Sporting briefs

Australia: Australia will play a friendly against the Netherlands and South Africa as part of their preparations for the next round of 2010 World Cup qualifiers. The Socceroos will play 2010 hosts South Africa in London on Aug. 19 and take on the Dutch in Eindhoven on Sept. 6, four days before their tricky opening fourth round match away to in-form Uzbekistan.

Fowler: Robbie Fowler will prolong his stay with Cardiff City by another year. The 33-year-old former Liverpool striker has had an injury-hit first season at Ninian Park, but scored six goals in 16 appearances. He has not played since mid-December due to a hip injury that required surgery in America. Fowler's 12-month contract had an option for a further year and now a pay-as-you-play deal has been agreed.

Kewell: Harry Kewell issued an open letter to Leeds supporters yesterday in defence of his decision to join Galatasaray. The former Leeds player signed for the Turkey club after leaving Liverpool. The 29-year-old was with Leeds when two of the English club's supporters, Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight, were stabbed to death prior to a UEFA Cup semi-final against Galatasaray in Istanbul in April 2000. "I chose the no.19 shirt as a sign of respect for Leeds because that was the number I got when I first became a regular member of their team ," he said.

Thailand coach: Thailand have identified former Sunderland manager Peter Reid and Holger Osieck, assistant coach of Germany's 1990 World Cup-winning squad, as candidates to coach the Thai national team. Soccer federation secretary-general Ong-Arj Kosinkar said Thailand had given up on Serbian Bora Milutinovic because of his high salary demands.

Liverpool: Liverpool have signed Denmark U-18 striker Nikola Saric, the Premier League club said yesterday. The 17-year-old, former Herfolge player, joins on a three-year contract.

Arshavin: Zenit SP have rejected a 15m euro offer from Barcelona for Andrei Arshavin. "Barcelona had failed to improve their original offer of 15 million euros, thus we decided to end our negotiations with the Spanish club," Zenit said on their website. Last week, Zenit offered to extend Arshavin's current deal by two more years until 2012. Zenit have given the 27-year-old, who earns three million euros a year, two weeks to decide his future.

Sassuolo: Newly-promoted Sassuolo will have Andrea Mandorlini as coach in their first ever campaign in Serie B next season. Massimiliano Allegri led Sassuolo up from Serie C last term but has now joined Cagliari. Last season, the 47-year-old started at Siena but was dismissed in Nov-ember after a series of poor results.

Cricket: Australia captain Ricky Ponting has undergone surgery on a wrist injury suffered during the side's tour of the West Indies. Ponting left the tour early after sustaining the injury during the third one-day international in St George's, Grenada on June 29. Australia completed a 5-0 sweep in the one-day series on Sunday. Ponting's availability for the home series against Bangladesh in August and the Champions Trophy in Pakistan a month later would be made after monitoring his recovery in the coming weeks.

Rugby: Assistant All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has withdrawn his application for the Canterbury Crusaders head coach's job after being denied permission to perform both roles, the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) has said. The former Wales coach had indicated he wanted to apply for the post at the Super 14 champions and continue in his role with the All Blacks.