Sydney, Dec. 5: Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting says his side deserves the number one ranking in Test cricket even if South Africa defeats them this month.

"It has taken us a long time and a lot of great wins in different conditions around the world to get us to that No. 1 spot," Fox Sports quoted Ponting, as saying on Thursday.

Dubai, Dec. 5 : The ICC Chief Executives’ Committee (CEC) will convene in Cape Town on Sunday for one of its four meetings per year.

The two-day gathering, held at the Westin Grand Hotel on December 7 and 8, will make decisions on a range of matters relating to the playing of cricket as well as recommendations on the business of cricket for consideration by the ICC Board’s January meeting.

A media conference will be held at the conclusion of business on December 8, also at the Westin Grand Hotel, and details of the timing and exact location of that conference will be announced in due course.

Among the items for discussion on the CEC agenda are the following:

Future Tours Programme post-2012

London, Dec 5 : French football striker Thierry Henry’s divorce from his wife Claire Merry has come to an end with him paying her 8 million pounds as settlement.

Henry, 31, a 130,000 pounds-a-week former Arsenal striker, agreed to the amount with Merry, 27, to avoid the court battles, but for her, the settlement means she is getting 2 million pounds less.

Merry is said to have told friends that the amount is “close” to the 10million pounds she had been angling for.

“It was settled at the end of last week. Claire is delighted,” the Sun quoted a friend of hers as saying.

Los Angeles - German juggernaut Dirk Nowitzki dominated through three quarters, before JJ Barea took over in the fourth.

London - John McEnroe may finally be ready to call time on his senior career shortly after turning 50 next February 16.

"I think common sense should prevail," said the former bad boy whose tennis has been holding various senior tours together for more than a decade. "I turn 50 in February and have a commitment to play in Rio in March. After that things are pretty open-ended."

Melbourne, Dec. 5 : The hype surrounding South African fast bowler Dale Steyn ahead of his team’s tour of Australia, suggests that Australian cricketers need to very prepared to tackle Allan "White Lightning" Donald’s natural heir.

Steyn has commendably taken over the South African pace bowling throne once occupied by the likes of Donald, Garth Le Roux, Mike Procter, Peter Pollock and Neil Adcock, reports The Age.

Like Donald after the Proteas'' re-admission to the international arena in 1991, Steyn has wasted no time in putting the fear of pace into the world''s batsmen.