Australian Dyson fired as West Indies coach

Reuters

* Assistant David Williams in temporary charge

* Gibbs to serve as manager at Champions Trophy

LONDON, Aug 13 - Australian John Dyson was sacked as coach of West Indies on Thursday.

"The services of Mr John Dyson have been terminated with immediate effect," the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) said in a news release. "Assistant coach Mr David Williams will fill this position on a temporary basis."

Williams is to lead the team at the Champions Trophy in South Africa next month while former test spinner Lance Gibbs will serve as manager.

West Indies start their campaign in the one-day tournament against Pakistan in Johannesburg on Sept. 23. The 55-year-old Dyson's makeshift team suffered defeat in two test matches and all three one-day internationals against visiting Bangladesh last month before restoring some pride by winning a Twenty20 game against the same opposition on Aug. 2.

PLAYER BOYCOTT

West Indies' leading players boycotted the test matches due to a dispute over contracts and payments and although they ended their protest the WICB stuck with the back-up squad that had made themselves available.

Former opening batsman Dyson played 30 tests for Australia between 1977-84, scoring 1,359 runs at an average of 26.64.

He became coach of Sri Lanka in 2003, spending almost two years there before taking the reins at West Indies in 2007.

Dyson suffered embarrassment this March when West Indies miscalculated the Duckworth-Lewis target at the end of the opening one-dayer against England in Guyana.

The home team, chasing a 50-over target of 270 for seven, were offered the chance to go off due to rain and bad light and Dyson beckoned the batsmen off the field.

However, West Indies were one run short of the Duckworth-Lewis target, the method used to calculate results when the full overs are unused, and with no opportunity to return to the field England were declared winners with West Indies on 244 for seven from 46.2 overs.

"I was on the wrong column (on the sheet) ... I thought we were ahead of Duckworth-Lewis but in fact we were behind by one run," Dyson said.

"There was a lot of noise going on and it was my responsibility so that was it. I accept responsibility for it and I've apologised to the team and that's all I can do. It was my mistake."

Trescothick wakes up in cold sweat over possible return

LONDON, Aug 13 - Former England batsman Marcus Trescothick woke up in a cold sweat this week at the thought of a possible recall for the final Ashes test against Australia at the Oval, he said on Thursday.

"There is a nightmare a lot of cricketers experience that they can't get their pads on when they are due in to bat," the 33-year-old Somerset player wrote in his column in the Bristol Evening Post.

"My dream was a variation of that. I couldn't get my England kit out of my bag. The other players were waiting for me on the pitch to do a team photo so I was in a right panic. I woke up in a cold sweat."

Trescothick has been touted for a possible recall at the Oval next week, with the series poised at 1-1, but he dismissed the idea.

"There will be no England comeback for me in the final Ashes test," he said.

Trescothick helped his country win the 2005 Ashes by racking up 431 runs and he is the top scorer in county cricket this year, with an average of 78.23.

After playing 76 tests and hitting 5,825 runs at an average of 43.79, the left-hander called time on his international career in March 2008 due to health problems.

Trescothick had long suffered from a stress-related illness and had to pull out of England's 2006 tours to India and Australia.

Another batsman being linked with an England call is Jonathan Trott, who scored 121 for Warwickshire against Nottinghamshire on Thursday.

Team mate Ian Bell, recalled when Kevin Pietersen was ruled out of the series after sustaining an injury in the second test, was 92 not out for Warwicks.

Kent's Robert Key, another Oval contender, was out for 15 in the second innings against Northamptonshire while Surrey's in-form Mark Ramprakash hit 24 in a 40-over match against Glamorgan at the Oval on Wednesday night.

COAS Open Squash Championship : Ranking players move into semis

ISLAMABAD: All top seeds, men and women, advanced to the semi-finals of the 7th Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Open Squash Championship at the Mushaf Squash Complex here on Wednesday. Aamir Atlas, Farhan Mahboob, Mansoor Zaman and Yasir Butt made it to the last four-stage in the men’s singles. The women’s quarter-finals winners were Maria Toor, Saima Shoukat, Muqaddas Ashraf and Zoya Khalid. In the men’s semi-finals on Thursday (today), Aamir will meet lanky Yasir while Mansoor will be up against Farhan. In the women semi-finals, Maria will face Zoya and Saima will challenge Muqaddas.

Aamir and Farhan march into men’s singles final

ISLAMABAD: Top seed Aamir Atlas Khan and Farhan Mahboob defeated their respective rivals to move into the final of the 7th COAS Open Squash Championship at the Mushaf Squash Complex here on Thursday.

PHF names team officials of Junior Super Hockey League

LAHORE: The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Wednesday named team officials of the ten teams of the Junior Super Hockey League to be played from September 1 to 18 at the Hockey Club of Pakistan Stadium in Karachi under floodlights.

India scratches Thailand from six-nation football tournament

NEW DELHI: India has thrown Thailand out of this month’s six-nation Nehru Cup tournament in New Delhi for planning to send a junior side despite initially promising to send the national team.

SSD make women football final

KARACHI: Sports Sciences Department (SSD) of the University of Punjab blasted their way into the final after they beat defending champions Rawalpindi’s Young Rising Star by 2-1 in the first semifinal of the Fifth National Women Football Championship held at the Jinnah Stadium in Islamabad on Sunday.