Sporting Miscellanies

England's seemingly cursed bid to host the 2018 World Cup has received an unexpected double boost. First, David Beckham did his bit by impressing everyone by looking pretty at Friday's World Cup draw and managing to avoid a balls-up with his balls, so to speak. Then, Australia, one of England's main rivals to host the tournament, scored a spectacular own goal. Australia's other football codes - Rugby League, Rugby Union and Australian Rules Football - object to the 2018 World Cup being played during their own domestic competitions, not to mention denying them the use of their stadia for a two-month period. "We're not trying to stop the World Cup," said rugby league chief executive David Gallop as he tried to stop the World Cup. "But we're certainly concerned about the impact it will have on our season. We can't just disappear off the face of the earth." It's not often you get the chance to type 'Thank heavens for Rugby League' but thank heavens for rugby league.

Tiger's dear mistake

Not surprisingly golf's answer to Don Juan hasn't updated the Dear Tiger' section of his personal website TigerWoods.com recently. To be fair, he's probably had more important things on his mind — like taking his SUV to the Kwik-Fit fitters to sort out that nasty dent —but the world's most famous lothario might want to have a word with his people'.

Nearly three weeks since the page was last updated, Rupert from Houston's question about the difficulties of spending so much time away from family and children remains at the foot of the page. Tiger's response? "It's very difficult to leave Elin and the children and I'm sure it's only going to get tougher." On second thoughts, maybe the page has been updated.

Watson's wake-up call

Poor old Shane Watson — or Watto' as the Aussie cricket team imaginatively call him — can't seem to get a good night's sleep. The opener, who slept on Brett Lee's floor during the 2005 Ashes because he thought there was a ghost in his room, had another sleepless night this week in Adelaide. With an overnight score of 96 against the West Indies and his maiden Test century a short boundary away, Watto' crumbled under the pressure and was bowled out cheaply by the second ball of the day. "I slept very ordinary and kept thinking about the four runs I needed to get my first hundred," yawned Watto. "To be so close to realising a childhood dream was very shattering. But it makes me stronger, I've definitely learnt from it and hopefully next time I know that I'll have to be in a different place mentally." Brett Lee's room, Shane?

Zlatan's a sour Swede

"I will not play for the national team because I'm not motivated, there are no important games and no World Cup. I'd be wasting energy for no reason, a sacrifice for nothing." So said Barcelona's Swedish superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic in an emotional display of national pride. Hopefully his attitude won't be adopted by players at the 16 Premier League clubs (if it hasn't already) who must have realised by now there really isn't much point (if they haven't already). Thirty eight games in the cold and wet and for what? A place in the table between 5th and 20th. Sounds like they're wasting their energy for no reason.

Twitter of the week

"I saw you (David Lloyd) coming out of the posh lounge with Gower . . . "

BBC Cricket's Jonathan Agnew prepares to slum it on his return flight while the Sky contingent enjoy the highlife.