Slater was on 54 at stumps with Australia 107 for 1.Steve Waugh chose to bowl on winning the toss but the pitch disproved predictions that it would favour the fast bowlers. There was hardly a trace of life and the West Indies were simply undermined by McGrath’s probing accuracy and movement and their own blatant lack of self-belief.Australian success did not come right away. McGrath and Brett Lee failed to make the expected breakthrough in their opening spells and Waugh turned to the leg-spinner Stuart MacGill after 10 overs.MacGill obliged by finding the edge of Sherwin Campbell’s bat for a slip catch in his third over but, on Lara’s appearance, Waugh allowed MacGill one more over before summoning McGrath to renew his celebrated confrontation with the left-hander. He needed one ball to remove him for the 11th time in Tests as Lara’s tentative push outside off-stump found the edge on its way to the wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist.The West Indies soldiered on to 45 for 2 at lunch but then went into the type of tail-spin that has become a familiar feature of their cricket of late. Seven wickets tumbled for 22 from 13.2 overs – five to McGrath, who was twice on a hat-trick.The top scorer was Daren Ganga, the solid right-handed opener, who spent two hours, 25 minutes and 104 balls over 20 before he edged to Ricky Ponting off Lee, one of seven batsmen caught either in the slips or by the wicketkeeper.The West Indian woes were typified by the run out of Ramnaresh Sarwan for one of five ducks in the innings. He was well short of his ground attempting an unnecessary second leg-bye to Ponting’s throw from fine leg.First day; Australia won tossWEST INDIES – First InningsS L Campbell c M Waugh b MacGill 10 D Ganga c Ponting b Bichel 20 B C Lara c Gilchrist b McGrath 0 S Chanderpaul c Gilchrist b McGrath 18 *J C Adams not out 16 R R Sarwan run out 0 ÿR D Jacobs c M Waugh b McGrath 2 N A M McLean lbw b McGrath 0 M Dillon c Gilchrist b McGrath 0 M I Black c MacGill b McGrath 0 C A Walsh c Langer b Lee 9 Extras (lb6 nb1) 7Total (49.1 overs) 82Fall: 1-21 2-25 3-53 4-59 5-60 6-63 7-63 8-67 9-67.Bowling: McGrath 20-12-17-6; Lee 11.1-5-24-1; MacGill 5-1-10-1; Bichel 13-3-25-1.AUSTRALIA – First InningsM J Slater not out 54 M L Hayden run out 44 A J Bichel not out 4 Extras (lb3 nb2) 5Total (for 1, 40 overs) 107Fall: 1-101.To bat: J L Langer, M E Waugh, *S R Waugh, R T Ponting, ÿA C Gilchrist, B Lee, S C G MacGill, G D McGrath.Bowling (to date): Walsh 13-3-33-0; Black 9-1-24-0; Dillon 7-2-27-0; McLean 8-2-18-0; Adams 3-2-2-0.Umpires: D B Cowie (NZ) and D J Harper (Aus).. For Arsenal, it seems, November is the cruellest month.

Once the clocks go back, so do Arsÿne Wenger’s team, regularly losing ground after a bright autumnal start in the Premiership and Europe, while the reserves dip out of the Worthington Cup. Three years ago, the 11th month brought three defeats in five matches, and the following season, one game was won out of seven

For Arsenal, it seems, November is the cruellest month. Once the clocks go back, so do Arsÿne Wenger’s team, regularly losing ground after a bright autumnal start in the Premiership and Europe, while the reserves dip out of the Worthington Cup. Three years ago, the 11th month brought three defeats in five matches, and the following season, one game was won out of seven.
Even a better run this time last year was marred by a farewell to the Champions’ League and defeat by Tottenham, and this month, with a visit to Leeds on Sunday still to come, the record stands at one win and three goals from six matches.There was only cold comfort during the retreat from a frozen Moscow on Wednesday after a 4-1 beating administered by the gifted technicians of Spartak in the opening Group C game of the Champions’ League second phase. Wenger, while able to reflect on his side’s stirring start, in which Silvinho scored and Nwankwo Kanu, if not Thierry Henry, should also have done, is realistic enough to know that, thereafter, they were outplayed by the regular Russian champions.The deficiencies exposed in recent matches against Derby County and Everton were not remedied by the return of Tony Adams in defence or Henry in attack. Adams, although still inspirational as a captain, discovered that Spartak’s two quicksilver Brazilian strikers, Luis Robson and Antonio Marcão, would not be discouraged by either Henry V rhetoric or temperatures that must have fallen to minus 15 degrees Centigrade by the end of the match. They needed to be marked more attentively than Adams or Martin Keown managed, and finished with three of the home side’s goals between them.Wenger identified the right people to take off in the ineffectual Kanu and then Robert Pires, who was prominent in attack early on, but offered the besieged left-back Silvinho no protection when it was required later.Naturally, the injured Patrick Vieira was missed in midfield and, with Ray Parlour carelessly collecting a third yellow card of the competition and a suspension, it is imperative that the Frenchman returns for the must-win game at home to Bayern Munich on Tuesday week, to partner Gilles Grimandi, who will be available after a ban.

The Corinthians midfielder Edu, whose proposed transfer fell through because of passport irregularities, is confident of weaving his way through Customs in the New Year, but Arsenal cannot afford to have another bad month before then.”We are in a difficult period,” Wenger admitted, “but we have the mental strength to redress the problem and show in the next game at Leeds that we are able to do it. It was only the first game of the group, so it’s not a catastrophe.” It was an undoubted setback, however, and Arsenal will have a better idea of precisely how serious a blow by the time of the return game on 6 March at Highbury, where Spartak won 5-2 in the Uefa Cup 18 years ago with a dazzling display of counter-attacking. They have therefore inflicted Arsenal’s biggest home and away defeats in European competition, and have been beaten only once in 11 matches against English opposition (losing 1-0 to Leeds at Elland Road last December after their home leg was moved to Sofia because all the Moscow pitches were unfit).Spartak have ensured that Group C is at least a three-horse race, which, with Lyon doing well in a narrow defeat away to Bayern on Wednesday, may yet involve four realistic contenders. “We can, and must, play much better,” said the Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld after that game. Reflecting on Arsenal’s form, Wenger can only echo those sentiments..

Patience has never been Dick Advocaat’s strong suit, but it finally paid off yesterday, when he signed Tore Andre Flo from Chelsea to end a five-year pursuit. The Rangers manager revealed that his £12m recruit – who has shattered the Scottish transfer record – has been an obsession ever since Flo was an unknown at Brann Bergen. Patience has never been Dick Advocaat’s strong suit, but it finally paid off yesterday, when he signed Tore Andre Flo from Chelsea to end a five-year pursuit. The Rangers manager revealed that his £12m recruit – who has shattered the Scottish transfer record – has been an obsession ever since Flo was an unknown at Brann Bergen.
“He destroyed my old club, PSV Eindhoven, on his own and knocked us out of the Uefa Cup,” Advocaat explained, “and I have been watching him ever since.”The 27-year-old striker has signed a four-and-a-half year contract and Advocaat recalled: “I tried to get him to PSV the year Ronaldo left [to join Barcelona] but he was going to Chelsea I tried many times [to sign him] when he was with Chelsea. I watched with interest the Chelsea line-up every week and for me it was good when he was not in the team. Now that he is finally coming to Rangers, it is great.”Advocaat admitted that Flo – who will make his debut on Sunday in the derby against Celtic at Ibrox – is an expensive signing, whose fee takes the Dutchman’s expenditure since he joined Rangers to £71m “It is a lot of money,” said the Dutch coach “Maybe too much for one player.

But that is the price we have to pay for a player of his quality and these are the market prices.”Flo admitted it had been a wrench to leave Chelsea, where he had spent four seasons, but had grown frustrated by his limited role. “I like Chelsea very much and it is a great club but unfortunately for me I didn’t play enough and I had to do something about it,” he said.Flo is ineligible for Rangers’ Uefa Cup campaign, which merely heightens the pressure on him to deliver at domestic level and claw back the 15-point lead held by Celtic.”There will be a lot of pressure on me,” he said. “I will probably be more nervous on Sunday than I normally am. I have only ever seen the match on television before but I know it is very important.”The agent Jon Smith helped the Ibrox club sign the Norwegian. He said that Flo became frustrated with not getting a game for the London side under Claudio Ranieri. “We started this in May when I had a conversation with [the Rangers chairman] David Murray and he told me Tore Andre was his target,” Smith said.