New Delhi, October 11
The prospect of a Super Eights line-up without a single Indian IPL team would have been a nightmare for the organisers and television rights holders, but Delhi Daredevils' merciless showing today went a long way in dispelling those fears. With their backs to the wall, the fear of elimination in front of their home fans drove them to deliver a 50-run walloping against Wayamba and also reverse the trend of low-scoring games at the Kotla.

The performance of the Australian pace-bowling duo of Dirk Nannes and Glenn McGrath effectively shut Wayamba out of the game early in the chase but the foundation was laid by a brilliant display of power hitting by Virender Sehwag and Dinesh Karthik.

Earlier, Virender Sehwag returned to form in style with a quickfire fifty, while Dinesh Karthik also dazzled to propel Delhi Daredevils to a competitive 170 for four.

Sehwag bulldozed the Wayamba bowlers, hitting boundaries at will to score 67 off just 42 deliveries, while Karthik too blossomed in the right-hander's company with a breezy 41-ball 61 to take Delhi team to a competitive total in a low and slow Ferozeshah Kotla wicket.

For Wayamba, mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis and left-arm pacer Chanaka Welegedara were the bowlers to make some impact as they picked up two wickets apiece giving away 24 and 35 runs respectively.

Opting to bat, Delhi batsmen took a cue from New South Wales match and played cautiously without going for big shots in the beginning.

But Sehwag, who showed signs of returning to form in their last outing, opened up and dispatched Ishuru Udana for two back-to-back fours and piled up 15 runs of fourth over.

Sri Lankan Tillakaratne Dilshan, who opened with Sehwag in place of skipper Gautam Gambhir, then struck Chanaka Welegedara through covers before perishing in the very next delivery, courtesy a sharp catch by Wayamba captain Jehan Mubarak at covers. — PTI

Scoreboard

Delhi Daredevils:
Dilshan c Mubarak b Welegedara 10 (16)
Sehwag run out 66 (42)
Gambhir lbw b Mendis 3 (6)
Karthik st de Zoysa b Mendis 61 (41)
Shah b Welegedara 18 (10)
Tiwary not out 3 (3)
Bhatia not out 5 (3)
Extras (lb 1, w 2, nb 1) 4
Total (5 wickets; 20 overs) 170
FoWs: 1-27, 2-45, 3-112, 4-156, 5-164.
Bowling: Welegedara 4-1-24-2, Udana 4-0-38-0, Maharoof 4-0-34-0, Mendis 4-0-35-2, Lokuarachchi 3-0-31-0, Mubarak 1-0-7-0.

Wayamba:
Kulatunga c Shah b Mishra 10 (13)
Udawatte b Nannes 2 (4)
Vandort b Nannes 9 (12)
Jayawardene c Dilshan b Nannes 53 (40)
Mubarak b McGrath 0 (1)
Lokuarachchi b McGrath 4 (5)
Maharoof c Dilshan b Nannes 3 (12)
de Zoysa not out 21 (23)
Udana not out 11 (10)
Extras (lb 3, w 4) 7
Total (7 wickets; 20 overs) 120
FoWs: 1-4, 2-18, 3-31, 4-31, 5-36, 6-52, 7-105.
Bowling: Nehra 4-0-23-0, Nannes 4-0-24-4, McGrath 4-0-20-2, Mishra 4-1-18-1, Dilshan 2-0-19-0, Bhatia 2-0-13-0.

New Delhi, October 10
New South Wales Blues played yet another ruthless brand of cricket to trounce Sussex Sharks by 35 runs to record their second successive victory in Group B of the Champions League Twenty20 at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground here tonight.

New South Wales Blues, led by Simon Katich, carried on the good form they had displayed while trouncing Diamond Eagles of South Africa by 53 runs last night, to notch up an authoritative victory against Sussex Sharks as well to book a place in the Super Eights.

Batting first, New South Wales Blues ran up a total of 130 for 2 in 20 overs and then restricted Sussex Sharks to 95 for 8 in 20 overs to earn a 35-run triumph.

Brett Lee got the vital breakthrough for Blues in the very first over when he clean bowled Ed Joyce for nought and Sussex were one down with just a single on the board. Lee bowled a maiden over with a wicket to boot, that put Sussex in the back foot from the very first over. Though Chrish Nash tried to keep the other end going with a doughty fight, which earned him 24 runs off 30 balls, the English team could not survive for long as the fall of five wickets for 19 runs, from 4 for 64 to 8 for 83, did them in, with Henriques hitting the target with vicious pace, for a match haul of 3 for 23.

The many options Katich had in his bowling changes never really allowed Sussex to get a foothold, and with the ball keeping low and mean while the Blues bowlers were in operation, shot-making was not that easy either.

Scoreboard

New South Wales:
Warner run out 14 (18)
Hughes not out 62 (64)
D Smith c Jenkins b Chawla 2 (5)
Henriques not out 51 (33)
Extras (lb 1) 1
Total (2 wickets; 20 overs) 130
Fall of wickets: 1-35, 2-40.
Bowling: Jenkins 2-0-14-0, Arafat 4-0-23-0, Kirtley 3-0-15-0, Keegan 4-0-25-0, Chawla 2-0-21-1, Brown 1-0-8-0, Smith 4-0-23-0.

Sussex:
Nash c Clark b Henriques 24 (30)
Joyce b Lee 0 (1)
Brown st D Smith b S Smith 13 (24)
Smith b Bollinger 13 (15)
Gatting run out 9 (16)
Chawla c Hughes b Henriques 0 (1)
Arafat b Hauritz 1 (3)
Hodd c S Smith b Henriques 12 (10)
Keegan not out 10 (16)
Jenkins not out 2 (4)
Extras (b 5, lb 4, w 2) 11
Total (8 wickets; 20 overs) 95
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-26, 3-49, 4-64, 5-64, 6-68, 7-68, 8-83.
Bowling: Lee 4-1-8-1, Bollinger 4-0-13-1, Henriques 4-0-23-3, Clark 3-0-20-0, S Smith 4-0-19-1, Hauritz 1-0-3-1.

Buenos Aires, October 11
Argentiina coach Diego Maradona called the goal by second-half substitute Martin Palermo "the Miracle of St. Palermo." And why not? The scrambled goal, three minutes into second-half injury time, helped struggling Argentina scrape by Peru 2-1 yesterday. That means the two-time champions will reach next year's World Cup in South Africa if they can win on Wednesday in the final round of qualifying at bitter rival Uruguay.

Anything less and they could face a playoff - or be out altogether. Chile avoided the drama, winning 4-2 at Colombia to claim the third of four automatic qualifying spots from South America for its World Cup appearance since 1998. Colombia was eliminated.

Waldo Ponce, Humberto Suazo, Jorge Valdivia and Fabian Orellana scored for Chile. Uruguay kept its World Cup hopes alive, winning 2-1 in Quito at 2,800 meters after Diego Forlan converted a penalty in the fourth minute of injury time. Uruguay will also advance automatically if it beats Argentina on Wednesday in Montevideo.

In the day's other match, Paraguay won 2-1 at Venezuela thanks to second-half goals by Salvador Cabanas and Oscar Cardozo.

Italy scraped a draw against the Republic of Ireland to join Germany, Denmark and Serbia as the latest teams to secure 2010 World Cup places on a drama-laden penultimate batch of qualifiers. This quartet join already-qualified England, Spain and the Netherlands, leaving two automatic berths from the continent still up for grabs heading into Wednesday's last throw of the South Africa dice.

Russia, beaten 1-0 by ten-man Germany in Moscow, and the Republic of Ireland, are among the teams assured of places in November's two-leg play-offs. France, beaten on penalties in the 2006 final by Italy, are also in the play-offs after routing part-timers the Faroe Islands 5-0 yesterday to book second place in Group Seven behind Serbia, who trounced Romania by the same scoreline. The Irish came desperately close to pulling off a major upset in Dublin as Sean St Ledger headed them into a 2-1 lead with only three minutes to go, only for Alberto Gilardino to level on the whistle. — AFP

Karachi, October11
Pakistan Cricket Board will decide on Monday whether to take any disciplinary action against former captain Shoaib Malik for his criticism of the Champions Trophy team management and insistence that he will never bat as an opener and at number three positions again.

The board is also looking at another statement made by the assistant manager of the team Shafqat Rana after the side returned from South Africa in which he made negative comments about captain Younus Khan."The officials concerned are looking at the statements and will take a decision on them on Monday," a PCB spokesman said today.

Malik, meanwhile, has already retracted from his statement insisting he never meant to criticise anyone and that his statement had been misunderstood and misreported. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Djokovic, Kuznetsova win China Open
BEIJING: Second seed Novak Djokovic was rejuvenated by a rain break and came back on court to beat Croatian Marin Cilic 6-2 7-6 and win his third title of the season at the China Open on Sunday. French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova managed to avoid the rain and overcame the challenge of Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2 6-4 to claim a second China Open title in the first year of its elevated status as one of the WTA's "crown jewel" events. — Reuters

Hiroshima, Nagasaki in Oly bid
Tokyo: Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the victims of the only atomic bombings in history, are teaming up to try to bring the Olympics to Japan in 2020, the cities' mayors said on Sunday. Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba and Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue told a press conference they will establish a joint committee to work on a proposal based on world peace. — AP

Bagan aim for a turnaround
Kolkata: Battered and bruised after two straight losses, last year's runner-up Mohun Bagan will look for a turnaround when they take on a youthful Viva Kerala at their home turf in Yuba Bharati Krirangan (YBK) here on Monday. The local giants will miss the services of their talismanic Brazilian striker Jose Ramirez Barreto who is down with a muscle pull. — PTI

Fabregas to miss Bosnia clash
MADRID: Cesc Fabregas has had to leave the Spain squad in Armenia and fly to Barcelona because of a "serious family matter" and will miss Wednesday's World Cup Group Five qualifier in Bosnia. The Arsenal captain, who scored to set Spain on their way to a 2-1 win in Yerevan on Saturday, had flown to the Catalan capital with Barcelona pair Xavi and Carles Puyol, who will also miss the match in Zenica, the Spanish soccer federation said on their website (www.rfef.es). — Reuters

Ronaldo likely to miss Malta game
LISBON: Cristiano Ronaldo's ankle injury is likely to keep him out of Portugal's World Cup qualifier against Malta on Wednesday, national coach Carlos Queiroz said. "Probably (we have lost him for the Malta game). Ronaldo's situation requires another, more detailed exam, but I have already spoken to the medical team and the probabilities are not very cheering," Queiroz said. — Reuters

JCT hold East Bengal
Kolkata: East Bengal squandered chances galore and ended up a playing a goal-less draw against JCT in their round three I-League encounter at the flood-lit Yuba Bharati Krirangan (YBK) here on Sunday. With one point from their second drawn match, the Kolkata giants now have two points from three matches. The one point on the other hand enabled JCT to consolidate their position on top of the standings with seven points from three matches. — PTI

Rohtak girls qualify for nationals
Chandigarh: The Under-14 girls team from Model School, Rohtak, has qualified for the CBSE national level Chess tournament after bagging second position in the CBSE North Zone II Championship held from October 5 to 8 at Ludhiana. Meghna (C), Yashika, Pallavi and Tanya were the participants for Model School. MS Rathee, principal, passed on his best wishes to the students and his sports department. — TNS

Kobayashi replaces injured Glock
LONDON: Japan's Kamui Kobayashi will make his Formula One race debut in Brazil next weekend after Toyota ruled out regular driver Timo Glock due to a back injury on Sunday. Toyota said the 27-year-old German was also doubtful for the season-ending Abi Dhabi Grand Prix on Nov. 1. Glock crashed heavily and gashed his leg in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka on Oct. 3 after missing Friday practice due to a fever and heavy cold. — Reuters