Hyderabad, October 18
Stuart Clark did the spadework and David Warner then set the tone of the chase as New South Wales crushed Somerset by six wickets with 8.1 overs to spare to book a semifinal berth in the Champions League Twenty20 here today.

Clark (3/15) and his bowling colleagues first restricted Somerset to an unflattering 111 for seven and Warner (40 off 16 balls) then came down hard on the English side as NSW cruised to 112 in 11.5 overs, losing four wickets and recording a thumping victory that earned them a semifinal berth.

Chasing the modest target, the Australian team was off to a flying start with Warner cracking six boundaries and two huge sixers during his brief stay as the first five overs yielded 57 runs.

NSW suffered the first loss when Warner, who started on an attacking note by hitting two fours off Charl Willoughby (1/30) in the opening over, fell to Omari Banks (1/28) in the fifth over.

Warner took 14 runs from the first three deliveries off Banks with the help of one six and two consecutive fours but the bowler retaliated soon when Warner's ambitious shot found Jos Buttler at long-off.

Medium pacer Zander de Bruyn then removed Philip Hughes and Daniel Smith with successive deliveries in the ninth over to complicate matters as NSW reached 86 for three wickets. However, skipper Simon Katich (18 off 11), who cracked four boundaries, stood there to complete the formalities.

Earlier, Katich won the toss and elected to field and Somerset's run-rate never really soared with Clark and Lee , making life difficult for them. — PTI

Scoreboard

Somerset:

Kieswetter c Katich b Clark 13 (19)

Langer c Hauritz b Clark 5 (11)

Suppiah run out 8 (8)

Hildreth c Bollinger b Clark 6 (6)

Trego c Hughes b Hauritz 3 (7)

de Bruyn b Henriques 23 (32)

Banks b Lee 15 (18)

Durston not out 20 (13)

Buttler not out 6 (8)

Extras (lb 4, w 6, nb 2) 12

Total (7 wickets; 20 overs) 111

Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-24, 3-39, 4-39, 5-44, 6-81, 7-85.

Bowling: Lee 4-0-15-1, Bollinger 4-0-33-0, Clark 4-0-15-3, Henriques 3-0-20-1, Hauritz 3-0-14-1, S Smith 2-0-10-0.

New South Wales:

Warner c Buttler b Banks 40 (16)

Hughes c Durston b de Bruyn 18 (22)

D Smith c Suppiah b de Bruyn 20 (12)

Katich not out 18 (11)

Henriques c Kieswetter b Willoughby 8 (5)

S Smith not out 5 (6)

Extras (lb 1, w 1, nb 1) 3

Total (4 wickets; 11.5 overs) 112

Fall of wickets: 1-56, 2-78, 3-78, 4-88.

Bowling: Willoughby 3-0-30-1, Thomas 3.5-1-19-0, Banks 2-0-28-1, Trego 1-0-15-0, de Bruyn 2-0-19-2.

Hyderabad, October 18
Adrian Barath (63) led a stunning power-hitting show as Trinindad & Tobago breezed into the semifinals of the Champions League after pipping Diamond Eagles by 24 runs in a high scoring League A match here today. The unbeaten Caribbean side rattled up 213 for four, highest score of the tournament, and left Diamond Eagles with an almost impossible task of achieving the target in 14.2 overs to qualify for the next stage.

Barath, playing his first match of the tournament, almost batted through the innings and shared two solid partnerships with William Perkins (35) and Lendl Simmons (40) to set up the stage for an exciting finish after opting to bat. Navin Stewart (33 off 11) and Kieron Pollard (23) provided the late firework as the good work done at the top was carried on by the middle-order.

Needing 16.5 runs per over, the South African side made an audacious start by extracting 72 runs in the first five overs, but the task was just too tough to manage. Rilee Rossouw hit a scintillating 44 off just 19 balls and the following batsmen too fought their heart out but Eagles ultimately could manage 189 for five in 20 overs.

Morne van Wyk (25), Boeta Dippenaar (33) and Dillon du Preez (35) batted beautifully in their aggressive knocks but their effort proved insufficient to demolish the target. New South Wales Blues had qualified from League A early in the day after beating Somerset by six wickets. — PTI

Brief Scores:

Trinidad & Tobago 213 for 4 (Barath 63, Simmons 40)

Eagles 189 for 5 (Rossouw 44)

Sao Paulo, October 18
Force India underlined its growing stature again with Adrian Sutil holding his own in a dramatic wet qualifying session to bag the third place on the starting grid for the Brazilian Grand Prix here. His teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi had graduated through to the second qualifying session (Q2) but aquaplaned and speared off into the barriers into turn one.

The Italian, who had actually qualified 15th, was taken to the medical center for precautionary checks but was uninjured in the accident. His VJM02 sustained significant damage in the impact and will require a new gearbox, effectively dropping him five places on to 20th in the starting grid. The dramatic Q3 ended with Brawn's Rubens Barrichello's 1m 19.576s beating Mark Webber's 1m 19.668s and Sutil's 1m 19.912s.

Force India chairman Vijay Mallya said Sutil had once again proved the team's enhanced status, while Liuzzi was unfortunate to catch the puddle. "Liuzzi was unlucky to have aquaplane on main straight but Sutil's third place proves we are a front-running team now," Mallya told PTI.

The dramatic qualifying session featured several stoppages and delays because of rain but Sutil proved his dexterity in such condition and would start the race from the second row. “Being in the top three is always a great feeling, particularly after such a difficult session,” Sutil said. — PTI 

Sunderland, October 18
If Liverpool were starting to believe the footballing gods were once again conspiring to thwart their long quest for a 19th league, they will be convinced after a 1-0 loss at Sunderland.

With history already against them - no side has recovered from losing three of their first eight games and still won the Premier League - the Merseysiders arrived at the Stadium of Light Saturday with the further handicap of losing talismen Fernando Torres and Steve Gerrard to injuries sustained on international duty.

But it was a bright red beach ball that proved their downfall on Wearside. When bubbly Sunderland swept forward in the fifth minute, Andy Reid's cross from the right was helped on by Steed Malbranque into the path of Darren Bent.

The Black Cats top scorer struck a low right-foot shot that arrowed towards a beach ball in the box and when Glen Johnson's foot knocked it away, goalkeeper Pepe Reina took his eye off the ball that mattered, which flashed past him to spark wild celebrations among Sunderland fans.

Reid had sent a presentable chance over the bar after less than two minutes and Bent might have done better with a couple of headers during a sizzling first-half in front of a sell-out 47,327 crowd.

Liverpool remained a threat throughout, however, with 20-year-old midfielder Jay Spearing arriving on the edge of the area to get efforts at goal. Sunderland's goal led a charmed life in the 12th minute as George McCartney's slip allowed Johnson to cross low from the right, but neither Spearing nor Ryan Babel could finish.

Babel speared a drive a yard or so over and Fabio Aurelio was wide from 25 yards from a free-kick.

On the half-hour it took a crucial last-ditch tackle from Phil Bardsley to prevent Johnson shooting from only eight yards, but Liverpool were thankful Bent's finishing was not as sharp as it has been this season when he headed straight at Reina.

With a lead to defend going into the second-half and Liverpool continuing to press, there was a danger of Bruce's side resorting to 'anywhere will do' defending, with clearances pumped into spaces rather that towards front men Bent and Kenwyne Jones.

But Sunderland were so close to adding a second 10 minutes after the interval when Lee Cattermole robbed Spearing and Jones sent Bent into the box, only for Reina to make a great stop. — AFP

BRIEFLY

Davydenko beats Nadal, wins Shanghai Masters
Shanghai: Nikolay Davydenko upset top-seeded Rafael Nadal 7-6 (3), 6-3 on Sunday to win the Shanghai Masters for his fourth title of the year. The sixth-seeded Davydenko broke decisively in the sixth game of the second set to collect his 18th career title. His flat groundstrokes and angled winners denied the Spaniard a sixth title for this year and his first since the Rome Masters in May. — AP

Nikolay Davydenko kisses his wife Iriana after winning the men's singles final at the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament on Sunday.  — Reuters

PCB meet on Younus’ fate
Karachi: The Pakistan Cricket Board will announce on Monday whether Younus Khan will continue as captain of the Test and ODI sides or a new skipper will take over. PCB chairman Ejaz Butt is due to address a press conference immediately after concluding a meeting of the governing council in Lahore in which he is expected to inform the members what he plans to do. — PTI

Jeev slips to tied 52nd
Las Vegas: The top 10 finish that seemed a certainty slipped through the fingers and Jeev Milkha Singh went four-over 75 in his penultimate round to slip to tied 52nd in the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open golf tournament here. Beginning the day just three shots off lead and with a share of the 11th place, Jeev went on to turn in his worst round of the week. — PTI

Kapur rises to tied 49th
Vilamoura: Shiv Kapur rose to tied 49th after a modest one-under 71 in the penultimate round of the Portugal Masters golf tournament here. The Delhi pro followed his rounds of 69 and 70 with a sedate 71 to take his 54-hole tally to six-under 210 at the Oceanic Victoria Golf Club. After two par shots, Shiv fired an eagle on the par-five third hole, which proved lucky for him as he gained stroke in each of his rounds so far. — PTI

Stoner wins Australian GP
PHILLIP ISLAND: Casey Stoner showed no sign of the illness that has derailed his season when he upstaged Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo to secure a hat-trick of home Australian Grand Prix wins on Sunday. Stoner took the tactical battle by 1.935 seconds over champion Rossi in sunny conditions. — Reuters

Ronaldo, Messi for Ballon d’Or
PARIS: Last year's winner Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentina's Lionel Messi were among the 30 players on the 2009 Ballon d'Or award shortlist released on Sunday but Italians and Germans were conspicuous by their absence. Not a single player from world champions Italy or Euro 2008 losing finalists Germany made the list. 
— Reuters

Chinese rower fails doping test
BEIJING: A Chinese rower has failed a doping test and was kicked out of the National Games, the first such case during the prestigious competition, state media reported on Sunday. Henan province representative Guo Linna tested positive for 19-norandrostenedione, a precursor to steroids, and she faced a four-year ban. 
— Reuters