Lyon unruffled by Shield stats

Lyon ... is under pressure to perform for Australia after a tough patch in Shield. Source: AAP

For Australian spinner Nathan Lyon, there's lies, damned lies and his statistics this summer.

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The Test offie has managed just six wickets in three Sheffield Shield games at the unflattering average of 66.33.

It contrasts with his 42 wickets in 13 matches for Australia at 27.83 and, says Lyon, it's not a problem heading into a series against the world's No.1 team, South Africa.

"I've been quite happy with the way they've come out," he told reporters in Hobart, where South Australia will play a one-dayer against Tasmania on Tuesday.

"I've been creating chances and unfortunately they haven't been held.

"I'm really confident in my own skill set."

The 24-year-old was considered to be in a battle for a Test spot with Jon Holland until the Victorian's season was ended by a shoulder injury.

But Lyon took seven wickets in his last Test, in the West Indies in April, and Australia captain Michael Clarke said he had the ability to lift for the national team.

"We've been concerned about Nathan's form but he's performed very well for Australia and we're hoping that in the 10 or 11 days leading into the Test he really recaptures his old form and he's bowling at his best," Clarke said.

"But he's got a very good record for Australia. He's served us well overseas and in Australia."

Australia could play four pacemen at the seam-friendly Gabba but, like spin legend Shane Warne before him, Lyon says the Brisbane pitch will suit him.

He finished with match figures of 7-88 against New Zealand there last summer.

"I'm pretty confident I'll be part of the 11," he said.

"I love bowling there just because of the bounce you get there and early on day one it tends to spin a little bit with a bit of tackiness under the pitch.

"The bounce that you're able to generate there's fantastic."

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Australia coach Micky Arthur and captain Michael Clarke will appear on the season-opening episode of Inside Cricket – Monday November 5, 8:30pm (EDT) on Fox Sports 2HD.

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Jeronimo unpunished, Herbert fumes

Rage ... Ben Sigmund (L) reacts to Jeronimo's (2nd R) apparent dive which led to the Phoenix man's dismissal. Source: Sarah Reed / News Limited

Wellington coach Ricki Herbert has launched a two-pronged attack on the competency of A-League refereeing and players ruining the game by diving.

The Phoenix mentor was responding to the A-League match review committee's decision on Monday to uphold the red card given to defender Ben Sigmund for bringing down Adelaide United's Argentine midfielder Jeronimo Neumann in the box on Saturday.

TV replays showed plenty of space between the players in the 77th-minute incident, prompting speculation Jereonimo might face disciplinary action himself for diving.

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Wellington skipper Andrew Durante clearly thought so, labelling the South American a cheat in an interview after the game.

"Unfortunately the referee in our game with Adelaide did not deal with the situation competently and we are paying the penalty rather than the player who was guilty of simulation," Herbert said of the match review committee's decision.

He then opened old wounds by recalling referee Jarred Gillett's controversial decision to award a penalty to Brisbane Roar in the 94th minute of the 2012 A-League grand final against Perth Glory.

The Roar converted the spot kick to snatch the title when the Glory's Liam Miller was adjudged to have brought down Besart Berisha in the box.

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"This referee has been in the same situation in a Grand Final and did not deal with it competently there either," said Herbert who will have to do without Sigmund who will serve a mandatory one-match suspension against Melbourne Victory this weekend.

"It is very disappointing for both Ben and the club that he will miss the game against Melbourne Victory, and also wrong that the game is being ruined by players who dive and do not get punished for it."

Under the competition's rules on simulation introduced two seasons ago, any player found guilty of diving faces a standard two-match ban.

Durante still faces the prospect of breaching the A-League player code of conduct but he wasn't mentioned in the FFA statement on Monday night.

An angry Durante didn't hold back in comments made to a television interviewer on the field immediately after the match saying: "He has dived, he's a cheat."

He then qualified his comment by saying: "In my book, if he's dived he's a cheat."

Perth's Steve Pantelidis was also handed a mandatory one-match suspension on Monday after a more clear-cut incident in his side's 2-1 loss to Sydney FC.

The Glory defender was shown a red card for a blatant foul on Brett Emerton when he dragged the midfielder to the ground in the box in the 57th minute.

Pantelidis will miss this weekend's match against the Newcastle Jets.

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Marsh axed for form not discipline

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Shaun Marsh ... is under fire for poor behaviour in South Africa. Source: Stewart Allen / News Limited

Western Australia's cricketing bad boy Shaun Marsh has been dropped for the Warriors' Sheffield Shield game against Victoria but for no other reason than poor form.

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That's the official line coming from the WACA after its chief executive Christina Matthews denied a boozy night out in South Africa for Mitch Marsh's 21st birthday had contributed to the axing.

The Marsh brothers were hauled over the coals along with several teammates from the Perth Scorchers after they were out late drinking in the lead-up to their crucial last pool game in the Champions League Twenty20.

Shaun Marsh was left out of the side for that game - a heavy loss - and was not picked to take on Victoria this weekend after arriving back in Australia.

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Speculation had been rife that Marsh's Shield axing was also discipline related but speaking at a press conference in Perth, Matthews said that was purely a match committee decision.

"Shaun's ommission from the team today has been a match committee decision and there's been no official sanctions put on him as a result of anything that happened in South Africa," Matthews said.

Meanwhile, The Australian cricket journalist Peter Lalor says there is a culture problem in Western Australian cricket, with behavioural issues existing throughout the set-up.

Speaking exclusively to Fox Sports News, Lalor said Shaun Marsh will never play for Australia again, due mainly to where he's playing his cricket.

"There were six guys out that night (at Mitch Marsh's 21st in South Africa) and they all put in a pretty big effort," Lalor said.

"Shaun Marsh was one who struggled to get home but those two (the Marsh brothers) have been isolated and that's caused problems behind the scenes.

"... It's not just (the Marsh brothers) but these two boys do have a lot of priors in this area, especially Shaun and, you know, I don't think we'll be seeing Shaun in the national team again.

"Mitch has a chance cause he's young but I think everyone's got sick of where Shaun's at."

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Bid teams still keen despite snub

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Central Coast Bears ... are still keen to eventually be part of the NRL. Source: Dan Himbrechts / News Limited

Bid teams are vowing not to give up the fight to get a team into the NRL despite the ARL Commission effectively ruling out any expansion until at least 2017.

The ARLC on Monday handed down its strategic plan for the next five years, which included a new logo, a commitment to a $200 million investment into grassroots development and a goal of doubling club membership to 400,000 by 2017.

But those targets will have to be achieved without any new clubs, expansion taken off the agenda for the next two years - which in reality means no new teams for at least five years.

It's a blow for the seven organisations - including groups from Brisbane, Ipswich, Perth and the NSW Central Coast - that have already invested substantial money in battling for a berth.

But news of the extended time frame did not deter some.

"We've done a lot of homework and we're ready to go now. But if we have to wait until 2017, so be it," said Craig Davison, head of the Brisbane Bombers bid.

"Having a team in the NRL is a 100-year exercise so what's another few years when it comes to getting it right."

Chief executive of the newly united Central Queensland NRL bid group and Central Queensland Capras, Dennis Keeffe, said the expansion announcement had been flagged.

"It was expected," Keeffe said.

"Some projects take a long time to come out of the ground, this one is a bit longer than we would have liked.

"I still think there may be a twist and turn or two yet but if that's the case, we're happy do to that."

Disappointed Central Coast Bears bid chief Greg Florimo said while he would not let his dream die, he wasn't sure whether the would-be club's investors would be as keen.

"We'll have to assess whether we can fund another two or three years in the wilderness, sitting around not operating," Florimo said.

"That's going to be the biggest issue for us, whether the stakeholders want to sit around that long.

"We have to have to sit down with the members and the board to decide where we go from here. I feel we've put in too much hard work to this point just to let it drift away."

Florimo admitted that when he first started the push in 2009 he envisaged it becoming reality in 2013 to the point they even had t-shirts made up with the branding 'Here come the Bears in 2013'.

That target was based on the the new broadcast rights taking effect in 2013, but in truth it was the negotiation of those rights - during which Nine Network boss David Gyngell stated there was not an appetite for more games - that the chances of expansion nosedived.

ARLC chairman John Grant said it was vital that the league not only ensure the existing 16 clubs were on a strong financial footing first, but also that the game expanded for the right reasons.

"That's the purpose of doing a full review, which has not been done," Grant said.

"We have not undertaken as an administration a review of what does expansion mean for us, where should we expand, on what basis should we expand, what are the criteria for our footy clubs?

"There's a whole bunch of questions that remain unanswered."

First the ARLC wants to get its own house in order, as they take on greater control over clubs with payment to each franchise to be performance-based from 2014 onwards.

Clubs will find out on Wednesday just how much they will have to spend in 2013, but beyond that they will need to prove their growth as an entity to ensure their funding.

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Fan frenzy greets Woods and McIlroy

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One-on-one ... World No.1 Rory McIlroy (R) and world No.2 Tiger Woods have a laugh in China. Source:AFP

Rory McIlroy beat Tiger Woods by a single shot in their 18-hole "Duel at Jinsha Lake'' in China Monday in a high quality showdown before a frenzied audience that came to greet the world's top two.

Having flown in late on Sunday night after coming second and fourth that day respectively in the BMW Masters in Shanghai and the CIMB Classic in Malaysia, McIlroy and Woods had any tiredness quickly extinguished by a lavish opening ceremony.

They were greeted by drum majorettes, fireworks and speeches from local dignitaries before clanging a ceremonial Chinese gong and having their handprints and autographs immortalised in clay, Hollywood-style appropriately for McIlroy, who was brought up in Holywood, Belfast.

World number one McIlroy carded a five under par 67 on the 7,039-yard, par-72 layout at Jinsha Lake Golf Club, with world number two and 14 times major winner Woods registering a 68.

It was remarkable scoring given the chaotic crowds constantly taking photos, letting their phones ring and refusing to stand still or be quiet even as the players were swinging.

McIlroy grabbed an immediate birdie at the first hole, after struggling to keep a straight face in posing for photos staring Woods down boxing-style, and was never headed, thus gaining a modicum of revenge for his seven-stroke defeat when the pair last met in Turkey.

"I got off to a good start,'' McIlroy said. "And just tried to keep my nose in front.''

"We had a great match,'' Woods told reporters afterwards. "It was a lot of fun and a great exhibition. I think everyone enjoyed it.''

China is seen as the next great market for golf to conquer in its global expansion, and the fans clearly love it though are mostly oblivious to the etiquette of the game, demonstrated amply when they broke through the ropes and invaded the driving range as McIlroy and Woods warmed up.

"I wouldn't say it was crazy out there. The word I would use is 'enthusiastic','' said McIlroy. "It's good to see so many people out there. So many people that follow golf and want to watch us play. I hope that continues.''

The international golf media present were astounded at the never-before-seen antics on a golf course: leisure helicopters parked alongside putting greens; models in revealing evening gowns standing on tees; and enthusiastic spectators being tackled to the ground as they attempted to out sprint security guards.

A luxury yacht even sailed serenely across a lake in front of Woods playing an approach shot.

The sheer decadence of the occasion, coinciding with the launch of the multi-million dollar "Golf Villas'' to be built around the golf course, was in vivid contrast to the stark industrial conurbation of Zhengzhou just a few kilometres down the road.

It is home to around 10 million people, capital of Henan province and one of the eight ancient capitals of China. But the line-up of luxury cars parked around the clubhouse - including Rolls-Royces, Bentleys, Ferraris, Aston Martins and Maseratis - were pure Monaco.

The world's top two, though clearly here to spread the gospel of golf to a new and lucrative audience, did pick up a handsome pay day rumoured to be $2 million between them for a day's work.

Woods's next stop is Singapore, while McIlroy is off to Bulgaria. At least it should be quieter in Sofia.

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Lithuania hails Wallabies draw

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Thanks ... The Wallabies draw with the All Blacks saves Lithuania's world record winning streak. Source: Adam Head / News Limited

Mighty minnows Lithuania paid tribute on Monday to Australia for halting the All Blacks' unbeaten run, which threatened to end the Baltic nation's oddball record for the longest series of victories in the sport.

The Lithuanian Rugby Federation's general secretary Irmantas Kukulskis said they had been waiting with bated breath as the All Blacks edged ever closer to their 18-match record, recognised by the International Rugby Board.

New Zealand's 16-match run ended when the Wallabies held them 18-18 in the Bledisloe Cup in Brisbane on Saturday.

"We were waiting for this moment and today we can only thank the Australian national team for helping us to keep this record,'' Kukulskis said.

"Rugby is not very popular in Lithuania. We're amateurs and the federation's run by enthusiasts,'' he said.

"So we're very glad and proud to have such a record,'' he added, although the Lithuanians are fully aware that their unbeaten run came against much smaller fry than the All Blacks' opponents.

Lithuania play in European rugby's third tier -- not counting the top-flight Six Nations, from which promotion and relegation are not automatic.

In April 2010 they chalked up their 18th consecutive victory, in a European Nations Cup match against Serbia.

Their four-year winning streak ended a month later when they lost to Ukraine in a Rugby World Cup qualifier.

"We are a small country, and this record attracts attention. It's a pleasure to hear the name of Lithuania among such greats as Australia or New Zealand,'' said Kukulskis.

"This is sport, and we understand the record may be broken one day,'' he added.

The sport is very much a minority interest in the republic of three million people, where basketball is king.

But there are enough hardy souls to run a domestic league and a national team whose members include a handful who play in Sweden or English rugby's lower tiers.

Lithuania only returned to the global sporting fold after breaking free from five decades of Soviet rule in 1990.

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Lance's legacy to be erased

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Legacy ... Lance Armstrong is no longer welcome in the cycling community. Source: Tom Pennington / AFP

Once a symbol of perseverance in the face of the most incredible odds, Lance Armstrong now seems destined to go down in history as one of the most brazen dope cheats that sport has ever seen.

After sensationally conceding defeat in his fight to contest the charges against him in August, the Texan's world caved in further on Monday when the International Cycling Union (UCI) erased him from the sport's history.

The US Anti-Doping Agency had already published a damning report that laid bare his guilt.

Armstrong, they claimed, was at the heart of "the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping program that sport has ever seen''.

"He was not just a part of the doping culture on his team,'' said the USADA. "He enforced and re-enforced it.''

UCI president Pat McQuaid told reporters he was "sickened'' by the revelations, adding: "Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling.''

The decision to cast aside one of cycling's most successful exponents leaves Armstrong's sporting legacy in tatters but for all his detractors, there have been just as many admirers.

For his supporters, the doping allegations pale into comparison beside his battle with life-threatening cancer and the work of his charitable foundation, which he founded to help others living with the disease.

Doctors had given Armstrong a less than 50 percent chance of survival when he was diagnosed in 1996 with testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and brain.

He persevered through surgery and chemotherapy and returned to cycling but was little known in his homeland when he won his first Tour de France title in 1999.

His years of dominance in the sport's greatest race raised cycling's profile in the United States to new heights and gave him a platform to promote cancer awareness and research.

The Lance Armstrong Foundation has raised almost $US500 million ($A487.12 million) since it was created in 1997.

But in the aftermath of the allegations, several top sponsors dropped Armstrong and he even quit as chairman of Livestrong.

Even in his glory days of cycling, many were sceptical of his powers.

In 1999, it was a trace amount of a banned corticosteroid, which cycling officials explained by saying he was authorised to use a small amount of cream containing the drug to treat saddle sores.

After his 2000 Tour triumph, French authorities probed his US Postal Service team but brought no charges.

Critics seized on his friendship with Italian doctor Michele Ferrari, who was banned by Italian authorities over doping in 2002.

In 2004, a Texas promotions company balked at paying him a $US5 million ($A4.87 million) bonus for his sixth tour title because of doping allegations by European media.

In that court case, former teammate Frankie Andreu and his wife, Betsy, testified that Armstrong told doctors during his cancer treatment that he had taken steroids and other performance-enhancers.

Two books published in Europe, "L.A. Confidential'' and "L.A. Official'', alleged he doped and in 2005, French newspaper L'Equipe reported that urine samples taken during the 1999 Tour that were later re-tested were positive for the blood-booster EPO.

Armstrong fought back with denials and even court action, before briefly launching a comeback in 2009, but in the end the sheer weight of evidence against him -- including testimony from 11 former teammates -- proved too much to withstand.

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'Lance has no place in cycling'

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Lance Armstrong ... (insert caption here) Source: Thao Nguyen / AAP

The Intenational Cycling Union has handed Lance Armstrong a life ban and stripped him of his seven Tour de France titles after recognising the sanctions imposed by United States Anti Doping Agency (USADA).

UCI president Pat McQuaid confirmed USADA's findings in a press conference beamed around the world from the governing body's headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday night (EDT).

In a long address to the media, McQuaid called it "a landmark day for cycling" and said that despite all the pain the sport was going through, "cycling has a future".

But he said Armstrong had no place in cycling and that the one time pin-up boy of the sport "deserved to be forgotton by cycling".

McQuaid succeeded Hein Verbruggen as president of world cycling after Armstrong's seventh and final Tour victory in 2005 and is credited with boosting the body's anti-doping program, notably with the pioneering blood passport programme.

The Irishman was under pressure to answer how Armstrong and his teams managed to dope for so long without being detected. But he rejected calls to quit.

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Armstrong's sporting reputation as the cancer survivor who fought back to win cycling's most gruelling and celebrated race has been shattered since the revelations, leading to sponsors leaving him in droves.

There has also been fears of a wider withdrawal of financial backing for the sport after Dutch sponsor Rabobank said it was ending the sponsorship of its professional cycling team after a 17-year association.

The sponsor described professional cycling as "sick" to its core and unlikely to recover in the foreseeable future.

The strongly-worded comments went to the heart of claims of failings at the UCI and in particular to McQuaid, who has been criticised for failing to see the extent of doping within the sport.

Verbruggen, who stepped down in in 2006 but remains honorary president, ran the UCI during Armstrong's golden era - a time when USADA's report says Armstrong and teammates evaded dope tests either by hiding or being tipped off in advance.

The Dutchman has also been accused of protecting Armstrong - even accepting a donation to cover up a positive dope test.

The cyclist's cancer backstory and Tour triumphs from 1999 to 2005 were seen as key to restoring cycling's tattered image after a string of high-profile doping scandals in the 1990s.

Armstrong's Tour victories are unlikely to be re-awarded, the race's director Christian Prudhomme has said. The void avoids further headaches, given that the majority of riders who finished on the podium have also been implicated in doping.

Additional reporting: Justin Davis, AAP

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Man jailed over goalkeeper attack

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Chris Kirkland ... lays on the ground after been struck by a Leeds United fan. Source: Tony Marshall / AAP

A 21-year-old man was jailed for 16 weeks on Monday after admitting to attacking England goalkeeper Chris Kirkland during a televised game in the second-tier English Championship.

Aaron Cawley, from Cheltenham in south-west England, pleaded guilty to assault and invading the pitch during Sheffield Wednesday's 1-1 draw at home to Leeds United on Friday night.

Cawley appeared before magistrates in Sheffield, northern England, having been arrested for running onto the pitch at Hillsborough and shoving Kirkland in the face after Leeds scored a 76th-minute equaliser.

He then ran back into the crowd, but was detained by police on Sunday.

Kirkland, 31, has previously played for clubs including Liverpool and Wigan Athletic. He joined Wednesday from Wigan earlier this year.

He made one appearance for England as a substitute in a friendly against Greece in August 2006.

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'Biggest crisis cycling's faced'

Sickened ... Pat McQuaid has labelled the Lance Armstrong saga the biggest crisis in cycling. Source: Salvatore Di Nolfi / AP

Lance Armstrong's fate was sealed on Monday as cycling's under-fire world governing body decided to back a life ban for doping and strip him of his record seven Tour de France titles.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) said it supported the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) decision to erase the rider's entire career after August 1998, as president Pat McQuaid called the scandal "the biggest crisis'' the sport had ever faced.

"The UCI will strip him of his seven Tour de France wins. Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling... He deserves to be forgotten in cycling,'' McQuaid told a news conference in Geneva, saying he had been "sickened'' by the revelations.

Earlier this month the US body released a devastating dossier on Armstrong, detailing over 202 pages and with more than 1,000 pages of supporting testimony how he was at the heart of the biggest doping programme in the history of sport.

The revelations, including evidence from 11 of Armstrong's former team-mates, plunged a sport which has been working hard to rid itself of its murky doping past into crisis.

McQuaid succeeded Hein Verbruggen as president of world cycling after Armstrong's seventh and final Tour victory in 2005 and is credited with boosting the body's anti-doping program, notably with the pioneering blood passport.

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The Irishman was under pressure to answer how Armstrong and his teams managed to dope for so long without being detected. But he rejected calls to quit, vowing to continue his work against the scourge of doping.

Armstrong's sporting reputation as the cancer survivor who fought back to win cycling's most gruelling and celebrated race has been shattered since the revelations, leading to sponsors leaving him in droves.

There has also been fears of a wider withdrawal of financial backing for the sport after Dutch financier Rabobank said it was ending the sponsorship of its professional cycling team after a 17-year association.

The sponsor described professional cycling as "sick'' to its core and unlikely to recover in the foreseeable future.
The strongly-worded comments went to the heart of claims of failings at the UCI and in particular to McQuaid, who has been criticised for failing to see the extent of doping within the sport.

Verbruggen, who stepped down in in 2006 but remains honorary president, ran the UCI during Armstrong's golden era -- a time when USADA's report says Armstrong and team-mates evaded dope tests either by hiding or being tipped off in advance.

The Dutchman has also been accused of protecting Armstrong -- even accepting a donation to cover up a positive dope test. McQuaid on Monday said the UCI "absolutely deny'' that Armstrong bought off the body.

Armstrong's cancer backstory and Tour triumphs from 1999 to 2005 were seen as key to restoring cycling's tattered image after a string of high-profile doping scandals in the 1990s.

His Tour victories are unlikely to be re-awarded, the race's director Christian Prudhomme has said. The void would prevent further headaches, given that most riders who finished on the podium in that time have since been implicated in doping.

But the final decision will come in a special UCI meeting on Friday.

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