LONDON: Rahul Dravid, who was recalled to the Indian squad for the upcoming T20 and ODI series against England, will retire from both formats once the England series is over. Dravid last played an ODI match against the West Indies during the 2009 Champions Trophy in Johannesburg. — PTI

Chennai: Without taking Rahul Dravid's name, chairman of selectors Krishnamachari Srikkanth made it clear that ODI squad was selected keeping the English conditions in mind. Most of the younger Indian batsmen have been found wanting in seaming and bouncy conditions where Dravid stood out with back-to-back tons that prompted his recall after nearly two years.

"We have selected the team on basis of the conditions in England. We have selected the team after a lot of deliberation and I am sure it is a very good side," Srikanth told reporters after announcing the squad.

Srikkanth termed Yuvraj Singh's injury as an "unfortunate" one and something about which little could be done. "Yuvraj Singh is one of our main players, but unfortunately when you have a fracture in the finger, you cannot do anything about it," he said.

He made no bones about the fact that both Yuvraj and Harbhajan Singh will have to do a complete rehabilitation before being considered for national selection. — PTI

Northampton, August 6
Frontline Indian bowlers suffered a humiliating hammering at the hands of Northamptonshire openers as the home side finished on 355 for 7 at close on the second and final day of the two-day warm-up game here today. Right-handed Mal Loye and left-handed Niall O' Brien both slammed centuries as the county side entirely dominated the Indian bowling attack.

Zaheer Khan's much expected return to action after his hamstring injury lasted a mere three overs before he parked himself in the pavilion and did not come out thereafter at all. By the looks, things do not appear too bright for the left-arm seamer ahead of the third Test between India and England at Edgbaston starting on April 10.

Loye and Brien batted with authority and imposed themselves on the Indian bowlers even though leg-spinner Amit Mishra would feel that the umpire at his end was particularly hard on a couple of his genuine appeals.

Pacers S Sreesanth and Munaf Patel were treated without respect by the Northants openers for 51 runs in their 10 overs each while Mishra conceded 44 runs from 17 overs. Part-timer Suresh Raina was punished for 21 runs from his five overs. As the end of post-lunch session drew nearer, Indians had begun to bowl no-balls and conceding byes off the errant bowling.

Northamptonshire's top order did not have a particularly good time at the crease this season so this success of their openers would particularly rankle the visitors.

Earlier, resuming at their overnight score of 327 for seven, India were all out for 352 after tailender Amit Mishra completed his half century. Mishra, overnight 48, completed his half century off the first ball of the morning and was the last man out for 61.

Bowling spearhead Zaheer, who returned to action after his hamstring injury in the first Test against England at Lord's, was unimpressive in his three overs before lunch as he conceded 24 runs. Mal Loye and Niall O' Brien were batting on 13 and 17 respectively at the break. — PTI

Scoreboard

Indians 1st innings 352

Northamptonshire 1st innings

Loye c Dhoni b Patel 100

O'Brien c Dhoni b Mishra 117

White lbw b Mishra 25

Newton c sub b Patel 3

Sales lbw b Sreesanth 11

Willey c sub b Sreesanth 12

Murphy not out 26

Best lbw b Raina 1

Burton not out 36

Extras 24

Total: (7 wkts; Stumps) 355

Bowling: Zaheer 3-0-24-0, Sreesanth 16-1-74-2, Munaf 17-2-91-2, Mishra 25-2-64-2, Raina 16-1-68-1, Dhoni 3-0-13-0, Gambhir 3.2-0-14-0.

London, August 6
Middle-order batsman Ravi Bopara has been recalled to the England squad in place of an injured Jonathan Trott for the third Test against India starting from August 10 at Edgbaston.

The Essex player was summoned as Trott failed to regain full fitness after landing heavily on his shoulder while fielding during second Test at Trent Bridge. England squad also consists of lanky pacer Steven Finn who has been brought on as a cover for Chris Tremlett who is recovering from hamstring injury.

Bopara, who played the last of his ten Tests against Australia in August 2009, has been in good form of late having scored 178 for Essex against Leicestershire in a County game. He is likely to bat at No 6 as Ian Bell is certain to bat at No 3 after his brilliant 159 in the second innings.

Bopara has scored 502 runs from 10 Tests at an average of shade above 33 with three centuries. — PTI

London, August 6
A fleeting ambition of taking a phenomenal 1,000 Test wickets led Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan to think about postponing his retirement last year but injury concerns in an ageing body prompted him to drop the idea.

Muralitharan, who retired from Test cricket after taking his 800th wicket in a match against India at Galle last July, said he had developed second thoughts about his retirement as he wanted to set a record which no other cricketer could surpass.

"I did think long and hard about becoming the first man to take 1,000 Test wickets. I had decided to retire after the game against India, but had second thoughts after taking eight wickets to reach 800," Muralitharan, who got to his 800th wicket - that of Pragyan Ojha - in his final ball of Test cricket, said.

"I wondered if it was possible to make it to 1,000 and whether retiring was the right thing to do. I had to decide whether to keep going and set a record that would never be beaten or retire while I was still fit and performing well," he said in the latest edition of 'Wisden Cricketer' magazine.

Muralitharan, who retired from international cricket in Sri Lanka's World Cup summit clash loss to India in April, said the toll his body will have to take for another four years led to his dropping the fleeting ambition.

"But then I worked out how much longer I would have to go on playing to reach that target and realised it was probably asking too much. Sri Lanka play only about eight Tests a year and at the rate I was taking wickets I would have needed to keep playing until I was 43," he said.

"In the end my body told me to stop. I thought to myself, 'Why go on? You have achieved everything there is to achieve in the game and you don't have to prove anything to anyone.' Yes 1,000 Test wickets sounded nice but I knew I could not play at the same level into my forties," said the 39-year-old off-spinner who took 800 wickets in a Test career spanning 18 years and 133 matches from 1992.

Muralitharan made it clear that he will retire from all forms of cricket next year after finishing his Twenty20 stint at English county side Gloucestershire.

"No player can go on forever. There always comes a day when you have to say 'enough is enough'. I love cricket and I am still enthusiastic about playing the game but I do not see myself carrying on beyond the next two years. I will be 41 then and that is old enough. — PTI

Pallekele, August 6
Sri Lanka's captain Tillakaratne Dilshan struck a brilliant hundred then led his team neatly in the field to secure a 35-run victory over Australia in the first Twenty20 international here today.

Sent in to bat at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, the hosts were headed for a total of about 150 before Dilshan (104 from 57 balls) and allrounder Jeevan Mendis (29) combined for a stand of 104 runs in a mere 45 balls to lift the hosts to 198 for 3. — Agencies

Scoreboard

Sri Lanka

Jayawardene b Lee 11

Dilshan not out 104

Chandimal hit wicket

b Johnson 11

S’kara c White b Watson 30

Mendis not out 29

Extras (lb 7, w 6) 13

Total: (3 wkts; 20 ovrs) 198

Bowling: Lee 4-0-38-1, O'Keefe 3-0-18-0, Johnson 4-0-47-1, Hastings 3-0-34-0, Smith 2-0-13-0, Watson 4-0-41-1.

Australia

Watson b Kulasekara 10

Warner c Dilshan

b Kulasekara 53

Marsh lbw b Perera 4

Hussey b Perera 6

White b Perera 7

Smith st S’kara b Herath 12

Haddin run out 7

Johnson not out 22

O'Keefe b Lakmal 22

Hastings not out 14

Extras (lb 1, w 5) 6

Total: (8 wkts; 20 ovrs) 163

Bowling: Kulasekara 4-0-39-2, Lakmal 3-0-23-1, Perera 4-0-26-3, Prasad 3-0-37-0, Dilshan 3-0-26-0, Herath 3-0-11-1.

Ludhiana, August 6
BSF, Jalandhar, overwhelmed GN Club of Moga 69-31 in the men's section in the Mahindra NBA Challenge Basketball League Season II at the Guru Nanak Sports Complex here today.

BSF exhibited great mobility in their attacks and perfection in ball control that helped them to clinch the issue quite comfortably. The winners were leading 39-18 at the breather. Varinder contributed 16 points and anchored the Jalandhar outfit’s win.

The match in the boys under-16 group between Ferozepur and Mansa turned out to be a cliff-hanger in which the former emerged victors by a narrow margin (46-44). Ashish chipped in with 19 points for the winning side.

In another match (boys u-16), Ferozepur came out triumphant against MGM Public School, Ludhiana, without sweating it out (42-12). Ashish and Abhishek scored 12 and eight points, respectively to steer Ferozepur to a comprehensive win.

In the girls' under-16 category, Delhi Public School, Ludhiana, drubbed MGM Public School, Ludhiana, 38-5 (Ravneet 20 pts); Guru Teg Bahadur Public School, Dakha, outclassed BCM Senior Secondary School, Chandigarh Road branch, Ludhiana, 31-9 (Simranpreet 16, Gurpreet Kaur 11); Khalsa School, Ludhiana, beat Doraha Public School 39-16 (Karamjeet Kaur 19, Gurpreet Kaur 10).

In the boy's (u-13) group, KVM, Ludhiana defeated Green Land School, Ludhiana, 22-10; Government High School, Gure, beat BCM School, Dugri, 23-15; Gymkhana Club, Ludhiana, outplayed MGM Public School, Ludhiana, 39-16; Doraha Public School, Doraha, prevailed over Delhi Public School, Ludhiana, 23-9.

Akron , August 6
A couple of late bogeys ruined Arjun Atwal's card as he turned in a three-over 73 and slipped to the tied 45th spot at the midway stage of the World Golf Championship Bridgestone Invitational here.

Atwal, tied 18th overnight with Tiger Woods, had just one birdie against four bogeys, two on either side after starting from the 10th. His sole birdie came on the 14th and the bogeys were on 16th and 18th, sixth and eighth.

Atwal's iron play let him down and he had very few birdie chances managing only 44 per cent greens in regulation. He totals three-over 141 for two days.

Even as star attraction Tiger Woods managed only a one-over 71 and was in a tie for 36th, down 18 places from previous day, a young star, Rickie Fowler came up with a stunning card of 64 that included eight birdies and an eagle, besides four bogeys in an action-packed round.

He was in a four-way tie for the lead with Adam Scott (70), who had Woods' former caddie Steve Williams on the bag. — PTI

Petaling Jaya, August 6
It turned out to be a case of so near and yet so far for Gaganjeet Bhullar and Anirban Lahiri as they shot a disastrous eight-over 80 in the final round today to miss out on a berth for the Omega Mission Hills World Cup.

The Indians, who were just a shot behind the leaders after three rounds, succumbed to nerves and saw their dreams of qualifying for the World Cup of golf crash with a quadruple bogey on the 18th hole.

Bhullar and Lahiri, who a day earlier carded a brilliant 64, were just not in the right form. They were very much in the race for top honours till the turn, despite making it two-over. But, finally they ended with an eight on the par-4 finishing hole. — PTI

Patiala, August 6
The penultimate day of the archery World Cup Stage 3, being held at Ogden, USA, did not prove lucky for the Indians, as they lost all four scheduled medal matches. They had to settle down for three silver medals. Deepika Kumari became the best performer amongst the Indians as she was a part of all three wins.

Despite 17-year-old Deepika putting on a spectacular show throughout the tournament, she had to settle for silver medal in the Recurve Individual event. She lost to Chinese archer Cheng Ming by four points. Though both were tied at 2-2 till the second end, Deepika could not score consistently and lost the remaining two ends to Cheng, the final score being 6-2.

In the women’s Recurve Team, India, comprising of Deepika, Chekrovolu Swuro and Bombayla Devi, lost to Ukraine by a margin of three points. They scored 210 points against Ukraine’s 213. Similarly, in the Recurve Mixed team event, duo of Deepika and Jayanta Talukdar lost to the US by a big margin of seven points.

Omaha, August 6
Indian golfer Rahil Gangjee overcame a shaky start to card a two-under 69 and make the halfway cut at tied 37th in the Nationwide Tour's Cox Classic here.

The Kolkata golfer, playing in his rookie year, shot a second round of two-under 69 and made the weekend rounds at a total of seven-under 135.

Indian-origin Swede golfer Daniel Chopra also made the cut after carding a 67 to go with his first round 68 and he was also tied 37th.

Chopra had an eventful day with six birdies, an eagle on the 10th, and two bogeys and a triple bogey on the par-four seventh.

Gangjee had bogeys on the second and fourth with a birdie in between. Birdies on the fifth and sixth steadied the Indian, who then added another birdie on 10th.

A bogey on the 14th was followed by a birdie on 15th for a card of 69 on a day when he struggled with his driving. Ken Duke shot a bogey-free eight-under 63 and moved into a share of the lead with Russell Knox (65). — PTI

Chandigarh, August 6
Sherwood College, Nainital, and hosts Pinegrove School, Dharampur, kept up their momentum going on the second day of the 1st All-India Sant Singh Memorial soccer tournament for boys. The two schools booked their berths in the semi-finals by topping their respective pool.

In the first match of the day, Pinegrove defeated Army Public School, Dagshai, 3-0. The trio of Jaskamal, Rahul and Parteek controlled the tempo and utilised the spaces in a good way and scored one goal each.

Sherwood College subdued YPS, Patiala 7-1. The Patiala boys had their moments, but failed to make them count. Despite spirited runs on some occasions, they looked out of sorts and could not contain the opponents’ forward-line.

Rohan scored three goals, Tabish, Yash, Aneesh and Puru added one each for the winners while Jagsher was the solitary goal scorer for YPS. In another league match, Rashtriya Military School, Chail, opened their account in the tournament with a 1-0 victory over Punjab Public School, Nabha. 

BRIEFLY

Daruvala takes pole
New Delhi: Mumbai’s Jehan Daruvala took the pole position in the Pre-Final of the junior class in the fourth round of the JK Tyre-FMSCI National Rotax Max Karting Championship in Hyderabad today, ahead of Arjun Maini. Also snatching pole position were Kush Maini in the Micro Max and Ameya Bafna in the Senior Max classes, both winning the two heats in their respective categories. While Kush was in a league of his own winning by a comfortable margin, Bafna had to work hard for his two wins from Vishnu Prasad and championship leader Chittesh Mandody. — TNS

Four boxers register wins
New Delhi: India continued its rampaging run on the second day of the ASBC Asian Confederation Boxing Championships with four Indian boxers, including Paramjeet Samota, reaching the next round in Incheon, South Korea today. Commonwealth Champion Samota (91kg), Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Amandeep Singh (49kg), 2008 Youth Commonwealth gold medallist Balwinder Beniwal (64kg) and National Champion Kuldeep Singh (75kg) won their respective bouts to enter the next round of the tournament. — PTI

Debt-ridden counties leave room for IPL takeover
London: The financial pressure due to increasing debts facing English county clubs is such that there is a strong possibility of Indian Premier League franchises taking them over, according to a leading sports business and marketing expert. In a warning to financially struggling clubs, Simon Chadwick, Professor of Sport Business Strategy and Marketing at Coventry University said, “In terms of revenue-generation, cricket clubs are really feeble. If financial pressures become such that cricket clubs need to think in a different way about what they are doing, then it may well be that mergers and takeovers take place; we could see an Indian Twenty20 franchise take control of a county cricket club," he said. — PTI

Malik set to return to Pak team
Lahore: Former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik is all set to make a comeback into the national team for the upcoming Zimbabwe tour once he is cleared by the Cricket Board's (PCB) integrity committee on August 15. PCB's integrity committee is satisfied with Malik's reply on the 90,000 pounds lying in one of his bank accounts. — PTI

‘Indian GP track will be ready on time’
Mumbai: India's motor sports chief has dismissed concerns about the readiness of the track for the country's Formula One debut in October but is unhappy about reports that the race could be shifted to the stifling heat of April next season. Media reports have said that Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has proposed an April slot for the 2012 race. At this, Vicky Chandhok, president of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India, said, "I am not happy with April because it's going to be hot.” — Reuters

Top players for NSCI meet
Mumbai: Top Indian shuttlers, including world No 28 Parupalli Kashyap, are to take part in the Rs 5 lakh prize money NSCI All India Senior Ranking Badminton Tournament here from August 27-31. The organisers are also in talks with Commonwealth Games champion and world No 6 Saina Nehwal and are confident of her participation in the event, according to joint tournament director Ashish Kapila. — PTI

Chess: Mixed bag for Indians
Chennai: FIDE Master VAV Rajesh outsmarted Grandmaster Salem A R Saleh of UAE to head a quartet of Indian players who upstaged GMs but all their five women compatriots lost their respective matches in the fifth round of World Junior Chess Championship here today. Amongst the four Indian victors, Rajesh's effort in disposing off a highly rated player is noteworthy. — PTI

Fifa course opens in Goa
Panaji: Goa Football Association President Shrinivas Dempo has expressed confidence that the six-day Fifa Futuro III administration and management instructors refreshers course that commenced at Cavelossim will be extremely beneficial not just to the participants but the state as well. "We come from similar backgrounds and face similar challenges. There is lots to learn from each other," the GFA president said during the opening of the course. — PTI