Sports round-up

Rugby union: England’s Chris Ashton could be on his way out of Northampton after coach Jim Mallinder revealed the wing is reluctant to discuss a new contract with the Premiership club. Ashton, 24, is out of contract at the end of the season and has been linked with a move to London-based English champions Saracens. He is currently serving a four-week ban for pulling the hair of Leicester’s Alesana Tuilagi and was pre-viously involved in some of Eng-land’s embarrassing off-field antics during the World Cup.

Basketball: Michael Jordan, the NBA Hall of Famer who is now majority owner of the league’s Charlotte Bobcats, is engaged to marry long-time girlfriend Yvette Prieto, a spokeswoman con-firmed yesterday. The 48-year-old Jordan and 32-year-old Prieto – a Cuban model – have reportedly been dating since 2008. No wedding date has been announced. Jordan has been married before. His 17-year marriage to Juanita Jordan ended in divorce in 2006. They have three children.

Motorcycling: Former MotoGP world champion Nicky Hayden (picture) has suffered a training injury which has thrown his participation in testing in Sepang, Malaysia at the end of next month into doubt, his Ducati team said. The 30-year-old American was only just back on his bike after crashing at the Valencia Grand Prix in November. This time, he broke his left shoulder blade and suffered two fractured ribs, although Ducati said he would not necessarily have to undergo surgery, pending an assessment of the injuries in California.

Basket, NBA: Kevin Durant’s buzzer-beating three-pointer gave Oklahoma City a 104-102 NBA victory over Dallas yesterday that left the reigning champions Mavericks without a win in three games this season. Durant finished with 30 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka con-tributed 16 points apiece as the Thunder overcame 26 turnovers to improve to 4-0 in the lockout-shortened season that began on Sunday. Dallas, who beat the Thunder in last season’s Western Conference finals, fell to 0-3.

Cricket: Indian media yesterday lashed out at the country’s famed batting line-up for letting the team down in the opening Test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Chasing a 292-run target on Thursday, India failed to cope with Australia’s pace attack as they were shot out for 169 despite the batting experience of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Venkatsai Laxman and Virender Sehwag. “Melbourne Meltdown” said a Times of India headline after the tourists’ 122-run defeat.