Vixens win a thriller

The Vixens lasted the distance to win 53-52 in a pulsating trans-Tasman netball clash against New South Wales at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre on Monday evening.

The Swifts recovered from a sluggish start and looked in control during the second half but the Melbourne side dug deep for a thrilling victory.

Extra time almost beckoned for the exhausted sides but a late shot from the home side bounced off the rim to leave the margin at one.

Captain Sharelle McMahon was influential all over the court for the visitors and had the poise to nail all 12 of her shots at goal.

She told Fox Sports after the game that even after holding a seven-goal lead after a storming start, she was always wary of the Swifts side.

“We weren’t surprised because the Swifts are a fantatic team,” she said.

“One of the things we’ve been trying to work on is a consistent four quarters and we couldn’t do that tonight again, but a one-goal win under those pressure circumstances is a great result.”

“The pressure situation always makes it tougher and the adrenalin was rushing.”

The Vixens must be disappointed with their own inconsistency, and if they had played with their mid-game form throughout a home win would have theirs for the taking.

20 20 World Cup tickets selling out fast

Tickets for the ICC Twenty20 World Cup in September have been selling like hot cakes, and the four main matches – the opening match, the semifinals and the finals – are sold out.

But Tournament Director Steve Elworthy has good news for people still hoping to get tickets for these matches.

“We have contractual obligations to our sponsors and other corporate interests, but they have to let us know this week how many tickets they will need, and after that, any spare tickets will be fed back into the system,” he said on Thursday.

Elworthy said there had been a good response at all the venues, and the double-header at Newlands in Cape Town on Sunday September 16 was all but sold out. The two matches at Newlands that day are between Australia and the West Indies in the afternoon and South Africa and England in the evening.

“Because we haven’t sold packages, we are able to keep an eye on what is happening at the various venues – the Wanderers, in Johannesburg, Kingsmead in Durban and Newlands in Cape Town – and so we will be able make plans to get more spectators at matches where we haven’t sold out,” he said. “We’ve noticed that the weekdays are more about corporate sales whereas families are buying tickets for the weekends.

“It has been a bit of a problem that there are no school holidays, but we will be working through our amateur arms in all three centres to bring schools and clubs to the cricket. We know, for instance, that it will be hard to fill the Wanderers nine times in 13 days. But generally, we are very pleased with the sales so far, especially as we haven’t even started our marketing campaign yet.”

The T20 World Cup, as it has become known, starts on September 11 with the opening ceremony and a match between South Africa and the West Indies and ends on September 24.

Elworthy said there was no noticeable support for any particular team.

“Tickets are selling well across the board,” he said.

Tickets are available from Computicket and are being sold at domestic cricket prices.

Beckham on new TV show

Football superstar David Beckham has signed for a television show that will document his move to Los Angeles this summer.

David Beckham’s Soccer USA , which will be aired on British Channel Five , will follow match action from Beckham’s new team L.A. Galaxy. Beckham will also comment on his performances in the programme, contactmusic.com website reported.

Producer Rob Massie says: “David Beckham’s arrival has undoubtedly taken US Major League Soccer on to an international footing. Until now there was no way a global audience could easily access the weekly action.

Cramping Serena limps into quarters

A timely rain break allowed a cramping and tearful Serena Williams to hobble into the quarter-finals of Wimbledon on Monday after completing a dramatic comeback.

The American’s Wimbledon dreams looked all over when she collapsed in agony behind the baseline at 5-5 in the second set against Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova but a two-hour downpour gave her a reprieve and she stormed back to win 6-2 6-7 6-2.

“I was going to die trying. I figured my heart wouldn’t give out so I had a good chance of making it,” said Williams.

On frustrating day when only 13 of the 21 scheduled singles matches were finished because of the wet weather, Williams revived memories of a cramping Michael Chang’s remarkable victory over Ivan Lendl at the French Open in 1989.

Williams writhed and screamed in pain and buried her face in the grass while a trainer massaged her calf muscle for more than five minutes.

The seventh seed was eventually helped back on to her feet and struggling to gather her wits, she appeared to have handed the initiative to Hantuchova.

Wiping away tears, she initially stood stationary on the baseline to plop the ball back into play and went 6-5 down but incredibly held serve to stretch it into a tiebreak.

With storm clouds gathering over Centre Court, she kept glancing up to the sky and her prayers were answered when the rain came down while she was trailing 4-2 in the tiebreak.

It gave her a chance to get some intensive treatment.

“I was definitely saved by the rain,” she said.

On resumption, Williams chose to wear cropped leggings and appeared to have both legs strapped underneath.

She lost the tiebreak 7-2 but it was not long before she showed the qualities that have earned her eight grand slam titles.

Not one to give up without a fight, she smashed a racket after missing a forehand and clashed with the umpire when he refused to let her go on a toilet break.

All the drama seemed to blur Hantuchova’s focus and the 10th seed surrendered by slapping a backhand into the net, leaving a relieved Williams to celebrate by blowing a kiss skywards.

The American now faces a battle to regain her fitness in time for her quarter-final with world number one Justine Henin.

PRIZE MONEY

While Williams’s two-hour seven-minute tussle with Hantuchova justified Wimbledon’s decision to award women equal prize money for the first time this year, Henin has done little to silence the critics.

The top seed made the most of a short dry spell earlier in the day to complete a 6-2 6-2 destruction of Patty Schnyder.

The Belgian, who completed a hat-trick of French Open titles last month, has dropped only 15 games during her stroll into the last eight.

“I was a bit surprised the match was so quick,” Henin told reporters. “I’ve done my job perfectly so far.”

Venus Williams also looked as though she was hurtling towards defeat against a Japanese skiing fan before she clawed back to set up a fourth-round tie against Maria Sharapova.

The American was one game away from tumbling out but she outsmarted Akiko Morigami 6-2 3-6 7-5.

“I’m a tough competitor and a huge fighter,” said Venus, who ended the Asian challenge in the women’s draw despite producing 14 double faults and 42 unforced errors.

Fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, number six Ana Ivanovic, Nicole Vaidisova and Nadia Petrova needed to win only a handful of games on Monday to finish their third round matches.

Russian 12th seed Elena Dementieva, however, was upstaged 3-6 6-2 6-3 by 16-year-old Austrian Tamira Paszek.

French Open champion Rafael Nadal was among those still left stranded in the third round. He was leading 2-0 in the fifth set against Sweden’s Robin Soderling.

David Nalbandian was critical of tournament’s policy in having a rest day on the middle Sunday as some competitors now face the prospect of playing several days in succession.

The Argentine, however, will not be among them as he lost 6-2 7-5 6-0 to 10th seed Marcos Baghdatis.

Only four-times champion Roger Federer, it seems, is having an easy time of it. He is likely to have at least four days off after his fourth-round opponent Tommy Haas pulled out injured.

Last CCTV footage shows Woolmer with two men

The last CCTV footage of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer shows that he was with two other persons in the Jamaican hotel lobby on the night of his murder.

The former England player was found dead in his hotel room on March 18, a day after Pakistan’s shocking exit from the World Cup and his murder still remains unresolved.

According to the last CCTV footage to be aired by BBC, Woolmer standing at some distance from two men pointing with his right hand at one of them. One man is dressed in a white shirt and black trousers and the other is in a black dress.

According to the BBC, results of the toxicology tests have shown that there was a drug in his body that would have incapacitated him.

The results of toxicology tests mean that it now seems certain that Woolmer was rendered helpless before being strangled, the BBC’s Panorama programme says.

“Those tests will show there was a drug in his system that would have incapacitated Mr Woolmer,” Panorama’s Adam Parsons said.

“It now seems certain that as he was being strangled, he’d already been rendered helpless – leaving him unable to fight back. The specific details of that poison are now very likely to offer a significant lead to finding his murderer,” he added.