Newzeland beat india by 1 run.

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FIFA WORLD CUP 2014 QUALIFYING - EUROPEAN REGION - GROUP E

Todays Fixtures:

CyprusvIceland	18:00
	IsraelvRussia	18:00
	GeorgiavSpain	18:30
	RomaniavAndorra	18:30
	Bosnia-HvLatvia	19:00
	BulgariavArmenia	19:00
	NorwayvSlovenia	19:00
	TurkeyvEstonia	19:00
	SlovakiavLiechtenstein	19:15
	HungaryvNetherlands	19:30
	San MarinovMontenegro	19:30
	SerbiavWales	19:30	PreviewSerbia VsWales
	SwedenvKazakhstan	19:30
	SwitzerlandvAlbania	19:30
	AustriavGermany	19:35
	BelgiumvCroatia	19:45
	GreecevLithuania	19:45
	ItalyvMalta	19:45
	Northern IrelandvLuxembourg	19:45	PreviewNorthern Ireland VsLuxembourg
	PolandvMoldova	19:45
	EnglandvUkraine	20:00	PreviewEngland VsUkraine
	FrancevBelarus	20:00
	ScotlandvMacedonia	20:00	PreviewScotland VsMacedonia
	PortugalvAzerbaijan	20:15

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Fulham, Bolton, Southampton and Chelsea make fine starts to the U18 Premier League season

Some of the Premier League stars of the future have shown their promise in the opening three weeks of the new-look Barclays Under-18 Premier League

More than 100 goals have been scored by the country's elite academy teams this season, with Bolton Wanderers, Southampton and Fulham leading the way respectively in the three Under-18 National Groups.

There are 22 teams competing in the Barclays Under-18 Premier League, with all applying for Category One status as part of the categorisation process of the new youth development system.

Eight teams are playing in Group 1 and seven in Groups 2 and 3. Every team will play each opponent twice over the next three months, with Sunderland's clash with Tottenham Hotspur on 8th December bringing an end to the group stages.

The competition follows the format of the Barclays Under-21 Premier League - which is also new this season. The top three sides in National Group One and the top two in groups Two and Three will enter the Elite Group. Those who miss the cut go in to Qualification Group Tier One or Two, depending on their finishing position.

The side that finishes top of the Elite Group will play the winner of the play-off between the top sides in Qualification Group Tier One and Two in the knock-out semi-final. The other semi-final is contested between the second and third-placed teams in the Elite Group.

Fulham off to a flyer

Once the semi-final line-up is completed, the last four teams standing will compete for the honour of being the inaugural Barclays Under-18 Premier League champions.

Last season, Fulham beat Blackburn Rovers 2-0 to win the Premier Academy League title and they have hit the ground running in the new campaign with wins in their opening two games.

Fulham's 16-year-old French youth international Moussa Dembele, who was previously with Paris Saint-Germain, has scored four goals including an impressive hat-trick in the 4-3 win over Crystal Palace.

American midfielder Emerson Hyndman has also scored a hat-trick this season, as Fulham recorded a 7-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers in their opening fixture.

Chelsea have also made a perfect start to join Fulham at the top of National Group 3, with the Blues comprehensively beating Manchester City 6-1 on the opening weekend.

Seager fires Saints

The only other side to have a perfect record so far is Southampton, who are managed by former club captain Jason Dodd.

Southampton opened up with wins over Sunderland and Newcastle United before recording a 3-2 victory over Aston Villa in a match where goalkeeper Chris Johns took the field as an outfield substitute after they suffered a succession of injuries.

English striker Ryan Seager, 16, has been the pick of Southampton's early-season performers with five goals, including a hat-trick in the 4-3 win over Sunderland.

In Group 1, Bolton Wanderers lead the way with seven points from their opening three games.

They started the season in style with a 5-1 victory over Arsenal and continued their impressive form with a point away at Norwich City and a 3-1 win over West Ham United.

Reading are in second place on goal difference with 4-1 victories over West Bromwich Albion and Norwich City. Powerful striker Uche Ikpeazu has scored four goals in Reading's unbeaten start to the campaign.

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Pakistan win T20 Series against Australia by 2-1

             Team Pakistan pose with the T20I series trophy after beating Australia 2-1 in the 3 match series.

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Weather a worry in deciding India-New Zealand T20

A phrase that has found its way into cricket jargon of late is "controlling the controllables". One thing neither team, the fans or the organisers have been able to control is the rain. It has been an unwelcome visitor is all three matches on the tour so far, more so in Visakhapatnam, where thousands made their way to witness the city's first Twenty20 international and Yuvraj Singh's comeback from cancer. Southern Indiahas been hit by showers over the last few weeks, and the venue for the final T20, Chennai, has had its share of rain too. The weather has reduced the Twenty20 series to a one-match shoot-out. Both teams will agree that even a completed T20, without interruptions, won't count as sufficient match practice ahead of the World T20. Much then would depend on the two warm-up games in Sri Lanka before the big event.

One player who will be itching to get out there is Yuvraj. Ideally, he would like to stage his comeback in India and, possibly, put an end to all murmurs regarding his match fitness. Spare a thought for the Twenty20 specialists who have flown in from NewZealand for what is effectively a one-match series. Daniel Vettori, for all his experience, needs match time to ease himself back in from a groin injury. New Zealand would want to play their best side, but that would mean their relatively inexperienced players, like Ronnie Hira and Adam Milne, may not be guaranteed a spot. India have tried out three different opening combinations in their last three T20 matches, with Ajinkya Rahane and Robin Uthappa partnering Gautam Gambhir in two of those games. They are expected to go with their regular pair of Gambhir and Virender Sehwag here, and both are struggling for consistency.

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Game abandoned five ball short of a result

The wettest of English summers has struck again. The second Twenty20 international at Old Trafford was an exercise in futility as rain, which had reduced the contest to nine overs per side, returned five balls before a result would have been achieved.

South Africa were favourites at that stage, however difficult that is to call in such a small game, with England needing 13 off five balls to win on Duckworth/Lewis after Luke Wright had been caught at deep square-leg the ball before the heavens opened again. It had been a faltering chase of 78 with the top three struggling to score off Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn.

Kieswetter had tried to swing at Morkel from the first ball, a difficult task at the best of times, and only found fresh air with his first four attempts. His innings was ended by a wonderful catch by Robin Peterson running backwards from mid-on and diving full length. It was almost the equal of Dan Christian's stunner in Dubai a few days ago.

South Africa's innings had also included a screaming catch when Graeme Swann back-peddled off his own bowling and stuck out his right hand to remove JP Duminy. However, England dropped another and it was inevitably Hashim Amla who, once again, finished as top-scorer with 47 off 30 balls meaning he has achieved career-bests in all three formats on this tour. Amla had been recalled in place of Faf du Plessis for this match and adapted to the shorter-than-short format.

Apart from Amla, it was a helter-skelter innings from South Africa, which began with Richard Levi gloving the first ball down the leg side against Steven Finn about two-and-a-half hours after he had been ready to start the game before the rain fell.

AB de Villiers also fell to Finn, top-edging a pull to mid-on where Jade Dernbach juggled the catch before holding on falling backwards, but after the three overs of Powerplay South Africa had made good use of them to have 32 on the board. Interestingly, though, with an eye on future cricket at this ground, notably the Ashes Test next year, the pitch had regained some of its old pace and bounce with Finn and Stuart Broad - whose speeds have increased after his break - zipping the ball through.

Out of the Powerplay, Swann produced a tight over which only conceded five singles, spearing his deliveries full at the batsmen to ensure they could only work them down the ground. This was followed by Wright's first over which only went for four and included the wicket of Albie Morkel who skewed a catch to cover.

On the whole England's bowlers did well with only Broad proving really expensive as his second over - the penultimate of the innings -cost 18 and included a no-ball. Such lapses cannot be afforded in the World Twenty20.

Also with thoughts moving towards the World T20, England made a significant decision when Ravi Bopara's awful form finally cost him place and led to Wright's inclusion. It was about the only call England could make after his horror run of 34 runs from the eight innings he has played since returning from personal problems after the first Test.

Whether he now has a chance recapture any semblance of touch before the World T20 is a major doubt and England look like entering the tournament carrying one of their 15-man squad. England have one more match against South Africa, at Edgbaston on Wednesday, and a couple of warm-up matches, against Australia and Pakistan, in Sri Lanka before the tournament proper but Andy Flower and Broad may already have made up their minds. The only way a player can be replaced in a squad is through injury or illness.

Wright, for his part, deserved his chance after a productive season for Sussex in both limited-overs formats. This was officially his first England match since June 2011 when he faced Sri Lanka in a T20 match at Bristol. Since then he has travelled the world playing franchise T20, making a name for himself in the Big Bash League especially where he scored a 44-ball hundred, and returned to Sussex a more rounded cricketer.

Wright's recall was the only change for England, who resisted tinkering further despite the heavy defeat at Chester-le-Street, with Danny Briggs, Michael Lumb and Tim Bresnan still waiting for their turn. Bresnan's elbow, which he had surgery on at the end of the last year, has been causing further concern in recent weeks and he had scans before the T20 series started but took a full part in the warm-ups.

The match was played at an Old Trafford where the redevelopments are seriously taking shape. The new players and media building was used for the first time today and initial impressions were excellent. Further work will have been done by the time the Ashes Test arrives next year, including finishing the famous pavilion, and everyone will have their fingers crossed for better weather.

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Australia crush Pakistan by 94 runs

Australia began the series with one of their worst Twenty20 losses but they finished it with their second-best win in the format, crushing Pakistan by 94 runs in the dead rubber in Dubai. David Warner and Shane Watson set up the victory with an Australian-record opening partnership before Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc ran through Pakistan, who suffered their worst defeat in a T20 international and were all out for 74, their lowest total in the format.

Pakistan still won the series 2-1 but if the old sporting cliché that you're only as good as your last performance can be trusted, the Australians will be reasonably happy when they arrive in Sri Lanka in the next few days for the ICC World Twenty20. The fact that Warner and Watson both fired and found their six-hitting rhythm would be especially pleasing for the captain George Bailey, although some more runs from the middle order would have been preferable.

Cummins was outstanding with the new ball as Pakistan slumped to 19 for 5 in the chase, and Brad Hogg's 1 for 11 - the most economical four-over spell by an Australian in a T20 international - was another positive sign for the Australians. They narrowly missed out on bettering their most comprehensive T20 victory, the 95-run defeat they inflicted on South Africa at the Gabba in January 2006, and it was a win Australia desperately needed, having fallen to tenth on the ICC T20 rankings.

Pursuing 169 for a clean sweep, Pakistan simply couldn't get into the chase. Imran Nazir was lbw to a Starc inswinger in the second over and Cummins picked up two wickets in the next over, Mohammad Hafeez caught at cover and Shoaib Malik bowled for a third-ball duck by a super inswinger that swerved in between bat and pad.

Starc picked up his second wicket when he had Kamran Akmal caught off a leading edge and Umar Akmal followed soon afterwards when he thought he connected well enough to clear deep midwicket off Watson, only to see Michael Hussey run around the boundary rope and take an excellent catch while staying just inside the field of play. At 19 for 5, Pakistan were all but gone.

The offspinner Glenn Maxwell claimed his first international wicket, in his sixth match, when Nasir Jamshed, who top scored with 17, pushed a catch to cover. Abdul Razzaq and Yasir Arafat batted for a while, though not threatening to lift the run-rate, before Hogg was rewarded for his fine bowling when Arafat misread the wrong'un and was caught at slip for 15.

Hogg was then involved in the run-out of Umar Gul, before Cummins and Starc returned to claim a third wicket each as Pakistan were dismissed for 74 in the 20th over. It confirmed the 94-run margin - Pakistan's previous worst loss was 48 runs - but Pakistan will be keen to put this match out of their minds and remember the first two games when they head to Sri Lanka for the World T20.

Australia will go there with some confidence in their openers after they put on a 111-run stand, beating the previous Australian record opening stand of 104. When the Warner-Watson partnership ended Australia lost seven wickets for 57, and the slump was their only concern for the day, though it did not prove to be problematic.

Pakistan's fast bowlers helped Warner and Watson out with a few length deliveries that were dispatched to the boundary or over it early in the innings, and three sixes thumped over midwicket by Watson in one over from Shoaib Malik really got the Australian innings moving. Warner followed that with three sixes off Raza Hasan in the next over, and then showcased his switch-hitting ability by changing to a right-handed position and slogging Saeed Ajmal over the left-hander's cover for six.

He raced to his half-century from 28 deliveries and Watson seemed destined for a fifty as well, until he hooked Arafat's slower bouncer to short fine leg for 47 from 32 balls. Arafat, included at the expense of Sohail Tanvir, also got rid of Warner, who skied a catch for 59 from 34 balls. After that, the Australians couldn't find the same sort of momentum, although Maxwell, promoted to No.3, struck one hefty six in his 27 from 20 balls before he slog-swept Hasan to deep midwicket.

Only one other batsman managed a boundary: Michael Hussey, who scored 12 from 14 balls. It was to Pakistan's credit that they ran through the middle order so efficiently. Bailey was bowled for 3 when he tried to slog-sweep Ajmal; Cameron White was caught at long-on off Gul for a four-ball duck; and Hussey was bowled to give Ajmal figures of 2 for 19 from four overs.

Daniel Christian was the final man out, caught behind off Gul (2 for 30) in the final over, and the Australians finished with Matthew Wade on 6 and Cummins on 1. But it was what Cummins did with the ball that was most impressive.

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Pakistan eye clean sweep

 

With the series decided via the means of a Super Over, Pakistan and Australia are intent on some more high intensity preparation for the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka during the final match in Dubai. For Pakistan, the match provides a chance to employ some players not yet used, including Mohammad Sami and Yasir Arafat. It also offers the tantalising prospect of a clean sweep over Australia, something seldom achieved in any format.

The Australians, by contrast, are simply hopeful that the upward trend of their T20 form in the series - a hiding in the first match, a far better showing in the second - will continue with a victory to take them to Sri Lanka with some level of confidence. To that end, the only likely change to the team is the recall of the young allrounder Glenn Maxwell, whose hitting prowess could have been useful in the latter stages of the chase in game two. Australia's coach Mickey Arthur was satisfied with how the team's batsmen had attacked with conviction on Friday, David Warner in particular seeming to turn a corner in the belief he applied to his strokes.

But all that progress will be set back by another defeat, one that Pakistan will be keen to inflict and so leave Dubai with the greatest momentum possible for their tilt at the world title.

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