¤ Australia captain Ricky Ponting said his team would head into uncharted territory against England at The Oval next month, needing a win to draw a series. Ponting, speaking after England won the fourth cricket test by three wickets to go 2-1 up with one match to play, believes, however, that the situation could help his side.
"We've probably never been in this situation before," he said.
"I can't remember that for a long time. But it might not be a bad thing for us right now, to tell the truth, just to go out there and play instinctively and play the brand of cricket we've played for a long time."
Australia have won the last eight Ashes series dating back to 1989.
They have been dominated for most of the last three test matches but turned them all into cliff-hangers. England won by two runs at Edgbaston, were held to a draw at Old Trafford needing one wicket for victory, and edged home at Trent Bridge when only needing 129 in their second innings.
¤ Sweden's world heptathlon champion Carolina Kluft will be out of action for around three weeks because of a thigh injury, the Swedish news agency TT reported.
Kluft, competing in Gothenburg at the annual weekend battle between Sweden and Nordic neighbours Finland, was unable to finish a hurdles race after suffering a minor bleed in the back of her left thigh.
The 22-year-old Swede, who is also the Olympic champion, retained her world championship title in Helsinki earlier this month after overcoming an ankle injury.
¤ Australian utility back Matt Giteau has been ruled out of next Saturday's final rugby Tri-Nations test against New Zealand with a lower back problem.
Giteau has been troubled by the injury for the past three weeks and while he is showing signs of improvement, Wallabies coach Eddie Jones said he would not be fit enough to play.
Jones has also pledged his support to out-of-form captain George Gregan, who wants to continue playing until the next World Cup despite growing calls for him to retire or be sacked.
One Australian newspaper published statistics claiming Gregan had run the ball just 10 times in his last six test appearances - an unusually low contribution for a top-flight scrumhalf.