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Sports Briefs

■ Cricket
Bevan announces retirement
Michael Bevan announced his immediate retirement from first-class cricket yesterday, ending a career that included two World Cup wins with Australia. The 36-year-old Bevan said persistent injuries had prompted him to end his career after scoring 6,912 runs in 232 limited-overs internationals for Australia, including six centuries, at an average of 53.58. Bevan also played 18 tests for Australia, scoring 785 runs at 29.07, and appeared in 237 first-class matches for New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania. He also played for English county sides Kent, Leicestershire, Sussex and Yorkshire and was a useful left-arm spin bowler. He was part of the 1999 and 2003 World Cup-winning sides and had a reputation as one of the best late-innings batsmen in the game, but was dumped from the Australian team in early 2004.

■ Rubgy Union
Toulon hire Tim Lane
Big-spending French second division club Toulon, fresh from hiring ex-All Blacks captain Tana Umaga on a lucrative short-term deal, have hired Australian coach Tim Lane. Lane, who was assistant coach to the Australia team that won the 1999 World Cup, takes over as general manager and backs coach of the side that the now-departed Umaga helped hoist up to third in the competitive second-tier division. Toulon, relegated from the Top-14 division last season, currently stand fourth after going down 26-13 to Mont-de-Marsan at the weekend.

■ Cricket
Moin Khan arrested, bailed
Former Pakistan cricket captain Moin Khan was briefly arrested in the southern city of Karachi after his wife told police that he was drunk and beating her, police said yesterday. Khan, 36, was arrested at his home in the Clifton neighborhood of Karachi, the capital of Sindh Province before dawn on Tuesday. He was later freed on bail, said Azad Khan, an area police chief. Khan yelled at the police officers as they tried to arrest him, Azad said, adding that police produced Khan before a judge, who granted him bail. Khan, a wicketkeeper-batsman, made his international debut against the West Indies in 1990-91, and was with the national team for more than 10 years.

■ Motor Racing
Series returns to Europe
The Champ Car World Series will return to Europe for the first time in five years with races this season in the Netherlands and Belgium. The series, which last raced in Europe in 2003, added races on Sept. 2 at the TT circuit in Assen, Netherlands, and on Sept. 9 at the Zolder circuit in Belgium. It will be the first time that Champ Car has raced in either of those countries. The addition of the two events brings the number of races on this year's Champ Car schedule to 17, marking the most races in the US open-wheel series since 2003.

■ Skiing
Snow airlifted to slopes
Artificial snow has been airlifted by helicopters to the upper reaches of the Olimpia delle Tofane course in preparation for this weekend's World Cup women's alpine ski races. "On Sunday we made 51 flights in two hours," organizing committee president Enrico Valle said. Cortina, like the rest of the Alps, is experiencing its warmest winter in years. Organizers produced artificial snow at the base of the course before transporting it by helicopter to the top portion of the course, which is located beneath jagged mountain peaks. "This snow costs as much as gold, but it's worth it," Valle said.

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