The sporting week on TV

They call soccer "the Beautiful Game". I have to admit to a certain ambivalence where soccer is concerned: the sight of grown men pulling their shirts over their heads in jubilation over a goal, or piling one on top of another like schoolboys playing bok-bok, or worse still, kissing one another, makes me ill. They say that rugby is "a game for hooligans played by gentlemen". Well, I'm not sure about the "gentlemen" bit. There are times in rugby when you begin to wonder if that quotation isn't the wrong way round.

The greatest of games, though, in spite of efforts to ruin it in the betting shops, must surely be cricket. What a truly glorious game it is. A game that requires a variety of skills and yet caters for people of all shapes and sizes. A good eye and snappy reflexes are every bit as important as athleticism and physical strength. And so unpredictable. Who could have predicted the course of events this week in New Delhi?

Said one typical newspaper headline: "Aussies in control - cruising to another win." The reality was somewhat different. VVS Laxman became an instant hero in two days of high drama. In the follow-on, he scored an Indian record of 281 (Rahul Dravid compiled 180) and spinner Harbhajan Singh took 6 for 73 in the Australian second innings to send Steve Waugh's team crashing to defeat by 171 runs.

AND THERE'S MORE ...

THE India-Australia series which was thought to be a foregone conclusion for Waugh's warriors, now stands at one Test all. The third and final Test of the series starts on Sunday in Madras. Any bets - strictly legal ones, that is - on this one?

At the Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad - where an Andrews Sisters song of the 1940s proclaimed that the locals spent most of their time imbibing Rum and Coca-Cola - Shaun Pollock's South Africans are engaged in the second Test against the West Indies, having drawn the first. Starting at 4pm on Sunday is the second day's play.

The West Indians have been through a lean patch. But that's not the way things are shaping up in this five-match series so far - in this wonderfully unpredictable game of cricket.

SOCCER

LOCALLY, "the Beautiful Game" moves into the last 16 of the BobSave Superbowl and today's TV offering on Laduma! sees the holders Kaizer Chiefs make a perilous journey to Umtata Independence Stadium to face Bush Bucks. The local ground is known as the "Graveyard" with good reason - many a favoured team has been buried there. Chiefs Turkish coach Mushim Ertugral made no secret of it at the second-round draw: he'd have preferred a date with Sundowns or Pirates.

On Saturday, Bafana Bafana meet Mauritius in an African Nations Cup fixture in Port Elizabeth. It's understood there's some unfinished business between Safa and the SABC that could torpedo the customary live broadcast of a match involving the national team.

MOTOR RACING

IT seems to me that something is very wrong if the competition between tyre manufacturers to increase speed - pushing the speedometer needle ever higher - puts the lives of track officials at ever greater risk. The death in the Australian GP of marshall Graham Beveridge is of far greater importance than whether Michael Schumacher, in his Ferrari, wins the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday and becomes the only living person to take six titles in a row. If racing can be made safer by introducing more control, then the International Automobile Association ought to waste no time in seeing to it. No amount of glamour or glory transcends human life.

RUGBY

IN the current spell, there is still one more home game for the Sharks in their Super 12 campaign. For a change, though, it's a 5pm kickoff as they take on Matthew Burke's Waratahs from New South Wales.

WEEK'S INSTANT REPLAY

HE'S the man they all love to hate. Couldn't help feeling sorry for poor Shane Warne (pictured) as his plump face took on the most woebegone of looks as VVS Laxman clouted another of his deliveries for yet another boundary in India's triumph over Australia. With figures of 34 overs, three maidens, 152 for 1, who could blame a fella for looking a little woebegone?

SUNDAY

Boxing: SA flyweight title, Gabula Vabaza v Ncedo Cocana, SABC2, 5.05pm.

Cricket: Second Test, West Indies v South Africa, day 2, SS1 on DStv, 3.30pm.

SuperSport Series, Super Eights, Northerns v WP, day 4, SS-Xtra on DStv, 9.25am.

Third Test, India v Australia, day 1, SS Int on DStv, 6am.

Golf: US PGA Tour, Bay Hill Invitational, final round, SS Int on DStv, 9.30pm.

Motor Sport: Malaysian Formula 1 Grand Prix, SABC3, 8am.

Rugby: Super 12, Highlanders v Stormers, SS on M-Net and SS1 on DStv, 1pm.

Vodacom Cup, WP v SW Districts, SS2 on DStv, 2.50pm.

Soccer: BobSave Superbowl, Bush Bucks v Kaizer Chiefs, SABC2, 2.30pm.

English Premiership, Aston Villa v Arsenal, SS Int on DStv, 6pm.

English First Division, Wolves v West Brom, SS-Xtra on DStv, 3pm.

Tennis: The Masters Series: Indian Wells, final, SS2 on DStv, SS2 on DStv, 9.25pm.

MONDAY

Cricket: Second Test, West Indies v South Africa, day 3, SS1 on DStv, 3.30pm.

Third Test, India v Australia, day 2, SS Int on DStv, 6am.

TUESDAY

Cricket: Second Test, West Indies v South Africa, day 4, SS1 on DStv, 3.30pm.

Third Test, India v Australia, day 3, SS Int on DStv, 6am.

WEDNESDAY

Cricket: Second Test, West Indies v South Africa, day 5, SS1 on DStv, 3.30pm.

SuperSport Series, Super Eights, final, day 1, SS2 on DStv, 9.55am.

Third Test, India v Australia, day 4, SS Int on DStv, 6am.

Soccer: BobSave Superbowl, Free State Stars v Sundowns, SABC2, 3pm.

THURSDAY

Cricket: SuperSport Series, Super Eights, final, day 2, SS1 on DStv and CSN, 9.55am.

Third Test, India v Australia, day 5, SS Int on DStv, 6am.

Golf: US PGA Tour, The Players Championship, first round, SS2 on DStv, 7pm and SS1 on DStv and CSN, 10.40pm.

FRIDAY

Cricket: SuperSport Series, Super Eights, final, day 3, SS2 on DStv, 9.55am and SS1 on DStv and CSN, 11am.

Golf: US PGA Tour, The Players Championship, second round, SS2 on DStv, 7pm.

Rugby: Super 12, Crusaders v Reds, SS on M-Net and SS1 on DStv and CSN, 8.20am.

Super 12, Cats v Hurricanes, SS on M-Net and SS1 on DStv, 7pm.

SATURDAY

Cricket: SuperSport Series, SuperEights final, day 4, SS2 on DStv, 9.55am.

Golf: US PGA Tour, The Players Championship, third round, SS on CSN and SS1 on DStv, 9pm.

Rowing: The Boat Race - Oxford v Cambridge, SS Xtra1 on DStv, 3.15pm.

Rugby: Super 12, Highlanders v Bulls, SS on M-Net and SS1 on DStv, 6.20am.

Super 12, Brumbies v Stormers, SS on M-Net and SS1 on DStv, 10.20am.

Super 12, Sharks v Waratahs, SS on M-Net and SS1 on DStv, 4.50pm.

Vodacom Cup, Wildebeest v Free State, SABC3, 3pm.

Vodadcom Cup, Griquas v Border, SS on M-Net and SS1 on DStv, 2.45pm.

Soccer: African Nations Cup qualifier, South Africa v Mauritius, SABC1, 3pm.

World Cup qualifier, England v Finland, SS Int on DStv, 4.45pm.

Tennis: The Masters Series, Ericsson Open, day 1, SS2 on DStv, 6pm.

- All times supplied by TV channels and subject to change