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Cook, Bell put England in command
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Sachin, Viru in ICC’s greatest ODI team
Balbir Singh to head hockey selection panel
Badri leads TN fightback
Lack of coaches may derail training
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india face final day test
Cape Town, January 5 India now need 340 runs to win the Test and the series on the final day on Thursday. Earlier, Jacques Kallis defied a painful rib injury to hammer an unbeaten half century as South Africa recovered from early jolts to reach 212 for six at tea. The hosts lost the wicket of Ashwell Prince early in the post-lunch session but Kallis and Mark Boucher pulled the team out of the pits with an unfinished 82-run partnership for the seventh wicket after being 130 for six at one stage. Kallis (67) and Boucher (46) were at the crease at the tea break in what turned out to be a fruitful session for the hosts who added 91 runs and lost just one wicket. South Africa suffered a huge jolt immediately after the lunch break with Ishant Sharma taking the wicket of Prince who cut an outside the off stump ball straight to Sreesanth at point. Boucher, who was out for a first-ball duck in the first innings, began with a flourish by hitting a couple of boundaries. Ishant Sharma strayed down the leg side on a number of occasions and Boucher took full advantage. Kallis and Boucher then went about the task of rebuilding the innings and took the score beyond the 200-mark with the Indian bowlers losing the sting. Kallis notched up his 55th half century by unleasing a delightful on-drive to the boundary, getting a standing ovation from the crowd at the Newlands. In the same over, he spanked him for another boundary to the square leg region. Earlier, Harbhajan was the pick of the Indian bowlers with four wickets while Zaheer chipped in with one as the hosts added 69 runs and lost three key wickets in an absorbing pre-lunch session. Kallis, defying a rib injury, was batting on 33 and Ashwell Prince on 15 at the lunch break with South Africa having a lead of 119 runs. Resuming at the overnight score of 52 for two, the South Africans plunged into trouble straightaway with Harbhajan Singh removing Alviro Petersen (22) and Hashim Amla (2) in quick succession. The wily off-spinner struck in his very first over, second of the day, by getting rid of Petersen, with a ball that did quite a bit after landing on the rough just outside the off stump. Petersen went on the backfoot and tried to defend the ball but missed it completely to be trapped leg before wicket. Kallis, who did not bowl during India's first innings because of the rib injury, came into bat and immediately went into an attacking mode by playing his strokes. Realising that Harbhajan was getting a lot of turn from the rough, Kallis used the reverse sweep to counter the spinner. He hit two boundaries by reverse sweeping, prompting Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni to post a fielder for that shot. The hosts suffered a big jolt when Amla, who has been in very good form, returned to the pavilion cheaply, falling prey to Harbhajan. Amla went down on his knee to sweep but the ball hit the pad and went on to dislodge the stump. He tried desperately to push it away with his bat but he had no chance. Kallis and AB de Villier tried to rebuild the crumbling innings by playing cautiously, though they played and missed a number of times. The pair put on 34 runs for the fifth wicket before pace spearhead Zaheer Khan evicted de Villers (13) who was caught in two mind on how to deal with the ball. de Villiers shouldered arm to an incoming delivery but the ball bounced, hit the bottom of the bat and crashed into the stumps, reducing the hosts to 98 for five. Kallis and Ashwell prince ensured that there were no further setbacks for the team by holding fort till the lunch break.
— PTI Scoreboard South Africa 1st innings 362 India first innings 364 South Africa 2nd innings Smith lbw b Harbhajan 29 Petersen lbw b Harbhajan 22 Harris lbw b Harbhajan 0 Amla b Harbhajan 2 Kallis not out 109 de Villiers b Zaheer 13 Prince c Sreesanth b Ishant 22 Boucher lbw b Tendulkar 55 Steyn c sub b Harbhajan 32 Morkel c S’santh b Harbhajan 28 Tsotsobe c Sehwag b Harbhajan 8 Extras (lb 7, w 2, nb 12) 21 Total (all out; 102 overs) 341 Bowling Zaheer 20-2-64-1, Sreesanth 24-3-79-0, Ishant 18-1-62-1, Harbhajan 38-1-120-7, Tendulkar 2-0-9-1.
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Cook, Bell put England in command
Sydney, January 5 The 26-year-old opener scored 189 and shared a 154-run sixth-wicket partnership with Ian Bell, who survived a dropped catch and a controversial umpire overrule before notching his first test century against Australia and helping England reach 488-7 at stumps on the third day, a first-innings lead of 288. England has an unbeatable 2-1 lead and needs only a draw at the Sydney Cricket Ground to claim its first test series victory in Australia since 1987. Cook had some contentious moments on 46 and 99, both against left-arm spinner Michael Beer, but passed 5,000 career runs and lifted his series tally to 776 runs at an average of 127 with another commanding innings. The 26-year-old Cook scored an unbeaten 235 in the first test and has only been out five times in the series. He surpassed Herbert Sutcliffe - who scored 734 in the 1924-25 series in Australia - as England's second-highest scorer in an Ashes series. Only the great Wally Hammond has scored more for England in a series, accumulating 905 in 1928-29 at average of 113. Australia's Sir Donald Bradman holds the record with his 974 runs in 1930 series in England. Cook was out soon after the tea interval, caught by Mike Hussey off Shane Watson's bowling to make the England total 380-6. Bell continued to score his maiden century in Australia, but it will remain contentious. He challenged umpire Aleem Dar's decision when he was caught behind on 67 off Watson's bowling. The TV umpire Tony Hill ruled that there wasn't enough evidence that Bell got an edge on a Shane Watson ball that went between bat and bad. But later television technology indicated Bell did snick the ball and Dar's decision should have stood. The English No 6 was also dropped on 84 when legspinner Steven Smith put down a regulation return catch. Still, after 11 half centuries against Australia, he finally reached three figures. He was caught by Michael Clarke at second slip to give Mitchell Johnson a third wicket six minutes before stumps was called due to bad light. Brief Scores: England 7 for 488 (Cook 189, Bell 115, Johnson 3-97) lead Australia 280 by 208 runs. — AP |
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Sachin, Viru in ICC’s greatest ODI team
Chandigarh, January
5 1983 World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev has been included in the team as the lone all-rounder, but the retired Sourav Ganguly failed to make the grade. The first-ever ODI was played between Australia and England on January 5, 1971 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The momentous 438th game between South Africa and Australia in Johannesburg in 2006, when the Proteas chased down 434, has been voted the best ODI yet by fans. The ICC asked fans from across the world to select a dream team from a shortlist of 48 players, and pick their favourite game from a choice of 10 memorable matches. India captain Mahendra Singh
Dhoni, who was the lone Indian in the list of wicketkeepers, failed to make the cut while legendary spinner Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh lost out in the race for spinners to Sri Lanka's Muttiah
Muralitharan. No Indian was nominated in the middle-order batsmen and fast bowling categories. The All-Time ODI Dream Team Opening batsmen: Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag (both
Ind) Middle order: Brian Lara, Viv Richards (both WI) and Ricky Ponting (Aus) All-rounder: Kapil Dev
(Ind) Wicketkeeper: Adam Gilchrist (Aus) Spinner: Muttiah Muralidaran (SL) Fast bowlers: Wasim Akram (Pak), Glenn McGrath (Aus) and Allan Donald (SA) 12th man: Michael Bevan (Aus) — he received the most number of votes without getting enough to make the would-be starting 11). |
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IPL IV will be 10-team, 74-match affair
Mumbai, January 5 "The court has given a verdict. How can we stop them?" said Cricket Board sources when contacted after the IPL's Governing Council meeting today. This means IPL IV would comprise 10 teams, including the two new franchises, Kochi and Pune. Sources also said that the format would be the same as was announced in September before the Board decided to terminate the contracts of RR and KXIP for non-compliance of terms which was challenged in the court by the two franchises. As per the decisions taken by the IPL Governing Council on September 5, the forthcoming season will have 70 league matches plus four play-off matches with each team having the same number of ties (14 of which seven home and seven away) as in the previous IPL editions. The teams would be divided into two groups of five each. Each team would play the other four teams in its group twice - home and away; four of the five teams in the other group once - home or away; one of the five teams in the other group twice - home and away.
— PTI
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Balbir Singh to head hockey selection panel
New Delhi, January 5 The Development Committee of Hockey India met here today under the chairmanship of former Indian captain Pargat Singh to pick the new selection committee members. The Development Committee also decided to call the applicants for the coaching and support staff for the Indian team for presentations and discussions to the Capital on January 22 and 23 before making the final choice. The presentations and discussions with the applicants of foreign coaching and support staff will be held subsequently. |
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Man United stay top
London, January 5 "Stoke are such a determined bunch of lads, they don't make it easy for anyone, breaking them down," United manager Alex Ferguson said. "Thankfully Nani produced a fantastic goal ... and from then we were solid." Unbeaten all season, United not only has a three point lead but also a game in hand over Manchester City, which is at third-place Arsenal today. Yesterday's other matches, Birmingham and Fulham climbed out of the relegation zone with victories. Birmingham won for the first time away this season came after Scott Dann's 89th minute goal secured a 2-1 victory at Blackpool, while Fulham beat West Bromwich 3-0. In the title race, United has now collected 19 points from a possible 21 in its last seven matches. The victory in United's 20th match of the league season was secured without striker Wayne Rooney, who injured his ankle at the weekend, and center back Rio Ferdinand, who was rested ahead of Sunday's FA Cup match against Liverpool. Hernandez, whose double clinched a 2-1 victory at Stoke in October, was on target again against the team after 27 minutes at Old Trafford. The offseason recruit nipped in front of former Stoke defender Ryan Shawcross at the near post and reacted quickly as Nani whipped in a low cross. Letting the ball run behind him, he quickly flicked back his right leg and turned it into a goal that Asmir Begovic thought he had covered. But Hernandez's eight goal of the season and his second in four days was canceled out five minutes into the second half when Stoke scored for the first time at United since 1980. Whitehead nipped between Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra to head home Tuncay Sanli's cross unchallenged past Tomasz Kuszczak, who was filling in for Edwin van der Sar in the United goal. United, though, was back in front in the 62nd when Hernandez found space on the edge of the penalty area to pick out Nani, who turned the ball away from Danny Collins and struck past Begovic. On the northwest coast, Alexander Hleb pounced on a mistake by Stephen Crainey to put Birmingham ahead in the 24th minute DJ Campbell leveled for Blackpool in the 68th by volleying in his fourth goal in four games. But Birmingham found the target again late on when Dann met Roger Johnson's header across goal and took a touch before dispatching a half-volley past goalkeeper Richard Kingson. In west London, Fulham eased the pressure on manager Mark Hughes by easily beating West Brom to secure its first home win in six attempts. Simon Davies put Fulham ahead in first-half stoppage time when his 30-yard (meter) strike went through the raised hands of goalkeeper Scott Carson.
— AP |
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Badri leads TN fightback
Jaipur, January 5 The hosts have scored a mammoth 552 for seven before declaring their innings. As of now the game hangs in balance with Tamil Nadu having a slight edge over the hosts. Rajasthan have scored their 552 runs in 190 overs with a run-rate of 2.90. Tamil Nadu have till now maintained an run-rate of 2.75 in the 69 overs they have batted. If full 90 overs of play is possible tomorrow and Rajasthan fail to bowl out the visitors, then Dinesh Karthik's boys will need to score another 273 runs tomorrow. That will take total to 463 in 159 overs and their run-rate will be 2.91 which is better than Rajasthan. If Tamil Nadu want to win straightway with a first-innings lead, they would require another 363 runs which is difficult if not impossible as it's still a good batting track. The highlight of the Rajasthan innings was young Ashok Menaria's second ton (106, 189 balls, 11x4, 2x6) in as many matches while skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar scored his 30th ton in first-class cricket. The moment former India player reached three-figure mark, the hosts decided to declare their innings. For Tamil Nadu, Badrinath who is batting on 78 (184 balls, 10x4) was involved in two useful partnerships. First one was 75 runs for the second wicket with Abhinav Mukund (47, 99 balls, 8x4) and then another 51 runs for the unbeaten fourth wicket stand with K Vasudevdas (22 batting). The Rajasthan bowlers toiled hard for wickets. Find of the season, Deepak Chahar angled one into opener KB Arun Kartik (7) who was played on with his leg stump going for a walk. Brief Scores: Rajasthan 552/7 in 190 ovs (A Chopra 139, A Menaria 106, H Kanitkar 100 not out, V Saxena 72, C Ganapathy 2/73, S Sam 2/96). Tamil Nadu 190/3 in 69 ovs (S Badrinath 78 batting, A Mukund 47, D Karthik 28, V Yadav 1/37, P Singh 1/45, D Chahar 1/51).
— PTI |
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Lack of coaches may derail training
Patiala, January 5 Just over 1500 Sports Authority of India (SAI) coaches are training thousands of sportspersons in the country, with the last recruitment of coaches dating back to almost over a decade ago. In Punjab, Haryana and other northern States, many district headquarters do not have coaches. A special mention about this shortage was made in the report submitted to Parliament in April by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development. “The most crucial aspect for preparedness of our sportspersons in different sports disciplines has remained the most neglected one so far,” reads the report, a copy of which is in the possession of The Tribune. A SAI official said that no recruitment of coaches has been made since 1998. “Only approval for recruitment of 100 coaches on contract basis was given by the department,” he said. The report, meanwhile, states “the present status of coaches in the country is very disappointing. The committee has been given to understand that the strength of 1623 way back in 1997 was brought down to 831 by the Ministry of Finance. It took prolonged deliberations in bringing back the strength to 1258 on regular basis and 85 coaches on contract basis”. |
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