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Aussies North, England south
Contador leaves Armstrong trailing
Bangladesh Tour Of WI |
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35 disciplines for Asiad
Kick-starting a revolution
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Aussies North, England south
London, July 11
Haddin's dismissal caught on the mid-wicket boundary attempting a fourth six was the signal for Ponting to declare Australia’s first innings closed at 674 for six, a lead of 239. England's hopes of saving the game then received a significant blow when Alastair Cook (6) and Ravi Bopara (1) were both dismissed lbw in the space of eight balls before tea. At the interval England were 20 for two with Andrew Strauss (6) and Kevin Pietersen (3) at the crease. Australia, 479 for five overnight in reply to England's 435, carried on much as they had on Friday with Haddin taking over from Michael Clarke as the aggressor and North playing the supporting role. North, 54 not out overnight, brought up his century just before lunch, playing with discipline and concentration. Haddin was far more flamboyant, striking Graeme Swann over mid-wicket for six to bring up the 600. He hit a straight six off Monty Panesar and raced to his hundred from 138 balls. A third six from Paul Collingwood's part time medium pace followed before he struck the same bowler to Bopara patrolling the boundary. England, who had looked increasingly demoralised with each of their five frontline bowlers conceding more than 100 runs, had a tricky 25 minutes to negotiate before the tea interval. They failed dismally as the sky darkened and the floodlights came on for the second time in the match. Cook played across a full-length delivery from Mitchell Johnson and Bopara was also culpable, attempting to flick Ben Hilfenhaus to leg. The rain which had been forecast to descend on Cardiff during the afternoon started to fall as the players left the field with England needing all the help they could get from the elements if they were to avoid defeat. — Reuters Scoreboard England second innings
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Contador leaves Armstrong trailing
Equally importantly, Contador’s move brought no reaction from his Astana team-mate Lance Armstrong, who slid from second to third overall, eight seconds back from Nocentini. Speculation had been rife that after showing such strong form in the largely flat first week, Armstrong might attempt to rein in Contador when the Tour hit the Pyrenees, and he said afterwards that the Spaniard’s move “had not formed part of the day’s original plan”. But the seven-times Tour winner either would not or could not respond to the Spaniard’s charge off the front, and he lost 23 seconds to Contador by the summit of Ordino-Arcalis. Contador made his move with just 3 km left to go on a stage that had started at sea level in Barcelona, and then risen relentlessly for hour after hour through Cataluniaa’s wild interior to the 2,300 metre high Andorran peak. It was too late for Contador to go for the stage win Frenchman Brice Feillu. Yet the ease with which the 2007 winner bounded away from the other favourites strongly suggests that the Spaniard is, as Armstrong says, “the best climber in the world”. — By arrangement with The Independent
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Bangladesh
Tour Of WI
Kingstown (St Vincent), July 11 Bangladesh were hunting early wickets to put the depleted West Indies batting under pressure, when they continued from their overnight total of 17 for one. — AFP Scoreboard
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35 disciplines for Asiad
New Delhi, July 11 Randhir said the seven non-Olympic sports will have to be chosen from the list of 10 drawn up by the OCA to reflect the diverse culture of Asia’s five zones - East, South East, South, Central and West. “They will be chosen by the OCA in consultation with the hosts”, he added. Randhir said the OCA AGM had decided that the Asian Games had “grown too big” and would feature maximum of seven sports outside the Olympic schedule, enabling five zones to be represented by at least one sport and still leaving two in place. Randhir Singh said the AGM also approved a new cycle of OCA events.
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Kick-starting a revolution
Phagwara, July 11 The green field sprinkled equally with early-morning watering and the sweat of many-a-spirited performers.
The Academy boys and those trying to make it to the Academy, line up for the morning drill. Fitness, as is known, is more important to a footballer than his flash. The Academy coach, Jagir Singh shouts, “This round was too slow, let’s push up the speed, and push down the time. Faster, all of you”, typical in his heavy voice laden with years of experience and dreams of producing quality players from this nursery of talent. “I always tell every player that a fit body develops its own mind. Agile feet have the ability to think faster than slow tired ones. That is the reason why these guys go through this drill every morning. Initially they find it pointless, at times even boring. But when it starts to benefit their game they realise the importance of it all,” says Jagir. There is nothing more satisfying for a guardian than to see his efforts bear fruit. And that has been the feeling running through the academy as many of the boys here, have gone on to become the men who represent their club at the highest level of Indian football. Anwar Ali, Amandeep Singh, Baljit Sahni, Jagpreet Singh and the list runs on and on. The academy is funded by JCT and does not receive any monetary help from elsewhere. They do get the occasional diet-related aid from NRIs and even locals at times, but everything else is taken care off by JCT. The Academy plays in prize-money tournaments through the year and whatever is earned through them (which is substantial, considering they finish among the cream at every tournament they play in) is distributed among the players. No wonder these boys dream of one day switching over from the blue and white of the academy to red and white at the parent club. What still remains an eerie reality is the fact that despite producing so much talent, there is not much support coming from the government. Despite the best attempts of the Academy there hasn’t been a word of encouragement coming through in the form of official help. The need for a football stadium in the area is probably the most crucial and logical one. The city of Phagwara is at the centre of a soccer hotbed in the state and a stadium here would only help the soccer-crazy people of the region. Academy manager Seetal Singh says, “It is pretty inconvenient for people to go to far off places to just watch a soccer game. The amount of interest the game generates in this region is amazing and the people deserve a stadium. It will benefit the game on the whole as it will ensure better attendance at the matches and also help increase the following of the sport further.” With the groundwork laid down, there is a need to aid the interest for the sport here. The least the government can do is (even as it tries to build airports at every nook and corner) to give flight to the dreams of many of these boys. Let’s hope the stadium comes up before their interest starts going down.
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London, July 11
All it took was one searing late attack on the race’s first mountain-top finish in Andorra, and Spain’s Alberto Contador has finally demonstrated why he is the favourite in this year’s Tour de France. Although still not wearing the yellow jersey and that shifted, in one of the Tour’s quirkier developments, onto the unlikely shoulders of Rinaldo Nocentini and Contador is now just six seconds behind and poised to pounce.
North (125 not out) scored his second century in three Tests during a sixth wicket partnership of exactly 200 with wicketkeeper Brad Haddin (121). Both men were making their Ashes debuts.
All it took was one searing late attack on the race’s first mountain-top finish in Andorra, and Spain’s Alberto Contador has finally demonstrated why he is the favourite in this year’s Tour de France. Although still not wearing the yellow jersey and that shifted, in one of the Tour’s quirkier developments, onto the unlikely shoulders of Rinaldo Nocentini and Contador is now just six seconds behind and poised to pounce.
‘Its my dream to win Olympic gold’
Amritraj loses in second round