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England retain team

London: England retained the same XI today that had put them 2-0 up in their four-match series against Pakistan for the third Test starting at The Oval on Wednesday.Tim Bresnan was retained as bowling cover.

Squad: Andrew Strauss (capt),Alastair Cook,Jonathan Trott,Kevin Pietersen,Paul Collingwood,Eoin Morgan,Matt Prior (wkt),Graeme Swann,Stuart Broad,James Anderson,Steven Finn; Bowling cover: Tim Bresnan.

Yusuf sweats over match fitness

Worcester: Mohammad Yousuf has admitted he is far from being match-fit for next week’s third Test against England at The Oval. The former Pakistan captain was unable to add to his overnight 40 as rain washed out the second and final day of their match against Worcestershire on Saturday. “To get some practice and also it would have boosted my match fitness. However,it wasn’t meant to be and there’s nothing I can do about it.”

De Villiers in Lee’s footsteps

Melbourne: After Australian pacer Brett Lee,it is time for South African batsman AB de Villiers released an album which is receiving rave reviews in his country. A week after Lee revealed that he will head to India for live shows,Australian media reported that de Villiers too has released a CD which is receiving plenty of airplay on South African radio. “His (de Villiers) album is also being marketed to millions of potential listeners on the addictive internet game site,Stick Cricket,” a report said.

Warne and me different: Smith

Melbourne: Young Australian spin prodigy Steve Smith feels it is inaccurate to compare him with legendary Shane Warne and wants his critics to allow him to be himself. “I’m a blond leg-spinner,but me and Shane are completely different bowlers — and I’m a batsman as well,” Smith was quoted as saying in the Sydney Morning Herald. “I like to be my own person so I don’t really go too much for that ‘Shane Warne’ business.

Afridi is game for IPL

Karachi: Shahid Afridi has not ruled out the possibility of playing in the IPL next year. Afridi described the cold shoulder given to Pakistani players as an insult and vowed never to play in the lucrative leage again. But Afridi on Sunday said he does not rule out the possibility of playing in the IPL fourth season. “It all depends on what is the policy of our board and government but at the same time it is also important that we are given proper respect by the IPL people and teams,” he said.

No cricket with Zim: UK minister

London: British sports minister Hugh Robertson ruled out the possibility of resuming cricketing ties with Zimbabwe,stating thawing of relations is impossible while Peter Chingoka remains president of Zimbabwe Cricket. Chingoka is a key aide of Robert Mugabe regime. “The problem is simple. Zimbabwe cricket is headed by a man who sits on the EU banned list and he sits on that list for good reasons. As long as he is in charge of Zimbabwe cricket it is extremely difficult for them to be fully integrated into the global cricketing community,” Robertson said.

Senate panel summons Butt

Karachi: Pakistan senate standing committee on privileges motion has summoned the PCB chairman Ejaz Butt on Thursday to respond to charges that he maligned and questioned the credibility of some of its members on sports. Senator Tahir Mashadi,who heads the privileges committee,said that Butt would be given a fair chance to defend himself. “He will be questioned on why he tried to malign and question the credibility of some senators in the media,” Mashadi said.

Somdev on Masters brink

Somdev Devvarman progressed to second and final round of the ATP Western & Southern Financial Group Masters qualifying event with a straight-set win over World number 65 Marco Chiudinelli. He beat the seventh seed Swiss 6-3 7-6(3) in the opening round of the qualifiers. He will take on local wild card Tim Smyczek,who ousted ninth seed Ukranian Illya Marchenko 4-6 6-1 6-4 in his first round match.

Negi beats Simonian

GM Parimarjan Negi defeated Hrair Simonian of Armenia to bounce back after two successive defeats in the world junior chess championship in Poland. Negi took his tally to seven points out of a possible 11. In the girls’ event,Padmini Rout outwitted Zoja Severiukhina of Russia to remain in medal contention. Padmini is now on 8.5 points and holds the third spot. Debashish Das lost against Tamas Fodor of Hungary but on the brighter side Ashwin Jayaram,Sagar Shah and R Arun Karthik won their games,while Swapnil Dhopade and Anwesh Upadhyaya drew their games.

Liverpool won’t rush sale

Liverpool’s owners will not be rushed into selling the team and will carefully review the number of bids,managing director Christian Purslow said Sunday. ”I am not going to put a time limit on it. The challenge now is to sort the wheat from the chaff.” The club was put up for sale by Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr. in April,but Purslow said that none of the prospective bidders had provided proof of funding.