Sydney, Nov 24: Aussie cricket captain Ricky Ponting has put his weight behind his opener Mathew Hayden, saying that he was still left with much cricket in him, and that he was a dedicated batsman and who worked hard to get his batting flaws right.

The second Test against the Kiwis starting Friday at Adelaide would be 100th for 37-year-old Hayden.

“I know Matty’s game as well as anybody … I haven’t seen anything to say he is not as good as he has ever been. It was only a couple of Test matches ago that he made a terrific 80-odd in Delhi.”

London, Nov 24: After England lost the 7-match ODI series against India 0-4 last night, English media offered kudos to Team India, saying that the hosts are playing one-day cricket on “a different level” to England, whatever the length of the game. Yesterday’s game was reduced to 22-overs a side after rain halted the match twice.

London, Nov 23: It looks like the credit crunch has not even spared WAG Coleen Rooney.

Los Angeles  - Trying to guard Chinese superstar Yao Ming, Dwight Howard thought he was in a fairy tale.

The 7-6 Yao racked up 22 points and 13 rebounds while Howard was saddled with foul trouble Saturday night as the Houston Rockets held on for a 100-95 victory over the host Orlando Magic, who had their five-game winning streak snapped.

"It's like a big beanstalk," Howard said. "You've got to chop ... just kidding."

Madrid  - Real Madrid stumbled out of their crisis with a streaky 1-0 home win Saturday over spirited but naive Recreativo Huelva.

Real won with a 39th-minute goal from Wesley Sneijder, whose powerful left-footed drive took a wicked deflection off Huelva defender Beto and spun over hapless keeper Asier Riesgo.

The whites did not play well but could have widened their lead in the second half. Huelva showed some neat approach play but lacked power and decision in attack.

Gallivare, Sweden - Charlotte Kalla delighted a Swedish home crowd on Saturday when she won the cross-country skiing World Cup season-opener.

Kalla, 21, dominated the 10 kilometres freestyle race in 24 minutes 7.8 seconds from former World Cup and world champion Marit Bjoergen of Norway (24:32.2) and Aino Kaisa Saarinen of Finland (24:39.8).

It was the fourth career World Cup win for the 2008 Tour de Ski champion Kalla, who used to train for several years on the slopes of Gallivare just north of the Arctic Circle.