London, Jan. 29 : England fast bowler Steve Harmison is in danger of being omitted from the First Test against the West Indies to be played in Jamaica from February 4 after another poor start to the tour.

He may be able to save his place if he bowls well in England's final practice match here against West Indies A over the next three days.

If not, he could make way for Stuart Broad, Ryan Sidebottom and James Anderson, reports The Sun.

Canberra, Jan. 29 : Australian cricket selector Jamie Cox flew last night from Adelaide to Canberra - a distance of 1600 kilometers - to assess whether New South Wales batting prodigy Phillip Hughes is good enough for the Test team.

According to The Age, Cox has revealed that Hughes and fellow Blues opener Phil Jaques could both earn selection for the tour of South Africa.

Melbourne, Australia  - Nine-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams snapped a three-match loss streak to Elena Dementieva as she knocked the Russian out 6-3,
6-4 in the semi-finals of the Australian Open on Thursday.

Dementieva, the fourth-seeded Olympic champion, has now exited the discussion for possibly taking over the top spot.

It was her first loss of the season after winning her first 15 matches, including titles in Auckland and Sydney.

Melbourne, Jan. 29 : Controversial Australian all rounder Andrew Symonds was fined 4000 dollars on Thursday for his alcohol-fuelled weekend radio rant against Kiwi wicket-keeper batsman and New South Wales Twenty20 player Brendon McCullum.

A Cricket Australia (CA) code of conduct commission hearing today upheld a charge that Symonds had breached the CA code of behaviour relating to detrimental public comment. Symonds pleaded guilty, the Courier Mail reported.

Melbourne, Australia  - Spanish friends Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco should be comfortable in their night semi-final on Friday at the Australian Open, after a cool change drops heatwave temperatures down to the upper 20s degrees Celsius.

Top seed Nadal takes a commanding 7-0 mark into the contest, which could be played under a closed roof at the Rod Laver arena if it is still deemed too hot for safe play.

Melbourne  - Australian Open semi-finalist Elena Dementieva credits the winter warmth of Miami for giving a turbo boost to her tennis in 2009.

Instead of fighting the Moscow weather and training indoors with snow outside, the world number four got herself to Florida for uninterrupted weeks of solid preparation.

The system paid off, with two titles so far this season and a semi-final spot at the Open.