff right knee.

Fast bowler Dilhara Fernando would replace Malinga.

After successfully hosting the Hero Honda FIH World Cup Hockey at the beginning of 2010, India is ready to host the FIH Champions Trophy (Men) by the coming year (2011).

The Executive Board of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) has chosen India to be the location for hosting the trophy in 2011.

The FIH Champions Trophy is planned to be hosted in India in December next year.

During the same year, Olympic and World Champion Netherlands will host the Women's FIH Champions Trophy.

FIH will announce the dates for both the events later.

After Murali, it's time for stylish Pakistani captain Shahid Afridi to say bye to the international Test cricket, resulting in the closure of one significant chapter in the past of Test cricket in the sub-continent.

Afridi declared that he will give up both Test cricket and captaincy of Pakistan group after the second Test against Australia that begins at Headingley on Wednesday.

Afridi declared his verdict instantly after his side lost to Australia by 150 runs in the first Test at Lords.

He started his Test career versus Australia at Karachi in the year 1998.

The top business leaders in Newport have described the decision of the city council as a ridiculous one which has rejected the plans of Sir Terry Matthews to remove a farmhouse building.

The billionaire Terry Matthews wanted to move an old farmhouse from the edge of the golf course which is going to host the Ryder Cup.

The business tycoons have called this decision as a slap in the face. He wanted to move the farmhouse away from the coverage of the TV cameras of the golf tournament “Ryder Cup”, which is to be held in October by the Celtic Manor Resort.

Argentina’s recent devastating 4-0 loss against Germany in the World Cup quarter-finals has raised a question regarding Maradona’s continuation as Argentina’s coach.

An online poll by a newspaper showed 63.1% people want Maradona to quit. Similar results were shown by other polls as well.

The last major title Argentina won was the Copa America in 1993. The team had won the World Cup in 1978 and 1986. This year the team came back on track for a seemingly third World Cup title after winning all the group matches against Nigeria, South Korea and Greece.

Former West Indies opener Desmond Haynes has said that he is a big fan of the Indian opener Virender Sehwag.

Haynes has said to the media in Dubai that he is a huge Sehwag fan and he hardly misses any opportunity to watch the batting of Sehwag.

New Indian Premier League team Sahara Pune Warriors has announced that it has appointed Geoff Marsh as their head coach.

The ex-England all-rounder Dermot Reeve will be the assistant coach of the team. This fact was announced by the Sahara India Pariwar Chairman Subrata Roy.

He is the team owner of the Sahara Pune Warriors. The Pune IPL team is all set to debut in the fourth season of the grand Twenty 20 event next year.    

Former Twenty20 world champions Pakistan have registered a 23-run win over Australia at Edgbaston. By this victory, Pakistan has managed to snap a 12-match losing streak against Australia. Last time both the team met each other at the World Twenty 20 semi-final in the West Indies in the month of May.

In that match, Australia has dumped Pakistan in a dramatic manner. But this time Shahid Afridi’s men finished off the job in style. Batting first, Pakistan has scored 167 with the loss of seven wickets in their 20 overs.

Ireland has registered a win by five wickets over Scotland in their World Cricket League Division 1 match at Voorburg. The Irish team was able to retain its 100% record in the series with this victory. Scotland team has managed to score only 117 runs with the loss of all their wickets in 47.2 overs batting first.

Neil McCallum was the top scorer for his team and fell just one run short from his half century. Dougie Lockhart has made 19 runs for Scotland.

Indian cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni alsong with his newly-wed wife Sakshi Singh Rawat reached Ranchi on Wednesday amidst tight security.

MSD did not dishearten the buffs in Ranchi, as he came out with Sakshi and waved to the excited admirers from a gallery.

Dhoni shocked all his followers by tying the knot within 24 hours of his engagement to Sakshi.

The wedding ceremony took place on July 4 at Vishranti resorts on the outskirts of Uttarakhand's Dehradun city.

Troubles have become a major part of Shoaib Akhtar's life.

Now, the controversial fast bowler has courted problem once again and was almost sent home from England after he denied signing the new code of conduct for players imposed by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

The sources within the PCB stated that Shoaib was asked to sign up the code of conduct that was devised by the PCB after the terrible Australian tour early this year that witnessed seven senior players being punished for disruptive behavior.