SYDNEY: Australia will celebrate the centenary of their greatest sporting legend Donald Bradman tomorrow by naming the star batsman's sleepy boyhood hometown, Bowral 'the world's spiritual home of cricket'.
Schoolchildren, Hollywood stars, cricketers and Australians of all walks of life were expected to mark what would have been the 100th birthday of the famed cricketer on August 27. Bradman died in 2001 aged 92.
The accolades were already pouring in today, with Australia's current cricket captain Ricky Ponting praising the man known here simply as 'The Don' as the game's untouchable superhero.
NOTTINGHAM: England bowler Ryan Sidebottom will miss the last four one-day internationals against South Africa because of groin and hip problems. The seamer was rested from England's fourth Test victory over the Proteas at The Oval, but still had to sit out his team's 20-run victory in Friday's opening one-day match.
JOHANNESBURG: South Africa have slipped to third place in the IRB rankings after their fourth defeat in five Tri-Nations matches on Saturday when they lost to Australia in Durban.
This is the Springboks' lowest position since they took No 1 slot after the World Cup.
IRB World Ranking: position (last week), country, points: 1(1) New Zealand 91.21; 2(3) Australia 87.75; 3(2) South Africa 86.51; 4(4) Argentina 83.36; 5(5) England 83.16; 6(6) Wales 80.12; 7(7) France 78.99; 8(8) Ireland 77.18; 9(9) Scotland 76.92; 10(10) Italy 75.57.
BUCHAREST: South African coach Chester Williams has signed a pre-contract to coach Romanian rugby union side Farul Constanta, club executive director Aurelian Arghes said yesterday.
'We've signed a pre-contract and have his promise to come to Constanta for a year with an option for a second year,' said Arghes.
Arghes said he was confident however that 38-year-old Williams would arrive before the championship gets under way on September 20.
LIVERPOOL: Jamie Carragher has warned that Liverpool could pay the ultimate price for complacency if they underestimate Standard Liege in tomorrow's Champions League qualifier second-leg at Anfield.
Rafa Benitez's team, who lifted the European Cup for a fifth time by beating AC Milan in Istanbul in 2005, face a nervous return leg against the Belgian champions after failing to score in a tense 0-0 draw in the first leg two weeks ago.
JOHANNESBURG: The PSL yesterday showed they meant business over inadequate facilities at grounds utilised for Premier League games by banning Bloemfontein Celtic's Seisa Ramabodu Stadium until a string of improvements have been implemented.
The immediate effect is that Sunday's eagerly-awaited Premier League opener between Celtic and Mamelodi Sundowns in Bloemfontein has been switched from Seisa Ramabodu to the Free State Rugby Stadium.
WELLINGTON: Korean-born New Zealand teenage golfer Danny Lee, who became the youngest US amateur champion this week, was being hailed as the next Tiger Woods Tuesday in his adopted country.
Lee was 18 years and 32 days old when he won the title at Pinehurst, North Carolina, six months and 29 days younger than Woods when he took the first of three successive US Amateur championships in 1994.
LONDON: Ian Poulter's Ryder Cup ambitions were hanging in the balance yesterday after he withdrew from next week's Johnnie Walker Championship. The Englishman choose instead to play in the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston, which leaves him relying on European team captain Nick Faldo handing him a wild card for next month's event at Valhalla.
