Sydney, February 2
Australia conjured up their biggest ever successful run chase to beat England by two wickets in a thrilling sixth one-day international at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Wednesday. After a Jonathan Trott century helped England post their highest ever ODI score against Australia of 333-6, the home side batted their way into contention, needing six to win off the final over with two wickets in hand.

Tailender John Hastings edged a boundary off the second delivery from youngster Chris Woakes to hand Australia victory with four balls to spare, the home side making 334-8. It was Australia's record run chase in an ODI and extended their lead over the tourists in the seven-match series to 5-1 with one game to play.

Captain Michael Clarke's late season return to form continued as he smashed 82 from 70 balls to lead the unlikely chase, with late support from David Hussey, who made 38. The match seemed to be England's to lose with Australia needing 70 off 48 balls, but the pair took 16 off James Anderson's eighth over — the 44th of the innings.

They followed it up by notching 14 off Anderson's ninth as the England bowler went on to finish with a disastrous 91 runs from his 10 overs. Shane Watson, with 51 off 34 balls, got the home side off to a flying start in reply to what had the look of a match-winning total by England, before falling to the spin of Michael Yardy.

Mitchell Johnson was promoted to number four and made 57 before being stumped from the bowling of Kevin Pietersen, while the recalled Callum Ferguson was run out for 46. An Australian win seemed unlikely after Trott's second century of the series helped England post what was also their highest ODI score in Australia.

Trott continued his superb series by making 137, taking his haul for the series to 361 runs at 72.20, the English number three the leading scorer for either side despite his team's indifferent form. Before falling to the second-last ball of the innings Trott was offered good support by captain Andrew Strauss, who made 63 from just 69 balls, and Ian Bell, with 45 from 32 deliveries. — AFP

Patiala, February 2
Kerala girls proved their supremacy in the time trial events. They featured among the top three finishers in all the women’s competitions held today, the second day of the 63rd Senior and Junior and 26th Sub-junior men’s and women’s, National Track Cycling Championship at the Punjabi University Velodrome here.

In the 500-metre time trial event for women Kerala’s Mahitha Mohan and Kazia Verghese finished first and second, respectively. After a dismal performance in the Guangzhou Asian Games, where she finished 20th, Mahitha looked in good form here.

“I am working hard on my fitness and agility,” she told The Tribune after her race.

In the girls’ under-19 500m Time Trial, Kazia stood first with a timing of 41.880 seconds. She was followed closely by team-mate Parvathi V.G. The story was almost same in the younger category. Kerala’s girl Lidiya Mol S. Sunny was first in the u-17 girls’ time trial, clocking 42.991 seconds while Maharashtra’s Rutuja Satpute was second.

National cycling coach Chayan Chowdhary said that the performance of all cyclists is being watched closely as there is ample room in the core camp and though the cyclists could not win many medals in the Asian Games, the new talent was showing promise.

“We have many cyclists performing well and the young girls from Kerala are making the competition tougher’, he added.

Earlier, Asia Cup bronze medalist, BSNL cyclist O. Bikram Singh, proved his caliber with the men’s time trial gold. Punjab cyclist Gurbaj Singh was third in the event.

Visakhapatnam, February 2
Paras Dogra saved North Zone from a disaster as he smashed an aggressive unbeaten 147 to take his side to 266 for seven on the first day of the Duleep Trophy final against South Zone here today. Electing to bat, North Zone were in deep trouble after they were reduced to 30 for three inside 20 overs and 57 for four at lunch against a South Zone bowling attack which has India players in R Vinay Kumar, Pragyan Ojha and Abhimanyu Mithun.

Dogra, who came in when North Zone were reeling at 30 for three, revived the innings, and in the able company of Yashpal Singh (32) and Uday Kaul (38) turned it around to take his side to a position from where they can hope to put up a good total on the second day tomorrow. Dogra was still going strong when the stumps were drawn, having smashed 16 fours and five sixes in his 201-ball innings.

Joginder Singh was giving Dogra company on four. North Zone made a horrible start to their innings after captain Amit Mishra called the coin correctly with openers Nitin Saini (3) and Shikhar Dhawan (5) getting out cheaply at team score of nine inside 10 overs. Soon even the Delhi Ranji team captain Mithun Manhas joined the duo inside the dressing room after scoring just seven.

North's revival began in the post-lunch session with Dogra first stitching a 99-run stand with Yashpal for the fifth wicket before sharing another 89-run partnership for the sixth with wicketkeeper Uday Kaul. — PTI

Karachi, February 2
Pakistan's suspended cricketers Salman Butt and Mohammed Aamer will leave for Doha tomorrow to find out the outcome of the ICC hearing into spot-fixing case against them and the decision of the anti-corruption tribunal would decide which direction their careers would go.

The third suspended player - pace bowler Mohammad Asif -- will fly to Doha directly from London. Michael Beloff the head of the tribunal is scheduled to announce the verdict of the tribunal on the spot-fixing allegations against the three suspended players on Saturday at a press conference.

"We have no comments to make on the verdict at this stage because we don't know what the decision is going to come from the tribunal," Shahid Karim the lawyer for Aamer said. He said any decision about appealing against the verdict of the three-member tribunal would be taken later on. — PTI

New Delhi, February 2
Indian football team dropped one place to 145th in the latest FIFA rankings issued today, following their three-match all-loss show at last month's Asian Cup in Doha. India even lost six points from their previous month's kitty. With 126 points, India is 26th, a drop of one place from last month, among the 46 countries which form the Asian Football Confederation. Asian Cup champions Japan jumped 12 places to topple Australia, who finished runners-up in Doha, as AFC's top team at 17 in the FIFA charts.

Australia also gained five places to be at 21st, followed by South Korea (32nd) who finished third in the Asian Cup, Iran (44th) who jumped 21 places up the order, and China (75th). — PTI

London, February 2
Wayne Rooney scored twice as Manchester United remained five points clear at the top of the Premier League after a 3-1 win at home to Aston Villa.

For much of last night it looked as if United might extend their lead but second-placed Arsenal came from behind to beat Everton 2-1 at the Emirates and so stay in touch with Sir Alex Ferguson's unbeaten side. England striker Rooney's first minute goal -- his first in open play in the Premier League in 11 months -- gave the hosts the ideal start at Old Trafford.

Rooney controlled United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar's long goalkick downfield before unleashing a 20-yard dipping shot past Brad Friedel. — AFP

BRIEFLY

95 JK athletes in National Games
Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir will send a 95-strong contingent to take part in the 34th National Games in Jharkhand, Minister for Sports R S Chib said today. "J&K is taking part in the 34th National games-2011 by sending a contingent of 95 athletes to Jharkhand," Chib told reporters here today. The event is being held from February 12 to 26 at Ranchi, Danbad and Jamshedpur towns of Jharkhand. Giving details, the Minister said that the sportsmen from Jammu and Kashmir will participate in 11 disciplines. These include athletics, boxing, cycling, fencing, gymnastic, handball, kayaking & canoeing, shooting, swimming, weightlifting and wrestling, adding that the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah will flag off the selected athletes on February 8. — PTI

Force India in pre-season testing
Valencia: Force India's new signings Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta took on the driving duties for the first time for the Formula One team starting a three-day pre-season testing programme at the Valencia permanent circuit here. The two drivers were officially taken on board last Wednesday. In yesterday's testing, the team used the VJM03 — last year's challenger — to gather further tyre data, while development work continued on the VJM04 in the wind tunnel back at Silverstone. Nico was first out in the car, completing 71 laps in total with a best time of 1:13.938, the second quickest time of the day, as he got up to speed with the car and the different protocols and procedures employed by the team. — PTI

Chess Championship for Blind
Coimbatore: Third seed Kishan Gangolli of Karnataka jumped to sole lead after overcoming a firm challenge from Gujarat's Darshan Patel in the sixth round of the National-B here today. Gangolli now has five-and-a-half points in his unbeaten run and is followed by four international players -- second seed and world team individual gold medallist Krishna Udupa, three time national champion Rajesh Oza, 2000 Poland Olympiad Bronze medallist Madan Bagyatkar and Shirish Patil -- who all are tied with five points. The tournament is being jointly organised by the All India Chess Federation for the Blind and the Giants Group of Coimbatore (Federation IV ) at Bharathiar University. — PTI

At least 3 IPL games at Dharamsala
Dharamsala: The picturesque Dharamsala cricket stadium in Himachal Pradesh is scheduled to host at least three Twenty20 matches during the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), an official said here today. Public Relation Officer (PRO) of Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA), Sanjay Sharma said the co-owner of King's XI Punjab Preity Zinta, who is a native of this State, wants to have more matches here. "Bollywood star Preity Zinta, who is the co-owner of the Kings XI Punjab is a Himachali and she is keen to have more matches in the State." Sharma also hinted that the 20,000 capacity venue might even get more matches than what is scheduled. "The number of matches in Dharmsala could even rise to four," Sharma said. — PTI

Sushil cheers Tihar inmates
New Delhi: World champion wrestler Sushil Kumar today visited the Tihar Jail prisoners to motivate and cheer them for the inter-jail winter volleyball championship being held here. Tihar Jail organises inter-jail games every year during winters. The games first took place in 1992-93 at the initiative of India's first woman police officer Kiran Bedi, who was Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of the jail at that time, to bring reforms in the prison. "We organise Tihar Olympics every year during winters, wherein we invite sports personalities to come and witness the event on the concluding day. "This year Sushil Kumar came over to encourage the participating prisoners," Sunil Gupta, spokesperson of Tihar Jail said. — PTI

Mian-Wind Academy win
Mahilpur: The School category finals of Under 14 boys of Football Academy Mian-Wind (Tarantarn) was a display of enthusiasm and technique of budding footballers. Despite excellent dribbling and good passing, the finishing shots lacked power, resulting in goalless score during regulation time and was finally decided in favour of Mian-Wind Academy by 4 goals to 3, with three shots having been blocked by the goal keeper. The girls finals was played between Women College Datta Chela and Khalsa Higher Secondary School Paldi. This match too was decided in favour of the College girls through penalty shootout by 5 goals to 3. — TNS