Sydney, Mar. 13: A day after it was revealed that aging fast bowlers Brett Lee and Stuart Clark would have to put in good performances in the remaining first class matches to be considered for the upcoming Ashes tour, Lee defiantly vowed to take up the new ball in the first Ashes Test against England at Cardiff.

Lee''s position has come under threat after Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus ensured Australia maintained their No. 1 world ranking by rattling South Africa in their own backyard.

Dubai, Mar 13 : Indian opener Mithali Raj, who scored 59 against England and 75 not out against Sri Lanka, has swapped places with Lisa Sthalekar of Australia who has slipped to third place after some disappointing performances with the bat by her high standards.

England duo of Claire Taylor and Isa Guha, and Lisa Sthalekar of Australia, have retained top spots in the ICC Women's ODI Player Rankings after the completion of group stage in the Women's World Cup.

Indian Wells, California  - After being out of tennis for more than half a year with a shoulder problem which required October surgery, Maria Sharapova is not ready to rush her tennis comeback.

The Russian, who last major title came at the Australian Open last year, gave her repaired and rehabilitated joint a workout on Thursday as she and Elena Vesnina went down in doubles at the Indian Wells Masters 6-1, 4-6, 10-7 (match tiebreak) to a Russian-Belarus pair.

Indian Wells, California  - Lleyton Hewitt shrugged off hip worries while Andy Murray plans to fight through the after-effects of a virus as play on the ATP side of the Indian Wells Masters got underway on Thursday.

Hewitt, a two-time (2002, 2003) former champion at the desert venue and the 2005 finalist against Roger Federer, ignored the hip niggle which bothered him at weekend Davis Cup in Bangkok as he defeated Czech Jan Hernych 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 to reach the second round.

Madrid  - The French daily Le Monde will have to compensate Real Madrid with 330,000 euros (421,000 dollars) over allegations of doping, the Spanish club said Thursday.

A Madrid court said a piece by the journalist Stephane Mandard in which the defending champion of La Liga was linked to the doping scandal around Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes was not suitably based on evidence.

London  - The current doping test in sport for the steroid testosterone is not suitable because of ethnic variations, a Swiss study published on Thursday revealed.

The study was commissioned by the ruling football FIFA and carried out among 171 players around the world.

The results were examined at the Lausanne, Switzerland, lab approved by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), and published in the "British Journal of Sports and Medicine."