Hunter becomes next big-name casualty

SNOOKER: Paul Hunter joined the growing list of big-name casualties at the British Open when he found 22-year-old Shaun Murphy too hot to handle in Brighton yesterday.

World number four Hunter followed Jimmy White, UK champion Matthew Stevens and 2002 world champion Peter Ebdon on the road home as Murphy, ranked 48th, scored a shock 5-3 victory.

"It was a bad result but nothing to get too disheartened about," said Hunter, who had been second favourite behind Ronnie O'Sullivan to collect the £30,000 first prize.

While Hunter drove back to Leeds to prepare for next week's UK Championship, Murphy advances to the last 16 of a world ranking event for only the second time in his six-year professional career.

"Tactics have been my downfall in the past, but I'm trying to keep things tighter. I missed a few long pots today - but if I can sort that out and knit the two together special things could happen," Murphy said.

While Hunter foundered, two-time world champion Mark Williams eased into the third round with a 5-1 victory over Leicester's Joe Jogia - and then admitted his recent poor form can be directly linked to laziness.

"To be honest, I haven't practised as much as I should have - and you only get out of the game what you put into it," said the down-to-earth Welshman, who has fallen from first to eighth in the provisional rankings during the past 12 months.

MOTOR RACING: Twice world rally champion Carlos Sainz retired five days earlier than planned yesterday when injury forced him to pull out of the Rally of Australia.

The 42-year-old Spaniard was injured when he crashed into a tree during preparations for the season-ending rally near Perth in Western Australia on Tuesday.

The Citroen driver was taken to hospital with neck pain and said he still hoped to take part in his 195th rally, after which he planned to retire.

But in a statement yesterday Citroen said Sainz had agreed with team boss Guy Frequelin that "the safest option was to withdraw from the Rally Australia".

"The doctors strongly advised me not to drive considering another impact of the same kind could lead to serious consequences," Sainz was quoted as saying in the statement.

Sainz, world champion in 1990 and 1992, made his world championship debut in 1987 and his victory in Argentina in July this year was the 26th of his career, the most of any driver in championship history.

The most respected driver in the sport, Sainz was a model of consistency to the end and finished third in his home event, the Rally of Catalunya, on October 31st.

Meanwhile, former kart driver Pastor Maldonado of Venezuela will test for Minardi this month, the Formula One team said yesterday.

The 19-year-old will join Minardi tester Tiago Monteiro and a number of young drivers at the Misano circuit in Italy on November 22nd, a statement said.

CRICKET: Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan will be able to bowl his controversial "doosra" under a recommendation from an International Cricket Council (ICC) committee.

The decision prompted former Sri Lankan Test player Aravinda de Silva to predict 32-year-old Muralitharan, the second-highest wicket taker in Test cricket with 532 victims, would end up taking at least 700 test wickets.

"He has so much cricket left in him that I have little doubt that Murali will reach the 700-wicket mark in Test cricket," he told Reuters.

"The ICC has done the right thing (by clearing him to bowl his doosra) and he can go ahead with his usual repertoire of bowling. I am glad for Murali, who will be a relieved man now."

The "doosra", a leg spinner bowled from the front of the hand, was outlawed by the ICC last May after a report concluded Muralitharan bent his arm during delivery and so threw the ball.

In a statement released yesterday, the ICC said the committee had recommended that all bowlers be allowed to straighten their arms by up to 15 degrees.

At present spinners are permitted five degrees, medium pacers 7.5 and fast bowlers 10. Muralitharan's doosra was initially measured at around 14 degrees.

CRICKET: Pakistan's cricketers arrived in India yesterday for their first visit in more than five years for a ground-breaking one-day international with political overtones. The two teams will meet on Saturday at Calcutta's Eden Gardens in front of a capacity crowd of 120,000 to celebrate the Indian cricket board's 75th anniversary.