Sports round-up

Davis Cup: World number two Rafael Nadal will headline Spain’s team for next month’s Davis Cup final against Argentina alongside David Ferrer, Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco, the Spanish tennis federation announced yesterday. The quartet named for the final are unchanged from the team that thrashed France 4-1 in the semi-finals in Cordoba in September. Spain, riding a 20-match unbeaten run on clay, have not lost at home for 11 years.

Cricket: South Africa’s Mickey Arthur was yesterday appointed Australia’s new head cricket coach two months after Tim Nielsen quit, completing a sweeping revamp of the way the team is run. The 43-year-old is the first non-Australian to be handed the job and will assume the reins for the first Test against New Zealand in Brisbane on December 1, promising to bring a “fresh, unblinkered eye” to the role.

Rugby Union: Samoa’s manager at the recent Rugby World Cup in New Zealand has been symbolically fined 100 pigs by his home village over allegations he misbehaved at the tournament. Leaders in the Pacific island nation’s Leauva’a village ordered Mathew Vaea to pay 100 sows for tarnishing the chiefly title of “tuala” that had been bestowed on him. Leauva’a chief Vaifale Iose said Vaea’s alleged actions at the tournament brought his position into disrepute.

Basketball: Memorabilia from the famed career of Julius Erving will return to the city where he became a star as the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers announced yesterday the purchase of items at auction. Adam Aron, chief executive of the NBA team, said the 76ers bought 18 items, none valued above $10,000, to put on display in the team’s home arena. The high-leaping Erving has also been approached about working for the team in some capacity.