Friday's results

BASEBALL

MAJOR LEAGUE

St Louis Cardinals 3 Milwaukee Brewers 4, Colorado Rockies v Florida Marlins postponed, Toronto Blue Jays 7 Tampa Bay Devil Rays 4, Kansas City Royals 5 Minnesota Twins 6 (11 innings), Colorado Rockies v Florida Marlins postponed, Cleveland Indians 2 Detroit Tigers 3, New York Yankees 1 Los Angeles Angels 3, Texas Rangers 1 Seattle Mariners 4.

* * *


BASKETBALL

NBA

Shaquille O'Neal scored 25 points to lead the Miami Heat past the New Jersey Nets 108-105 in double-overtime in game three of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarter-final.

Dwyane Wade added 22 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists for the Heat, who have won the first three games and will attempt to complete the sweep in game four tomorrow.

Udonis Haslem chipped in 14 points and 19 boards for Miami, who snapped a nine-game road playoff losing streak.

Their last victory away from home in the post-season was a 77-76 overtime victory against the New York Knicks on May 12, 2000, at Madison Square Garden during the Eastern Conference semifinals.

They have never swept a best-of-seven series and have just one series sweep in franchise history to their credit.

Jason Kidd had 16 points, 16 rebounds and 13 assists, while Vince Carter contributed 36 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds for New Jersey, who have now lost eight in a row to the Heat.

In Indianapolis, Reggie Miller poured in 33 points and Jermaine O'Neal nailed 21 and 11 rebounds, sparking the Indiana Pacers to a 99-76 win over the Boston Celtics and a 2-1 lead in their Eastern Conference quarter-final.

And in Houston, Dirk Nowitzki scored 28 points and Michael Finley added 20 as the Dallas Mavericks stopped the Houston Rockets 106-102 to get their first win of their Western Conference quarter-final.

With the Rockets winning games one and two in Dallas, the home team are yet to register a victory in the best-of-seven series, which the Mavericks will look to level at 2-2 with another triumph in Houston tomorrow.

Jerry Stackhouse contributed 18 points to the Dallas cause while Jason Terry had 13.

Tracey McGrady had another big night for the Rockets, hitting for 28 points, nine rebounds and six assists, and Bob Sura had 21 points and 11 rebounds.

TOUR MATCH

The New Zealand Breakers have started their China tour with a 99-78 victory over the Jiangsu Dragons, the runners-up in the Chinese National League.

The Dragons were without their US import players and several other members of their squad, who were with the Chinese national team.

Breakers assistant coach Wayne Brown said: "With only one practice session under their belt, the boys played well.

"Aaron Olson and Lindsay Tait had solid games.

"Lindsay got to the hoop and Aaron shot the ball very well.

"Jiangsu are not the tallest of teams, so Blake Truslove, Clifton Bush and Chris King were able to control the boards and get our running game going," Brown said.

The Breakers are using the tour to asses several players, including US imports, point guard Robbie Reid and King, plus Canada-based New Zealander Brent Charleton.

The Breakers were to play the Melbourne Tigers overnight.

Melbourne defeated Chinese champions Liaoning in their first game of the tour.

* * *


CRICKET

PAKISTAN

Allrounder Shoaib Malik could face disciplinary action after admitting he threw a match in the country's inaugural Twenty 20 competition.

Malik said his team, Sialkot Stallions, did not chase a modest victory target against Karachi in Lahore yesterday because they wanted to knock rivals Lahore Eaglets out of the competition.

"We have taken serious notice of this incident and after going through the reports of the match officials we will decide if the matter is to be referred to the disciplinary committee," Pakistan Cricket Board director Saleem Altaf said.

Malik has since apologised, saying he had reacted after feeling his team had got a raw deal in an earlier defeat against Lahore.

The 23-year, who has played eight tests and 99 one-day internationals and who was one of Pakistan's successes in the one-day series win in India earlier this month, accepted he had acted immaturely as a captain and player.

"He has apologised and has been fined by the match referee, but we still feel he acted inappropriately for a Pakistan player," Altaf added.

"The chairman of the board is not happy and we feel Malik has sent out a wrong message and damaged the tournament. "

If the matter is referred to the disciplinary committee, Malik's selection for next month's tour of the West Indies could be in jeopardy.

The country's inaugural Twenty 20 carnival, contested by 11 regional teams, has attracted crowds of up to 12,000 and is seen by the board as a long-overdue boost for the domestic game.

The Karachi, Lahore and Sialkot teams were tied for a place in the next round from one group.

Lahore would have qualified if Sialkot had beaten Karachi, which seemed certain with just 20 runs needed in under four overs with seven wickets left.

The Sialkot batsmen, however, including Malik, slowed down, allowing Karachi to win by four runs.

ENGLISH COUNTY

Second day of four.-

Division one, at Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan 250 (M. Wallace 96, D. Hemp 60; M. Akram 4-67) Surrey 162-4 (M. Ramprakash 72no).

At Bristol: Kent 339-6 (R. Key 164, M. Walker 109) v Gloucestershire.

At Trent Bridge: Sussex 379 (R. Martin-Jenkins 66no, M. Prior 65, M. Yardy 54) Nottinghamshire 32-0.

At Edgbaston: Middlesex 298 (E. Joyce 92, S. Styris 53) Warwickshire 277-6 (I. Bell 143no).

Division two, at Derby: Northamptonshire 451-7 dec (M. Love 168, B. Shafayat 161; G. Welch 4-91) Derbyshire 135-4.

At Taunton: Somerset 190 Essex 224-3 (A. Cook 111, R. Bopara 71no).

At New Road: Lancashire 196 (W. Hegg 69no) and 47-1 Worcestershire 306 (G. Hick 176; M. Muralitharan 5-69).

* * *


GOLF

ZURICH CLASSIC

Chris DiMarco fired a flawless seven-under 65 to share the first-round lead with India's Arjun Atwal in New Orleans yesterday.

Back in action for the first time since his heartbreaking playoff loss to Tiger Woods at the Masters in Augusta a fortnight ago, a determined DiMarco was quickly back in top form, carding five birdies and an eagle.

Atwal was nearly as tidy, mixing eight birdies with a single bogey to join DiMarco at the top of the leaderboard, two strokes clear of Americans Tom Pernice Jnr and J.J. Henry, South Africa's Tim Clark and defending champion Vijay Singh, of Fiji, all on 67.

Leading scores.-

65: C. DiMarco (US), A. Atwal (India).

67: J. J. Henry (US), T. Pernice Jnr (US), V. Singh (Fiji), T. Clark (South Africa).

68: R. Imada (Japan), D. Stiles (US), P. Harrington (Ireland), J. Driscoll (US), N. Watney (US), S. O'Hair (US), J. Snyder III (US). 69: C. Bowden (US), B. Quigley (US), H. Tanaka (Japan), S. Allan (Australia), H. Kuehne (US), L. Glover (US).

70: J. Brehaut (US), G. Hnatiuk (Canada), J. Kaye (US), J. Sindelar (US), F. Lickliter II (US), J. Kelly (US), D. Wilson (US), C. Anderson (US), M. Dawson (US), R. S. Johnson (Sweden), D. Paulson (US), P. Azinger (US), S. Hend (Australia), C. Wi (South Korea) 70, P. Price (Britain) 70, H. Tanihara (Japan).

Also

74: M. Long (NZ).

76: C. Perks (NZ).

NORTH SHORE

Women's A pennants: Pupuke 10 Helensville/RNZAF 8, South Head 11 Whangaparaoa 7, Waitemata 9 Peninsula 9, Warkworth 13 Huapai 5, North Shore bye.

Standings: North Shore 61, Peninsula 54, Whangaparaoa 51, Waitemata 50, Pupuke 47, Warkworth 46, Huapai 46, South Head 39, Helensville/RNZAF 38.

* * *


EQUESTRIAN

ONE-DAY CHAMPIONSHIPS

This weekend's national event has drawn a record number of entries.

With sights set on the 2008 Beijing Olympics, more than 140 riders and horses have entered the championship at Tauherenikau racecourse near Featherston, and the line-up includes two of last year's Athens Olympians.

Taranaki's Matthew Grayling has opted to rest his Games mount Revo, but is in scintillating form with a new ride, Gordon, on which he won this month's World Cup qualifying round in Waikato.

That success means Grayling will be gunning for five straight wins when he and Gordon line up in the advanced, or three-star, division.

He also has a second contender in this class, the veteran Klinsmann.

The Tauherenikau competition and next month's national three-day event in Taupo are regarded as key stepping stones to this year's major challenge, a transtasman clash against Australia in Adelaide.

New Zealand's highest placed eventer from Athens, Heelan Tompkins, is also competing at Tauherenikau, but does not have a horse in contention in the three-star division.

Other big names include Andrew Scott (Feilding) and Bay of Plenty's Barbara Wallis.

* * *

LEAGUE

BARTERCARD CUP

Wellington are wary of the Glenora Bears' bite heading into today's clash, despite having the measure of the Auckland side on paper.

Wellington coach Paul Bergman said he expected the Bears, on the bottom of the competition standings without a win, to put on some quality football and was not expecting an easy Waitakere Stadium match-up.

"It's still early days in the competition and teams take a couple of games to mould and get combinations right," he said.

Bergman has worked his squad's defence hard after lapses cost the side in last Sunday's 32-10 loss to North Harbour Tigers.

"We worked aggressively to fix the problem and we've got it sorted out."

Wellington see the return of prop Fred Laumua, who missed last week's game because of family commitments, while Josh Davies remains on the sidelines with an ankle injury.

Bears coach Geoff Morton said he had watched a video of Wellington's 34-32 round-one win against Hibiscus Coast Raiders and expected some tough, straight-up-the-middle football today.

"They are a big side and like to roll down the middle, and have the personnel to do it," Morton said of Wellington.

"We're expecting them to come hard and fast at us."

However, Morton said his main concern was to get his side back on track after being handed a 62-10 thrashing by the Raiders last week.

The squad's main aim was to get back into a "competitive state" against Wellington.

The Bears have yet to register a win in the competition, having been beaten 26-20 by Marist first up.

Other matches: Counties Manukau Jetz v Hibiscus Coast Raiders, Marist Richmond Brothers v North Harbour Tigers, Waicoa Bay Stallions v Eastern Tornadoes, Otahuhu Ellerslie v Mt Albert Lions, Central Falcons v Canterbury Bulls.

* * *


MOTOR SPORT

FORMULA ONE

Red Bull's David Coulthard has revealed that he grabbed Formula One rival Felipe Massa by the throat after they clashed on the track at last weekend's San Marino Grand Prix.

"I was absolutely furious and saw red," the Scot told the Daily Mirror newspaper yesterday, explaining how he stepped in front of the Brazilian's car as Massa was leaving the Imola paddock on Sunday night.

"I leaned in and grabbed him by the neck," he said. "I have respect for other drivers and I expect them to have respect for me. Then I looked up and saw his parents were in the back and that cooled things down pretty quickly.

"I didn't want to embarrass him in front of them. But he continued ranting that I had used unsporting behaviour.

"Massa accused me of driving his car off the road at 200mp/h (322km/h) and I have never done that in my life. But I am not in this business to give way to anyone."

The Sauber driver hit the back of Coulthard's car during the race and angrily raised a finger at him when he finally overtook.

"I once showed Michael Schumacher the finger when I was angry, but I apologised afterwards," Coulthard said.

"Massa had the chance to do that after the race, but he didn't."

Massa finished in 12th place, just ahead of Coulthard.

INDY RACING LEAGUE

New Zealander Scott Dixon will line up on the ninth row for today's fourth round of the series at the Motegi circuit in Japan.

Dixon, who is testing a new Dallara chassis for his Team Target Ganassi, qualified 17th (average speed 322.01km/h) and said that after using a Panoz chassis since 2003, a little patience was required.

"The Dallara is definitely different in lots of respects . . . sitting position, fueling, steering, it's a real change.

"I've been in a Panoz since coming to the IRL, so it's quite an adjustment, and we're really just feeling it out.

"That's a lot of years of effort to get where we are today with the Panoz and you can't combine all those efforts into success with the Dallara in just one weekend."

Dixon said he had some understeer in a couple of corners during yesterday's qualifying run where it was hard to keep the car down, but the team had gathered a lot of information and should have a good run on race day.

Dixon's team-mates, using the Panoz chassis, qualified higher, Briton Darren Manning was 12th and Australian Ryan Briscoe 13th.

The top qualifier was Marlboro Toyota's Sam Hornish Jnr, who averaged 329.49km/h (26.72s) on his fastest lap.

* * *


SNOOKER

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Former champion Peter Ebdon seized the early initiative in his semifinal yesterday by taking a 6-2 lead over fellow Englishman Shaun Murphy.

Ian McCulloch, bidding to become the first qualifier to reach the final since Terry Griffiths in 1979, also took a 6-2 advantage against 2000 finalist Matthew Stevens.

Ebdon, world champion in 2002, compiled breaks of 78 and 70 on his way to winning three of the opening four frames.

Murphy reduced the arrears with a 77 break, but the young qualifier struggled to find the form which saw him beat John Higgins and Steve Davis earlier in the tournament.

Ebdon, who produced a great comeback to knock out titleholder Ronnie O'Sullivan in the quarter-finals, continued to hold the upper hand and finished the afternoon with breaks of 69 and 93 to establish a four-frame lead.

McCulloch won a scrappy opening frame against Welshman Stevens and the Englishman also claimed the next three, including a clearance of 127.

Stevens opened his account in the fifth frame, but a break of 122 restored McCulloch's four-frame advantage.

Stevens won the penultimate frame of the session, then McCulloch ended the session with a break of 83 to lead by four frames overnight.

Semifinals (best of 33 frames, prefix denotes seeding).-

8-P. Ebdon (England) leads S. Murphy (England) 6-2 (78-10 22-93 101-9 77-22 0-77 76-20 79-8, 99-40.

I. McCulloch (England) leads M. Stevens (Wales) 6-2 (72-38 66-39 61-23 127-4 (break 127) 43-53 122-6 (122) 4-71 83-0).

* * *


SOCCER

UEFA CUP

Chile striker Mauricio Pinilla boosted Sporting Lisbon's hopes of playing in the final in their own Alvalade Stadium with a scorching winner in their semifinal first-leg match against AZ Alkmaar yesterday.

The substitute unleashed a dipping shot from 30m that blazed past Henk Timmer 10 minutes from time to hand the Portuguese side a 2-1 win to take to the Netherlands next week.

The other game between twice winners Parma and CSKA Moscow ended in a tepid goalless draw at the Tardini Stadium.

Serie A strugglers Parma, as in previous rounds, fielded a virtual reserve side, but CSKA were unable to take advantage in front of just over 7000 fans.

Sporting, who have not won a European trophy since lifting the Cup Winners' Cup in 1964, needed a moment of sublime inspiration from Pinilla to forge ahead of a resilient AZ.

"We would have liked not to have conceded a goal, but that happened in a difficult game," Sporting coach Jose Peseiro said.

"We did not play well, but Pinilla's goal has given us a major boost and we are confident for the second leg."

Injury-hit AZ, beaten finalists in 1981, soaked up long periods of pressure but were always dangerous on the counter-attack. Having never lost a European tie at their tiny Alkmaarderhout Stadium, AZ are still very much in the tie.

AZ, who lined up with Robin Nelisse as a lone striker and packed the midfield, went ahead against the run of play after 36 minutes with their first chance, a right-wing cross from Kew Jaliens falling for Denny Landzaat to sweep a low first-time shot past Ricardo.

The lead lasted barely a minute, however, as Cameroonian Rodolph Douala took advantage of a lucky ricochet to lash home a fierce low shot past Timmer.

Parma coach Pietro Carmignani has made no secret that his side's priority is maintaining their Serie A place and he again rested key players against CSKA.

Italy striker Alberto Gilardino and midfielder Domenico Morfeo were not even on the bench as Carmignani fielded four youth-team players.

"We've kept the tie open and now they have to beat us because we will go through with a [scoring] draw," Carmignani added.

Chances were few and far between in a match riddled with errors and with neither side showing much ambition.

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho can expect no favours from Bolton counterpart Sam Allardyce tomorrow when Chelsea try to clinch their first league title for 50 years.

Allardyce has blended a bunch of ageing pros with keen youngsters to make an uncompromising outfit at Bolton, who have a habit of making life unpleasant for the Premiership aristocrats.

Nobody can describe a Premier League side these days as working class, but Allardyce's side has a distinctly old-fashioned look about it.

They defend vigorously and take a route to goal where Greek striker Stelios Giannakopoulos is usually hanging around waiting for Senegal's El-Hadji Diouf to drop the ball on his head.

Chelsea have failed to score in two of their last three games, in the league against Arsenal and in Thursday's tense stalemate with Liverpool in the Champions League semifinals.

And Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes Chelsea may have to wait until they play Charlton at home on May 8 before they succeed the Gunners.

"Bolton are a difficult side to play and they can beat anyone on their day," he said.

Chelsea dropped a two-goal lead when they played Bolton in November, finishing all-square.

Damien Duff missed the Liverpool clash with a hamstring injury and Mourinho might be reluctant to bring the Ireland winger back tomorrow with the second-leg tie at Anfield on Wednesday.

Liverpool, still looking for an automatic qualifying place for next season's Champions League, play seventh-placed Middlesbrough tomorrow when they will have cup-tied Spain striker Fernando Morientes back to lead the attack.

The Liverpool management, though, are looking for a marked improvement in their form.

"Someone who works at the club told me how fantastic it is that we have reached the semifinals of Champions League, the final of the League Cup, and are fifth in the league," assistant manager Pako Ayesteran said.

"I told him I don't think it is fantastic, not for Liverpool. I'm not happy, Rafa [Benitez the manager] is not happy. We think the season has been poor."

Everton, determined to keep Liverpool out of Europe, welcome back Australia international Tim Cahill after a virus for their match at Fulham.

With Chelsea all but crowned, most of the weekend action revolves around the bottom four - Crystal Palace, West Brom, Norwich and Southampton - who are separated by only two points.

Southampton face Norwich in a match both clubs must win, but with fans wondering whether the Saints have the spine to lift themselves after last week's 4-1 thrashing at Portsmouth.

Norwich are waiting to see if winger Darren Huckerby overcomes an ankle injury, with Sweden's Matias Jonson standing by.

Norwich have harvested 10 points from their last three games and for the first time this year are beginning to believe they can avoid the drop.

Crystal Palace are at Newcastle and on Tuesday, West Brom take on Arsenal.

Bryan Robson's Baggies face a tough finish, with matches against Manchester United and Portsmouth to follow.

* * *


TENNIS

ESTORIL OPEN

(Portugal)

Top seed Carlos Moya outlasted Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4 in an all-Spaniard second-round match yesterday.

Moya will play Paul-Henri Mathieu in today's quarter-finals after the Frenchman thrashed Tomas Cakl, of the Czech Republic, 6-1, 6-1.

Also through to the quarter-finals is fourth seed Tommy Robredo, of Spain, who defeated countryman Santiago Ventura 7-5, 6-0.

The Moya-Ferrero contest was the match everyone was looking forward to from the moment the draw was made, and it lived up to its billing.

The two former world No 1s and French Open champions traded blows and counter-punches for two hours and 48 minutes.

"All the matches we have played against each other have been very tough fights," said Moya, who still trails Ferrero 7-4 in head-to-heads and 4-2 on clay.

Moya won the first set thanks to a lucky net-cord and had three match points in the second set before Ferrero battled back to force a decider.

Ferrero rued missed chances in the opening two sets where three times he broke Moya's serve, only to be broken back.

"The key for me was not doing anything with my chances in the first and second sets because I had a break in the first but lost, and had two breaks in the second but didn't win it until the tiebreak."

In the women's draw, second seed Dinara Safina stormed into the quarter-finals by beating Katerina Bondarenko 6-2, 6-2.

Mariana Diaz-Oliva downed Olga Savchuk 6-2, 6-3, American Jill Craybas overcame Ludmila Cervanova 6-4, 6-1 and Lucie Safarova defeated Michaella Krajicek 3-6, 7-6, 7-5 to complete today's quarter-final line-up.

WOMEN'S WARSAW CUP

Third seed Vera Zvonareva was toppled by young Serb Ana Ivanovic and Justine Henin-Hardenne struggled to overcome Venezuela's Maria Vento-Kabchi for a place in the quarter-finals yesterday.

Ivanovic claimed one of the best victories of her career when she overcame the Russian 6-2, 6-4.

The 17-year-old leaped up the rankings after beating US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in Miami last month.

Zvonareva, the world No 10, failed to find any consistency against her opponent, who played aggressively and always looked the more confident.

"I just tried to play my game, to attack her, and I think I did that pretty well," Ivanovic said.

"It's taken a lot of work. I've practised very hard the last few months, and I'm pretty happy to see the results so fast.

"Now I'm going to practise even harder to continue to improve my game."

Ivanovic will next play sixth seed Nathalie Dechy, of France, who overcame a strong challenge from Poland's Marta Domachowska to win 6-4, 7-6.

Unseeded Henin-Hardenne, of Belgium, was relieved to get past Vento-Kabchi 6-3, 7-5 after seven games in the second set went against serve.

Having held a point to lead 3-1 in the second set, she found herself down 2-4.

The former world No 1 scrambled back to level at 4-4 and a backhand error gave her another break for 6-5. Even then, Henin-Hardenne had to fight off three break points as she served out for the match.

"It was very slow and was raining just a little bit, and it's not easy to play in these conditions. I'm happy I won in two sets," Henin-Hardenne said

Rain interrupted the remaining second-round match, with fourth seed Patty Schnyder, of Switzerland, leading Ukraine's Julia Valulenko 5-2.

When play resumed, Schnyder took the first set and recovered an early break in the second to win 6-2 6-4.

MUNICH OPEN

Second round: W. Arthurs (Australia) bt 6-I. Andreev (Russia) 6-4 6-7 7-6, 4-T. Haas (Germany) bt Hyung-Taik Lee (South Korea) 6-3 6-4, 5-A. Pavel (Romania) bt S. Schalken (Netherlands) 6-1 1-6 6-1, R. Sluiter (Netherlands) bt 2-N. Davydenko (Russia) 6-1 1-6 6-3, D. Nalbandian (Argentina) bt P. Luczak (Australia) 6-2 6-2, J. Nieminen (Finland) bt 3-M. Ancic (Croatia) 7-6 6-4, M. Mertinak (Slovakia) bt R. Mello (Brazil) 6-3 6-0.