Oldham will be without their centres, Vince Fawcett and Darren Abram, against the Bradford Bulls tonight.The Featherstone hooker Neil Roebuck is out for the season after his fourth knee operation in seven months. Wigan’s coach Eric Hughes fears Gary Connolly could also face a long lay-off if the knee injury that has kept him out since his return from Harlequins needs surgery.. There can be no more picturesque setting to usher in the new spring than this leafy corner of Surrey, and yesterday the Sunningdale Foursomes were blessed with glorious sunshine. Until, that is, a certain chillness entered the second quarter-final on the fifth green. David Jones had just played his recovery shot from a greenside bunker when Mark Palmer and Gary Walmsley wondered aloud whether they should claim the hole because Jones’ caddie, a local bag-carrier, had inadvertently raked the bunker some 15 yards from his player’s ball when he went to pick up the rake.
Jeremy Robinson, Jones’ partner and fellow Challenge Tour player from Essex, conceded the hole. He was annoyed for some time, which was justified when he read Exception 2 to Rule 13-4 which states such an action by a caddie, as long as it does not improve the player’s line, should not be penalised.Robinson, a former winner here in 1991, recovered to make two telling contributions in his team’s one-hole victory. First, at the ninth, he holed from 25 feet to avoid going two down.

Then, having hooked his drive at the last and seen Jones hit a superb three-wood from 250 yards on to the front of the green, he holed from 30 feet for a birdie and the match.In this morning’s semi-finals they will play Wayne Riley and Gary Smith, who overcame their fourth-round jinx and then beat the Andrews, Hall and Reynolds, who ended Nigel Mansell’s run on Wednesday, 3 and 2.Julie Hall, now secretary of the Ladies’ Golf Union, and Helen Wadsworth, a pro on the women’s tour, had their closest match so far when they beat Enfield’s Sean Whiffin and Jeremy Jones at the 20th hole.. Making moves: Sophie Moniotte and Pascal Lavanchy get into their routine during the ice dance competition at the World Figure Skating Championships in Lausanne yesterday. The French pair are in fourth place behind Oksana Gritschuk and Yevgeny Platov, the Russian partnership, who are now close to their fourth consecutive title. In the men’s event, Elvis Stojko, of Canada, regained his title utilising a quadruple-triple combination to rally from fourth place. Stojko’s task was made easier when Alexei Urmanov, of Russia, who led after the short programme, withdrew with a groin injury suffered on Wednesday after trying to warm up. The day was marred by the death from a heart attack of Carlo Fassi, one of skating’s most successful coaches He was 67

Photograph: Stu Forster/Allsport. Mark Alleyne was yesterday appointed as Gloucestershire’s new captain after talks with the England wicketkeeper, Jack Russell, broke down.

Alleyne takes over from Courtney Walsh, who has Test commitments with the West Indies until the middle of the summer. Gloucestershire’s senior management met with Russell over two days before reaching a stalemate. Their cricket secretary, Philip August, said yesterday: “Jack wanted certain conditions. These included a management role for three years and to be captain for three years as well.
“We were happy with the management condition but our constitution says that we can only appoint a captain for one season at a time. We told Jack about this but he wanted all the conditions met, which we could not do.”Now Alleyne has been given the chance of getting Gloucestershire back on track after a miserable 1996. “I’m not nervous about it because I was vice-captain to Jack in 1995 and I’m just looking forward to the job,” the all-rounder said.

“It is a great honour.” Alleyne joined Gloucestershire in 1986 from the Harringey cricket school.The England team will have major new sponsors from next winter as a replacement for Tetley Bitter. The English Cricket Board yesterday confirmed a new deal will be announced at a press conference at Lord’s next Wednesday.Reports have suggested that the telephone company Vodaphone are favourites to take over in a multi-million pound deal when Tetley’s involvement ends after the summer Ashes series with Australia. Tetley announced in the winter they would be withdrawing their support after five years, with poor performances by England understood to be one of the reasons.. Liverpool may not chill the blood with their ruthlessness in the Premiership, but it was difficult to fault them in Europe last night.

Calm and clinical, they efficiently finished off SK Brann at Anfield to reach the semi-final of the Cup-Winners’ Cup. In a match when their defence was barely troubled by the sound but uninspiring Norwegians, Robbie Fowler’s two goals – one a penalty – and Stan Collymore’s second-half strike earned a 4-1 aggregate that probably under-stressed their superiority.
Their focus on the one European trophy to have eluded them hitherto is becoming firmer although winning it will not be as simple, as the last four comes straight from football’s Debrett. Liverpool, Fiorentina, Barcelona and the holders, Paris St-Germain: whoever wins this competition will have earned it.”We will have to be at our best whoever we meet next,” Roy Evans, the Liverpool manager, said, “just as we had to be at our best to defeat Brann We played very sensibly. You talk about the patient part of football and we had that tonight.”Evans had stressed the need for attack underlined with caution before the kick-off and his team adhered to the letter. Once they had got over the alarm of Patrik Berger squandering two easy chances that suggested it might be one of their profligate nights, they won with some comfort.