Formula One will have 12 teams this season, instead of a planned 13, after a late replacement for the USF1 entry was ruled out by the governing body on Wednesday.

The International Automobile Federation (FIA) said in a statement that USF1 had “indicated that they will not be in a position to participate in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship.

“Having considered the various options, the FIA confirms that it is not possible for a replacement team to be entered for the Championship at this late stage.”

The decision ended the hopes of Serbian-backed Stefan GP, who were waiting in the wings to take the stricken American team’s place at next week’s season-opener in Bahrain.

The FIA said it would announce shortly details of a new selection process “to identify candidates to fill any vacancies existing at the start of the 2011 season.”

Charlotte, North Carolina-based USF1 had planned to become Formula One’s first all-American team in more than 40 years but struggled to raise funding during the worst economic downturn to hit America since the 1930s.

Principal Ken Anderson had said on Tuesday that his team, one of four newcomers planning to debut this season, had asked to defer their entry for a year and had meanwhile told employees to stop work at the factory.

USF1 had previously announced a deal for Argentine Jose Maria Lopez to drive for them. Lopez’s management has since terminated the contract.

Stefan GP, run by Serbian businessman Zoran Stefanovic and encouraged by F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, had agreed a deal with Toyota [ Images ] to use the cars they had built for this season before the manufacturer pulled out at the end of last year.

Japan’s [ Images ] Kazuki Nakajima [ Images ] would have been one of their drivers while Canada’s [ Images ] former world champion Jacques Villeneuve had also been in contact with the team, who had not taken part in any testing.

The absence of USF1 left Virgin Racing, Malaysian-backed Lotus Racing and the renamed HRT F1 (formerly Campos Meta) as the three completely new teams.

HRT are the only team still to confirm their second driver, although Indian Karun Chandhok [ Images ] is expected to be announced at a presentation in Spain on Thursday alongside already-signed Brazilian Bruno Senna.

• Two New IPL teams for Season 4 to be announced on March 8 2010
• Twenty 20 fever
• Casey Stoner back in world championship race

Brett Lee, Damien Martyn and Shane Warne are en route to the Indian Premier League and other Australian players are likely to follow as tensions ease regarding security plans.

The threat of overseas player withdrawals hung over the IPL so long as tournament organisers refused to provide evidence of their security plans to player unions around the world, but the air appears to have cleared.

Tim May, the president of the Federation of International Cricketers Associations (FICA), said the unions were now in possession of far more substantial information regarding security.

“This is a significant step forward. The more information you provide the players with, the greater the likelihood that they will attend the event,” May told BBC Sport.

“We have a significant amount of information we did not have previously, which will assist players making far more informed decisions about whether to go or not.

“We haven’t reached utopia yet, but the new information has given us greater confidence.

“Last week we were operating in an information vacuum.”

The most pointed threat against players had come from the “313 Brigade” offshoot of Al-Qaeda, but independent consultant Reg Dickason has now deemed it to be “not credible”.

Dickason is presently working alongside the England team in Bangladesh.

Ian Smith, the legal director of the English union, said the situation had improved markedly, though he was critical of IPL chief Lalit Modi.

“The situation is a hell of a lot better than it was a week ago,” Smith told the Times.

“I am cautiously optimistic that we can reach a point before the start of the tournament where Reg can say it is safe enough to travel.

“We are getting closer. Ultimately it comes down to individual players and their individual circumstances.

“It has been a most frustrating period because guys feel thwarted and partly angry because of the way Lalit has chosen to spin it as a political move on our part.

“We cannot seem to get it into his head that we are genuinely interested in the safety of the players.”

• Cricket: IPL security details boost confidence
• Serious concerns’ over IPL security
• Vettori in no rush to make IPL decision

JOHN HOWARD has had many things said of him. The nicest, he says, was the cricketer Mark Taylor’s description of the then prime minister as a cricket tragic.

”It fits the bill,” Mr Howard said, buoyed by capturing the future presidency of the International Cricket Council, the sport’s global governor.

”It’s a game I’ve loved all my life. It’s very dear to me and I want to see it promoted around the world, even more than it is at the present.” Mr Howard, 70, will become ICC president when Sharad Pawar of India - himself a product of politics, rather than sport - relinquishes the role in mid-2012. Mr Pawar will replace the ICC chairman, David Morgan, on July 1, when Mr Howard will become ICC vice-president.

Yesterday Mr Howard secured the Australia-New Zealand joint nomination over the businessman and former Kiwi cricket board chairman Sir John Anderson. So contested was the position, the former British Airways chief Sir Rod Eddington was called on by an Australasian nomination committee to break the impasse.

Mr Howard said yesterday he was honoured at being approached by Cricket Australia late last year. While it was ”presumptuous of me to go into my ideas now”, the different forms of the sport - Tests and limited overs - each had to grow by drawing on their respective strengths, not by eliminating one another.

”There’s a place for all forms. No doubt, deep in the hearts of cricket followers, Test cricket is still the essence of the game, but younger people are very attracted to the shortest form” of Twenty20 matches.

He suggested elite players might need more rest: ”You have to respect scheduling pressure on players.”

Speaking at his Sydney office, surrounded by cricket and Digger memorabilia, two symbols he championed as prime minister, Mr Howard wasn’t going near controversy, even when it was suggested the Rudd government had secretly tried to block his nomination. ”It’s not a matter for the government; it’s a matter for cricket. I’m trying to keep this a Rudd-free news conference.”

Asked who would win today’s 50-overs match against New Zealand at Napier, Mr Howard said: ”You know where my natural sympathy lies but I’m a nominee of the two countries. I’m trying to practise some diplomacy.”

Practice, they say, makes perfect. So how was his bowling technique progressing? ”You can always improve.” Time for a little diplomacy ourselves?

• Howard faces tough road ahead: Murali
• ICC wants quick end to venue row
• Opinion: T20 fever

MUTTIAH MURALITHARAN has forgiven John Howard for calling him a chucker but says the former prime minister faces a challenge to win over the subcontinent when he assumes the post as International Cricket Council president in 2012.

The veteran Sri Lankan off-spinner, who has taken more wickets than any player in the history of the game, previously stated the ”only reason” for his refusal to tour Australia with his national team in 2004 was the public questioning of his bowling action by Howard. When asked at a function whether Muralitharan threw the ball, Howard replied: ”Yes, they proved it,” prompting an international furore.

Muralitharan, 37, said yesterday his feud with Howard was ”all finished” but noted the cricket-mad subcontinent and the all-important Asian bloc of the ICC might need more convincing.

”I’m not upset or angry with him or anything. At the time, I thought it was wrong - that was my opinion and he had his,” he told the Herald.”It was not appropriate at the time but it’s all [in the] past.

”We’ve got to think about the future: how is he going to handle things in cricket? It won’t be an easy job. He has to convince the subcontinent - that’s going to be a tough challenge for him.”

Muralitharan stood by his decision not to tour Australia but with his career coming to a close - he will retire from Test cricket at the end of 2010 - the champion bowler said time had tempered his resentment.

”At the time, Sri Lankans all supported me so that’s why I stayed back,” he said. ”But things pass … I tell him, ‘All the best in 2012.’ Anybody can make mistakes. We are all human, life goes on. You don’t get a second chance so you’ve got to forget and forgive.”

Howard later apologised for his comments, Muralitharan said, and the two were seen to make up when the spinner took part in the Asian tsunami relief match between an Asia XI and a World XI at the MCG in January 2005. Howard’s nomination as the Cricket Australia and New Zealand Cricket candidate to serve as ICC president from 2012 was welcomed by Ricky Ponting. The Australian captain said Howard would ”do a terrific job for world cricket”.

”He gets my congratulations and he gets the congratulations of the team,” Ponting said in Napier. ”No one can doubt his passion for the game. It’s great that someone of his standing wants the job. It can’t hurt the ICC to have someone of his ilk in the position he’s going to be in. It’s not about Australia, it’s not about anybody else, it’s just about the global game, and I’m sure he’ll do a good job in that role. It’s good news for cricket.”

A self-proclaimed cricket tragic, Howard has long voiced his passion for the game. Ponting believes his love for cricket, particularly in its traditional five-day form, was not contrived for political public relations purposes.

”It was genuine,” Ponting said. ”We’ve seen him at even more games since he finished as prime minister [in 2007].”

• We’re still No.1, says Clarke; public agrees
• Can’t bat, can’t bowl - but he’s caught the top job
• Ponting joins 10,000 club

BRETT Lee believes a successful comeback to cricket in the imminent Indian Premier League is the first step to reclaiming his position in the Australian team for the World Twenty20 and next year’s 50-over World Cup.

The 33-year-old is confident that a gruelling training and rehabilitation regime has him on the brink of returning to cricket — and bowling at full pace — after a four-month absence with an elbow injury.

“I’ve been working very, very closely with Patrick Farhart — he’s been my physio for 16 years — and he’s happy with the way it’s progressing,” Lee told The Herald.

“I’m looking to be up to full pace within a couple of weeks.”

Speaking from Dubai, at the opening of Emirates airlines’ training centre for the Kings XI Punjab team, Lee insisted his recent retirement from Test cricket had not curbed his international ambitions in limited-overs cricket.

“It was . . . a lifestyle choice through having a young son. I don’t want to be away 11 months of the year,” he said.

“There are many things I want to achieve in the shorter form of the game. One, the Twenty20 world cup for Australia; and two, the 50-over World Cup for Australia in India. I want to be a part of that.”

The elbow injury that cause Lee to miss the entire Australian summer came just two days after he led NSW to victory in the inaugural Champions League Twenty20. His dominance despite the presence of some of the best Twenty20 batsmen in the world, such as Kieron Pollard and Brad Hodge, was enough for him to claim Player of the Tournament for his eight wickets at an average of 9.88. The wickets were coupled with an extraordinary economy rate of under four per over.

Lee’s only season of IPL, in 2008, saw him average 20.5 runs per wicket from four matches, although he said the Champions League had shown he had improved his bowling in the shortest form of the game.

“Just like anything, experience [matters].”

While Lee is not declaring he will be able to bowl at full pace in time for the Kings XI’s opening match against Delhi in 10 days’ time, he said his experience in recovering from serious injuries previously in his career had fortified his belief he will make a successful comeback in the IPL.

“Unfortunately or fortunately — whichever way you look at it — I’ve had a few operations now so I really know what you’ve got to do after it. If it was the first one then I’d be a little bit nervous but I’ve been through it before so I know what I have to do. It doesn’t make it [physically] any easier but it just makes the mental side of things a little bit more relaxed.”

Lee was among the preliminary 30-man Australian squad named last week for the World Twenty20, to begin in the West Indies at the conclusion of the IPL, but the New South Welshman said he was prepared to withdraw from the international tournament if his body or performances were not up to scratch in the IPL.

“You’ve got to be bowling well and bowling fast. If I can’t get back and bowl the way I want to, whether it’s through [bowling with] pace or through pain, I won’t play. But I don’t think that will be the case, I’m confident my body will stand up to it,” he said.

“I’ve got nothing to prove, I’m no out there to prove that I’m bigger and better than ever. I’m just going to keep trying to bowl quick and if I can do the business on the field and still enjoy my cricket that will make me very proud.”

• Warne uses brain power to win
• Aussies juggle world T20 focus with Ashes
• Twenty20 fever

The signs are improving that New Zealand’s players will get a positive report ahead of taking part in this month’s Indian Premier League.

Amid security fears in India, the players unions of New Zealand, England, South Africa and Australia have been urging the IPL to beef up their arrangements to a satisfactory level.

The league’s officials have provided the union groups with security details and confirmation that it will be implemented at all venues.

It is not a done deal yet for the tournament which starts on March 12. Players have the final say, but take advice from their unions.

“This is a significant step forward,” former Australian spinner Tim May, now head of the players international body Fica, said yesterday.

Five New Zealand players have contracts for the league.

Non-test pair Shane Bond and Jacob Oram are due to join their Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Superstars franchises after the ODI series against Australia ends on March 13.

Those with test commitments, national captain Dan Vettori, wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum and leading batsman Ross Taylor, won’t join Delhi Daredevils, Kolkata and Bangalore Royal Challengers until next month.

Plenty of behind-the-scenes work has been going on to tighten security arrangements.

“Clearly progress is being made and things are improving, but not quite to the level you’d expect,” Heath Mills, New Zealand Cricket Players’ Association executive manager said yesterday.

“We’re hopeful it will continue to improve leading into the event.”

A status report requested by the unions has provided encouraging information, including downsizing the threat of action from a cell of the al Qaeda terrorist group.

May said the new information had given them greater confidence.

IPL boss Lalit Modi maintained the IPL have not changed their security plans - “I think it is more a case of t

• Serious concerns’ over IPL security
• Aussies head to India for IPL start
• Vettori in no rush to make IPL decision

WELLINGTON: Former New Zealand keeper Adam Parore has heaped praises on Indian master blaster Sachin Tendulkar after the cricket legend scored a double ton against South Africa, and described him as the best batsman of the modern era.

Tendulkar is the only person who has the ability score a double century in the history of one-day international cricket, he said.

“When Sachin Tendulkar busted the double-hundred ceiling this week I was surprised in one respect; but not in another. I doubted anyone would get to 200, as Tendulkar did against South Africa. It seemed insurmountable, considering all the factors which must work in the batsman’s favour,” Parore said.

Comparing three modern greats, Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Ricky Ponting, Parore said: “In ODIs, Tendulkar is The Man, simply the best of all time, by some distance, and that’s saying something given the class of the other two. But numbers shout out his case.”

“This was his 46th ODI ton in 442 games; Ponting’s made 29 in 340 while Lara got 19 in 299 matches. And his Test record is pretty hard to argue with, having accumulated most hundreds and most runs,” NZ Herald quoted Parore, as saying.

“Two players have reached 194. I didn’t see Charles Coventry’s effort for Zimbabwe against Bangladesh, but I saw Saeed Anwar get there for Pakistan against India 13 years ago.

“Anwar was brilliant and that day he was off the planet. He accelerated towards the end of his innings, but Tendulkar seems to have been on the pace the whole way. And he timed it to perfection, reaching 200 in the final over of the innings,” Parore said.

Parore said Tendulkar is an exceptional athlete with remarkable powers of concentration to go with his talent.

• IPL2: Hits, ifs and misses
• Symonds tops big money flops!!
• Pride of Australia humbled in India

Google, the Internet’s most profitable company, is giving $US2 million ($A2.2m) to support Wikipedia, a volunteer-driven reference tool that has emerged as one of the Web’s most-read sites.

The donation announced Wednesday matches the largest grant made so far to Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit group that oversees the 7-year-old Wikipedia. Ebay founder Pierre Omidyar also donated $US2 million to Wikimedia six months ago through one of his investment arms.

The latest largesse has catapulted Wikimedia beyond its $US10.6 million revenue target for its fiscal year ending in June. That goal had looked ambitious, given that it represented an increase of more than 20 percent from $US8.7 million a year earlier.

But the worst recession since World War II evidently didn’t dampen support for the Internet’s most popular encyclopedia, which has more than 14 million entries written and edited by some 100,000 unpaid contributors in about 270 languages.

Wikimedia, which gets most of its revenue from donations, has collected contributions from more than 240,000 individuals so far this fiscal year, mostly in small sums.

The outpouring has allowed Wikipedia to expand while keeping its Web site commercial free, spokesman Jay Walsh said. “We intend to keep it that way, too.”

Wikimedia, based in San Francisco, plans to spend about $US9.4 million of its revenue this year, mostly to pay salaries and benefits to a staff of more than 30 people. The second-biggest expense is for operating Wikipedia’s Web site.

The donation is a pittance for Google, which ended December with $US24 billion in cash. Google makes much of its money from ads that run alongside Internet search results, many of which send people to Wikipedia.

In a statement, Google co-founder Sergey Brin hailed Wikipedia as “one of the greatest triumphs of the Internet”.

• Yahoo CEO to Microsoft: Make us another offer
• IPL innovation a big global hit: Report
• Computer sent Qantas jet into dive: investigators

Companies looking for new sources of revenue are getting excited about Apple’s latest offering, writes Stephen Hutcheon.

A senior New York Times executive working on the newspaper’s digital strategy says Apple’s new iPad tablet computer is ”revolutionary” and an ”exciting” prospect for publishers.

Marc Frons, the company’s chief technology officer, said the device would present ”the best of print and digital in one package” with ”exquisite typography” and ”dynamic page layout”.

The iPad, unveiled last month, has generated much excitement in the media and publishing industries because of its potential to allow them to charge for content that has until now been given away online.

Mr Frons, a former journalist, was speaking at Fairfax Digital’s Media 2010 conference in Sydney yesterday. ”It’s both very exciting and scary for us,” he told new media professionals.

Fairfax Digital is the online arm of Fairfax Media, the publisher of the Herald.

The iPad is expected to go on sale next month, with a price tag in Australia starting from about $550. Like its stablemate, the iPhone, its content will be delivered largely through applications delivered via Apple’s online store.

The iPad strategy is tied up with a decision by The New York Times to erect a pay wall around its online content next year.

It announced last month that it would use a ”metered model”, charging readers to access online content after they had read a certain number of articles in a month. Subscribers will get free access.

Mr Frons said the paid access would be bundled with mobile applications and include free access to the newspaper’s extensive archives.

The pricing of the iPad application has become a topic of intense debate within the news organisation.

The print side of the operation is reported to be arguing that it should be set between $US20 ($22.50) and $US30 a month to avoid cannibalising print subscriptions.

Others say $US10 a month is a more realistic price.

Newspapers around the world are debating following the lead of The New York Times and Rupert Murdoch’s News Limited, which has also said it will begin charging for online content.

Mr Frons said the future of journalism depended on finding a balance between charging for content and advertising. ”We really can’t succeed through online advertising alone.”

The editor of the international edition of the Norwegian media group Schibsted, Frederic Filloux, also addressed the Sydney conference.

He pointed out that the underlying challenge facing publishers was that there had been a ”a massive revenue depletion” in print and online over the past few years.

Mr Frons said the Times’s Apple iPad application would be available by autumn, built on HTML 5, a new web platform. He said the iPad was the ”first device that captures the portability, convenience and readability of print in a digital device”.

• EPL attracts Indian advertisers towards football
• Annual inflation seen at 11.07 pc
• IPL Tickets 2010 – IPL Cricket Tickets Info

New Zealand Cricket Players Association boss Heath Mills has confirmed there are serious concerns about security for next month’s Indian Premier League.

His association and its counterparts in Australia, South Africa and England want further assurances from the organisers of the lucrative tournament.

Mills was commenting publicly on the security report commissioned by the four countries which comes in the wake of last week’s specific threat to the tournament from terrorist network Al Qaeda.

“Our players are all up to speed with the content of that report. Together with us they remain concerned about travelling to India,” Mills said.

There had been major speculation that the report carried out by Australian Reg Dickason, an expert on security on the sub-continent, would raise doubts over the measures in place, especially with it deeming Al Qaeda’s threat as credible.

Mills said the independent report had identified some serious concerns with aspects of the current security process. These specifically related to the reported direct threat against the event and the status and implementation of the IPL’s security plan.

A united front by the leading international stars may be the only way to force action.

The respective players associations will co-ordinate their concerns through the Federation for International Cricketers’ Association (FICA) with the IPL and they await the response of the Indian organisers who clearly face some improvements to convince their drawcard international players.

But this comes against a backdrop where there are suggestions that the tournament organisers could pressure the players about their future involvement in the competition, the sport’s biggest money-earner.

Ultimately, despite official concerns from players’ associations it will come down to individuals making their own choices about participating with some having million-dollar contracts at stake.

New Zealand has Shane Bond, Ross Taylor, Daniel Vettori, Brendon McCullum, Jacob Oram and Scott Styris involved along with Stephen Fleming in a coaching capacity.

The Black Caps stars may be able to buy some time over their decisions. While the tournament starts on March 12 their involvement will only begin after next month’s tour of New Zealand by Australia is finished.

Last year’s IPL was switched to South Africa at the last minute because of similar concerns with security worries spread by the Indian general election.

Al-Qaeda also issued warnings over next week’s hockey World Cup in Delhi as well as October’s Commonwealth Games in the Indian capital.

The Black Sticks have arrived in Delhi to begin preparations there.

• Cricket: IPL security details boost confidence
• Vettori in no rush to make IPL decision
• Aussies head to India for IPL start