London, Jan 9: The offer from Kevin Pietersen to replace Peter Moores as England head coach was `not taken seriously' by legendary spinner Shane Warne.

Writing in The Times today, Warne reveals that he did receive a tongue-in-cheek approach from Pietersen via text message, but turned it down.

Warne, who would require a salary way beyond the 250,000 pounds earned by Moores, distanced himself from the England job.

Sydney, Jan 9: England's new cricket captain Andrew Strauss believes that his troubled team has time to heal before taking on Australia in the Ashes.

Strauss vowed to restore unity in the squad following Kevin Pietersen's dramatic resignation as skipper and the sacking of coach Peter Moores on Wednesday due to a rift between the two.

Dubai, Jan 9: New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori has made a superb start to 2009 by becoming the number-one ranked ODI bowler in the world again.

The left-arm spinner, who turns 30 later this month, has taken six wickets in the first three matches of the current series against the West Indies at an impressive average of just 12.33 and a thrifty economy rate of 3.08.

In the process he has moved above Australia's Nathan Bracken into top spot in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers.

Oberhof, Germany - Austria clinched the men's 4 x 7.5-kilometre relay in the biathlon World Cup ahead of Russia and Germany in Oberhof on Thursday.

The Austrian team of Daniel Mesotitsch, Friedrich Pinter, Dominik Landertinger and Christoph Sumann posted 1 hour 19 minutes 36.6 seconds to beat the Russian team by
8.7 seconds, with Germany 19.2 seconds behind.

Russian biathlete Ivan Cherezov was earlier suspended for an excessive haemoglobin level in his blood.

London, Jan. 8 : Former England cricketer Ian Botham has said that in the last 24 hours, the incidents related to England cricket and its immediate future, are probably the most embarrassing that he has seen, both as a player and as a commentator on the sport.

In an article for the Sunday Mirror, Botham squarely blames the fiasco relating to the Pietersen-Moores disagreement on the "chinless wonders who rule Lord''s from behind a desk".

Dubai - France midfielder Franck Ribery said Thursday he could not pledge to stay at Bayern Munich until the end of his contract in 2011.

"I have a four-year contract. But promise that I will fulfil it? That is difficult. You never know what will happen in football," he said at the team's training camp in Dubai.

Ribery, 25, has been in outstanding form for Bayern since moving to the Bundesliga club from Olympique Marseille for 25 million euros (34 million dollars) in summer 2007.