• India win by 113 runs with a session to spare
• Mishra takes four wickets to end Mushfiqur resistance

India wrapped up a 113-run victory over Bangladesh on the final day of the first Test in Chittagong after a strong display in the field. Ishant Sharma gave India early breakthroughs in the morning, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan chipped in with vital wickets and Amit Mishra completed a four-wicket haul as India cantered to victory with a session to spare.

Mushfiqur Rahim had offered some resistance with a stroke-filled 101 after the opener Tamim Iqbal bolstered the innings with a knock of 52, but the home side – 67 for two at the start of play – were bowled out for 301 after adopting an ill-advised aggressive approach.

Zaheer opened proceedings for India and the overnight batsman Mohammad Ashraful slashed the left-arm seamer for off-side boundaries in consecutive overs. But that attacking intent was nipped in the bud when the former Bangladesh captain attempted to drive Ishant on the up, only for an edge to be neatly snapped up by Rahul Dravid at second slip.

Victory for India then seemed a foregone conclusion when Raqibul Hasan, who suffered a painful rap on the elbow, was trapped in front by Ishant with a delivery that nipped in.

Tamim helped Bangladesh recover somewhat from those early blows, the opener hammering a wayward Shanthakumaran Sreesanth for two boundaries in one over and reaching his third Test half-century with a reverse sweep of Mishra. But Sehwag brought himself on just before the lunch interval and struck in his second over, luring Tamim into a wild slash and inducing the edge, Dravid completing the dismissal with another sharp catch at slip.

Shakib Al Hasan was Mishra’s first victim of the day, the Bangladesh captain deceived by the googly, and Mahmudullah went shortly after, losing an entertaining – and at times verbal – battle with Zaheer.

Shahadat Hossain and Mushfiqur held up the end with a 60-run stand for the eighth wicket, but Mishra ended that stand, boring through Shahadat’s defensives and bowling him through the gate.

He should have had another wicket soon after, but Yuvraj dropped a simple catch from Shafiul Islam, extending the tailender’s stay for just one more over before Mishra held a low return catch from Shafiul in the next over to send back the batsman. The home side had slipped to 258 for nine by then and the session was extended and the tea interval delayed.

With an attacking field in place, runs were there for the taking and Mushfiqur cashed in, reaching his maiden century with a straight-driven boundary off Mishra, his 17th of the innings. He had already smashed a six by then and had reached the milestone off only 112 deliveries, the fastest century by a Bangladesh batsman.

Mishra, however, brought up victory by prising out Mushfiqur, the wicketkeeper-batsman lofting the bowler over the top, but only finding the fielder at long-off. Mishra finished the pick of the bowlers with four for 92 from 22.2 overs.

The Indian batsman VVS Laxman has been ruled out of next week’s second Test through injury and will return home, a team official said after the game. Laxman damaged his left hand attempting a catch on the fourth day, requiring 10 stitches to patch up the injury.

“He will go back to home and no replacement will be called up,” said the team’s manager Arshad Ayub.

India were without regular captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and off spinner Harbhajan Singh for the first Test, but Ayub said the pair were recovering well and were likely to play in the second Test, beginning in Dhaka on 24 January.

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• FA concerned by tension between City and United
• Gary Neville expected to face no sanction of gesture

The Football Association will speak to both Manchester clubs to try to avoid any flashpoints during next week’s Carling Cup semi-final decider at Old Trafford.

It is also expected the FA will officially confirm Gary Neville will face no sanction over his one-fingered gesture to Carlos Tevez during Tuesday’s first-leg, when City won 2-1.

Although there are photographs showing Neville’s reaction, as Tevez is not in the frame and the incident was not captured on TV, it is hard for the FA to prove what happened and the incident itself was regarded as minor.

Nevertheless, the FA acknowledge the simmering tension between the two sides could lead to an escalation of the problem next week, when the red and blue halves of Manchester face each other once more to decide who will face Aston Villa at Wembley on 28 February.

Tevez, though, has said he will not tone his celebrations should he score again and has accused Neville of being disrespectful.

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• Course not safe for horses, say officials
• Melting snow and rain to blame

Tomorrow’s race meeting at Chepstow has been abandoned because the course is waterlogged. Melting snow after the recent cold snap and further snow and rain yesterday morning has been blamed.

“We’re waterlogged and it’s not going to recover in time for tomorrow regardless of any further rain fall,” said Keith Ottesen, the clerk of the course.

“It’s a massive shame. We had 12mm of rain yesterday and the course hasn’t recovered even for another call tomorrow.”

The course had been buried under 30cm of snow and, after further rain, officials decided it was not safe for racing to go ahead.

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Today’s rumours have a minty freshness

The Mill awoke this morning feeling strangely calm, but with a lurking feeling of having forgotten something important, of having pushed back in fevered dreams some sense of being crowded, and jostled and generally goosed and stroked by a pair of eager, peppermint breath-scented, disturbingly frisky well preserved middle-aged men who really just want to have a chat and are quite happy to wait here all day waving and grinning and forcing the door open inch by inch. And so with a stab of claustrophobic recognition, it turns out they’re still here.

In this morning’s Sun West Ham owners David Gold and Sullivan have decided they WLTM disaffected, sulking, quite tall strikers who want to learn to live again. Benni McCarthy who “has made no secret of his desire to leave Ewood Park”, Manchester City oddity Benjani and James Beattie “who is keen to leave Stoke” have all left hopeful messages on Gollivan’s Soulmates voicemail looking for fun, strained photo opportunities, a painful struggle against both relegation and insolvency and maybe more. Must like beards, men who stare and being pawed.

According to AS, via Goal.com, Gollivan have also been dribbling over Ruud Van Nistelrooy‘s neck and tenderly caressing the soft downy hair on the lobes of his ears as he “gears towards an exit from the Bernabéu”. And in The Daily Mail Gianfranco Zola had “a two-hour meeting” with West Ham’s joint sub-Dragon’s Den spiv-head and left (a) feeling like he needed to wash his hands; and (b) having been “promised two new strikers this month”. Shambling Icelandic gadabout Eidur Gudjohnsen could be one of them.

Scott Parker and Matthew Upson won’t be sold say the men the Mail are calling “The Two Davids”, which makes them sound like a US sitcom with an overly enthusiastic laughter soundtrack endlessly repeated on Paramount Comedy3, perhaps starring Charlie Sheen and Matthew Broderick as chalk and cheese roommates both called David but with hilariously opposed, very mild lifestyle differences.

Valon Behrami might still go to Man City. Daniel Cousin could be off to QPR or Fulham because he doesn’t like Phil Brown. “The gaffer and I don’t have a good relationship. It’s difficult to stay. I want to leave,” he says. Steve Bruce is eyeing a £1.75m swoop for Matthew Kilkgallon through his eye glass. Everton are also interested.

And slaloming, whinnying Liverpool utility substitute Ryan Babel is “ready to perform a U-turn” and go to Birmingham for £9m. “We’re actually studying an offer,” said his agent, listening to his iPod, going to sleep for a bit, shuffling books about, nipping out for a coffee, periodically sneaking a lingering glance at the gaggle of well-groomed 22-year-old Euro-babe overseas students who somehow live in Mayfair and never seem to do much but gossip and wear very expensive clothes, and occasionally frowning for a minute or two at a piece of paper with “Birmingham: £9m” written on it.

In the Daily Mail Man City are interested in “fallen” ex-Chelsea striker Adrian Mutu, a Mail house-style formulation that makes Mutu sound like a servant girl who’s got himself into trouble and will have to go away for a bit. Rather than a man who suffered addiction problems six years ago, briefly had blood-sucking vampire sex with a porn star, and has since renounced drugs and remained a high class professional athlete. “Mancini strongly wants him at Manchester City,” said his agent. City are also after Rubin Kazan defender Cristian Ansaldi.

José Mourinho wants CSKA Moscow winger Milos Krasic at Inter. Man Utd and Man City are also interested. So are Chelsea, Liverpool and Milan. “Roberto Mancini is thinking of him,” his agent said yesterday, rubbing his temples with the tips of his fingers and frowning really hard.

In The Mirror Liverpool are employing a “tax dodge” to complete the £12m singing of Sunderland weightlifter Kenwyne Jones. Nice, well-groomed, articulate Roberto Martinez is “ready to make a £4million swoop” for Mallorca striker Aritz Aduriz. Birmingham will have to pay £11m if they want highly watchable Celtic meanderer Aiden McGeady. And Roy Hodgson is hammering at the door with Drambuie on his breath waggling a bunch of petrol station flowers and wanting to give James Beattie “a fresh start”.

In The Times David Moyes wants forgotten Swiss Philippe Senderos on loan. Arsenal are interested in Fulham reserve Chris Smalling. Steve Bruce has “confirmed his interest” in Hamburg defender Guy Demel, who sounds posh. Manchester United have invited 20-year-old Sogndal defender Even Hovland for a trial. Legia Warsaw goalie Jan Mucha will join Everton in the summer and West Brom are “monitoring” David Healy using a machine that goes “beep” and some tubes with round sticky things on the end.

And according to Goal.com Fulham have now missed out on Roma striker Stefano Okaka, who will instead be going to Siena. Okaka is “itching to see more playing time”. Maybe he could get some cream, or a spray that doesn’t work.

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• Sixth-seeded American enjoys 6-2, 7-5 victory
• Caroline Wozniacki also a comfortable winner

Venus Williams romped through to the third round of the Australian Open with a comfortable 6-2, 7-5 victory over Austria’s Sybille Bammer.

The sixth-seeded American raced through the first set in just 39 minutes but encountered stiffer resistance from the left-handed Bammer in the second.

Bammer forged a 2-0 lead but the seven-times grand slam winner raised her game to draw level and then moved 5-3 ahead with an opportunity to serve for the match.

Williams, however, suffered another slight lapse in concentration that allowed Bammer to break back and then level before the American was able to hold serve and claim victory when the Austrian blasted a forehand long.

The defending champion Serena Williams also had little trouble in getting through her second-round match, beating Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-1.

Williams, who beat Dinara Safina in last year’s final, clinched the match on her second match point in just over an hour. The 28-year-old American wore a thick white bandage around her upper right thigh. She injured her left knee last week at the Sydney International, where she lost the final to the Olympic champion Elena Dementieva, and said she has been bothered by a foot problem.

Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki eased into the third round with a comfortable 6-3, 6-1 win over Germany’s Julia Goerges.

Wozniacki had no problems seeing off her lower-ranked opponent to set up a third-round meeting with Shahar Peer after the Israeli defeated Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova 6-1, 6-4.

Wozniacki is ranked fourth in the world after reaching the final of last year’s US Open but has still managed to keep a relatively low profile at Melbourne Park to slip quietly through the draw.

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• Surprise victory in searing heat for Portuguese rider
• André Greipel in overall lead with Greg Anderson second

Manuel Cardoso gained a surprise win in the third stage of the 2010 Tour Down Under today. The Footon Servetto-Fuji rider battled through searing temperatures to win the 132.5km stage from Unley to Stirling, coming out on top of a bunch sprint uphill.

Alejandro Valverde and Cadel Evans lost out in the sprint, while Cardoso’s lacklustre showing in the opening two stages mean his win will have little impact on the overall standings.

The Portuguese national champion admitted as much. “I don’t think I have a chance to win overall despite my win here,” he said. “I have had a lot of hard days over the first couple of days of this race and I am probably too far behind.

“But it was really important for me, it is my first pro race, first pro team, first pro tour victory for me and the team, so it is a very important win.”

André Greipel of HTC-Columbia still holds the leader’s jersey going into tomorrow’s Norwood to Goolwa fourth stage.

Team Sky’s Greg Anderson remains second overall alongside Valverde and Gert Steegmans.

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The Russian they are all afraid of reveals his thoughts on money, family planning and vodka

After only four days of this Australian Open, Nikolay Davydenko has opened up a clear lead in the Scariest Tennis Player In the World Stakes. On today’s showing, it will take some serious nut-head to overtake him.

Nick, who says even Roger Federer is scared of him, didn’t think Illya Marchenko looked “scared” in winning only six games against him; he was too rubbish to be “scared”, because he is ranked only “something 150” in the world (119, actually).

“I can win against these guys,” he said, “and not to get 100% fit form, you know, say like not to be in the best level.”

OK…

Asked why he talked about money in nearly every interview, he said: “Russian always talking about money. And you know all Russian can get only cash, not like you guys, only credit cards also.”

Did he drink vodka? “Yes… No, I don’t drink really. I don’t drink so much because, you see, I’m skinny. I mix only. Sometimes I drink clear vodka, sometimes mixed with Red Bull. Little bit get power in nightclub or disco. Because if I drink only vodka I go sleep straight. That’s what’s something change.”

Right…

He said he’d like to have children, but not until his wife says it’s OK. “My wife don’t want to, you know, stay at home. She travel with me now. At least now is important time. Now I’m top 10. She scared about if I start to, with kids, lose tennis and go down, stray. That’s was because I start to miss and I want to go home. I don’t want to practising. That’s what’s is different. Maybe for me is better for me be with my wife at this time, no kids. If I be out of top 10, maybe for sure. You know, for sure. But yet is difficult decision to be top 10 and something change.”

The Scariest Man In Tennis clearly listens closely to his wife.

“She think always I can win everything. But not everything I can win. She analyse because she’s travel with me already six years. Because, in sitting with my brother, and brother always talking about what I did, right, left, everything, forehand. She can coaching me already. She can explain what I did wrong in the match after the match. It’s interesting, because I cannot see really what is a problem was in the match for sure, and she can explain.”

And, with that, he retired to contemplate who might next crumble in the presence of his aura.

The player who comes closest to Davydenko in “scariness” is Andy Roddick, who totally lost it this week over his pet hate, Hawk-Eye. Roddick, personable and, er, different, but prone to lunatic pronouncements, turned a minor and boring row over a line call he sort of agreed with but didn’t really, before admitting he was kind of wrong in the first place, into a tour de force of convolution.

It inspired the estimable Age sporting columnist Patrick Smith to describe him as “confused” and observed: “Not only is Roddick rude, he is quirky to the point of quaintly mad.”

Do not get caught in a lift with this man. Unless you have Davydenko to translate for you.

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• Serb loses to the unseeded Gisela Dulko
• ‘When I get on a court I put so much pressure on myself’

Two years ago, Ana Ivanovic’s squeaky shoes carried her all the way to a women’s final against Maria Sharapova at the Australia Open.

Less than six months later, they had propelled her to her first grand slam title at Roland Garros, the No1 ranking in the world and seemingly a golden road to a permanent spot in the world’s top five.

But the 22-year-old Serb’s form has melted away since, and she has tumbled out of the Australian Open at the second-round stage, losing 6-7, 7-5, 6-4 to the unseeded Gisela Dulko of Argentina. Dulko had never advanced beyond the second round at Melbourne Park in six previous attempts.

Ivanovic has won just one tournament since her breakthrough grand slam victory in Paris and has failed to make it past the fourth round at any of the slams. She admitted she felt her brain was getting in the way of her game and she was overthinking situations when she was playing well, instead of allowing her instincts to take over.

“I start well and I play good, and then, because I have no expectation, I just go out there to enjoy,” she said. “Then I think ‘I can play like this all the time’ and then I get tense and I start making mistakes because I want to play like that consistently. I just have to get rid of that a little bit and just try to play consistent all the time. It might not be at the highest level, but (have to)just build on it.

“I think when I actually let go of my emotions… that’s when I play my best.”

Against Dulko, Ivanovic appeared to have given the match away in the final set. An attempted drop shot at 0-15 in the sixth game hit the tape and her shoulders slumped.

Dulko broke to give her the chance to serve for the match, but the Serb managed to find the heart to fight back, reeling off the next three games that had local fans at the Margaret Court Arena on their feet cheering “Aussie Ana”.

The courageous display, however, ended in the next game when she gifted Dulko three match points, which the Argentinian squandered, before she made no mistake on the fourth opportunity with a forehand service return Ivanovic was unable to retrieve.

“I was really disappointed to fight back in the third set and then make a couple of double faults and basically hand her three match points, then having to fight back,” Ivanovic said. “But I feel I have the right things in place and I’m playing, like I said, striking the ball really well. That’s why it’s disappointing when I get on a court and I put so much pressure on myself that it’s not enjoyable anymore. It’s overwhelming.”

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• Former champion wins in four sets
• ‘I was very lucky to get two sets to one up’

Novak Djokovic overcame an early struggle against the Swiss player Marco Chiudinelli before advancing to the third round of the Australian Open.

The third-ranked Djokovic had nine double-faults and 52 unforced errors in his 3-6, 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 win over an Australian Open debutant.

“I was well aware of his quality, and he played extremely well, especially in the first set and the start of the second,” Djokovic said. “I was very lucky to get two sets to one up. This court is most special because I won my only grand slam here,” the 22-year-old Serb said of the Rod Laver Arena, where he beat Federer in the semi-finals en route to the 2008 title. “It has the nicest possible memories.”

Djokovic will next play Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin, who beat Michael Berrer of Germany 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.

Sixth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko, who rarely gets on to the centre court at this stage of a grand slam, had a 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 win over the Ukraine qualifier Illya Marchenko in the low-key manner which has typified an 11-match winning streak. The 28-year-old Russiandominated Marchenko on Show Court 2, which is No4 in the pecking order of courts at Melbourne Park, to extend a winning sequence that has included title runs at the World Tour Finals at the end of 2009 and Doha to start this year.

Local hope Lleyton Hewitt made light work of American youngster Donald Young with a 7-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory .

Young, a former junior champion in Melbourne, recovered from losing the first set tiebreak to surge 4-2 clear of Hewitt in the second. But the Australian then clicked into top gear and reeled off the next four games to take the second set before breezing through the third as his opponent struggled with unforced errors and wayward serving.

The 2006 finalist Marcos Baghdatis struggled in the later stages of his match with cramp but held on to beat Spain’s David Ferrer 4-6, 3-6, 7-6, 6-3, 6-1 and set up a third round contest with Hewitt.

Colombia’s Alejandro Falla had a 6-4, 6-1, 6-3 win over Marcel Granollers while Nicolas Almagro beat Germany’s Benjamin Becker 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3. The 18th seed Tommy Haas also beat the Serbian Janko Tipsarevic 4-6 6-4 6-3 1-6 6-3 in a close-fought match.

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• Birthday girl enjoys straight sets win with Sally Peters
• Also victories for Elena Baltacha and Sarah Borwell

Laura Robson celebrated her 16th birthday by winning her women’s doubles first-round match at the Australian Open. Robson teamed with Australia’s Sally Peers to beat the experienced American pair Jill Craybas and Abigail Spears 6-3, 7-5.

The match was played before a large and noisy crowd on Court Five with the locals clearly accepting the Melbourne-born Robson as one of their own. The fans chanted Robson’s name while one jokingly handed the rising star a certificate to change residence to Australia.

“They (the crowd) get into it. At Wimbledon they certainly don’t make chants up for every change of ends,” Robson said. “It was pretty interesting. I was handed a certificate to sign to be an Australian as well but they said if I wanted my birthday present I had to sign it, so I didn’t.”

It was a good morning for the British women in doubles action on Thursday with Elena Baltacha and Sarah Borwell also progressing to the second round in their respective matches. Baltacha followed her upset victory over 30th seed Kateryna Bondarenko in the singles yesterday by partnering Liga Dekmeijere to a 7-5 6-2 victory over Lucie Safarova and Aleksandra Wozniak. Borwell then completed a hat-trick of win alongside American Raquel Kops-Jones. The pair defeated Polona Hercog and Petra Martic 6-4 7-6 (7/3).

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