Sydney - Austria beat hosts Australia 3-0 Monday in the opening game of an unusual football competition that has drawn teams from 56 countries to Melbourne.

The qualifications for entry to this all-amateur event are stiff: players must have been homeless since July 2007, be receiving help for drug or alcohol abuse or be an asylum seeker.

It's the Homeless World Cup and it's in its sixth year. Scotland is the defending champion.

The week-long competition - there are 349 matches of 14 minutes on makeshift pitches in the city centre - has for the first time a section for women's teams.

Psychologists and physiotherapists are on hand, as well as 1,000 volunteers.

Dubai, Dec. 1: International Cricket Council (ICC) CEO Haroon Lorgat today offered his condolences to the people of Mumbai and those caught up in the terror attacks on the city, on behalf of world cricket’s governing body.

Lorgat pledged to provide whatever assistance might be required by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

“On behalf of the ICC I would like to offer the condolences and sympathy of the entire cricket world to Mumbai and to India in the wake of the terrible events of the last few days,” an ICC press release quoted him, as saying.

London, Dec. 1: Chelsea boss Phil Scolari has demanded an apology from match referee Mike Dean, saying the latter cost his side a crucial victory against Arsenal.

The Chelsea boss blamed Dean and his assistant Simon Beck for failing to call Arsenal’s Robin Van Persie offside before that team had scored an equaliser.

Van Persie scored the winner three minutes later to condemn Chelsea to their second home defeat of the season.

Big Phil fumed: “Never before at Chelsea have I said anything about the referee. But today is different. I don’t want the referee to do something different, only for him to look at the TV, see he was wrong and say sorry. Tell the assessor to ask the referee to do both sides, not one side.”

Adelaide, Dec. 1: Current Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin has told his fans that comparisons with his predecessor Adam Gilchrist are "embarrassing" and pleaded with them to get off his back.

Haddin had been under some scrutiny with the bat and gloves after an indifferent start to his Test career. But he responded on Sunday with a superb 169 - the highest score by a wicketkeeper on Australian soil.

London, Dec. 1: The England cricket team is set to return to India on Thursday or Friday to fulfil their agreement to play two Test matches later this month.

The ECB will present the players with a safety report today and is likely to confirm on Tuesday that the tour will resume later in the week. There are thought to be few security worries about Chennai but there is some concern about the team hotel in Ahmedabad, which is in the middle of the city.

Melbourne, Dec. 1: Given the frequency of terror strikes in both India and Pakistan and the unstable political situation in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, there is a possibility of the International Cricket Council (ICC) seriously considering a proposal to shift the 2011 cricket World Cup to Australia and New Zealand.

India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are scheduled to stage cricket''s marquee tournament in February and March of 2011, but a meeting of ICC CEOs in South Africa next weekend is likely to consider putting another country or countries on standby to host the event.