“There’s no doubt that this visit comes at an interesting time for him. I can only hope that Uefa will understand a bit more.” Which raises the issue as to whether or not Mourinho is taking part in a stunt to deflect criticism That theory is given short shrift. It is a subject with which he has been well acquainted in recent weeks, verbal and threatened physical aggression dominating his dealings with Uefa. And there is the drama of the alleged tapping-up of Ashley Cole.Beer is not concerned that Mourinho’s tribulations will overshadow the visit. “You can look at it the other way and say without these issues there would be less than the 150 journalists from all over the world coming,” he said.

“For us it is a privilege to have someone like him,” Beer said.Mourinho, on Easter Monday, will also visit the Knesset in Jerusalem where he will be the guest of Collette Avital, the former Israeli ambassador to Portugal. It is a busy day – the vote takes place on passing the budget and an election looms – but the Israelis are keen for Mourinho to meet members of their committee against violence in sport. The next day he will deliver a lecture to 150 football coaches including everyone from the Israeli first and second divisions. There is even an unsubstantiated rumour that Mourinho will meet the Israeli national team to give a pep talk ahead of their World Cup qualifier against France. Mourinho – along with the Israeli deputy prime minister Shimon Peres – will attend a football tournament at the Vinter Stadium in Ramat Gan involving mixed teams of 200 Israeli and Palestinian children, then coach in an adult match. The joke doing the rounds in Tel Aviv right now is that the biggest achievement after agreeing peace in the Middle East would be to wrestle the European Cup from Jose Mourinho.

It is a remark recalled with a chuckle by Alon Beer, the director of the sport unit at the Peres Centre for Peace, which will welcome Mourinho to the Israeli capital this weekend.
As he sits in his fourth-floor office in the heart of the city Beer knows that he and his team have landed a coup in persuading the Chelsea manager to come. Taylor hit 11 fours and a six in her 136 out of England’s 284 for 4, before they bowled out Sri Lanka for just 70.. Afridi was the first to go for a golden duck, when he tried to drive a pitched-up ball from Lakshmipathy Balaji, and edged straight to Rahul Dravid. Hameed did not last much longer as he was dismissed for six runs when he waved his bat at Irfan Pathan’s delivery to give Dinesh Karthik an easy catch.However, from a desperate position, Inzamam helped Pakistan out of their early slumber by dominating the rest of the day. India, who retained the side which won the second Test in Calcutta, introduced Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh into the attack, but that did little to stop Pakistan’s momentum.The partnership remained unscathed as Inzamam reached his century. First he made the highest score made by a batsman in his 100th Test, beating Greenidge’s 149, before achieving the highest score by a Pakistan captain against India ­ the previous best a 168 from Zaheer Abbas at Lahore in 1984-85.Shortly before the close, Inzamam and Khan achieved the 300-run partnership, which came off 493 balls, to leave the tourists in a strong position as they seek to level the three-match series.¿ Claire Taylor’s hundred helped England take maximum points from their second match at the women’s World Cup, via a 214-run victory over Sri Lanka at the Harlequins club in South Africa.