■SOCCER
Gerrard strains groin
Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard pulled out of the England squad for yesterday’s friendly against the Netherlands in Amsterdam because of a groin strain with Aston Villa’s Ashley Young called on to deputize. Midfield dynamo Gerrard trained on Monday, but felt a slight soreness in the leg and it was decided to pull him out of the squad as a precaution. The remainder of Fabio Capello’s squad made the trip to the Netherlands and headed off the Amsterdam Arena for a training session. Goalkeeper Ben Foster has already been replaced by Joe Hart after hurting his knee in Manchester United’s Community Shield defeat to Chelsea on Sunday. Young, who has won five caps, failed to shine brightly for England last November against Germany but then featured in a thrashing of Andorra. Capello was quick to say the Aston Villa man was not expected to slip into the Gerrard role as “I cannot clone Stevie.”
■RUGBY
Women headline London bill
The All Blacks and England will play second fiddle to their national women’s teams in a rare double-header in London later this year. The New Zealand Rugby Union said England had agreed to stage both men’s and women’s tests at Twickenham on Nov. 21 — the men to play the curtain-raiser, followed by the women. “Twickenham has such great rugby history, so it will be fantastic for the Black Ferns,” New Zealand’s national women’s coach Brian Evans said in a statement yesterday.
■CRICKET
IPL to be expanded in 2011
The Indian Premier League (IPL) will have more teams and more matches from 2011, but next year’s edition in March-April will have just one additional game, organizers said on Tuesday. The third edition of the popular Twenty20 tournament will be held from March 12 to April 25 with a playoff for the third and fourth places added to the existing 59 matches. Next year’s edition, featuring the world’s top players in eight teams owned by rich businessmen and Bollywood stars, will end just five days before the World Twenty20 opens in the Caribbean on April 30. The tournament will be expanded to 10 teams from 2011, IPL commissioner Lalit Modi was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India (PTI). “There will be 94 games in all with each franchise playing 18 preliminary matches, instead of 14 games as in the past,” the PTI quoted Modi as saying in reference to the 2011 edition. “But the window of 45 days would remain more or less the same.”
■CRICKET
Manager defends Steyn
South Africa’s team manager defended fast bowler Dale Steyn on Tuesday, saying the player had shown elevated levels of morphine in a random drugs test in April because of medication he was taking for migraines. “This is not a doping offense,” Mohammed Moosajee, the team’s manager and doctor, said after the IPL contacted Steyn about a test carried out while the world’s No. 1 Test bowler was playing in the league. “Dale had been suffering from chronic migraines and had been taking painkillers called Myprodol which contain codeine and resulted in a higher-than-normal level of morphine in his urine test,” Moosajee said. He expected the “routine matter” to be cleared up quickly. “The IPL asked Dale to write a letter explaining what medication he took, for what reason and in what dosage, which he did last week,” Moosajee said.
■GOLF
No fine for Tiger
Tiger Woods has not been fined for criticizing an official’s decision to enforce slow play rules on Woods and Padraig Harrington in the last round of the Bridgestone Invitational. US media reports had claimed Woods would be fined for his comments on Sunday after Ireland’s Harrington rushed shots on the 16th hole and took a triple bogey that cost him the lead and ultimately a title at Firestone Country Club. European Tour chief referee John Paramor put Woods and Harrington on the clock at the 16th tee. Harrington hurried three shots and saw a one-stroke lead become a three-stroke deficit. “I’m sorry that John got in the way of a great battle,” Woods said on Sunday. “I don’t think Paddy would have hit the pitch shot that way if he was able to take his time, look at it, analyze it. But he was on the clock.” A statement from the PGA Tour confirmed that tour officials did not consider the comments by Woods as worthy of punishment.
■INDY RACING
Montagny signs for Andretti
Frank Montagny has been hired to drive a fifth Indy Racing League car for Andretti Green Racing this month. The Frenchman will be in the cockpit of the No. 25 car at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. He made seven starts for Michael Andretti’s team in the American Le Mans Series last year and now will join Andretti’s IndyCar regulars — Danica Patrick, Marco Andretti, former series points winner Tony Kanaan and Hideki Mutoh.
■FOOTBALL
Stallworth can leave home
Cleveland Browns receiver Donte Stallworth, confined to his house for a manslaughter conviction after killing a pedestrian with his car, will be allowed to leave his home to work out, a Florida judge ruled on Tuesday. Stallworth served 24 days of a 30-day jail sentence as part of his plea agreement on a charge of manslaughter while driving under the influence of alcohol. His sentence included two years of house arrest and eight years of probation in addition to the jail time. He was suspended indefinitely by the NFL. Tests showed Stallworth had a blood alcohol level of 0.126, above Florida’s legal limit of 0.08, when he hit and killed Mario Reyes, a 59-year-old construction worker, on March 14, court documents showed.
■BASKETBALL
Oberto joins Wizards
Argentina forward Fabricio Oberto, who helped his homeland capture gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics, signed a free agent contract on Tuesday with the NBA’s Washington Wizards. Oberto averaged 2.6 points and 2.6 rebounds in 54 games for the San Antonio Spurs last season and was traded to Detroit after the season in a deal that sent Richard Jefferson to the Spurs. The Pistons later waived Oberto.
■RUGBY LEAGUE
Greg Inglis granted bail
Australia rugby league star Greg Inglis appeared in a Melbourne court yesterday charged with assaulting his girlfriend and was granted bail when his case was adjourned for two weeks. Inglis stood throughout his five-minute hearing in the Sunshine Magistrates’ Court. He will reappear on Aug. 26. The Melbourne Storm center was charged with recklessly causing injury and unlawful assault over an incident on Sunday which allegedly left girlfriend, Sally Robinson, with a black eye. Melbourne suspended Inglis indefinitely. The club confirmed yesterday that the suspension would remain in place, casting Inglis’ immediate career in the National Rugby League in doubt.
Robinson Cano spent 17 seasons playing in the MLB in front of all kinds of baseball fans, but he said there is something special about his stint with the Mexican Baseball League’s Diablos Rojos. He is not alone. The league last week opened its 100th season, aiming to keep an impressive growth in attendance that began after the national team’s surprise run at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and is already surpassing some first-division soccer clubs. After finishing third in the 2023 tournament, many casual fans, some of them soccer enthusiasts disappointed after Mexico were eliminated in the first round in the 2022
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
In-form teenager Mirra Andreeva on Thursday crashed out of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, after going down in straight sets to fellow Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova in the last 16. World No. 7 Andreeva, who already has two titles under her belt this season, lost 6-3, 6-2 against the 22nd-ranked Alexandrova in just over an hour. The 17-year-old Andreeva had defeated her elder sister Erika in the previous round on Wednesday, but Alexandrova quickly took control as she claimed her fourth win over a top-10 player this season. The 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva in February became the youngest winner of a WTA
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