De Villiers appointed South Africa Test captain

JOHANNESBURG: AB de Villiers has been appointed as the full-time captain of South Africa´s Test team, ending speculation he could retire from the longest format of the game to ease his workload.

Cricket South Africa made the announcement on Friday after De Villiers was appointed for the final two Tests of the recently completed series against England on a temporary basis following the resignation of Hashim Amla.

De Villiers, also captain of the one-day international side who take on England in a five-match series starting on Wednesday, believes his team can regain their number one test status after losing the test series against England 2-1.

"I am honoured to have been asked to captain the Test team into a new era," the 31-year-old said in a CSA statement.

"I thoroughly enjoyed captaining in the last two Tests against England and although I still have a lot to learn in this role it´s a new challenge that I´m excited to take on.

"I believe we are witnessing the emergence of another great team.
There is plenty of hard work ahead of us; we are rebuilding and have a long way to go to being a finished product as a squad."

De Villiers had expressed doubts about his Test future during the England series, refusing to commit himself to the team beyond this month.

He was one of seven players handed two-year contracts on Friday following a board meeting of CSA.

The others were batsmen Amla, JP Duminy and Faf du Plessis, and bowlers Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander.

Temba Bavuma, Farhaan Behardien and Rilee Rossouw were all awarded one-year national contracts for the first time.

South Africa´s next Test series is at home to New Zealand in August. (Reuters)

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Tortured Murray outlasts Raonic to reach Melbourne final

MELBOURNE: Andy Murray went through paroxysms of frustration but seized another opportunity to break his Australian Open jinx with a four-hour, five-set semi-final victory over Milos Raonic on Friday.

Four times the British world number two has advanced to the final at Melbourne Park and four times he has been vanquished, three times at the hands of Novak Djokovic.

The Serbian will again stand in his path on Sunday as the Scot seeks to add another grand slam title to his 2012 U.S. Open and 2013 Wimbledon crowns.

Raonic, meanwhile, was left heartbroken after suffering a thigh injury that hampered him from the middle of the third set of the 4-6 7-5 6-7(4) 6-4 6-2 defeat.

Winning tennis matches never looks like a walk in the park for Murray but for much of the contest against the Canadian, he at least had some justification for the tortured grimaces and explosions of anger that followed every setback.

The 13th seed has been on fire this year and his big serve and huge forehands had one of the best returners in the game on the ropes, while his new-found net game helped him to a healthy 72 winners.

Murray said earlier this week that he would waste no more energy on the histrionics but the match was just minutes old when he returned to his chair muttering curses having been broken to love in his first service game.

That was to be Raonic´s only break of the match but it was enough to win the first set and, after Murray had pounced to even up the contest, he ramped up his 230 kilometre-per-hour serve to clinch the third on tiebreak.

The 25-year-old Raonic, hoping to become the first Canadian man to reach a grand slam final, was feeling the injury in the fourth set but Murray had also crucially got a better fix on his serve and broke for 4-3.

Raonic almost claimed it back in the next game but Murray saved two break points, falling to one knee and roaring "Yes! Yes!" as he pumped his fist at the ground.

Murray served out the set to even up the contest again and grabbed two breaks early in the decider as the wincing Raonic´s level dropped, the Canadian´s racket feeling the brunt of his frustration after the first.

Murray finished off his ailing opponent with a sublime crosscourt backhand volley to bring up a match point, which he converted with a handsome forehand winner.

The 28-year-old pointed both index fingers at the roof of Rod Laver Arena before slumping into his courtside chair with a look of relief on his face.

The relief will not be long-lived, however, as he will be back on the same court on Sunday attempting to dethrone five-times champion Djokovic.

Murray´s older brother Jamie will be bidding for silverware on Saturday when he teams up with Bruno Soares to take on Daniel Nestor and Radek Stepanek in the men´s doubles final.

It is the first time two brothers have reached separate finals at the same grand slam.
"You´re not going to see it very often," Murray junior said. (Reuters)

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Nearly $1 mn in FIFA funds missing in Guatemala

GUATEMALA CITY: Nearly $1 million in funds from soccer's global governing body FIFA may have gone missing from Guatemala's soccer federation last year, according to sources and an internal audit seen by Reuters.

Dozens of soccer officials worldwide have been charged by U.S. authorities probing corruption in FIFA, in an investigation that has sent shockwaves across the sport.

In 2015, the Guatemalan soccer federation (Fedefut) received 8.24 million quetzals ($1.1 mln) in nine deposits from FIFA from February to October, according to a document signed by the federation's accountant and seen by Reuters.

The Fedefut budget presented early last year totaled about $1.5 million but only included about $250,000 in FIFA funding while the remaining funds from the nine deposits were not included, according to sources knowledgeable about the internal audit.

The internal audit was conducted by a FIFA committee put in charge of running the Guatemalan soccer federation following the arrest on corruption charges last month of top local officials, and earlier on Friday the committee filed a complaint over the missing funds with the attorney general's office of the Central American country.

The federation's year-end spending report excluded the additional deposits.

The membership of Fedefut's general assembly was also not informed of the nine deposits.

"That information was hidden," said one of the sources, adding that the results of an investigation into the missing funds will be provided to a visiting FIFA official next week.

In one document, Fedefut's top budget official Oswaldo Rolando confirmed that the federation's financial division was informed of the extra deposits.

"I don't know why they weren't made available to the general assembly," Rolando said in the documents.

Ciro Muralles, the former head of the financial division, said in a brief phone interview that he would not comment on the missing funds until he reviews the documents.

A spokesperson for the FIFA committee running Guatemala's soccer federation confirmed that the complaint seeks an investigation into "the crimes that might have occurred."

Earlier this month, Guatemalan police arrested fugitive former Fedefut president Brayan Jimenez in connection with the corruption probe.

Jimenez has been accused of taking bribes along with Hector Trujillo, former secretary general of the Guatemalan soccer federation, who was arrested last month in the United States.

Both have denied the charges.

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Kerber stuns Williams to win Australian Open title

MELBOURNE: Angelique Kerber became the first German to win a grand slam title since her childhood idol Steffi Graf in 1999 when she upset world number one Serena Williams 6-4 3-6 6-4 to clinch the Australian Open on Saturday.

The 34-year-old American had been seeking her seventh Melbourne Park title and 22nd overall, which would have moved her into a tie with Graf for the most grand slam singles titles in the Open era.

The seventh seeded Kerber, however, was not overawed by the occasion of her first grand slam final, breaking twice in the first set to take it in 39 minutes as Williams made 23 unforced errors.

Williams cut down on the errors to send it into a third, which Kerber, who had the opportunity to serve it out while leading 5-3 only for the American to battle back, clinched when Williams hit a volley long in the following game.

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New Zealand prime triple-spin threat for World T20

WELLINGTON: New Zealand will be hoping to stifle their opponents by taking pace off the ball with the inclusion of three frontline spinners in their 15-man squad for next month´s World Twenty20 in India.

Off-spinner Nathan McCullum, left-armer Mitchell Santner and leggie Ish Sodhi all found a place in the Kane Williamson-led side for the March 8-April 3 tournament, and the trio can expect to see plenty of action on the host nation´s slow pitches.

"With the Indian conditions in mind, the plan has always been to take three frontline spinners, and all three bring something different," coach Mike Hesson said in a New Zealand Cricket statement on Monday.

"It´s great to have Nathan available again and his experience in the foreign conditions will be invaluable.

"Both he and Mitch Santner have the ability to bowl in the first six overs, which gives Kane a number of options to work with."

McCullum has not played for New Zealand since August but is also handy with the bat, as is Santner, who impressed during the recent limited-overs series at home against Pakistan.

Left-handed batsman Henry Nicholls, yet to play a T20 for New Zealand, was also rewarded with a spot for his match-winning 82 against Pakistan in the first ODI.

"Henry has shown his talent and versatility with the bat this summer and has also been used as a wicketkeeper for New Zealand A," Hesson added.

Pacemen Tim Southee and Mitchell McClenaghan, and batsman Ross Taylor were also included in the squad despite carrying injuries with all three expected to be fit for the tournament, NZC added in the statement.

New Zealand, who will be aiming to win a first limited-overs World Cup, have been drawn with Australia, India, Pakistan and a yet-to-be-confirmed qualifier in Group 2 of the Super 10 round of the tournament.

"On top of our four genuine pace bowlers and Corey (Anderson) as all-rounder, Colin (Munro) and Grant (Elliott) are also options with the ball for us with their change of pace," Hesson said.

New Zealand open their campaign against the hosts in Nagpur on March 15.

Squad: Kane Williamson (captain), Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Henry Nicholls, Grant Elliott, Corey Anderson, Colin Munro, Luke Ronchi, Mitchell Santner, Nathan McCullum, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Mitchell McClenaghan, Adam Milne, Ish Sodhi

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