CRICKET

Surrey look certain to be without the Pakistan Test bowler Waqar Younis for the new season. The 23-year-old paceman, expected to fulfil his contract as the overseas player at The Oval this summer, is believed to have suffered a recurrence of the back trouble which has worried him for the past three years.

Channel Nine, the television network run by Kerry Packer, has bought the Australian rights for coverage of the 1996 World Cup in India for £2.67m. The British rights for the event, which starts on 14 February, have been sold to CPP1, a cable consortium likely to come to an arrangement with the BBC.

Kent have signed the 27-year-old former Worcestershire spinner, Steve Herzberg, on a one-year contract but the fast bowler, Duncan Spencer, plagued by injury last season, will not be returning to the county from Australia.