Sports digest

A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Finn gives England cause for concern on vexing first day

CRICKET:Steven Finn gave England significant cause for concern as he limped out of the attack with a thigh injury on a vexing first day of their India tour.

Finn, a key component in England’s likely Test line-up here, exited proceedings yesterday and is expected to have a scan to identify the source of discomfort in his right leg.

The 6ft 7in seamer aborted the second over of his second spell – a setback which overshadowed Kevin Pietersen’s return to the team, though hardly in the way England would have wished.

Alastair Cook’s initial experience on his first tour as permanent Test captain turned out to be an awkward one all round as seventh-wicket pair Manoj Tiwary (93) and Irfan Pathan augmented the gains of Abhinav Mukund (73) and Yuvraj Singh (59) in India A’s 369 for nine in this three-day match at the Brabourne Stadium.

England stuck to their task on a boundary-laden day which did much to reinforce the truism that this tour is sure to be hard work for them.

Smith 'on fire' as 49ers flex muscles

AMERICAN FOOTBALL:The San Francisco 49ers flexed their muscles with a dominant 24-3 road win over the Arizona Cardinals on Monday night to stretch their lead at the top of the NFC West to two games.

In a match-up of two stout defences, it was the 49ers (6-2) who lived up to their reputation by holding Arizona (4-4) to just seven yards rushing and handing them a fourth straight defeat.

San Francisco quarterback Alex Smith rebounded from his four interceptions in the previous two games to toss three scores without a turnover. He also completed 18 of his 19 pass attempts to keep the visiting team marching forward.

“He was on fire,” said 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh of his signal-caller. “We were running the ball extremely hard and physical. Michael Crabtree and Randy had some great runs after the catch.”

Crabtree caught a pair of touchdowns in the first half as the 49ers ran out to a 17-0 lead before Moss broke the game open with a 47-yard reception for a score in the third quarter.

Doyle gets early taste of Santa Anita

RACING:James Doyle was the new kid in town as far as Breeders' Cup jockeys were concerned when racing professionals from both sides of the Atlantic gathered for morning trackwork at Santa Anita Park yesterday.

Doyle rolled into Los Angeles ahead of the majority of his peers on the express wish of Roger Charlton, trainer of his Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf mount Dundonnell. Charlton was keen for Doyle, who has ridden as first jockey to the Beckhampton handler for the first time this season, to have as much time as possible to familiarise himself with the unique Santa Anita turf course.

Doyle said he was “delighted” with Acomb Stakes winner and Champagne Stakes runner-up Dondonnell after breezing him at 7.30am when the turf track opened yesterday morning. Dundonnell was easy to pick out with a distinctive ‘Frankel’-style cross-noseband and sheepskin bobble. Doyle said: “The colt seems to have travelled over well and this morning was his first time out of quarantine. We have a good draw in six and I’d hope to be handy as there are quite a lot of runners.”

De Bromhead to monitor weather at Down Royal

RACING:Henry De Bromhead will keep an eye on the weather at Down Royal before committing Sizing Europe to a run in Saturday's JNwine.comChampion Chase.

The Co Waterford trainer’s 2011 Queen Mother Champion Chase hero has finished second in the Northern Ireland three-mile feature for the last two years.

His defeat by Quito De La Roque 12 months ago was put down to the testing ground and De Bromhead is reluctant to run Sizing Europe in such conditions again. He said: “We’ve said we wouldn’t run him unless the ground was pretty good. I’ve been talking to Mike Todd, the manager there (Down Royal), and he says it’s good to soft.

“Unfortunately there’s rain forecast on Wednesday so he wants to wait until then before he says any more. You’d have to feel the ground played a part in his defeat last year. It was soft to heavy. In November we might look at the Fortria Chase or the Clonmel Oil Chase and for his Christmas run the three options we are looking at are obviously the King George, the two-mile chase in Leopardstown and the Lexus there.”

Robshaw to captain England in autumn Tests

RUGBY:Chris Robshaw has been confirmed as England captain for the QBE autumn internationals against Fiji, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.

But Robshaw will be leading a squad beset by injuries, with Dylan Hartley in danger of missing the entire series after damaging his knee playing for Northampton at the weekend.

Hartley will definitely miss the opening game against Fiji on November 10th, as will his Northampton team-mate Courtney Lawes while Jonathan Joseph remains a significant doubt.

Hartley has not officially been ruled out of the series but he faces an uphill battle to be available and back to Test-match pace by the time New Zealand arrive at Twickenham on December 1st.