Globalsport — Australian Paper calls Taylor a `dead duck’

SYDNEY: Out-of-form captain Mark Taylor is becoming a luxury Australia cannot afford to carry in next week's first Ashes Test against Engla...

SYDNEY: Out-of-form captain Mark Taylor is becoming a luxury Australia cannot afford to carry in next week’s first Ashes Test against England, Australian newspapers decided today.

“Dead duck” said the headline in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph after Taylor’s latest setback on tour in England, a fourth-ball duck against against Gloucestershire.

The Sydney Morning Herald agreed that Taylor, who has not scored a Test 50 since late 1995 and scored only 18 in the first two one-day matches against England, should go.

Bid withdrawn

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BRAMPTON (Ontario): Disgraced Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson withdrew his bid before the IAAF to lift a lifetime ban while he awaits his day in a Canadian court.

Johnson filed suit in an Ontario court earlier this month to win the right to race again and prove he is still the world’s fastest man. But the court said yesterday it will not hear the case until July 21, postponing any comeback for Johnson.

English lashed

MUNICH: Franz Backenbauer launched a fierce attack on English soccer officials yesterday for running a rival bid against Germany to host the 2006 World Cup finals.

“The English have left us in the lurch. We expected the English to support us. This has got nothing to do with English fair play,” Beckenbauer said .