Melbourne, Mar 14 : Out of reckoning pacer Brett Lee has said that the short spells he will bowl in the Indian Premier League will be ideal preparation for what he hopes will be his third Ashes cricket tour of England.

Lee returns to action next month in a stint with IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab, with whom he played four matches in the inaugural season, and is intent on making the tour after surgery sidelined him from Australia's current campaign in South Africa.

Sydney, Mar 14: India on Saturday started its super six campaign in style and thrashed world champions Australia by 16 runs at the ICC Women’s World Cup cricket tournament here.

Australian skipper Karen Rolton won the toss and elected to field first.

Her decision seemed wrong when Indian openers Anagha Despandhe (45) and Anjum Chopra (76) scored 69 runs for the first wicket.

The Indian team accumulated 73 runs in the last seven overs and reached a total of 234 for the loss of five wickets in
50 overs.

Melbourne, Mar 14: South Africa has vowed to keep Australian opening sensation Phil Hughes under check after he hit two consecutive centuries against them.

Following his maiden century in the second Test in Durban, South Africa coach Mickey Arthur said Hughes was a player who scored freely square of the wicket.

London, Mar 14 : Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez is convinced that he is on course to shatter the Manchester United empire.

Benitez takes his side to Old Trafford on the back of Tuesday's Euro win over Real Madrid. He knows even his first- ever league victory at United would leave the title as no more than a faint hope.

Manchester United, the defending champions would still be four points ahead, with a game in hand.

Are, Sweden  - Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway clinched the overall World Cup title on Saturday when his Austrian Benjamin Raich of Austria crashed out in the season-ending slalom race.

The Austrian Raich trailed had cut the deficit on Svindal to two points with a giant slalom win on Friday. But he then straddled a gate around 35 seconds into the slalom.

Svindal won the World Cup for the second time, his first title being in 2007.

Sydney, Mar 14 : The Indian women's cricket team beat Australia by 16 runs in a Super Six game with the help of a fine knock of 76 by Anjum Chopra, seriously denting the Australian defence of the World Cup at North Sydney Oval.

Australia is left with two points with a couple of Super Six matches to go, and they must win both and hope that two of England (6) New Zealand (4) and India (4) falter. There are no semi-finals and Australia will be out of the competition if eight points are needed to reach next Sunday''s decider.