SPORTS DIGEST:CRICKET: PAKISTAN took the honours on a hard-fought opening day in the first Test against Australia at Lord's yesterday, played in typical English conditions.
Under an overcast sky offering plenty of assistance to the pace bowlers, Australia struggled to 229 for nine in the first Test between two overseas teams on English soil since the 1912 Triangular series.
The Australians appeared to have weathered the early storm, reaching 171 for two after being asked to bat by Shahid Afridi following the loss of 90 minutes play because of overnight rain.
Shane Watson (4) and captain Ricky Ponting (26) had been dismissed either side of the lunch interval by left-arm paceman Mohammad Aamer with Ponting moving past Brian Lara to take second place behind Sachin Tendulkar in the all-time Test run scoring list.
The players left the field for bad light with Michael Hussey unbeaten on 39.
Taylor faces Olympic qualifier
BOXING:IRELAND'S World and European lightweight champion Katie Taylor will have to qualify for the London Olympics at the 2012 Women's World Championships in China, reports Bernard O'Neill.
World amateur boxing chiefs AIBA yesterday announced that the 2012 Championships in Chongging city would act as the only female qualifier for the 30th Olympiad.
Taylor, who claimed her second World title in China in 2008, will be aiming for three-in-a-row at the 2010 AIBA World Women’s Championships in Bridgetown, Barbados, in September.
Her father and coach Peter said that their immediate focus was on her EU title defence in Hungary next month and then they would concentrate on Barbados.
“Katie is not stanger to boxing and winning in China. It doesn’t matter to us whether the Olympic qualifiers are held in China or Timbuktu – Katie will still be meeting the same boxers.”
Death of New York Yankees “Boss”
BASEBALL: George Steinbrenner, the long-time owner of the New York Yankees, has died at the age of 80 following a heart attack.
Steinbrenner, known simply as ‘The Boss’ throughout the baseball world, was the son of a Cleveland shipping merchant, but became synonymous with New York after buying the storied Yankees franchise in a $10 million deal in 1973.
His tenure saw the team win 11 pennants and seven world series titles, while the franchise’s value soared to over $1 billion as Steinbrenner became the first owner to sell TV rights to a cable company, building a huge media empire as an extension of the Yankee organisation.
He did scale back his involvement in later years, and as his health began to fail him, he handed over control of the Yankees to his sons Hal and Hank in 2007.
De Villiers sticks to tried and trusted
RUGBY:South Africa coach Peter de Villiers has kept faith with the side humiliated by the All Blacks in the Tri-Nations opener, making only two forced changes to the line-up for the second clash in Wellington.
De Villiers brought in Danie Rossouw to replace Bakkies Botha in the side named yesterday, after the fiery lock was banned for the rest of the Tri-Nations for headbutting Kiwi scrumhalf Jimmy Cowan during last weekend’s 32-12 defeat in Auckland.
CJ van der Linde comes in for tighthead Jannie du Plessis, who sustained a calf injury during the Auckland match, while Ryan Kankowski comes onto the bench in the only change to the replacements for Saturdays test.
“We trust the abilities of our players and we know what they are capable of when they are on song,” said De Villiers. “I am sure we will be much better on Saturday and show that we are able to stand up from the loss.”
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