Cricket: Former Pakistani captain Salim Malik, banned last year from international cricket, was also effectively ousted from the domestic arena yesterday after being dropped from his employers' squad. "We have not included his name in the squad of 25 for a premier first class event as per Pakistan Cricket Board's directive," said Abdur Raquib, in charge of sport at Habib Bank.

Malik was banned for life in May last year after an inquiry conducted by Justice Malik Mohammad Qayyum found him guilty of match-fixing.

Hockey: The Irish Hockey Association confirmed yesterday that if there is a vacancy left - probably by an African country - Ireland will compete in the men's Junior World Cup in Hobart, Tasmania, next October. In Pool A, of the 16-team tournament, Australia, England and Chile have been grouped with a second African qualifier. But there will only be one qualifier from that continent if fewer than five countries participate in the African Junior championship at the end of March. So it will not be until this competition gets underway that the Ireland under21s will know if their seventh place in the European rankings will take them to Australia.

Swimming: Ireland will send a four-strong team to the World Cup short-course series event in Sheffield on January 17th and 18th. The team consists of members of the national squad studying in Britain. They are Emma Robinson, Mark Craig, Michael Williamson and Julie Douglas. A fifth swimmer, Donal O'Neill of Trojan, was originally pencilled in to join the team but has had to withdraw.

Motor Sport: BMW-Williams driver Ralf Schumacher topped the times on the first day of testing at Jerez yesterday. The German driver posted a quickest time of one minute and 23.630 seconds as he outpaced new team mate Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya at the Spanish circuit.