Stephen Brenkley
Becoming top dogs is a mission accomplished but there are now more targets on the horizon. England finally and officially achieved the ranking on Saturday by sweeping aside India for the third successive Test match is as deserved as it was belated.

Now, it seems, there is progress to be made. Although becoming the number one Test side in the ICC rankings was part of the mission statement of the England and Wales Cricket Board, there is a clear intent in the dressing room that this should be the start of something, not the end.

The most immediate challenge, of course, is to complete a clean sweep over India, who England at last replaced at the head of the rankings with victory by an innings and 242 runs in the third Test at Edgbaston on Saturday.

The squad for the fourth and final match, which begins at The Oval on Thursday, was announced yesterday. It replicates the 13 at Edgbaston, Chris Tremlett and Steve Finn being added to the triumphant XI. Jonathan Trott's injured shoulder has not recovered sufficiently for him to play so Ravi Bopara has another opportunity to secure a place as the reserve batsman. When England regained the Ashes in 2005 the understandable national outpouring of elation was followed by the gradual break-up of the team and a period of huge uncertainty.

The painful memories of that era will doubtless still be with some of the players including the captain, Andrew Strauss. He and the coach, Andy Flower, now have to ensure that history does not repeat itself. Mission accomplished simply means there is a need to find other missions.

Flower said yesterday, "We used that goal - to be number one - as a motivational tool and there was a real motivation that drove us in training and in matches. In that regard, achieving the ranking was a really useful way to gauge our improvement. Now that we have achieved that, what Strauss and I don't want to do is just hang on to number one status. That's not a very exciting way to go about our business. We are going to have to reset our goals and I'd like to do that not only with the captain and the captains but with the team. We already have some ideas on that."

Flower, grounded as ever, said: "Well we are a good side there is no doubt about that. I don't think we can compare ourselves to those sides to be quite honest. They dominated world cricket for lengthy periods. We have been playing well for a little while now but only for a short time in cricketing history terms. There is no way we can compare ourselves to those sides in my opinion. Who knows what the future holds though?"

Strauss apart, there are two survivors from the 2005 Ashes-winning side, Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell.

Pietersen, clearly excited about what might be in store, pointed up an essential difference. "We've got a real good structure in place and great people in place as well, the management and players," he said.

"There are a lot of mature players. We actually look like one of the senior teams in world cricket right now, whereas two, three, four, five years ago there were a couple of players who were experienced but we had a lot of inexperience. So I think we've got all departments covered and as long as each individual - including the guys in the squad who aren't playing at the moment - keep striving to get better we'll be OK.”

— By arrangement with The Independent

Mumbai, August 16
Stung by India's humiliating defeats in the first three Tests against England, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Monday decided that the president and the secretary should chart out the team's future course of action. The BCCI working committee that met here at the Cricket Centre in Wankhede, discussed India's performance in the ongoing series, where there were dislodged from the top spot in Tests by England.

"The series was discussed extensively at the working committee meeting. The members felt that president (Shashank Manohar) and secretary (N. Srinivasan) should decide the team's future course of action to arrest the slide," a top official of the working committee told IANS.

This was the last meeting of the working committee chaired by Manohar, who will hand over the reins to president-elect N. Srinivasan.

Among other issues discussed, the BCCI decided that a former cricketer can be eligible to become a national selector after five years of retirement instead of 10 years. The BCCI took the decision to increase the pool of probable candidates for selectors.

"We have several cricketers who can become good selectors. But we are not able to rope them in because we have to wait for 10 years. Now we will we have a wider pool of eligible candidates to become national selectors," the official said.

It was also decided that subsidies to state associations from television rights should be raised from existing Rs.23 crore to Rs.27 crore. The working committee is also looking into a request by Kochi IPL franchise to shift their base from Kochi to Ahmedabad. — IANS

Hambantota, August 16
Upul Tharanga smashed a century to help Sri Lanka post a challenging 286-9 against Australia in the third one-day international on Tuesday. The left-handed opener made 111 for his 12th one-day hundred in the must-win match for Sri Lanka, who are trailing 2-0 in the five-match series. He also completed 4,000 runs during his 139-ball knock, which contained 12 fours.

Sri Lanka were strongly placed at 220-1 after 38 overs but paceman Doug Bollinger (4-42) bagged three wickets in two overs, including those of Tharanga and Kumar Sangakkara (49).

The hosts made their best start in the series when Tharanga and Tillakaratne Dilshan (55) put on 139 in the day-night match, watched by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse and his Maldivian counterpart Mohamed Nasheed. Mahela Jayawardene was the other main scorer with a 33-ball 36.

The Australian bowlers, who set up their team's comfortable victories in the first two games, initially struggled for wickets as they had to wait for more than 25 overs for the first success.

Bollinger provided the breakthrough when he had Dilshan caught pulling by Michael Hussey before Tharanga and Sangakkara added 81 in 13 overs for the second wicket. Sangakkara hit a 37-ball 49 before being trapped leg-before by Bollinger, who got his second wicket when he had Chandimal caught. — AFP

Scoreboard

Sri Lanka

Tharanga c Haddin

b Bollinger 111

Dilshan c Mike b Bollinger 55

Sangakkara lbw b Bollinger 49

Chandimal c Clarke b Bollinger 4

J’rdene c Mike b Watson 36

Silva c Smith b Lee 9

Mendis lbw b Johnson 1

K’sekara c Mike b Johnson 4

Eranga b Watson 2

Malinga not out 1

Extras (lb-4, w-10) 14

Total (9 wkts, 50 overs) 286

Bowling: Lee 10-0-47-1, Bollinger 10-0-42-4, Johnson 9-0-45-2, Watson 9-0-58-2, Doherty 5-0-41-0, David 5-0-34-0, Smith 2-0-15-0.

Patiala, August 16
weightlifter Meenakshi has filed a writ petition in the Punjab and Haryana Court against the National Institute of Sports (NIS) authorities pertaining to the cancellation of her admission from a diploma course on the basis of a false and fabricated medical report that says that Meenakshi was pregnant. The lifter has sought relief from the HC.

Notably, Meenakshi had earlier stated that she had cleared her written test and interview for admission in the diploma course and alleged that when her medical tests were done, the authorities informed that her urine report tested positive for pregnancy.

She had denied this, stating that the authorities had submitted a false report and did this deliberately as they were suspicious that she was physically involved with some official at NIS. The petitioner has also levelled sexual harassment charges against radiographer Arvind Garg from the X-Ray department of NIS, stating that he wanted to take advantage of her on the pretext that her medical report was found positive and if she wanted to continue her diploma, she would go by Garg’s directions.

Dr. Rajdeep Kaur, in-charge, Faculty of Sports Sciences, confirmed that NIS authorities had been served a notice in this matter. She further confirmed that Meenakshi was found positive during her medical tests.

"Though Meenakshi had cleared her written tests and interview, when her medical reports tested positive for pregnancy on July 6, we asked her to undergo an ultrasound in our approved centre,” Dr. Kaur said. “But she quietly left the campus without informing her warden or teachers and returned after five days and requested to get the test done again.

“The ultrasound report confirmed retention of products of pregnancy. In the wake of this report, we decided to cancel her admission as she was medically unfit the course. When denied admission, she got aggressive and started levelling allegations against all officials," she further added.

Garg, when contacted, denied all allegations and stated that Meenakshi was unnecessarily involving him in the case. 

Manchester, August 16
Sergio Aguero made a stunning debut as the Argentina striker scored twice after coming on as a substitute in Manchester City's crushing 4-0 victory over Premier League debutants Swansea.

Aguero, a £38 million signing from Atletico Madrid, made it 2-0 from close range in the 68th minute after Edin Dzeko had broken the deadlock 11 minutes earlier. Man of the match David Silva added the third before Aguero capped a delightful performance with a spectacular 30-yard finish in stoppage time yesterday.

City manager Roberto Mancini - who was delighted with the team's performance - said that Aguero's performance was all the more astonishing as he wasn't 100 per cent back to his best. "I think he needs to recover as he only finished the Copa America three weeks ago," said Mancini.

"He needs another two to three weeks to be 100 per cent, maybe. For me, he's a fantastic striker, young, and he's going to be a fantastic player for us."

Aguero also got the thumbs-up from club captain Vincent Kompany. "He's come in with a surprise. The great thing for me was that he was defending too. That's important," said the Belgian.

Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers said that he wasn't too depressed as his side wouldn't play the equivalent of City every week. "I said to the players I was proud of them," he said. "Up until the hour I thought we were fantastic. I was disappointed with two quick goals, but we conceded goals against a terrific team." — AFP

New Delhi, August 16
The Indian amateur team saw steady displays from their top three golfers which saw India finish second at the end of the first round of the biennial Asia-Pacific Golf Championships for the Nomura Cup at the Denarau Golf course in Fiji.

National champion S Chikkarangappa and Abhijit Chadha shot three-under 69 each, while Khalin Joshi of Bangalore brought in a card of two-under 70. The fourth player in the squad, Angad Cheema, was also under par at one-under 71.

With the best three scores counting, India had a total of 208, just one behind the favoured Australians. New Zealand are third at 211.

This is one of the strongest Indian teams ever with Chikka having been part of the winning Indian junior team at Asian Championships, while Chadha has won a team silver in Asian Games and also topped Faldo Series Asia Grand Final this year. Indians have won the Nomura Cup only once in 1973.

Brief scores

Team: 1. Australia 207; 2. India 208; 3. New Zealand 211. Individual: Indian results: Abhijit Chadha 69 (-3) Tied-4; Chikkarangappa 69 (-3) T-4; Khalin Joshi 70 (-2) T-5; Angad Cheema 71 (-1) T-15.

New Delhi, August 16
Rajpal Singh returns to the helm of the Indian men’s team in the inaugural Asian Men’s Champions Trophy, to be held at Ordos (China), from September 3 to 11. Saba Anjum will lead the women’s team, as the second edition of the women’s Asian Championship will also be held simultaneously in the Chinese city.

Hockey India announced here today that the men’s team was selected after trials held on August 13 and 14 at Bengaluru. The trials were attended by Col. Balbir Singh, B.P. Govinda and A.B. Subbaiah, along with Government observers Harbinder Singh and Dilip Tirkey.

The team: Goalkeepers: Bharat Chetri, P.R. Sreejesh; defenders: Sandeep Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Harpreet Singh; midfielders: Sardar Singh, Gurbaj Singh, Ignace Tirkey, Manpreet Singh, Manjit Kullu; forwards: Rajpal Singh (capt), Danish Mujtaba, Sarvanjit Singh, S.V. Sunil, Ravi Pal, Gurvinder Singh Chandi, Roshan Minz, Yuvraj Walmiki.

The top six teams of the last Asian Games at Guangzhou (China) will participate in the event. They are: India, Pakistan, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan and hosts China.

India’s fixtures: Versus China (Sept 3), vs Japan (Sept 4), vs South Korea (Sept. 6), vs Malaysia (Sept 7), vs Pakistan (Sept 9). Classification matches and final: Sept. 11.

The women’s team was selected after trials held at Bhopal, attended by selectors Balbir Singh, Govinda, Rekha Bhide and Rajbir Kaur, along with Government observer Dilip Tirkey.

The team: Goalkeepers: Yogita Bali, Savita; defenders: Joydeep Kaur, Jaspreet Kaur, Th. Pinki Devi; midfielders: Ritu Rani, Asunta Lakra, Kirandeep Kaur, Mukta Prava Barla, Deepika, Kiran Dahiya; forwards: Saba Anjum (capt), Jasjeet Kaur Handa, Poonam Rani, Vandana Kataria Rani, Th. Anuradha Devi, Sounhdarya Yendala.

The top four teams of the Guangzhou Asian Games - India, China, South Korea and Japan - will participate in the Asian Championship. India’s fixtures are: versus Korea (Sept 4), vs Japan (Sept 6), vs China (Sept 8). Bronze medal match and final: Sept. 10. 

Patiala, August 16
The trials to select the Indian contingent for the forthcoming boxing World Championship which would be held at Azerbaijan concluded today at NIS, Patiala.The trials witnessed some great bouts involving both youngsters and experienced pugilists.

What has made these trials all the more significant is the fact that this event offers the chance to qualify for the London Olympics, garnering greater efforts from the boxers. Sources informed that the team would be declared at New Delhi later and the results might bring some surprises. While the competition would be tough for all weight categories but light flyweight, bantamweight and 64 kg would certainly be the toughest, he added.

The bantamweight category witnessed some tough bouts with Akhil Kumar, Jitender, C.L. Yadav and Shiva Thapa trying to grab a seat. All these pugilists gave remarkable performances and it would be interesting to see who makes it to the team. In 60kg, Jai Bhagwan and Neeraj Goyat will pose biggest threat to each other while Balwinder Beniwal and Manoj Kumar are the favourite picks for 64 kg weight category. Vikas and Mandeep took part in the 69 kg trials.

In the middleweight category, Vijender Singh as usual is the biggest bet along with Kuldeep Singh. In the upper weight categories, chances of some changes are rare. Dinesh Kumar in 81 kg, Manpreet in 91 kg and Paramjeet Samota and Aru Hooda might be the favorite picks in plus-91 kg.

BRIEFLY

Lee-Hesh in 2nd round
Cincinnati: Seeded third in the tournament, India's Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi have advanced to the second round of the ATP Western and Southern Open here after getting a bye in the opening round. Another Indian advancing to the second round is Rohan Bopanna, who, along with Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi, got a bye in the first round. No Indian is competing in the singles main draw with Somdev Devvarman failing to cross the qualifying hurdle. He lost in the first round. — PTI

Narang wins third title
Pune: Top marksman Gagan Narang signed off from the Balewadi ranges here today by bagging his third gold medal in the 50m rifle three position event in the Kumar Surendra Singh Memorial Shooting Championships. The Hyderabad ace shot down his hat-trick of rifle crowns with a total score of 1269, edging out silver medallist Chain Singh of Army who tallied 1251.1. - PTI

Barca sign Cesc Fabregas
Barcelona: Cesc Fabregas said not lifting a trophy as Arsenal captain was the biggest regret of his career as he finally signed for Barcelona yesterday. He spoke tipped Jack Wilshere as a future England captain and urged supporters not to lose faith in Arsene Wenger. As he finally donned the Barcelona No 4 shirt in front of 25,000 supporters, the two clubs were still contradicting each other over his final price. The Catalans claimed to be paying a 14.5m pounds now and the same amount in October with the total finally rising to a 40m. Arsenal have the same figures - but in sterling, representing a better deal for the Gunners than Barca would have their fans believe. — Agency

Strong named 2015 WC chief
Melbourne: Cricket Australia (CA) and New Zealand Cricket (NZC) today appointed businessman James Strong as the chairman of the organising committee for 2015 Cricket World Cup, to be jointly hosted by the trans-Tasman rivals. Strong, who is the chairman of Australian supermarket chain - Woolworths - and heads the board of various companies, besides being a member of the board of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, was shortlisted after an extensive executive search process conducted on behalf of CA and NZC. "I am absolutely delighted to be involved in the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup to be jointly hosted by New Zealand and Australia," said Strong. — PTI

Onions called up as cover
London: Graham Onions has been called into the England squad as bowling cover ahead of the 4th Test following a minor quadriceps injury to James Anderson and Chris Tremlett's omission due to an ongoing back injury. Anderson has experienced tightness in his right quadriceps following England's win over India in the 3rd Test at Edgbaston and will continue to be monitored over the next 48 hours. — ANI

Serena boosts title chances
London: After winning the Toronto WTA title by beating Australia's Samantha Stosur, tennis ace Serena Williams is now gearing up to play in the US Open that starts in two week's time. Williams hammered nine aces and won 89 percent of her first serve points in beating the Australian in straight sets at the 2.05 million dollars hardcourt tournament, Xinhua reports. Rogers cup victory is her first back-to-back title in three years, the 39th of her career and 11th win in 11 matches on the US hardcourt swing. — ANI