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Four teams fight for Argentine title on last day

Reuters, Buenos Aires

The Argentine championship is set for a dramatic finale on Sunday as four teams go into the final round of games with a chance of winning the Apertura title.

Boca Juniors, San Lorenzo and upstarts Tigre are level on 36 points from 18 games while Lanus are two points behind.

Goal difference is not used to decide the champions, meaning that a three-way, or even four-way, tie is possible.

Should two teams finish level, a straightforward playoff will be held, but if three or four teams finish level, a mini-league will be played.

The drama is a welcome boost for Argentine domestic football, which suffers from chronic financial problems, hooliganism and the exodus of top players to Mexico and Europe.

Boca and Tigre both appear to have fairly straightforward games as they are at home to mid-table Colon and Banfield respectively.

San Lorenzo have a tricky visit to Argentinos Juniors and Lanus are at home to provincial side San Martin-Tucuman.

Boca are the country's most popular club and are seen as favourites despite dropping four crucial points in their last four games.

"If we don't make any mistakes, we're going to win the championship," said playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme, whose team have been without injured striker Martin Palermo throughout the campaign.

San Lorenzo led for much of the 19-match campaign but had a poor November when they won only once in four games.

However, successive 4-1 wins over Huracan and Independiente have propelled them back into contention.

"We weren't the best before and today we're not the worst," said coach Miguel Angel Russo.

"We never believed we were superior, although we have always been candidates."

Lanus, who claimed their first domestic title one year ago, and Tigre are both modest outfits who have been involved in a recent shift in the balance of power in Argentine football.

Both clubs, along with Banfield and Arsenal, have become increasingly successful recently while traditional outfits such as Racing Club, Independiente and Rosario Central have struggled.

The weekend's matches will also see defending champions River Plate attempt to avoid finishing bottom after a disastrous campaign that has already interrupted Diego Simeone's previously impressive coaching career.

River must win at Estudiantes and hope that Rosario Central lose to Godoy Cruz to save themselves from complete humiliation.

England take control

BBC Online

Graeme Swann claimed two wickets in his first over as a Test bowler as England took control on day two of the first Test against India in Chennai.

The spinner trapped Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid lbw as India struggled with the bat in reply to England's 316.

Monty Panesar and Andrew Flintoff then removed VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar before Steve Harmison dismissed Yuvraj Singh to leave India 155-6 at stumps.

Matt Prior's patient 53 not out was vital in helping England past 300.

England's score looked to be on the modest side, but Swann's remarkable intervention, plus a wicket apiece for England's four other bowlers, put a totally different complexion on the match, and left the tourists favourites to win.

Swann became only the second man to strike twice within his first six deliveries - matching the achievement of another Englishman, seam bowler Richard Johnson, in 2003.

Although Swann first played for England in a one-day international in 2000, the 29-year-old spent a long time on the sidelines before being recalled to international duty just over a year ago.

But this was his first taste of Test cricket, and the Nottinghamshire spinner's natural self-confidence stood him in good stead for the challenge.

The day had begun with Prior and Flintoff at the crease, and England optimistically targeting 400.

But anything in excess of 300 looked in doubt as soon as Flintoff had been ousted by spinner Amit Mishra with no addition to the team's overnight score.

He tamely squeezed a catch to short-leg off his pad leaving the night-watchman James Anderson to take England's innings on in tandem with Sussex wicket-keeper Prior.

The pair played in dogged fashion, and it was deep into the second hour before either hit a boundary, with a surprise reverse sweep from Anderson scuttling down to the third-man fence.

Prior, recalled to the Test side at the expense of Tim Ambrose, then slog-swept Harbhajan Singh for his only boundary in a 102-ball innings.

The duo added 42 from 106 deliveries of what was, frankly, fairly tedious cricket, with skipper Mahendra Dhoni, reluctant to take the second new ball, simply rotating his three spinners.

Finally Anderson, whose stubborn innings brought to mind two 80-ball efforts from him last summer, finally tried something a little bit too bold off Mishra - and hit an easy catch to deep midwicket.

After the often innocuous Harbhajan produced a fine top-swinger which Swann could only glove to slip, Harmison gave Prior further company in a 27-run stand for the ninth wicket which straddled the lunch interval.

But he edged Yuvraj behind, and Panesar, who was given a lot of the strike by Prior, was trapped lbw by Ishant Sharma.

Finally India could concentrate on batting, but Virender Sehwag was too nonchalant at a ground where he had struck 319 against South Africa in March this year.

Attempting to guide a ball off the back foot down to third man, he edged Anderson onto his stumps and India had already been checked.

Dravid, who has endured a woeful run of form this year, and a much more assured Gambhir then took the total to 30-1 before Pietersen gave Swann the last over before tea.

His first ball was pitched short and Gambhir smashed it to the boundary, but two balls later Swann had his man, as the left-hander opted to play no stroke to a ball from around the wicket which drifted in and went straight on.

The last ball of the session was a big off-break bowled at the right-handed Dravid, which struck the batsman on the back foot in front of off-stump. For the second time in a dramatic over, Australian umpire Daryl Harper upheld the lbw appeal.

Former England paceman Johnson had also picked up two lbws in a Test match at Durham's Chester-le-Street. However, on that occasion the opposition were a meek Zimbabwe, a far cry from this star-studded Indian side.

After tea, Tendulkar put Swann in his place, slog-sweeping for the first six of the match. He and Laxman soon began to give the home supporters - greater in number and more boisterous than on Thursday - plenty to cheer.

India should cancel Pakistan tour, says minister

AFP, New Delhi

The Indian cricket team should not tour Pakistan following last month's terror attacks in Mumbai, the country's sports minister said here on Friday.

It was not the right time to play cricket with Pakistan when "people from their soil were indulging in mass murder in India", the Press Trust of India news agency quoted Sports Minister Manohar Singh Gill as saying.

"Is it possible for one team to arrive in Mumbai and indulge in mass murder, and have another team go and play cricket in the winter afternoon sun at Lahore, immediately after?"

The minister said he was not in favour of the Indian team playing in Pakistan, but it was up to the government to make a final decision.

The Indian government has blamed elements in Pakistan for the attacks on the country's financial capital which left 172 dead, including nine gunmen, and wounded more than 300.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is awaiting a response from the government on its request for security clearance for the tour.

India are scheduled to play three Tests, five one-day internationals and a Twenty20 match during the five-week tour from January 6 to February 19.

Gill's comments came just a day after Pakistan Cricket Board chief Ijaz Butt flew to India in a last-ditch bid to rescue the series.

Butt is scheduled to meet Indian cricket officials and International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive Haroon Lorgat on the sidelines of an Asian Cricket Council meeting in Chennai on Friday.

Lorgat, however, said Thursday the world governing body would be powerless to intervene if the Indian government refused to sanction the tour.

"We would try and encourage India to tour, but if the government decides otherwise, we will have to respect that because there is nothing the ICC can do about it," he said. "We can't force any country to tour Pakistan."

Lorgat hoped the matches could be played at a neutral venue such as the United Arab Emirates.

The tour was first put in doubt in early November when the Indian government denied permission to the national junior hockey team to visit Pakistan.

Australia cancelled a Test tour of Pakistan in March and the ICC put off the high-profile Champions Trophy there in September due to security concerns.

BCB arranges exhibition cricket match on December 16

UNB, Dhaka

Bangladesh Cricket Board has arranged an exhibition cricket match on December 16 at Dhanmondi Cricket Stadium on the occasion of Victory Day.

Shaheed Jewel Eleven will play Shaheed Mustaque Eleven in the match, a regular event of Bangladesh Cricket Board to pay respect to two cricketers who embraced martyrdom in the Liberation War.

Former national opener Mehrab Hossain Opee of Sonargaon Cricketer will lead the Shaheed Jewel Eleven while Rashedul Haque Sumon of Dhaka Mohammedan SC will lead the Shaheed Mustaque Eleven in the exhibition match.

Bangladesh Cricket Board has announced the names of players for both the teams to play the exhibition match that will start at 8:30 am.

The selected players have been asked to report to their respective coaches on December 14.

Shaheed Jewel Eleven: Mahrab Hossain Opee (captain), Habibur Rahman Shaun, Mushikur Rahman, Sanjay Chakrawarty, Mehdi Hasan Siddiqui, Mohammad Raha, Mominul Haque, Saif Mahmud, Al Amin, Ariful Islam Sabuj, Latiful Azam, Mohibullah Sajal, Kuntal Chandra, Raihanuddin Arafat and Nazmul Islam Apu. Coach - Mizanur Rahman Babul.

Shaheed Mustaque Eleven: Rashedul Haque (Captain), Fazle Rabbi Mahmud, Rasel Al Mamun, Nizamuddin Ripon, Shuvagata Chowdhury, Anhar Newaz Himel, Shahiar Habib, Sadaf Sarkar, Aslam Khan, Niaz Morshed, Iqbal Hossain Ronny, Reefatuzzaman,

Mohammad Sokran, Noor Hossain Munna and Ashiqul Islam, Coach - Golam Faruk Chowdhury.

Rain halts New Zealand progress

BBC Online

Heavy overnight rain and showers during the day meant no play was possible on day two of the opening Test between New Zealand and West Indies in Dunedin.

Prospects were always poor when the day began with a sodden outfield, and despite some energetic mopping up, the weather continued to play spoilsport.

The last three days will start half an hour earlier to make up for lost time.

New Zealand will resume on 226-4 and there's a good weekend forecast, but rain might return on Monday.

Poland could host Euro 2012 alone, says Platini

Reuters, Warsaw

Poland may host the 2012 European Championship on its own if Ukraine does not complete its Kiev stadium on schedule, UEFA President Michel Platini was quoted as saying by Polish media on Friday.

Daily Dziennik reported that Platini also played down speculation Germany could step in to host the tournament instead.

"Germany? Only if the bulldozers are still working at the National Stadium in Warsaw in June 2012, but I doubt that," Platini told Dziennik.

"Kiev is another matter. If this city is late with the stadium, then there is a possibility that Euro 2012 will be hosted only by Poland."

UEFA has already threatened both Poland and Ukraine with the possibility that the tournament may be taken away from them if they failed to speed up stadium construction and tackle major infrastructure problems.

Fide Master Sagar earns 3.5 points in Asian Junior Chess

UNB, Dhaka

Bangladeshi Fide Master Mihazuddin Ahmed Sagar earned 3.5 points in the Asian Junior Chess Championship after the 7th round matches held in the Indian city of Chennai Friday.

Mohammad Imran Ali Elin and Mohammad Rezaul Islam Babu earned 3 points each after the day's 7th round matches.

In the 7th round matches, Sagar beat Osheen De Silva of Sri Lanka, Babu beat Vigneshraj Muthuram of India while Elin lost to Ramalingam Karthik of India.

Rule makers to consider extra referees proposal

Reuters, Switzerland

Plans to introduce two additional assistant referees to monitor penalty areas will be put before soccer's rule-making body early next year, the European governing body UEFA said on Thursday.

UEFA has experimented with the innovation at Under-19 matches in Slovenia, Hungary and Cyprus.

It said it would now pass on its findings to its global counterpart FIFA for presenting at the International FA Board's (IFAB) next annual meeting in Northern Ireland from Feb. 27-March 1.

"We have a very positive opinion in terms of our view of the matter but it is not up to us to make the final decision," UEFA general secretary David Taylor told a news conference following an executive committee meeting.

"The experiment was delegated to UEFA and it's now up to FIFA to take the matter on and prepare a report for the IFAB."

Taylor, who served as the Scottish FA's representative on the IFAB before taking up his UEFA post, said the proposal could theoretically be implemented as early as July but added the board might ask for further studies.

"Any changes made by the IFAB come into force on the following July 1 but we cannot say for certain if they will choose to change the law or not. They may wish to have further experiments first at another level.

"There is also the question of whether it should be applied at only the top end of the game."

Under the proposal, championed by UEFA president Michel Platini, the two extra assistants would be able to communicate with the referee via radio headsets.

They would be able to offer opinions on goal-line decisions and potential penalties or diving incidents, but would not use flags or otherwise indicate their observations to the crowd.

"The report presented to the executive committee today was very positive with very few drawbacks noted," Platini's special adviser William Gaillard told reporters.

"There were some practical questions about the assistant referees being quite static for long periods of time but the benefits far outweighed the drawbacks with the referee able to make more accurate decisions while remaining the only decision maker."

The IFAB comprises four FIFA representatives and four representatives from the British Football Associations, with a three-quarters majority needed for any amendment to the laws of the game.

This year the board rejected proposals backed by the English, Scottish and Northern Irish FAs to use goal-line technology to help referees decide if goals had been scored.

Both Platini and FIFA president Sepp Blatter have repeatedly said they prefer the idea of additional referees over technological solutions.