He is leaving nothing to chance here, having studied Lazio’s customary 4-4-2 against Milan on Sunday.The European champions prevailed 1-0, yet Lazio were “magnificent”, Ranieri reported, adding that Mancini had “an Italian team with an international mentality”. They drew and lost their two most recent Premiership games and looked short of tactical nous and teamwork when losing 2-0 at home to Besiktas in their last European fixture.Despite such evidence to the contrary, Veron argued that they are “slowly improving” and becoming a cohesive force rather than a collection of individuals. But, after two patchy seasons with Manchester United, and a staccato start to his career at Chelsea since a £15m move in August, he is keenly aware of the need to show why Ranieri hailed him as “the best midfielder in the world”.”I think I had a very good start here, but what Mr Ranieri said about me was because he had seen videos of me playing for Sampdoria and Lazio,” Veron said as the Italian nodded in reiteration of his close-season praise. “I certainly feel that now is the time for me to pay back on the pitch the trust he has shown in me.”Described by his former team-mate Sinisa Mihajlovic as a “Laziale” [Lazio fan], Veron claimed that facing his old club would provide “an extra stimulus” Chelsea need it. However, Ranieri noted that Lazio, these days coached by Roberto Mancini, may have an advantage in the first of their back-to-back meetings “because they are a team and we are building”.Mihajlovic, who scored the winner at Chelsea when the sides met in the same competition in 2000, believed it was about more than the players knowing each other better. Stamford Bridge will become Little Italy tonight as Chelsea, brimming with Serie A connections, confront Lazio in a Champions’ League match that has more than sentimental significance for one of the three players in Claudio Ranieri’s squad who once plied their trade with the Roman club.
Juan Sebastian Veron’s two years with Lazio were the finest of his life, the Argentinian said yesterday. Marcus Trescothick continued his prolific winter and guided England to a flying start in the opening Test today after Bangladesh were dismissed for a lowly 203.

Bad light stopped play 5.02pm.England: M E Trescothick, M P Vaughan, M A Butcher, N Hussain, G P Thorpe, R Clarke, C M W Read, G J Batty, A F Giles, S J Harmison, M J Hoggard.Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pak) and E A R De Silva (S Lanka).TV Replay Umpire: A F M AkhtaruddinMatch Referee: Wasim Raj (Pak).. However, this had to be weighed up against the fact that England may have been batting in these difficult conditions after losing the toss on an overcast morning.Harmison’s second wicket, that of Habibul Bashar, was the one England wanted most. With two hundreds and a Test average of 50 this year, Habibul is Bangladesh’s best batsman. But he and the 10,000 who stayed to watch an historic day’s cricket will be disappointed with the carve that flew to Marcus Trescothick at first slip.DHAKA SCOREBOARDBangladesh won the tossBANGLADESH – First innings Hannan Sarkar not out 18 Javed Omar c Clarke b Harmison 3 Habibul Bashar c Trescothick b Harmison 2 Rajin Saleh not out 0 Extras (b1) 1 Total (for 2, 65 mins, 15 overs) 24 Fall: 1-12 (Javed Omar), 2-24 (Habibul Bashar).To bat: Alok Kapali, Khaled Mahmud, Khaled Mashud, Mushfiqur Rahman, Mohammad Rafique, Mashrafe Mortaza, Emanul Haque Jnr.Bowling: Hoggard 8-3-14-0, Harmison 7-3-9-2 (one spell each).Progress: First day: rain stopped play 9.48am to 4.14pm 1-0 (Hannan Sarkar 0, Javed Omar 1) 4 overs.

To be fair to Harmison, he rose to the challenge on this occasion.Taking wickets with the new ball is vital and Javed Omer was the first to go in the 10th over when he received a brute of a ball that lifted sharply from just short of a length. He looked on helplessly as the ball struck the shoulder of his bat and lobbed softly to gully where Rikki Clarke – who along with Worcestershire’s Gareth Batty was making his debut for England – pinched a simple catch in front of Ashley Giles. If Clarke had dropped the catch, which was Giles’, he would have taken some awful flak but it was reassuring to see a young man taking responsibility.England were in control on a pitch that had been juiced up after spending several hours under a plastic sheet – without the hessian sheet that is normally put over the surface first to stop it sweating. With the ball nipping about, Vaughan must have wondered whether it was the right decision to leave out Richard Johnson. In Asia you play in unique conditions which can often neutralise mismatches. When the heavens opened, Bangladesh had faced four searching overs from Matthew Hoggard and Harmison and were 1 for 0.After an hour in the dressing-room watching the ground-staff attempting to remove the water from the covers with plastic dustpans and the “whales” – machines used to take puddles of water from the outfield – England’s cricketers returned to the team hotel to relax. At this stage they had given up hope of any further play on the first day.Following an inspection from the umpires at 2.45pm, Michael Vaughan’s side were stung into action when it was announced that play would restart at 4.15pm with 19 overs to be bowled.

If he continues to bowl as he did in yesterday’s twilight session Harmison will be the first name on Vaughan’s team-sheet for some time to come.With England deciding to go into the match with two spinners and two specialist fast bowlers, Harmison would have realised that the pressure was on him here to make his overs count. In the end, only 11 overs were bowled before play was suspended due to bad light, but there was time enough for Harmison to give the home side a taste of things to come.Before this Test match Harmison had a little moan about the fact that he felt his contribution to the England side over the last 18 months had not received the recognition it deserved. Bangladesh do not deal in half measures. We want a clean sport,” said IAAF general secretary Istvan Gyulai.”This is a great opportunity. Top sprinter Dwain Chambers tonight denied ever knowingly taking performance-enhancing drugs after it was reported that he had tested positive for a bannned anabolic steroid. The surviving cities have been set a deadline of 15 November, 2004, to submit their full bids..