|
|
|
|
|
Pak look to get over Akmal brothers’ saga
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Aussies smash 324
India can’t win World Cup,
Bangladesh ready for Dutch
Somdev stuns Baghdatis to move into 3rd round
Anand beats Topalov in Amber opener
PSB and PNB set up title clash
Chandigarh Marathon ends
Man Utd down misfiring Gunners
Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney (L) vies with Arsenal’s Bacary Sagna during their FA Cup quarterfinal at Old Trafford in Manchester on Saturday. — AFP
Short ones
|
|
Kiwis ease into quarterfinals
Mumbai, March 13 The North Americans' captain Ashish Bagai led a brave rearguard action, however, with 84 before cramp virtually crippled him and he was caught behind off Nathan McCullum. Jimmy Hansra also battled hard against the inevitable with a stubborn 70 not out but he too needed extensive treatment for cramp on a baking day at the Wankhede Stadium, stage for the April 2 final, and retired hurt before returning with eight wickets down. Canada, never up with the huge run rate, eventually finished on 261-9. "It was nice to get runs myself but we lost the game," said Bagai. "It was hot today, so got some cramps after keeping and batting, It got to me. We will look to go out on a high in Bangalore against Australia." McCullum had earlier paced his innings at no more than a steady rate and passed 4,000 career ODI runs on 95 before reaching three figures in 107 balls including 12 fours and two sixes. He was out in the 37th over for 101, caught trying to speed up the run rate off Harvir Baidwan. Ross Taylor, who destroyed the Pakistan attack in the Kiwis' last match, carried on in a similarly spectacular vein, firing past his half-century by scoring 28 runs off one hugely destructive over from Baidwan including four sixes and a four. The stand-in skipper was eventually out for 74, having shared an explosive half-century fourth-wicket partnership with Nathan McCullum (10) reached in just 21 balls. In all, Taylor hit six fours and five sixes. Scott Styris (35), Kane Williamson (34 not out) and James Franklin (31 not out off eight balls) added late salt to Canada's wounds on a track which offered little for either side's seam or spin bowlers. "The way Martin Guptill and Brendon batted gave us a good platform to reach the kind of total we did," said Taylor, who was standing in for the injured Daniel Vettori. "I had a bit of luck while batting. The bowlers complemented the batting well. Our strength is the lower-order hitting, and we try to set ourselves for a go." The revamped Mumbai venue hosted its first World Cup fixture, a dress rehearsal for the guaranteed full house for the final. On Sunday, the 33,000 seating capacity was about a quarter full and populated mainly by intrigued locals. — Reuters Scoreboard
Extras: (b2, lb3, w11,nb2) 18 Canada Extras: (b5, lb2, w9, nb1) 17 |
|
Pak look to get over Akmal brothers’ saga
Pallekele, March 13 Pakistan's unbeaten run in this edition of the mega-event was halted when New Zealand handed them a 110-run thrashing and adding to that was the woeful form of wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal. The butter-finger keeper has been a major letdown with captain Shahid Afridi admitting that the side is suffering because of Akmal but what left everyone baffled is the team management's persistent backing for the fumbling stumper. A possible replacement behind the stumps could have been Kamran's own brother Umar but he too has, interestingly, injured himself in the practice session. It is notable that Umar had been accused of feigning injury for the sake of his brother in the past as well. The off-field drama is, however, not much of a concern for Afridi, who said the team is capable of handling the situation and coming good on the field. "We want to put everything behind us, the defeat and any other thing which could hurt our preparation. We are in a positive frame of mind and will play for a win," said Afridi. The skipper was also confident about Umar, who hurt his right index finger while fielding during practice on Thursday, recovering in time for tomorrow's match. "Umar is OK. As far as Kamran is concerned he has realised his mistakes and we have given him full confidence and at this moment he is our best option," he said. Pakistan are third in the points table behind Sri Lanka and New Zealand with six points. Zimbabwe, meanwhile, suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka in their last game on Thursday. The African nation, who have won just one of their four World Cup games, still have a chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals provided they win their next two matches and Pakistan lose both their remaining group games. — PTI |
|
Aussies smash 324
Bangalore, March 13 Clarke smashed seven fours and a six in his innings. For Kenya, Nehemiah Odhiambo and skipper Jimmy Kamande were the pick of the bowlers sharing five of the six Australian wickets that fell. While Odhiambo managed 3/57 in his 10 overs, Kamande scalped two. It was a slow start to the proceedings at the Chinniswamy Stadium with the Aussies losing their first wicket pretty early when opener Shane Watson (21) nicked one to wicketkeeper Maurice Ouma while attempting a cut off Nehemia Odhiambo. Watson struck three boundaries and a six in his 17-ball cameo. In came skipper Ricky Ponting and steadily put on 89 runs for the third wicket with Haddin. But Kamande managed to break the steady partnership when he had Haddin caught by Rakep Patel at deep midwicket. — PTI Scoreboard
Extras (b-2, lb-5, w-16, nb-1) 24
|
|
India can’t win World Cup,
Melbourne, March 13 "The three main common denominators consistent with all World Cup champion teams are: Your top four batsmen must be of a high quality. They must have the technique to play the new ball, as well as have the power and stroke play during powerplays. Your top four bowlers must be of high quality, able to absorb pressure and bowl defensively in powerplays. If you can't field, don't bother turning up!" Jones said in his column for 'The Age'. "All this taken into account, I do not believe India will win the World Cup with its current form. Tell Dhoni, he's dreaming," wrote Jones in his article. Jones said that despite the presence of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag in the team, who can rip any bowling attack to shreds, India cannot win the World Cup. "Everyone here has a huge regard for the Indian team. They have the batsmen, no doubt. Tendulkar and Sehwag can rip any attack to shreds. But that alone doesn't win the World Cup for India. He is dreaming," he said. The former Aussie cricketer said that Dhoni's bowling combination comprising Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Piyush Chawla and Harbhajan Singh doesn't match the standards of any of the line-ups of the previous teams. "Captain M S Dhoni has admitted some of his fieldsmen are very slow. But Dhoni believes he will win the World Cup with this bowling line-up: Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Piyush Chawla and Harbhajan Singh. Dhoni must turn to history to see that this bowling attack will not win a World Cup. "Dhoni wants seven specialist batsmen and four specialist bowlers. Having seven batsmen tells me that India doesn't trust its 'engine room' to make the runs required. By having four bowlers, it means that everything must go right or they are in deep trouble. What happens if one is injured? Or one gets smashed?" Jones questioned. Jones pointed out that India's main weakness is the form of spinners Piyush Chawla and Harbhajan Singh. "Chawla is being smashed and was brought in by the strong backing of Dhoni after two years in obscurity. There are three leg-spinners who have won World Cups: Mushtaq, Warne and Brad Hogg. Is Chawla as good as those three? No, he isn't. "The Indian skipper has other problems in Harbhajan's form. Harbhajan has struggled in all World Cups and has only take six wickets in eight matches against the Test countries at an average of 58. His 10 overs are going for around 50. "Chawla must be replaced by Ravichandran Ashwin. Harbhajan needs to get in opponents' faces more," he said. He added that India's best bowling line-up is Khan, Nehra, Harbhajan and Ravichandran Ashwin, with Yusuf Pathan and Yuvraj Singh splitting the fifth bowler's duties. "The team needs the attitude to get wickets and not just defend. Getting wickets always stops the run-rate. Its fieldsmen must look for run-outs and want the ball in the field." — PTI
|
|
Chittagong, March 13
After defeats at the hands of India and the West Indies, who shot them out for their lowest ODI total of 58, Bangladesh bounced back with an upset over England to keep their hopes alive. Chasing a modest 225, Bangladesh rode on an unbeaten 58-run ninth-wicket partnership between Mahmudullah and Shafiul Islam to stun England by two wickets in a day-night clash at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury stadium here on Friday. With four teams from each pool making it to the knock-out round, the win meant Bangladesh are back in the hunt for a quarter-final spot from an unpredictable Group B. Bangladesh are currently lying fifth in Group B with four points from four matches, just behind England who are on five points from five games. The Tigers cannot afford a slip up against the Dutch in the day match tomorrow as their last league match is against mighty South Africa. Bangladesh still can progress to the quarterfinals if they beat the Netherlands tomorrow and lose to South Africa. But for that to happen, they will have to hope that England lose to the West Indies in their last group match in Chennai on Thursday. Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan is aware how crucial tomorrow's match is and said his side is confident after their terrific win over England. "The win over England has opened the way for us and we must take advantage of that. We now have a very good chance to make the quarter-finals. We must focus on our last two games. We don't want to go out of the tournament early," Shakib said. Coach Jamie Siddons said the co-hosts will have to carry on the momentum and cannot afford to relax against the Dutch. "We are focussing on the Netherlands game. We have given ourselves every chance to be in the quarter-finals," Siddons said on the eve of the match. The Netherlands, on the other hand, will play for pride as they are already out of the quarter-final race having lost all their four previous matches. But if the Dutch want to beat Bangladesh tomorrow, they will have to raise their game as they have been inconsistent in the tournament. Netherlands captain Peter Borrensaid, “Bangladesh are right in the mix and definitely it will be our intention to ruin the party for them”. “We are positive about it, but we are also very realistic about what will happen. In these conditions Bangladesh are obviously a very tough team to beat," he added. The Netherlands played Bangladesh in Glasgow last year and won the rain-truncated match by six wickets. Borren said the Dutch are improving consistently. "So far we've had a pretty tough draw, we've come up against four top sides," the captain said. "We played well against England and I think we competed against India, with two disappointing performances against South Africa and West Indies in between. If we can win the last two games, we'd be happy with that." — PTI
|
|
Somdev stuns Baghdatis to move into 3rd round
Indian Wells, March 13
Somdev, the Indian number one tennis player, sent his 19th seed opponent packing 7-5, 6-0 in a second round match of the USD 3,645,000 prize money hard court ATP event. Baghdatis is currently ranked 22nd in the world while Somdev is at 84th position. In the round of 32, the Indian will meet Belgian Xavier Malisse who also stunned 15th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 7-6(6), 7-5 in another second round match last night. If Somdev beats Malisse, he has the chance to play against world number one Rafael Nadal of Spain as both has been placed in the top half of the draw. Nadal play another qualifier Ryan Sweeting of the United States in the third round and the winner will play the victor of the match between Somdev and Malisse in the pre-quarterfinals. Somdev had made it to the main draw of the tournament along with his Davis Cup team-mate Rohan Bopanna after playing in the qualifying round. He had beaten Adrian Mannarino of France 6-2, 6-3 in the first round. Bopanna, on the other hand, had crashed out in the first round after losing to wild card Bernard Tomic of Australia 7-6, 6-7, 4-6. — PTI
|
|
Anand beats Topalov in Amber opener
Monaco, March 13 Anand got off to a flier in the final edition of this unique event winning the blindfold game with white pieces and signed peace in the rapid to get another good result against Topalov, who did not figure in any super tournaments in the past few months. The shocker of the opener came from Alexander Grischuk of Russia who defeated compatriot and former world champion Vladimir Kramnik in both the games to emerge as one of the joint leaders. Levon Aronian of Armenia, Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan and Boris Gelfand of Israel were the other players who came out with a 2-0 rout of their opponents and now jointly share the early lead with Grischuk. Aronian accounted for Anish Giri of Holland, Gelfand outplayed Russian Sergey Karjakin while Gashimov also scored upset victories over Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine. With four players in front and 20 games still remaining in this 12-players double round robin event with one blindfold and one rapid game in each round, Anand shares the fifth spot along with Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who scored a similar victory against Tata Steel tournament winner Hikaru Nakamura of the United States. Anand and Topalov met again for the first time after their World Championship match last year in Sofia. The blindfold was a Berlin Defence where the Bulgaria played black and initially little was happening. Although there was not too much going on not all roads were leading to a draw and after the game the World Champion condemned Black's decision to exchange his final pair of rooks. — PTI
|
|
PSB and PNB set up title clash
Ludhiana, March 13 In the women's section, Sonepat XI and Rail Coach Factory (RCF), Kapurthala, scored emphatic victories in their last league encounters to enter the final of the Nirpjit Kaur Gill Memorial Trophy. On the penultimate day of the championship, the first semi-final (men’s) was played between PSB and Namdhari XI of Bhaini Sahib in which the former toiled hard to come out victorious 3-2. The winners were leading 2-1 at half-time. Namdhari went into the lead in the 10th minute with Ramanjit Singh converting a penalty-corner. However, their joy was short-lived as the bankmen equalised three minutes later when Harbir Singh sounded the board. PSB's Sarvjit Singh added two goals (28th and 49th minute) to consolidate the lead and Harpreet Singh of Namdhari reduced the margin off a penalty stroke in the 53rd minute. In the second semi-final, PNB overpowered ONGC 6-4. The issue was resolved via the tie-breaker as the two sides were tied at the end of the stipulated period. In regular time, Jayanta and Diwakar scored one goal each for ONGC while Yudhvir Singh scored a brace for PNB. In the women's section, Sonepat XI overwhelmed Ludhiana XI 7-0 while RCF outclassed Gwalior XI 5-2 to advance into the final. For Sonepat XI, Savita Saini found the target thrice and Neha Goel scored two goals while Pooja and Rakhi contributed one goal each. In the second match, RCF, Kapurthala warded off a stiff challenge from Gwalior XI before wrapping up the issue 5-2. The winners were trailing by one goal at half-time. For the losers, both the goals came off Kavita's stick while for RCF, Anuradha Devi sounded the board twice and Harmanjit Kaur, Deepika, Lalreme Vatt scoring one goal each.
|
|
Chandigarh Marathon ends
Chandigarh, March 13 Patrick Kamau from Kenya finished second and Indian athlete Arvind Yadav of Indian Railways finished third in the same category. In the Men (Indian) category, Indian Army athletes sparkled when K C Ramu, Satya Prakash, Lakshman Das finished first, second and third respectively. In Women’s (overall) category, Bhagwati (Delhi) won Gold, Vaheeda (Rajasthan) won silver and Ranjana Singh bagged Bronze medal.
|
|
Man Utd down misfiring Gunners
London, March 13 The victory was a huge boost for Alex Ferguson's Premier League leaders before their Champions League last-16 second leg against Olympique Marseille back at Old Trafford on Tuesday after two successive League defeats by Chelsea and Liverpool. United will be aiming to reach the quarter-finals of Europe's premier competition after their goalless draw in the first leg three weeks ago to keep alive the chance of repeating their European Cup, FA Cup and Premier League treble of 1999. For Arsenal the night ended in yet more disappointment following their elimination from the Champions League by Barcelona on Tuesday and their defeat by Birmingham City in the League Cup final at Wembley on Feb. 27. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger told reporters: "I believe that sub-consciously the disappointment of Tuesday night has played a part today in the game, something has gone, not in our effort or our attitude but in our confidence." He added: "They (United) were much more clinical and we have had a very difficult week but the team will recover from that and refocus." He also said Swiss defender Johan Djourou, who suffered a dislocated shoulder near the end of the match, would be out for the rest of the season. Arsenal are second behind United in the Premier League title race, and could still salvage something from a season that promised so much just two weeks ago, but they will need an enormous improvement in their form and confidence to do that. Before their shock defeat by Birmingham they were chasing four trophies but their hopes of ending a six-year trophy drought are hanging by a thread. In Saturday's other quarter-final, Bolton Wanderers won 3-2 at Birmingham to clinch a place in the semi-finals for only the second time since they last won the FA Cup in 1958. They sealed their victory after a thrilling match with a 90th minute header from South Korean forward Lee Chung-yong after Birmingham had twice fought back to equalise. Johan Elmander and Kevin Davies, with a penalty, scored to put Bolton 1-0 and 2-1 ahead, while Cameron Jerome and Kevin Phillips, with a brilliant strike, got Birmingham's equalisers. —Reuters
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
New Zealand booked their passage from Group A in to the World Cup quarter-finals on Sunday after Brendon McCullum set up a 97-run victory with a chanceless century. McCullum's well paced 101 plus a late flurry which helped the Black Caps reach 358-6
London, March 13
Dhoni must turn to history to see that this bowling attack will not win a World
Cup
