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Banned on solid evidence
Thanks for showing faith in my integrity, says Tendulkar |
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Middle-order will be crucial: Kohli
Australia thump England 6-1 in ODI series
Kubica ‘seriously’ injured in crash
Messi leads Barca to new record
Tarlochan Singh advocates C’wealth Award
Mendis, Perera shine for Lanka
Patiala to host five Ranji matches
Amarjeet wins
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Banned on solid evidence
Doha, February 6 "We are satisfied at the tribunal's decision, which was taken on solid evidence and we hope with this decision the image of the game will improve," Lorgat told a press conference in Doha. Lorgat, who was accompanied by the head of the ICC's anti-corruption and security unit, Ronnie Flanagan, was speaking a day after Butt, Aamer and Asif were handed lengthy bans for spot-fixing. Butt was banned for 10 years, with five years suspended, while Asif and Aamer were handed bans of seven years with two suspended and five years respectively. The charges relate to alleged incidents during the Test against England at Lord's last year, when Britain's News of the World newspaper claimed the players were willing to deliberately bowl no-balls. The newspaper alleged the three had colluded in a spot-fixing betting scam organised by British-based agent Mazhar Majeed. In a separate development on Friday, British prosecutors charged the three players as well as Majeed with corruption offences and summoned them to appear in a London court on March 17. The trio has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. Lorgat rejected the suggestion that the punishments were lenient. "I don't believe the sentences are lenient by any stretch of the imagination," said Lorgat. "I think they are balanced with an expert and experienced jury dealing with the case." The three-man tribunal was headed by Michael Beloff QC and also contained Albie Sachs of South Africa and Sharad Rao of Kenya. "In legal terms you have to be proportionate when you are giving punishment and we must distinguish between match-fixing and spot-fixing, and the jury was independent and they decided on proportionate punishments," said Lorgat. Butt and Aamer have expressed disappointment at the bans, with Butt hoping to get the ban reduced once the ICC code of conduct - which carries a mimimum five-year punishment — is amended.
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Thanks for showing faith in my integrity, says Tendulkar
New Delhi, February 6 In the recently released book 'Sach' written by noted scribe Gautam Bhattacharya, one gets to know the rare emotional side of the maestro as he spoke on a host of issues including how the entire country supported him during the ball-tampering episode in 2001 tour of South Africa. He also spoke about how he dealt with the ugly match-fixing episode, and the tragic 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai. Referring to episode of ball-tampering when match-referee Mike Denness handed him a one match ban on allegations of trying to lift the seam during a Test match at Port Elizabeth, Sachin has been quoted as saying, "But despite the incident, I was so happy for the trust and faith that the entire country expressed in me. "At times, it has been written that a nation walked with me every time I went out to bat. Here there was no bat. Yet they showed such faith in my integrity that I was touched. Till date I can't forget that." Tendulkar, who has been a picture of dignity during his long international career did admit being "shattered" with allegations levelled by Denness. "You know, I was completely shocked and shattered when he said the charge against me was for ball tampering. I tried telling him what the truth was. That I was just cleaning the grass on the ball. I was not picking the seam. At no stage did I do that. "If someone is trying to remove grass, how can you levy ball-tampering charges against him? But the match referee would hear none of it. Since then, whenever I clean the ball, I keep the umpires posted." When the murky episode of match-fixing rocked the nation, Tendulkar was like a picture of resilience. — PTI
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Middle-order will be crucial: Kohli
New Delhi, February 6 The 22-year-old Delhiite, the fastest Indian to cross the thousand-run-mark in ODIs, has left a couple of far more talented contemporaries behind, grabbing the opportunities he got. His marvellous attacking flair and consistency during the home series against New Zealand in December and then in the South Africa tour catapulted him to second place in the ODI rankings. The youngest member of the Indian squad says he is in the midst of a "dream run" and is looking forward to the World Cup at home. "Every time I think of a World Cup match, I imagine all eleven of us walking out in a packed stadium. I am definitely going to have goosebumps when I go out there. "I am living a dream. It's an amazing feeling to be in the World Cup squad. It gives me greater happiness than holding aloft the under-19 trophy. You can imagine how special it is for me," Kohli said. Elaborating on his middle-order theory, Kohli says it has been India's strength in the recent past. "I think the middle order has to first hold the innings and then guide it. It is our strength now. The strategy should be not to lose too many wickets till the 30-35 overs, and then accelerate the scoring, taking advantage of the last five overs of powerplay. We have won games like this. The idea is to build a solid foundation for even our lower order batsman to come and score. Despite his impressive debut in Dambulla against Sri Lanka in 2008, Kohli had to serve his waiting period and he got into limelight only when cracked a century at Eden Gardens as India chased a 315-run target against Sri Lanka a year later. He finally arrived, with back-to-back hundreds against Australia and New Zealand last year, showing maturity beyond his age. He was as adept timing his strokes on the bouncy South African pitches as he was on slower Indian tracks. "I was fortunate to have carried my form to South Africa from the New Zealand series. I picked a few things in the series against Black Caps and applied them in South Africa. I had a game plan and I am happy that worked in South Africa.— PTI
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Australia thump England 6-1 in ODI series
Perth, February 6 The English, who now return home for a few days of rest before departing for the World Cup next weekend, were never in the hunt after opener Andrew Strauss and Steven Davies both fell for ducks to leave them struggling at 5-2. Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen tried to re-start the innings, but the loss of both their wickets and that of Ian Bell left England on 64-5 and their hopes in tatters. Mitchell Johnson claimed 3-18 for the home side and the wayward Shaun Tait 3-48, but he also conceded nine wides and five no-balls. After electing to bat, half-centuries by Perth natives David Hussey and man-of-the-match Adam Voges helped the home side recover from a slow start to post an imposing total. Australia rested Michael Clarke and Shane Watson, and were 103-4 in the 26th over when stand-in captain Cameron White was dismissed for 24. However Hussey and Voges then brought their experience in local conditions to the crease to accelerate the Australian innings, putting on 95 in 83 balls. Voges, recalled for his first game of the series and not named in Australia's 15-man World Cup squad, remained unbeaten on 80 not out, while Hussey made 60. — AFP
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Kubica ‘seriously’ injured in crash
London, February 6 The Italian news agency ANSA reported, however, that the 26-year-old had suffered serious injuries with little more than a month to go before the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix. "Lotus Renault GP driver Robert Kubica suffered an accident at high speed this morning while competing in the Ronde di Andora Rally," the Renault statement said. "The driver was airlifted to Pietra Ligure Hospital, where he is currently undergoing medical checks. His co-driver is fine. "Lotus Renault GP will issue another statement as soon as more information is known about Robert's condition." Renault have Brazilian Bruno Senna and France's Romain Grosjean as their official third drivers. Senna competed last season for the HRT team while Grosjean started seven races for Renault in 2009. Neither has ever scored a point in Formula One. Kubica's race team mate is Russian Vitaly Petrov, who made his debut last season. ANSA said Kubica was heading to the start of the Ronde di Andora event near Genoa in a Skoda Fabia when the car went off the road and hit a church wall. The co-driver Jacub Gerber got out unhurt while Kubica had to be extracted by firemen. Kubica, a keen rally fan who has entered several events previously, tested the new Lotus-backed Renault in Valencia last week ahead of the Formula One season which starts in Bahrain on March 13. The Pole walked away virtually unscathed from a massive crash in Canada in 2007 but still bears the scars of a serious road accident as a passenger in 2003 that left him with titanium bolts in his arm. — AFP
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Messi leads Barca to new record
Madrid, February 6 The FIFA World Player now has 24 goals to his name, two more than Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo. Messi said that being top scorer "is what bothers me least of all. The important things is that we have won again and continued our run". He added, "I am very proud that we have broken the record," which was set by the Real Madrid team led by Alfredo Di Stefano in 1961. Atletico have lost their last three matches and are now seventh. Their brittle defence never seemed capable of shutting out Messi and company, who enjoyed almost 70 percent of possession. Messi opened the scoring in the 18th minute with a low near-post drive, after taking a short pass from Dani Alves and skipping past three Atletico defenders on the edge of the penalty area. Eleven minutes later Messi made it 2-0 by pouncing on a mistake from Antonio Lopez, who had failed to cut out a through-ball from David Villa. Atletico came out of their shell in the second half but failed to reduce arrears. Ten minutes from time, Messi completed his hat-trick after defender Diego Godin had been unable to clear a ball close to goal. Earlier on Saturday, Villarreal suffered their first home defeat of the season, 1-0 against lowly local rivals Levante. The yellows had only dropped two points in their tiny Estadio Madrigal until Saturday, but were stunned by a high-octane, well-drilled display from Levante. The only goal came three minutes into the second half. Xisco engineered a quick Levante break and set up Valdo, who rounded Diego Lopez before scoring. — AFP
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Tarlochan Singh advocates C’wealth Award
New Delhi, February 6 In a letter to the Prime Minister, the former chairman of the National Commission for Minorities and Rajya Sabha MP Tarlochan Singh pointed out that former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had instituted two National Awards soon after the 9th Asiad in November, 1982, on the pattern of the Padma Awards. These were named Asiad Vashisht Jyoti and Asiad Jyoti. He said these awards were given to selected persons who were part of the Organising Committee of the Asian Games by the then President of India, at a glittering function at the Rashtrapati Bhawan, attended besides the Prime Minister and her Cabinet colleagues, by Rajiv Gandhi, who had spearheaded a team for the conduct of the Asiad.
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Mendis, Perera shine for Lanka
Colombo, February 6 Sri Lanka showed the depth of their bowling line-up by defending their total of 277-9 and restricting the tourists to 251 despite resting attack spearheads Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan and Nuwan Kulasekara for the match. Unorthodox spinner Mendis finished with 4-46 and seamer Perera with 3-36, while paceman Dilhara Fernando took 2-45. Sri Lanka won the second match by eight wickets after the opening game was abandoned due to rain. Perera strengthened his team's position when he removed well-set Darren Bravo (79) and skipper Darren Sammy (three) in the space of five balls. Mendis took the last three wickets, including that of Carlton Baugh, to complete the win, depriving Baugh (49) of his maiden half-century in one-day internationals. Darren Bravo sustained his team's hopes with a 125-run stand for the third wicket with Ramnaresh Sarwan (51) after openers Chris Gayle and Adrian Barath had fallen with no runs on the board. Gayle was bowled first ball by Fernando, while Barath was caught behind in Perera's opening over. Darren Bravo and Sarwan applied themselves well to keep the Sri Lankan attack at bay for more than 22 overs, playing some attractive shots during their partnership. The West Indies wobbled after the dismissal of Sarwan, trapped leg-before by left-arm spinner Rangana Herath, as they lost four wickets in the space 34 runs, including those of Darren Bravo and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (three). Darren Bravo fell leg-before to Perera after cracking one six and nine fours in a 91-ball knock, his highest in 13 one-dayers. — AFP
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Patiala to host five Ranji matches
Patiala, February 6 Five teams from North Zone, barring Punjab, would feature in a total of five matches at the venue. Top Indian cricketers except the ones featuring in the World Cup squad are expected to play the matches. Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Services, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh would play their allotted matches at the venue. Punjab would play their matches in Chandigarh. On February 10, Jammu Kashmir would take on Delhi, then J&K play Services on February 12. Haryana would play Services on Feb 14.
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Amarjeet wins
Patiala, February 6 In the Keirin event final, Amarjeet stood first while Delhi cyclist Karanver Singh was second and Manpreet Singh Kalsi was third. In the women’s 3000 Team Pursuit, the Kerala team, comprising Rejani. V, Mahita Mohan, Parvathy V.G. and Deepa Chandran, stood first with a timing of 4:16:037 seconds. |
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The International Cricket Council's chief executive Haroon Lorgat on Sunday said three Pakistan players - Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer - were banned on solid proof of corruption.
Australia wrapped up an emphatic 6-1 series win over a weary England with a comprehensive 57-run win in the seventh and final one-day international at the WACA Ground in Perth today.The home side made 279-7 after winning toss, and in reply England managed just 222 in their final match of a marathon Ashes tour, despite a lusty unbeaten 60 by Michael
Yardy.
London, February 6
Barcelona established a new Spanish league record of 16 straight wins Saturday with a 3-0 home thrashing of troubled Atletico Madrid. Lionel Messi was Barca's hero, with a hat-trick that puts him on top of the scorers' chart.The FIFA World Player now has 24 goals to his name, two more than Real Madrid's Cristiano
Ronaldo. Messi said that being top scorer "is what bothers me least of all. The important things is that we have won again and continued our run".
