England may rest Flintoff

SPORTS DIGEST/Cricket: Andrew Flintoff may have to wait to earn his 100th one-day international cap for England.

Flintoff sat out the abandoned fifth match of the series in Guwahati, and given his workload this winter and the busy 12-month schedule ahead - which consists of a full domestic season, ICC Champions Trophy, Ashes tour and World Cup - Flintoff may also miss the upcoming dead rubber, as India lead the series 4-0.

"We want to give Freddie a rest whenever we can. We saw this as an opportunity the other day and we will be monitoring it as this tour and the summer progresses," said coach Duncan Fletcher.

Niland wins in US

Tennis: Conor Niland's rapidly developing game on the court came into focus at the weekend on the US collegiate scene when he beat America's number one university player Ben Kohlloeffell (Germany).

The occasion was an inter-collegiate tournament, and Niland's form in winning in straight sets 6-3, 6-3 underlines the importance of his absence from the Irish team that lost out 3-2 in the Davis Cup to Finland at the weekend. US universities decided not to release players for the Davis Cup in April.

The Limerick 24-year-old expects to be ranked at five overall in the universities when they are announced this week. - Pat Roche

UK Sport to specify funding

Olympic Games: Britain's summer Olympic sports, bar tennis and football, will be told today what their funding is to be. UK Sport will announce how much the 25 sports are to receive in the years up to the London 2012 Olympics, following Chancellor Gordon Brown's decision to award an extra £300 million to elite sport.

It will mean increases for sports such as cycling, swimming and rowing, and UK Sport for the first time will be funding team disciplines such as basketball, volleyball, hockey and handball.

But the body is warning that under their "no compromise" funding model, sports will have to prove their worth.