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India’s Tour of England
Praveen lives a dream at ‘Home of Cricket
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Dravid second highest run scorer in Tests
Simply Sunny
Webber grabs pole
Uruguay chase record 15th title
Kapur zooms to second in Stockholm
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India’s Tour of England
London, July 23 Earlier, England bowlers led by Stuart Broad reduced India to 193 for five at Tea on the third day of the first Test. At the break, Rahul Dravid was batting solidly with 59 and captain MS Dhoni was unbeaten on 4. Sachin Tendulkar looked in sublime touch while at the crease but after scoring 34 he edged Broad to the slips. Suresh Raina (0) and VVS Laxman (10) followed Tendulkar in quick succession as England gained the upper hand. Things could have been worse had Graeme Swann not dropped Dravid in the the slip-cordon. The bowler to suffer was the impressive Stuart Broad. But Dravid put the chance behind him and carried on to his half-century. Earlier, Broad dented India’s reply with two quick wickets at the start as the visitors wen into lunch at 102 for two. The tall fast bowler, under weather for his recent indifferent form, accounted for both Indian openers Gautam Gambhir (15) and Abhinav Mukund (49) at the Lord's here. India still trailed by 372 runs after England had declared their first innings at 474 for eight yesterday. Broad was brought on to bowl the ninth over of the day after new-ball bowlers James Anderson and Chris Tremlett were flummoxed by young opener Mukund's fidgety yet effective innings of 49. Mukund lived dangerously, once getting hit on the grill of his helmet by a bouncer from Tremlett and twice steering Anderson uppishly through the vacant fourth slip. Once, an edge fell just short of the gully fielder and in between there were a couple of mad scrambles for singles where he could reach the safety of his crease only by diving full length. Yet India were not complaining as the two openers saw off the new ball and completely flustered England's attack who were looking to make early inroads in the visitors' innings. The day began with both Anderson and Tremlett bowling three straight maiden overs between them, hardly making the batsmen play while allowing them to get their eyes in. — PTI scoreboard England 1st innings: 474-8d India 1st innings Mukund b Broad 49 Gambhir b Broad 15 Dravid not out 103 Tendulkar c Swann
b Broad 34 Laxman c Trott b Tremlett 10 Raina lbw b Swann 0 Dhoni c Swann b Tremlett 28 Harbhajan c Prior
b Tremlett 0 Praveen c Strauss b Broad 17 Zaheer b Anderson 0 Ishant c Prior b Anderson 0 Extras (b5, lb12, w1, nb12) 30 Total: (all out; 95.5 ovrs) 286 Bowling: Anderson 23.5-6-87-2, Tremlett 24-5-80-3, Broad 22-8-37-4, Trott 6-1-12-0, Swann 19-3-50-1, Pietersen 1-0-3-0. England 2nd innings Strauss batting 3 Cook batting 0 Extras (w 2) 2 Total: (for no loss; 5 ovrs) 5 Bowling: Praveen 3-0-4-0, Ishant 2-1-1-0. |
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Praveen lives a dream at ‘Home of Cricket
London, July 23 "It's a dream to get five wickets at Lord's. It is very special. I didn't mind bowling that many overs since I do bowl 30-35 overs in domestic cricket. In the absence of Zaheer (Khan), I had to shoulder that responsibility," stated the right-arm swing bowler, who now has 17 Test wickets. Praveen picked up 5 for 106 and kept coming at batsmen even though there was little support from the other end yesterday. The shy young man, who missed the World Cup due to injury, believed that God has a way of making up for the losses. "If you lose somewhere, God makes it up in some other way. I can only work hard and play cricket. I missed World Cup due to injury but this might have happened with any athlete," he said. Praveen, who was wicketless on the first day, said he didn't bowl any differently yesterday though it being the older ball, he put in more effort. "I bowled the same as I had on the first day. But since it was an older ball, I did try to put in extra effort," he explained. An issue of concern for Praveen in his short career is his tendency to follow through in the danger area of good length. Praveen was barred from bowling by umpire Daryl Harper in Jamaica last month and he came close to being warned by umpire Billy Bowden as well at Lord's. "It's an issue I know. I managed it by bowling close to the wicket or sometimes by going away. I like bowling close to the stump and could still bowl 70 per cent of my deliveries that way. I came close to being warned but fortunately it didn't happen," he said. A feature of Praveen's bowling was the way he adjusted to the (in)famous slope of the Lord's for bowlers. "I got used to it (from practice) on the first two days. I didn't have problem in adjusting to the slope." Praveen didn't find anything unusual in Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni turning his arm over on the second afternoon. A feature of second day's play was the constant exchanges double centurion Kevin Pietersen and Praveen had in the middle. "We have played together for RCB. It wasn't anything else. When he was leaving the field (after the declaration), I ran up to him and congratulated. A 200 is a 200," the seamer signed off. — PTI
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Dravid second highest run scorer in Tests
The 38-year-old Dravid, who had 12,314 runs from 153 Tests at an average of 52.40 before coming into the match, surpassed Ponting who has scored 12,363 runs in 152 games. Dravid achieved the milestone when he cut Graeme Swann through point for a boundary in the last ball of the 47th over. The former India skipper now has 33 hundreds and 60 fifties. — PTI
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Simply Sunny
Sachin Tendulkar will have to wait for the second innings to see if he will get on the Honours Board at Lord’s for those who have notched centuries or taken five wickets at this venue.
He was looking good and there was that trademark punch off the backfoot through the covers which is usually a sign that he is set for a big score. It’s not so much the straight drive but the backfoot punch that often tells you of his confidence. Stuart Broad bowled quite splendidly to draw the batsman forward and hopefully Ishant Sharma who also bowls around the same speed was watching. Ishant bowls more a hard pitch length where there is bounce but on slower pitches like this one a fuller length will probably cost the odd boundary but will more likely get wickets too. India found themselves in this situation because their bowlers did not bowl the line and length and exploit the conditions which were totally bowler friendly. That allowed the England batsmen to get through a tough period and then build a good score. Kevin Pietersen doesn’t have too many pals in the Brit media with some questioning his place in the team but he answered their doubts with a double century of great character. He built his first century brick by brick eschewing all the flamboyant shots that we usually see from him and it was only when England were looking to declare and give India a torrid half-hour that he upped the scoring and raced to his double ton in double quick time. India’s openers Gambhir and Mukund batted most sensibly and Mukund was most impressive with the way he was moving into his shots. Gambhir seemed to have decided that since he was the senior player he would help build the platform but in the process went into his shell and did not bat in his natural style. Still it was just the kind of solid partnership that settles the nerves in the dressing room and that’s what the duo did. It looked with Dravid’s solidity and Tendulkar’s artistry the crowd would have an afternoon to remember but Stuart Broad spoilt it all by bowling one of his best spells ever and with that he has given England a tremendous chance of going one up in the series. PMG |
Nurburgring, July 23 Driving his Red Bull car with great poise and assurance, the 34-year-old Australian demonstrated his liking for the Nurburgring circuit by delivering his second pole in succession, his third this year and the ninth of his career. Webber clocked a fastest lap of one minute and 30.079 seconds to take the prime starting position ahead of Briton Lewis Hamilton who produced a brilliant effort to take second less than one-tenth of a second behind him in his McLaren. "That was a wicked lap," said Hamilton after relegating defending champion and runaway leader Sebastian Vettel in the second Red Bull to third - and off the front row of the grid for the first time this year. Vettel was only able to take third place ahead of two-times champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso and his Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa who was fifth after a dramatic finale to qualifying. German Nico Rosberg took sixth for Mercedes ahead of Briton Jenson Button in the second Mercedes, German Adrian Sutil of Force India, Russian Vitaly Petrov of Renault and seven-time champion local hero Michael Schumacher, 42, in the second Mercedes. 'Schumi' was 2.4 seconds off pole. On a cold, but dry day in the Eifel mountains the air temperature was only 14 degrees Celsius and the track temperature was just 22 degrees - the coldest conditions for qualifying this year. The low temperatures meant that it was more difficult for many teams to warm up their tyres. After a tense opening mini-session in Q1, Massa wound up fastest having used a set of soft tyres, but out went Japanese Kamui Kobayashi of Sauber, Finn Heikki Kovalainen of Lotus, Timo Glock of Virgin and Indian Karun Chandhok in the second Lotus. — Reuters
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Uruguay chase record 15th title
Buenos Aires, July 23 The Uruguayans cannot compete with the success of their countrymen who won two World Cup and two Olympic crowns in the first half of the last century but, in an era when tactics are much more refined, their recent achievements are remarkable. Having eliminated favourites Argentina in the quarterfinals, Uruguay can go one better than their old rivals as far as Copa titles are concerned. "I think we face a great moment. After a long process of (2010) World Cup qualifiers, the (2010) finals and the Copa America it would be good to crown it with the cup," holding midfielder Egidio Arevalo Rios told reporters. "The effort we made against Argentina was enormous but for this (final) it will be double." The Uruguayans, fourth at the World Cup a year ago, do not want to be considered favourites even if the odds are stacked against Paraguay who are looking for their third Copa title having won their last in 1979 in Buenos Aires. "Lots of teams started out as favourites and today they are out. It's not a question of being favourites, you've got to show it on the pitch," said Arevalo Rios. "No one started well but from the third match (in the group phase) all began to show their best form and will to win the cup. It's been a very hard fought, even cup." Paraguay, who have reached the final after five draws, have had a day less to prepare, featured in two lots of extra-time including Wednesday's semifinal win over Venezuela in a second successive shootout and seem certain to lose players to injury and suspension. Uruguay beat Peru 2-0 in normal time in Tuesday's semifinal, striker Luis Suarez notching twice to join Argentina's Sergio Aguero as joint top scorer on three goals. "To have one more day's rest is fundamental. We've been playing lots of matches and an extra day is key to recovering," said striker Diego Forlan. — Reuters
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Kapur zooms to second in Stockholm
Stockholm, July 23 Kapur, still looking for that elusive win on the European Tour after six years, equalled the course record which was broken the same evening. Starting on the 10th, Kapur began with a hat-trick of birdies, from the 11th, holed from 20 feet. After the birdies on 11th, 12th and 13th, he added one more on the 15th. Kapur dropped a bogey on 17th and turned in three-under. On the front nine he had four birdies on first, fifth, seventh and ninth, while he lost a shot on eighth. "Yesterday I just went out in tough conditions in the wind and rain and grinded a score of 70 and I was pretty happy with it. Today I decided to take a bit of the same strategy, play conservatively. This is not a golf course where you can attack a lot of flags or take on a lot of drives," said Kapur. — PTI
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London, July 23
London, July 23
Bolt cruises to victory
Mourinho wins Real battle