Margao, October 24
The third and final ODI between India and Australia was today abandoned without a ball being bowled due to wet outfield caused by overnight rains to give the hosts a 1-0 series victory, their first in over two decades.

Match abandoned without a ball bowled India win series 1-0 Wet outfield reason for no play Both teams had big names missing First time in history, Aussies fail to win single game on tour First ODI too had been washed out Only result was in Vizag where India won by 5 wickets

With the abandonment of today's ODI, the second such case in the three-match series, Australia returned home without winning a single game in their tour of India. They had lost the two-match Test series 0-2 before the ODI series.

India had beaten Australia by five wickets in the second ODI at Visakhapatnam on October 20 while the first match in Kochi on October 17 was washed out. India thus notched up their first ever whitewash of Australia in both Test and ODI series in the same tour. This is also the first time that Australia failed to win a single match in the same tour against any country in their history.

India had last won a bilateral ODI series against Australia in 1986-87 when they won 3-2 at home. Umpires Billy Bowden and Amish Saheba made two inspections of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium ground at 11 am and 12:15 pm before deciding to abandon the match because of the wet conditions in the outfield that persisted despite the sun shining brightly.

In between these two inspections rival skippers Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Michael Clarke also came out to go around the outfield and were seen having a long discussion with the umpires. The match was later called off without a ball being bowled, thus making it the second time it has happened at this venue. The wicket looked in perfect condition but the seepage of rain water through the covers left outfield damp and slippery. The morning though began with the prospect of a curtailed match being played with the sun shining brightly.

The ground was covered by tarpaulins overnight which protected most parts of it but still there were some seepages at the outfield. Super sopper was employed to suck up the water from the covers.

The match organisers, Goa Cricket Association, have already promised to refund the entire ticket amount through branches of Federal Bank all over India from October 28. The capacity crowd of 27,000 sat through the entire rigmarole before trooping home disappointed. Even the players of both the sides, except for the two captains, did not come to the stadium.

New Delhi/London: Suresh Raina today found himself at the center of an unexpected controversy when a British paper claimed that he was seen with a woman allegedly linked to bookies but the BCCI dismissed the report as "baseless". The London-based 'Sunday Times' claimed that ICC's ACSU is probing why the BCCI kept quiet on a report from Sri Lanka Cricket that Raina was seen in the company of a woman linked to an associate of a bookie during the tour of the island nation in July-August.

Terming the report as "baseless and false", BCCI Secretary N Srinivasan said the Cricket Board has not received any such complaint from the SLC. "The BCCI has just learnt that several media outlets are claiming that Sri Lanka Cricket had submitted a report on Suresh Raina to it, and that no action was taken by the Board on the same," he said in a statement.

"The BCCI would like to clarify that it has received no such report from SLC. The claims being made by a section of the media are totally baseless and false," he said. "They are targetting a player who is doing well for India now," an angry Srinivasan added.

BCCI spokesperson Rajiv Shukla also termed the report as "untrue" and said the woman concerned was Raina's agent. "That is untrue and baseless. It's all rubbish. No complaint had ever come to BCCI from either the ICC or SLC.

BCCI had never received any complaint on this matter. Actually, the lady is Raina's agent," Shukla told PTI.

"Raina was with the lady to sign some papers and complete formalities. She was also agent of some Sri Lankan players. It has nothing to do with any anti-corruption matter or any matter outside cricket," said Shukla who is also a BCCI Vice-President. "It is just media speculation and nothing else," he said. — PTI

Ludhiana, October 24
Hitting out at the lone chink in the Indian cricket team's armor, which is vying to win next year's world cup, legendry cricketer Kapil Dev said winning Cricket World cup would be a tough task in the absence of an allrounder.

"There are cricketers, who are good at one department either bowling or batting, but the team needs a perfect allrounder, who could score runs and take wickets too," said the legendry man and added, "All the teams, including ours, who could win the World Cup in the past had a good bunch of allrounders in their squad."

Expressing delight on the gold rush of Indian contingent in the Commonwealth Games (CWG), the ace cricketer said, "I am very happy over the fact that the athletes especially from the small towns of Punjab and Haryana have brought laurels for the state. Even the cricketers from small-towns are dominating the cricket scene. MSD is a great example."

Expressing regret over the sports culture in the country, Kapil said, "Unfortunately in Indian only cricket and tennis are considered sports. But CWG has brought some positives for the players of other sports disciplines. People have started recognizing players other then cricket and tennis. Ace badminton player Saina Nehwal and wrestler Sushil Kumar have carved a niche and drew the attention of people with their scintillating performance."

Yeongam, October 24
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso won a rain-hit and chaotic Korean Grand Prix to seize back the Formula One world championship lead on a nightmare Sunday for his Red Bull rivals. In an inaugural race that turned out to be one of the longest in Formula One history — delayed by a downpour, started, stopped and then re-started behind the safety car after a 48 minute wait before ending almost in the twilight — the Spaniard could scarcely believe his good fortune.

With two races to go, and a maximum 50 points to be won under the new 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 scoring system, Alonso celebrated his fifth win of the year to turn a 14-point deficit into an 11-point lead over Red Bull's Australian Mark Webber. Webber crashed out early on, handing the championship baton to team mate Sebastian Vettel before the German suffered an agonising engine failure nine laps from the end while leading.

McLaren's 2008 champion Lewis Hamilton finished second, 14.9 seconds behind, and moved up to third overall with 210 points, 21 behind Alonso. Brazilian Felipe Massa took the final podium place for Ferrari. Vettel fell to fourth on 206 points with McLaren's reigning champion Jenson Button finishing 12th. The Briton is now 42 points off the lead and effectively, if not mathematically, out of the title equation.

If events again fall into Alonso's lap, in the most unpredictable of seasons, he could even wrap up his third title in Brazil in two weeks' time at the same Sao Paulo circuit where he won the other two for Renault in 2005 and 2006.

"Beautiful, beautiful. You and the whole team deserved this. Grande!" declared Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali over the radio to Alonso. The Asturian, now with three victories in the last four races and a career 26 wins, cackled and whooped wildly in reply after taking the chequered flag a full three hours after the race had been due to start. The official winning time was two hours 48 minutes 20.810 seconds.

"This is the best race of the year for the team," he said. "But nothing has changed really. We all know the new points system. Anything can happen." Webber, who had started in second place behind Vettel on pole, could testify to that. — Reuters

BRIEFLY

Malik wants to fight for justice
Karachi: Former Pakistan cricket captain Salim Malik has threatened to expose the truth behind the match-fixing inquiry report that came out about 10 years ago. Malik was banned for life on the recommendations of the one-man inquiry tribunal headed by Justice (retd) Malik Qayyum in 2000 while five other players were let off with fines as the tribunal didn't find sufficient evidence to ban them. — PTI

Venky as Oz bowling coach: report
Melbourne: Former Indian seamer Venkatesh Prasad has emerged as a candidate to replace Troy Cooley as Australia's pace bowling coach after the 2011 World Cup in the sub-continent, a report said on Sunday. Following the appointment of Cooley as head of the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane, Cricket Australia are looking for a new man to take his place after the World Cup next year, and Prasad offers many of the attributes required, according to a report by 'Australian Associated Press'. — PTI

Williamson, Bennett new for NZ
Wellington: Rookie batsman Kane Williamson and pacer Hamish Bennett were the new faces in New Zealand's 15-member Test squad announced today for a three-match cricket series against India next month. Williamson, who was the only Kiwi batsman to crack a ton during their 0-4 thrashing by Bangladesh in an ODI series earlier this month, was rewarded for his consistent performance. — PTI

Sightscreen collapses at Stadium
Margao: The sightscreen at the north end of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here fell down after coming off the railings on which it was mounted, to add to the difficulties of the organisers of the third and final ODI between India and Australia on Sunday. Although the one-dayer was finally abandoned due to an unplayable wet outfield but there was quite a bit of drama to entertain the packed stadium due to the collapsing of the sightscreen. Fortunately, no one was in front of it when it came crashing down. — PTI

Atwal hits bottom in PGA Tourney
Las Vegas: Indian golfer Arjun Atwal lay at the bottom of the leaderboard after carding a horrendous six-over 77 in the third and penultimate round of the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open here. Atwal's overall total stood at two-over 215 and he was 75th in the standings after managing three birdies against seven bogeys and a double bogey in third round. — PTI

No Oz tested positive: Crosswhite
Melbourne: Australian Commonwealth Games Association Chief Executive Perry Crosswhite has ruled out any participant in the recently-concluded Delhi CWG being among the nine athletes, who flunked dope tests. Nine Australian athletes have tested positive for banned stimulant methylhexaneamine and there was speculation that some of them could be from the Commonwealth Games squad. — PTI

Rajendra eyes Asian Games glory
Indore: After claiming the gold in Delhi Commonwealth Games, India wrestler Rajendra Kumar now wants to continue with his form to fetch glory in next month's Asian Games at Guangzhou, China. "I will go to the arena of Guangzhou Asian Games with the confidence of winning a medal," Kumar, who is currently in a preparation camp at Sonipat, told PTI. — PTI