The England cricket team yesterday gained unwanted membership of an ever-expanding club in global sport when Vodafone announced it had ended its 12-year sponsorship.

The decision not to renew the current £4m-a-year deal in 2010 follows Honda's withdrawal from formula one and the ending of the Subaru and Suzuki teams' interests in the world rally championship. Subaru's decision, also announced yesterday after 20 years competing in the WRC, came as a sickening blow to the sport which now has just two manufacturers, Ford and Citroën, in its flagship event.

Cricketer Kapil Dev, who scripted history by leading the Indian team to victory the 1983 World Cup, was Wednesday commissioned into the Territorial Army (TA) as an honorary lieutenant colonel.

The Indian Cricket Board will pay Mumbai Cricket Association around Rs 23 crore as its "contribution" to the affiliated unit's "cricket development" purposes, in lieu of lease rent for occupying its premises at Cricket Centre inside the Wankhede Stadium complex.

Cricket Ireland is to discuss at board level if any more could have been done to prevent a second abandoned match in the three-game series against Kenya at

Younis had been offered the captaincy following Inzamam-ul-Haq's resignation but turned it down citing the mental strain brought about by Woolmer's death, the subsequent trauma and the