Briefs 4-Villa to ditch Berger after Barry comments

May 6 (Reuters) - Sports news in brief from around the world:

Soccer - Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill said Czech midfielder Patrik Berger will not play for the Premier League club again after he urged team mate Gareth Barry to move to Liverpool.

"I was really disappointed and surprised that Patrik, with all his experience of dealing with the press, would make such an inappropriate comment," O'Neill told the club Web Site (www.avfc.co.uk) on Tuesday.

The midfielder, 34, who has made eight league starts in the last three seasons for Villa, had already been expected to leave the club at the end of the season. Villa are away to West Ham on Sunday in the final round of matches.

Cricket - The International Cricket Council (ICC) is to consider a Test match league or periodic play-off between the world's top two sides to maintain the five-day game as the sport's pinnacle.

The ICC's cricket committee, chaired by former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, recommended in Dubai on Tuesday that there was a need to identify a balance between tests, one-day internationals and the increasingly popular Twenty/20 formats.

The committee also agreed on a proposed set of playing conditions for the trialing of an umpires' decision review system which is to be tested during a test series this year. The ICC Board could ratify the plans on June 29.