I want to bring in another striker because Ian Wright has only one year left on his contract, so now would be a good time to bring a forward in.”Suker, who won the golden boot with six goals at the World Cup finals in France last summer, is out of contract and has expressed an interest in moving to the Premiership. “This wouldn’t be the first time that Arsenal have done something like this,” van Gaal grumbled last week.Arsenal were previously accused of trying to poach youngsters from France, where there was some unhappiness when they signed Anelka from Paris St- Germain.The West Ham manager, Harry Redknapp, has ruled out a move for Croatian World Cup striker Davor Suker, because of the player’s pounds 40,000-a-week pay demands.Redknapp, responding to reports that Real Madrid are prepared to offer Suker plus cash for his prized centre-back Rio Ferdinand, said: “I’d love to see Suker at Upton Park but there is no way he’s coming here because he’s too expensive for us. “Arsenal want me and I am disposed to go there but Barcelona seem determined to do everything to block me going,” Nano was quoted as saying in the Barcelona- based sports daily Sport yesterday.The decision left van Gaal resigned to losing Nano to the London club. “However it is the desire of the Spanish federation that the best Spanish players play in our own country,” Gonzalez added.Barcelona are still determined to hang on to the player though. “We cannot go against fundamental rights, which is the freedom for a footballer to play where he wants,” said the Spanish FA’s general secretary, Gerardo Gonzalez. In the last month Spain’s sides have won the World Under-20 and European Under-16 titles.Nano, whose full name is Fernando Maceda da Silva, was one of the stars of the latter team. However, the proposed move has raised concerns in Spain about the poaching of their best young talent.

The Spanish football federation yesterday said it could not prevent the transfer of the teenager, who plays for the Catalan club’s youth team.
Nano currently has a contract with Barcelona, and earns around 60,000 pesetas (pounds 280) a week, but the prevailing view within the Spanish FA is that is the contract is void because it was signed when he was 15 and that professional terms should not apply before a player’s 16th birthday. BARCELONA’S Louis van Gaal has become the latest coach to criticise Arsenal for poaching young players over their pounds 1.6m approach to the 17- year-old midfielder Nano. It is not known when he will be fit to resume his coaching duties with the squad.. We have sat down and talked about applying ourselves in such situations, but it does not seem to be working.”West Indies’ preparations for today’s game have been disrupted further with the news that their coach, Malcolm Marshall, is to have exploratory abdominal surgery tomorrow.Marshall, 41, has had a stomach complaint for several months. Poor batting saw them dismissed for 116, and the coach said: “We did a lot of crazy things in the batting. What we have to do is get consistency so batting, bowling and fielding all come together at the same time.”Greenidge, meanwhile, is looking for a marked improvement in Bangladesh’s performance after their defeat against New Zealand on Monday.

If they’re going to rely on Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul so much, it’s going to be uphill for them.”As for his adopted country’s chances, Greenidge said: “We’ll be looking to play well and if we get the opportunity to put some pressure on the West Indies, we will do so. Once Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose go out of the attack they will struggle, although Mervyn Dillon bowled reasonably well against Pakistan But they’re also going to struggle with the bat. Greenidge, who these days is the coach of Bangladesh, was a World Cup winner with West Indies in 1975 and 1979, but can see no light at the end of the tunnel for the one-time Caribbean kings, who lost their opening World Cup match to Pakistan on Sunday.
Greenidge said: “They’re struggling. WEST INDIES go into today’s World Cup Group B qualifying match with Bangladesh in Dublin with their former batsman Gordon Greenidge sounding less than optimistic about his old side’s chances of doing well in the tournament. Instead, the innings rather petered out as Bevan, with a scratchy 21, and Warne had their timbers rattled by the returning Allott and Australia’s lengthy tail may yet cost them dear..

Ponting, busier and more inclined to direct his shots with an angled bat was also scoring freely until Chris Harris held on to a sliced drive at backward point.Harris, another bowler normally found in economy class though not yesterday when he conceded 50 runs, then accounted for both Steve Waugh and Lehmann, both falling to smart catches by Nathan Astle inside the fielding circle.Had Australia been chasing rather than setting, this would have been the time to cue Michael Bevan. Playing themselves in against the metronomic accuracy of Gavin Larsen – a wise measure considering the innocuous-looking Larsen’s career economy rate of 3.7 is one of the best ever – the pair shoe-horned their side into the driving seat.Lehmann in particular, played with great fluency, his bat swinging true and free like a pendulum through the line of the ball. Gilchrist followed not long after, his hurried steer to second slip evidence of the two-paced nature of this pitch.If Waugh was having second thoughts about his decision, the partnership between Ricky Ponting and Darren Lehmann should have calmed them. However, with thunderstorms around, the air was heavy with humidity and the white ball, at least in the capable hands of Geoff Allott, swung about dangerously.Bending the ball into the right-handers at a lively pace, the left-arm Allott removed Mark Waugh with the first ball of his second over, umpire Javed Akhtar having no option but to give the batsman out lbw. Perhaps he felt New Zealand’s less-than-imposing arsenal of medium-pacers did not pose a significant threat.

Of the seven games played on neutral grounds, the Aussies had dominated entirely – until yesterday, when a distinctly Kiwi-style Cardiff pitch ruined their record.Having won the toss, Waugh surprised many when he chose to bat first. Indeed in a tournament that has so far favoured the bowlers this was the first won by the bat.Trans-Tasman contests have produced some ding-dong encounters over the years and before yesterday’s game, Australia had won 51 times to New Zealand’s 20. Striking the ball with rare ferocity he demoralised Australia to the point where even bowlers like McGrath and Warne were made to look ordinary. But if inconsistency could be his middle name, his power and verve, including two mighty sixes off Shane Warne, made his intentions clear – this was clearly a game to be won with fours, sixes and Twose.With fortune favouring Twose after the left-hander was caught at long- leg off a no-ball from Glenn McGrath, Cairns bowed to no one. But a partnership between Cairns and Twose, that began humbly before blossoming into the match-clinching effort, essentially set up the five-wicket victory with 28 balls to spare.Over the years Cairns has often proved capable of something brilliant.