FIFA WORLD CUP POINTS TABLE AFTER JUNE 24

Group A

Team	MP	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
Uruguay	3	2	1	0	4	0	7
Mexico	3	1	1	1	3	2	4
South Africa	3	1	1	1	3	5	4
France	3	0	1	2	1	4	1

Group B

Team	MP	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
Argentina	3	3	0	0	7	1	9
Korea Republic	3	1	1	1	5	6	4
Greece	3	1	0	2	2	5	3
Nigeria	3	0	1	2	3	5	1

Group C

Team	MP	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
USA	3	1	2	0	4	3	5
England	3	1	2	0	2	1	5
Slovenia	3	1	1	1	3	3	4
Algeria	3	0	1	2	0	2	1

Group D

Team	MP	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
Germany	3	2	0	1	5	1	6
Ghana	3	1	1	1	2	2	4
Australia	3	1	1	1	3	6	4
Serbia	3	1	0	2	2	3	3

Group E

Team	MP	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
Netherlands	3	3	0	0	5	1	9
Japan	3	2	0	1	4	2	6
Denmark	3	1	0	2	3	6	3
Cameroon	3	0	0	3	2	5	0

Group F

Team	MP	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
Paraguay	3	1	2	0	3	1	5
Slovakia	3	1	1	1	4	5	4
New Zealand	3	0	3	0	2	2	3
Italy	3	0	2	1	4	5	2

Group G

Team	MP	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
Brazil	2	2	0	0	5	2	6
Portugal	2	1	1	0	7	0	4
Côte d'Ivoire	2	0	1	1	1	3	1
Korea DPR	2	0	0	2	1	9	0

Group H

Team	MP	W	D	L	GF	Goals AgainstGA	Pts
Chile	2	2	0	0	2	0	6
Spain	2	1	0	1	2	1	3
Switzerland	2	1	0	1	1	1	3
Honduras	2	0	0	2	0	3	0

AFRIDI UNDECIDED ABOUT HIS TEST FUTURE

With the 2011 World Cup in his sights, Afridi said he will review his personal performance in the six Tests that Pakistan would play against Australia and the hosts England before deciding whether he would continue playing the five day game or not.
"I will take a decision (on my Test future) at the end of the England tour," The News quoted Afridi, as saying.
The flamboyant all rounder had last played a Test match four years ago at Manchester and had decided not to play Test matches to focus more on his one-day and T20 career.
"I'll see whether my body will allow me to continue playing in all three formats after the tour of England. It's a long tour and will be followed by a lot of more Tests and one-dayers before the World Cup," Afridi said.

Afridi, who was convinced by the selectors to come out of his voluntary Test retirement before being handed over the captaincy for all the three squads, said wants himself to be perfectly fit for next year's World Cup.
"I want to be perfectly fit for the World Cup because it's my dream that we win it like we did in 1992," he said.
However, Afridi's critics have already termed him as a failed Test player, adding that he is unlikely to impress much in the upcoming series in England.
In an interview, earlier this month, Afridi's Australian counterpart Ricky Ponting raised doubts over his Test ability.
"If you read between the lines he's almost in there as that leader and captain, not necessarily one of their best Test players," Ponting had said.
"So we'll test him out. Even in the one dayers in Australia last season with our quicks bowling the way they did to him, I think we can sort him out in Test cricket for sure," he added.
However, Afridi is confident of a good show against both Australia and England.
"He (Ponting) may think whatever he likes but I'm confident about my batting and am looking forward to playing Test cricket again," said Afridi, who averages 37.40 in 26 Tests.

ENGLAND LEAD THE NATWEST SERIES BY 2-0

Chasing Australia's modest total of 239 for seven, the home team reached their target with 28 balls to spare to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.
Left-hander Morgan, who can be clearly seen muttering to himself "watch the ball, watch the ball" as the bowlers run in, followed up his unbeaten 103 in the first game on Tuesday by clubbing 52 in 64 deliveries.
He and Collingwood (48) shared a stand of 83 for the fourth wicket after captain Andrew Strauss had made 51 and Kevin Pietersen chipped in with 33.
Collingwood, making his 179th appearance, passed Alec Stewart's previous record tally of 4,677 one-day international runs for England.
Graeme Swann then clinched victory with a towering six over extra cover. Left-arm paceman Doug Bollinger was the pick of the attack with three for 46.
"We got four wickets pretty early in their innings and that put them on the back foot," said Strauss at the presentation ceremony.
"Chasing 239 against Australia, you would take that every time. The key for us is not to pat ourselves on the back too much, we've now got to keep it up for games three, four and five."

Earlier, Cameron White top-scored for Australia with 86 not out in 98 deliveries while opener Shane Watson hit 57 and Steve Smith added 41.
Fast bowler Stuart Broad made sure the visiting batsmen were held in check though, taking four for 44 in his 10 overs and wicketkeeper Craig Kieswetter snapped up three catches.
"All in all it was another poor performance from us -- 240 was never going to be enough unless we achieved a miracle with the new ball," said Australia captain Ricky Ponting.
"Our total was never enough, we were probably 40 runs short. If we had done that it could have been a really good game."
The third match is in Manchester on Sunday.

INDIA WON THE ASIA CUP (AFTER 15 YEARS)

It turned out to be a lopsided contest as the Sri Lankan batsmen, chasing 269 runs for victory, surrendered without much of a fight in the face of some brilliant bowling by India.

Ashish Nehra was the pick of the bowlers, claiming four wickets for 40 runs and single-handedly running through the strong Sri Lankan top order.

Zaheer Khan (2-36) and Praveen Kumar (1-29) proved the ideal foil while spinners Ravindra Jadeja (2-29) and Harbhajan Singh (0-30), too, played their part.

India had lost to Sri Lanka in the last league match Tuesday when the batting misfred, but they picked thmeselves up with a commanding performance Thursday. India, thus became the Asian champions after 1997, when they beat the same opponent in the final.

'We needed to raise the level in the final. It is good to win a final after a long time. We do not really do well in the finals and it is something we talked about,' said Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who took four catches and also stumped Nuwan Kulasekara.

'We were happy putting 268 runs on the board. We wanted to dismiss Tillakaratne Dilshan early. He can score 30-40 runs in just a matter of few overs. Zaheer and Ashish bowled one of the best spells under the condition. The fast bowlers were impressive and they out Sri Lanka under pressure,' he said.

It was an outstanding show from India, who twice lost to Zimbabwe with a young side last month drawing much criticism.

The only time India looked under some pressure was when two quick wickets saw India reduced to 167 for four. Both the set batsmen Dinesh Karthik (66) and Dhoni (38) were out within a space of 21 runs, but Rohit Sharma (41) and Suresh Raina (29) held the fort with a 50-run stand for the fifth wicket.

Ravindra Jadeja later chipped in with 25 runs.

The Indian bowlers never allowed Sri Lankan chase to take off.

The dangerous Tillakaratne Dilshan left in the very first over with just five runs on the board when he mistimed a pull shot to give Nehra his first wicket.

Tharanga and Kumar Sangakkara batted for five overs, but could not break the shackles.

Tharanga was bowled by a beatiful Zaheer delivery that cut back to shatter his stumps as he shouldered the ball.

The reliable Sri Lankan pair of Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene was separated when Nehra had the latter caught behind and then two balls later immediately got rid of Angelo Mathews, who gave Dhoni his second catch.

Nehra removed Sangakkara next to leave Sri Lanka struggling at five for 51.

Thilina Kandamby (31 not out) and Chamara Kapugedera (55 not out) tried to revive the innings with a 53 runs stand, but Indian spinners kept the pressure on the two batsmen.

The partnership was broken when Kandamby was run out and from there on, it was just a matter of time for India to mop up the Sri Lankan tail.

ASIA CUP- INDIA VS SRI LANKA (INDIA INNINGS)

India Innings
Batsman	India(268/6 in 50 ovs)	Runs	Balls	4's
G Gambhir	runout (N Kulasekara)	15	16	2
D Karthik	c M Jayawardene & b T Kandamby	66	84	9
V Kohli	c K Sangakkara & b L Malinga	28	34	4
MS Dhoni(c)	c N Kulasekara & b T Kandamby	38	50	2
R Sharma	c F Maharoof & b N Kulasekara	41	52	3
S Raina	lbw L Malinga	29	31	3
R Jadeja	Not out	25	27	1
H Singh	Not out	7	7	0
P Kumar	dnb	0	0	0
Z Khan	dnb	0	0	0
A Nehra	dnb	0	0	0
Extras	b - 2, lb - 7, w - 9, nb - 1, Total - 19

Total:(268 for 6 in 50 overs)

268

Bowler 0 M R W Nb Nuwan Kulasekara 9 0 44 1 0 Lasith Malinga 10 0 57 2 1 Farveez Maharoof 6 0 41 0 0 Angelo Mathews 3 1 16 0 0 Muttiah Muralitharan 10 0 34 0 0 Thilina Kandamby 7 0 37 2 0 Tillakaratne Dilshan 5 0 30 0 0