London, Jan10 : Former Aussie Captain Steve Waugh has termed Kevin Pietersen's decision to quit from captaincy, as a `wrong decision'.

Commenting on the Pietersen- Moores controversy, Waugh said that it was not as bad a situation which would have forced a captain's resignation. He added that Pietersen has committed a blunder by quitting from the post.

"It didn''t look like it was a terrible situation. It does take a while to work with someone. I mean you''re not just going to come on board as a captain and work smoothly and fit in exactly the way he wants," the News quoted Waugh, as saying.

He said that the coach-captain controversy has put England cricket on the backseat, and both Pietersen, and Moores will have to suffer.

London, Jan 10 : Ace Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo has reached a verbal agreement with Florentino Pérez, the former Real Madrid president, to join the Spanish club.

Ronaldo made this agreement through his agent Jorge Mendes. It is understood that Pérez will use this promise when he stands for election as Real president in 2010, The Times reported.

There is a growing conviction in Madrid that the Manchester United and Portugal forward will sign for the Spanish champions at some point, a view reiterated by Pepe, the Real defender who is a Portugal teammate of Ronaldo.

"He has shown he wants to come here with the statements he has made. We'll see if he still desires to join us this summer," Pepe said.

Melbourne, Jan 10 : Proteas skipper Graeme Smith has said that Ricky Ponting's side is eager for revenge in next month's Test series in South Africa, because defeat is hurting the Australian side and they are going to come back hard.

Smith wants to delay surgery on his troublesome right elbow and repel an Australian side eager for revenge in next month's Test series in South Africa.

"Australia is hurting and they are going to come back hard at us. We know with Australia you have to earn every inch and I think they have a lot of respect for us now," he said.

"We are going to need our guys to be fresh and so we are going to have to manage our bowlers during the one-day series in Australia. They know we never went away, and we pushed them all the way," Smith added.

Sydney, Jan. 10 : Former Australian cricket team coach John Buchanan believes that England opener Andrew Strauss is the best man to lead England, but has questioned whether his predecessor -- Kevin Pietersen -- would be able to commit himself fully to the cause following revelations of his spat with sacked coach Peter Moores six months before the first Ashes Test.

London, Jan 10 : Kevin Pietersen, who stepped down as captain, is set to have his loyalty to England tested by a host of Indian Premier League teams.

Pietersen will be the star attraction when the IPL player auction commences on February 6, The Sun reported.

He could command a 1million pound deal to play in the six-week tournament, which starts on April 10.

Under the terms of his new England contract, Pietersen would only be available for the first 15 days, before returning for a two-Test series with West Indies.

Auckland  - Olympic champion Elena Dementieva completed a dream week to start her season, winning the ASB Classic title 6-4, 6-1 on Saturday over Elena Vesnina without dropping a set all week.

The fourth-ranked Dementieva stands in good form for the Australian Open with just nine days to go before the start of the first Grand Slam of 2009.

The 27-year-old needed just 88 minutes to secure success over her fellow Russian.