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Warne fears success has made Oz arrogant
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Rethink on Dravid as an opener
Lee keen to challenge Tendulkar
Rain, Cook keep England afloat
Orissa cry foul over loss to Punjab
Bangalore Hi-Fliers edge out Steelers
Champions League
Tirkey lone Indian in all-star team
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Warne fears success has made Oz arrogant
Melbourne, December 21
A decade-long dominance in world cricket has sparked radical suggestions from various quarter, including former Aussie coach John Buchanan, that fringe Test and domestic players be allowed to play for rival nations to strengthen competition. But Warne, who retired from international cricket last January as the all-time leading wicket-taker before he was overtaken by Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan, rubbishes all this suggestion and says that Australian cricket is playing a dangerous game of thinking its team is unchallengeable in world cricket. ''The only issue I have got with cricket at the moment is that Australian people and administrators and ex-players and ex-coaches - a la John Buchanan - have got to stop the arrogant mindset that Australia is so much better than anybody else,'' Warne said. ''Yes, Australia is the No. 1 country in the world, but all this bull..... about our players going to other countries and playing, what a lot of crap. ''There's going to be a time in the next two or three years when Australia is tested. Other countries will catch up and they will unearth someone, that's just the cycle.'' Warne also has stern words for the ICC,''The International Cricket Council (ICC) can't just sit back and say, We'll have another Twenty20 tournament, let's just have a World Cup and get more money in the game. ''The ICC must try to develop other countries. Get people who know about the game to spend time there. We need India, England, South Africa and West Indies to all be really strong.'' Lashing out against his former coach John Buchanan, Warne said that ''he is living in pixie land'' and gets ''verbal diarrhoea'' all the time. ''I disagree with John Buchanan all the time. I don't think he has made one good point in a long time, actually. Everything that I have read that he says, he is living in pixie land. ''It just shows what us players had to put up with John Buchanan. We had to listen to his verbal diarrhoea all the time. He is just a goose and has no idea and lacks common sense, and you can put all that in there (the interview),'' Warne said. Warne also called for the 50-over one-day internationals to be scrapped and replaced by Pro40, which has been a success in English domestic cricket. ''Keep Twenty20 to a minimum and keep it special because it is so entertaining. Just as long as administrators don't get greedy. ''I believe 50-over one-day internationals are finished. And I believe the 50-over competition should be replaced by a 40-over competition. ''Experiencing Pro40 in England, it's like two Twenty20 games. Everybody wants everything fast. Pro40 has skill involved, is cricket and is entertaining. It ticks all the boxes. It also saves about 90 minutes. ''You can start Pro40 at 4pm and finish at 10pm. You can have a day game as well, starting at 10am and finishing at 4pm. Two games a day. ''Twenty20 is how minor nations, the likes of Canada and Holland, can improve and promote the game,'' he said. About Test cricket Warne said there is nothing to be changed in the game. ''Everything, is very good, don't change it. Don't touch it. Test cricket is for tradition. Keep it. There is nothing wrong with it. It is up to other countries to lift their game and raise the bar.''
— UNI Throwing his weight behind Brad Hogg, spin legend Shane Warne said the chinaman bowler has done well against India in the one-dayers and there is no reason why he can't do it against them in the forthcoming Test series as well. Warne admitted supple wrists and nimble footwork of the Indian batsmen make them the best player of spin bowling but still believes Hogg would make his mark in the Test series. "India plays the spinners extremely well, but Australian pitches are different. There is a lot of extra bounce and he (Hogg) can still have an impact. It's not low, slow, big-turning wickets. It's fast, bounce and not much turn," Warne was quoted as saying by the 'Herald Sun'. Harbhajan Singh has already dared Australia to field Hogg, warning the spinner might cop quite a battering against his batting colleagues. Rival captain Ricky Ponting picked up the gauntlet and invited India to have a go at the spinner. Warne, meanwhile, conceded that against India, he did not do as well as he has done against other countries but insisted it was not too bad either. "I think Hoggy will do well. They played me pretty well on the whole but I still had success against them." Warne's optimism stems from the fact that Hogg did reasonably well in the ODI series against India and his advice was to stick to the same gameplan. "You know they are going to play spin well and you are going to be under the pump a little bit. But the way he (Hogg) has played in one-day cricket is how he should bowl in Test cricket." — PTI
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Melbourne, December 21 After a delayed start owing to wet outfield caused by yesterday's downpour, the penultimate day's proceeding lasted about just 45 minutes, during which India lost Sourav Ganguly (59) and reached 133 for four before rain put paid to their hopes for a good practice ahead of the Test series against Australia. At stumps, Rahul Dravid was unbeaten on 38 and Yuvraj Singh, hoping to retain his place in the Test eleven, was giving him company on six. Allan Wise scalped Ganguly for his fourth wicket of the match. Resuming on overnight score of 110 for three, Ganguly decided to go after the hosts. He clipped Wise through the mid-wicket region and then cut him for a four before the bowler had his revenge in the same over. Wise pitched it on the middle stump and induced a flick from Ganguly which found Aiden Blizzard at mid-wicket. Ganguly's 59 came off 99 balls and included nine hits to the fence. Yuvraj too looked in trouble against Wise while Dravid was his studious circumspect self, though a straight drive of his for three stood out for its clean strike and precision in placement. The Indians, sensing that weather could play a real spoilsport in their preparation, sent its key members like Virender Sehwag to indoor nets at the MCG. Should poor weather persist tomorrow, as has been the forecast, the Indians have again requested for the MCG indoor facility be available to them. The first Test starts on next Wednesday, December 26.
— PTI
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Rethink on Dravid as an opener
Melbourne, December 21 Apparently, a rethink is on within the Indian ranks if it would be wise to put their trusted man in the middle order at the top of the ranks. A few things have contributed to the rethink, the primary being the options at number three in Dravid's absence and whether he is in best shape to be given a role which nobody else in the middle order is keen to own. Dravid, essentially a team-man, has gone on record that he wouldn't hesitate from owning up any responsibility that comes his way for the good of the team but he might not be faced with the difficult choice now. Till the start of the three-day game against Victoria yesterday, the thinking was to put Dravid at the top of the order and pitchfork VVS Laxman at number three. These two were the best bats against Australia in 2003 and the opinion was to again put them at the forefront. But both are unused to this position and Dravid is fighting his own demons, inflicted on him after his ouster from one-dayers, a few technical cobwebs as well as the new task of opening the innings. Both Dravid and Laxman had scored in excess of 1000 runs in Australia last time the Indians toured Down Under in 2003-2004. It appears that Virender Sehwag, the nowhere man in Indian cricket till a week back, has been put on alert and he wasted little time in rushing to the MCG indoor nets this afternoon to give himself some serious workout against bowling machines. If the status quo is maintained and Dravid indeed takes his customary position, then it would almost certainly mean that Yuvraj Singh would again be sitting out. Yuvraj, whose entire career has been mired by his bad luck in forcing his way into the Indian Test, appeared to have turned the corner when he smashed a rousing 169 against Pakistan in the last Test at Bangalore at the start of this month. Sunil Gavaskar, who spent some time with Dravid before the start of the three-day game, making expansive gestures on a few technical issues, appeared to have an insight into the Indian team's thinking when he said on a television channel this morning that he preferred Sehwag as an opener for the first Test.
— PTI
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Lee keen to challenge Tendulkar
Melbourne, December 21 “I am actually looking forward to bowling against Sachin Tendulkar. It’s going to be his last tour here in Australia. He’s a pretty amazing player and I think any opportunity you get to play against the world’s greatest is always a good chance to see where you are as a bowler,” remarked Lee. Lee feels he has come a long way from the previous tour by the Indians in 2003 when he played in the final three Tests and helped Australia win the Melbourne Test. “I wasn’t well when I played in MCG on that tour,” said Lee, who took eight wickets at 60 runs apiece in that series completely dominated by the Indian batsmen. Lee fears the conditions here this time around might not be too different. “If you think about bouncy wickets in Australia, it’s probably only in Perth. The wickets that we have played on recently have been pretty low and slow, pretty much like a traditional Indian wicket, I would think. “I’m hoping and praying there is a bit more life in the wicket so we can use what we know to do out here in these conditions.”
— PTI
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Rain, Cook keep England afloat
Galle, December 21 Battling to avoid a second loss of the series, England resumed on 2-0, having been asked to follow-on the previous evening after being bowled out for a woeful 81 in 30.5 overs in response to the home side’s 499-8 declared. When play eventually restarts tomorrow, the tourists will need 316 runs to avoid an innings defeat in the final Test of the three-match series. Cook, who added 67 for the first wicket with skipper Michael Vaughan (24), was on 53 when play was halted with Ian Bell on 17. Scoreboard Sri Lanka (1st innings) 499-8 dec England (1st innings) 81 England (2nd innings) Cook not out 53 Vaughan c M.Jayawardene b Welegedera 24 Bell not out 17 Extras (b-2, nb-6) 8 Total (1 wkt, 33.5 overs) 102 Fall of wicket: 1-67. Bowling: Muralitharan 9-1-22-0, Vaas 9-2-30-0, Malinga 6.5-1-10-0, Welegedera 7-1-30-1, Dilshan 2-0-8-0.
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Orissa cry foul over loss to Punjab
Bhubaneswar, December 21 Expressing dismay over the performance of the Orissa team, OCA secretary Asribad Behera said he was surprised over the manner in which five of their players were given out lbw. He also expressed surprise over VRV Singh’s haul of wickets, including a hat-trick. VRV had failed to take any wicket in the first innings of the match, he pointed out. “We are not making any complaint against an individual player. A review of the video footage will itself tell the truth,” Behera said, adding that the OCA suspected foul play. Behera in a letter said doubts in the mind of people would be cleared whether Orissa players really performed badly. He said the spirit of the team was high as it had scored 323 runs in the first innings. In a bid to bring transparency, Behera suggested that the BCCI conduct all Ranji Trophy matches on neutral pitches. “There will be no complaint of pitch tampering if the matches are played in neutral places,” he said.
— PTI
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Bangalore Hi-Fliers edge out Steelers
Chandigarh, December 21 In an exciting match played under floodlights, both teams remained level at 2-2 at the end of regulation time. Even the two silver periods of five minutes each failed to break the deadlock. Bangalore’s Sandeep Michael cleverly scooped the ball over Orissa custodian Gurpreet to seal victory for his team. The winners got two points, while the losing team got one. Earlier, the Steelers got the lead in the 25th minute through Eliazer Ekka, whose shot from the top of the striking circle beat the defenders and the custodian. The spirited Bangalore team carried on their attacks and earned their first penalty corner in the 40th minute. However, it was squandered. Len Aiyappa scored the equaliser off a penalty corner in the very next minute. Orissa took the lead again in the 58th minute, converting the third of their five penalty corners. Birender took the push and Ignace Tirkey set it up for William Xalxo, who sounded the board with a direct hit. However, with two minutes to go for the final hooter, the Hi-Fliers earned their third and last short corner and once again drag-flick specialist Aiyappa was bang on target. The 10-minute extra-time for the silver goal proved futile and the teams went into the shootout. Ignace, Prabodh and Roshan Minz scored for Orissa, while Vimal, Arjun Halappa and Vikramkanth found the target for Bangalore. Shakeel and Tushar missed for Orissa and Bangalore, respectively. From the last try, Xalxo’s attempt was saved by Bangalore goalkeeper Bharat Chetri. Hi-Fliers’ Sandeep Michael made no mistake to secure victory for his team. Hi-Fliers’ custodian Bharat Chetri won the Man-of-the-Match award. Warriors whip Veerans Pakistan import Rehan Butt, along with Bharat Chikaria and Shivendra Singh, ripped apart the defence line of Chennai Veerans to help Maratha Warriors register a thumping 4-1 win in the PHL match here today. Butt and Chikaria pumped in two goals each. For the Veerans, drag-flicker Raghunath converted a penalty corner to reduce the margin. The first goal was scored in the 19th minute by Butt. He collected a pass on the right flank in the ‘D’ area and did not waste a moment before shooting it home. In the 32nd minute, Chikaria collected a pass from Shivendra and tapped the ball in past the goalkeeper to make it 2-0. Vikram Pillay started a counter-attack which was finished off by Butt to extend the lead to 3-1. Butt gave a quick pass to Vikram, who gave it to Chikaria on the top of the circle. Chikaria sent the ball into the post. Butt was declared the Man of the Match.
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Champions League
Nyon (Switzerland), December 21 AC Milan’s city rivals Inter Milan, unbeaten and flying high in Serie A, will play Liverpool, whom AC Milan beat 2-1 in last season’s final. Arsenal, who missed out on a favourable seed ranking after finishing second in the qualifying group, will host the Italian club on February 19/20 with the return leg in Milan on March 4/5. The London club will have their work cut out against Milan, who last week were also crowned world club champions after their 4-2 victory over Boca Juniors in Japan. Despite standing 22 points behind Italian league leaders Inter, AC Milan also boast the FIFA Player of the Year and European Footballer of the Year in Brazilian playmaker Kaka. AC Milan and Arsenal have only met once before - in 1994 in the European Superclub competition, the Italians coming away with a 2-0 aggregate win. Arsenal managing director Keith Edelman insisted they would not fear the seven-time Champions League winners. “It’s a great match and I’m sure the fans will be trying to book tickets already,” Edelman said. “Games don’t come much bigger than this. I’m sure it will be highly charged and very competitive. “I think we would have preferred an easier one. We want to win all four competitions and we’ve got a big enough squad to compete in all of them.” Chelsea apart, the draw was also hard for the three other British teams in European club football’s showpiece tournament. Celtic will face 2006 winners Barcelona, while Manchester United face six-time French champions Lyon.— AFP
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New Delhi, December 21 “It is a big challenge and I will have to train hard but right now I am only focusing on the first three months. I will decide on the preparations for the match only after that. But it is going to be close...we have played over 75 matches together,” said Anand, who was here to felicitate the winners of NIIT’s Mind Champions Challenge. Earlier, Anand met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh this morning and said he discussed promotion of sports, especially chess, among schoolchildren with him. “We discussed a lot of things, including how sports can be promoted at schools to identify young prodigies,” he said. Although he advocated the introduction of chess in all schools of the country, Anand also warned the youngsters against putting themselves under too much pressure. “It is very dangerous to put yourself under pressure especially at a young age. It never helps you. I mean when I decided to give up college, I was already world number five.” “But I don’t think any young kid should put his career at stake for chess or any other sport. At the end of the day, you need something to fall back upon if you don’t succeed,” Anand said.
— Agencies
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Tirkey lone Indian in all-star team
New Delhi, December 21 The captain of the all-star team is Player of the Year Australia’s Jamie Dwyer. In the team, eight countries are represented: Germany, Australia, Spain, India, Holland, Korea, Pakistan and New Zealand. Pakistan is also represented by a lone player in Dilawar Hussain. There are four players each belonging to World Champion and Champions Trophy winner Germany, Australia and Holland. German players are: Matthias Witthaus, Tibor Weissenborn, Moritz Fuerste and goal keeper Ulrich Bubolz. The Australians named in the team are Jamie Dwyer (capt), Brent Livermore, Bevan George and Mark Knowles. Champions trophy bronze medallist Holland are represented by goalkeeper Guus Vogels, defender Taeke Taekema, Teun de Nooijer and Robert van der Horst. Other players are Sergi Enrique and Eduard Tubau (Spain), India’s Dilip Tirkey, New Zealand’s Ryan Archibald, Pakistan’s Dilawar Hussain and Jong Ho Seo of Korea. Spain’s Maurits Hendriks and Dutch Roelant Oltmans are the coaches of this world class formation.
— UNI
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