Nagpur, December 16
The heavy dullness of yet another day of slow, slow cricket today was livened by a bit of acrimony, and the increasing certainty that England will subdue India in India in a Test series for the first time since 1985.

The last day of this thrilling Test series offers India one final chance of some sort of redemption. England are 165 runs ahead with seven wickets in hand; India must knock off all seven of them by lunch tomorrow, without allowing the hosts to add much to their total.

This thread of hope is very slender and it's likely to be snapped tomorrow morning by the resolute English pair of Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell.

The expectation of a win that India have, to draw the series 2-2, is very optimistic and is likely to be denied.

The reasons are manifold, the chief being that the wicket hasn't deteriorated at all. The cracks haven't become wide gulfs. The wicket hasn't become the minefield it was expected to fourth day onward.

Everyone has misread this pitch, including the pundits. "Pitch-making is not an exact science. It's not possible to always read it right. You get it wrong a lot of times," says Rahul Dravid. "It's soil, it's nature. You can't accurately predict its behaviour."

The second reason is that while India have, on paper, four spinners in the team, two are pretty ordinary --- Piyush Chawla and Ravindra Jadeja don't look like running out Test teams, certainly not on wickets that don't help. The two specialists, Ravichandran Aswhin and Pragyan Ojha, too don't raise such a hope —they seem to depend too much on the pitch to wear out and crack. On this unchanging track, they haven't been able to do much.

The third reason is that Trott and Bell played with remarkable composure today -- in challenging conditions, in front of an aggressively partisan crowd, against a team desperate to secure itself the fig leaf of a drawn series.

Then there's the lack of time. The tense, exciting contest in the series has been distilled to its final three sessions tomorrow. Take the last seven wickets, cheaply, and then knock off the runs required in all of 90 overs — that's the task at hand for India.

Time is a luxury India can't afford to waste. It's all the more surprising, thus, that India chose to bat on in the most desultory manner today morning. The first hour today was a waste of time. Resuming on 297 for eight, 33 behind, India were expected to attack England with daring. Aswhin, almost an allrounder and No. 2 on the batting averages table for India in this series, was expected to lead an explosive charge, or perish in the pursuit of quick runs. Yet, in the first 23 minutes of play, India scored four runs, all of them singles. Then a message came out to the batsmen, and the batsmen showed some urgency -- Ojha too began to take singles now. Yet, the most productive over thereafter produced a mere five runs; apart from the singles, three times Aswhin and Ojha ran two runs. That was the closest it came to the wild orgy of runs India needed this morning.

After an hour's play, Dhoni declared four runs behind to try to grab a wicket or two in the hour before lunch. That didn't happen as Alastair Cook and Nick Compton played with dead bats on a dead pitch. At lunch, Cook went in with one run to show off 46 balls; Compton had 14 off 33, including a four, struck unintentionally off the outside edge of his bat. After lunch, Cook made his second run off the 54th ball he faced, and hit his first four off the 79th. Dhoni revolved his toothless bowlers around but to no avail. It took an erroneous umpiring intervention to remove Cook, for the second time in the match. He was given out caught-behind to Aswhin by umpire K Dharamasena despite the ball missing the bat by a big distance.

In the context of the day's play, Trott then came out to play a fiery innings, 66 runs off 153 balls for a scoring rate of 43.13, including nine fours. He'd be happier with the incident he caused that riled the Indians badly. The first ball of Jadeja's 38th over slipping out of his hand and rolled towards square leg, and Trotted chased it and, like a golfer, teed off a four to the midwicket boundary.

The Indians were angry; much later, in the 62nd over, a caught-behind appeal against Trott off Ishant Sharma was negated. The Indians, angry and under pressure, exchanged words with both Trott and umpire — all quite unnecessary, and worthy of a look by the match referee.

Later, in the 72nd over, Ashwin pulled out in his delivery stride and warned Trott for backing too far at the striker's end.

Meanwhile, Compton was given out LBW when he actually should have been given out caught; and Kevin Pietersen allowed a ball from Jadeja to hit his off stump without attempting to stop it.

Bell showed composure, which many thought he didn't possess. The Indians, aimless wanderers for an hour in the morning, have been pushed to the edge of desperation. The final day could become fiery, but England are firmly in control. 

SCOREBOARD
England 1st ings: 330
India 1st ings: 326/9 d
England 2nd ings
Cook c Dhoni b Ashwin 13 
Compton lbw b Ojha 34 
Trott batting 66 
Pietersen b Jadeja 6 
Bell batting 24
Extras: 18
Total: (3 wkts in 79 ov) 161
Fall of wickets: 1-48, 2-81, 3-94
Bowling: Sharma 12-3-27-0, Ojha 23-10-39-1, Ashwin 18-9-34-1, Chawla 10-2-20-0, Jadeja 16-9-27-1

Nagpur, December 16
Ravichandran Aswhin is a thinking cricketer who ruminates over the mysteries of spin bowling, theorising over angles, turn and wickets. He also seems to think highly of his own abilities — not without reason, it must be said —though he should be disappointed with his performance in this series.

He averages 60-plus with the bat, but a disappointing 51-plus with the ball. He had said he would unveil a new ball in this series. That one is yet to be seen. He has been trying too hard to do something different, trying out too many variations. The result is that he’s bowled too many pressure-relieving four-balls in the series.

Yet, the supremely confident Aswhin says he’s bowled quite a few good spells. “There is always scope for improvement but there have been patches in the series where I bowled one of my best spells and still didn’t get rewarded,” he said. “That does happen in Test cricket, I am learning my strides.”

He was then asked if ‘something had gone wrong’ for him. He reacted with aggression: “Didn’t I just say that I bowled a few good spells and didn’t get rewarded? I think that answers the question.”

Aswhin had shown aggression on the field too, warning Jonathan Trott for backing up too far on the non-striker’s end. In all fairness, the fact is that Trott was not trying to “steal” a single — his was a slow stride even as Aswhin went in to bowl.

The Indians had, actually, been angered by Trott chasing a ball that had slipped out of Ravindra Jadeja’s hand and hitting it for four.

So, how did Ashwin warn Trott? “I told him I can run him out if he can hit the ball (that slipped out of Jadeja’s hand)... He said you might as well run me out. I said I wouldn’t.” Would he run him out the next time? “No, I wouldn’t. He has got a boundary and he has got to 60 already,” Ashwin said. “I think he has got enough times to actually get him out again.”

‘Enough times’ was in reference to the appeal India made against Trott in the 62nd over, off Ishant Sharma. The Indians were convinced they’d got him, but the umpire turned down the appeal. But the fact is that if the ball had been edged, it must have been a very faint edge. The fact is that India didn’t get Trott out. That’s the reality India need to confront — they didn’t get him out. He’s still playing and is likely to deny India a win tomorrow.

Aswhin remains hopeful. “Strange things have happened,” he said when asked about India’s prospects tomorrow. “I am not trying to be very optimistic but we have done it in India before, to get 6-7 wickets in a session. It is just about trying to get a couple of early wickets tomorrow — Trott and Bell.”

Aswhin doesn’t like to be asked tough questions, but the questions are only beginning to be asked.

How is it that the spinners have become ineffective in this series, against a team weak against spin bowling? How have the England spinners comfortably outbowled the Indians? How is it that, after throwing a massive amount of spin the spinners have failed.

Nagpur, December 16
England are in a good position to seal the first Test series victory in India in 28 years but their paceman James Anderson says they are not taking things for granted and want to negotiate the first session of the final day carefully.

England are leading the series 2-1 and a draw result tomorrow will get them a historic series victory. England will resume their second innings at 161 for three.

"There's still a long way to go in the game. It's really important start for us tomorrow. The first hour will be crucial. If we can get through that then hopefully we can build a couple of good partnerships throughout the day and make sure the game is safe," said Anderson Anderson also said that scoring runs on the slow VCA Stadium track in Jamtha won't be easy tomorrow.

"Kohli and Dhoni played extremely well yesterday, but I think we're in a pretty good position in the game. It's a pretty flat pitch and as a seam bowler you have really got to run in and give it everything to try and get anything out of it. I tried to do that yesterday.

"Maybe I was feeling a bit tired towards the end of the day, but as soon as we saw an opening to get amongst their batsmen we all tried to pounce on that," he said.

Anderson was asked the incident which the Indians felt it was unsporting on the part of Jonathan Trott, who smacked a ball, which slipped out of Ravindra Jadeja's hands while bowling, to the boundary ropes.

Asked if he thinks it was unsportsmanlike, Anderson replied in negative. — PTI

Gwalior, December 16
Madhya Pradesh looked on course for an outright victory after pacers shared all wickets among themselves and enforce follow-on on table toppers Punjab in their Group A match.

Yuvraj Singh

After being bowled out for 148 in their first innings that gave Madhya Pradesh a substantial lead, the visitors were 11 without loss at the close of play on the second day. Test discard Yuvraj Singh top scored for Punjab with 39 while skipper Mandeep Singh also chipped in with a useful 33 as none of the other recognised batsmen applied themselves.

Ahead of a gruelling third day's play, Punjab trailed Madhya Pradesh by 164 runs with all their wickets intact. Earlier, resuming the day at 281 for five, Madhya Pradesh skipper Devendra Bundela struck his 22nd first-class ton as the hosts' first innings folded at 323.

Madhya Pradesh lost their last five wickets for 26 runs as Punjab pacers Sandeep Sharma and Amitoze Singh ran through the middle and lower order in the morning session. Sharma, who had picked up three wickets yesterday, finished with an impressive figures of 5 for 92 while Amitoze (3/64) and Baltez Singh (2/59) shared the remaining spoils.

Lucknow, December 16
Rahul Dewan's pugnacious knock of 93 and an equally important innings of 65 by Joginder Sharma paved the way for Haryana's slender lead of 44 runs in their Group B match against UP.

At the close of play on the second day, Haryana were 271 for eight in reply Uttar Pradesh's 227 all out at the Dr Akhilesh Das Stadium.

Resuming the day at 32 for one, the visitors rode on Dewan's knock to take the honours even as medium pacers Ankit Rajpoot (4/66) and Imtiaz Ahmed (3/86) put up a very spirited show.

Dewan spent 347 minutes during which he faced 266 balls and struck 14 fours.

Sharma hit nine fours and a six while facing 90 deliveries. Barring Dewan and Sharma's knocks, and a 36 by Rahul Dalal, the Haryana batsmen struggled to come to terms with the host bowlers.

Jayant Yadav (23) and Mohit Sharma (5) were at the crease when stumps were drawn. — PTI

Johor Bahru, December 16
Spain's Sergio Garcia fired a sparkling 11-under-par 61 to claim the weather-hit Iskandar Johor Open golf tournament on Sunday as Thailand's Thaworn Wiratchant became the oldest winner of the Asian Tour's Order of Merit title.

Heavy storms in southern Malaysia had already cut the Asian Tour's $2-million season-ending event to 54 holes and more adverse weather forced a further delay in play on Sunday. Garcia, though, did not let it affect him as he produced some brilliant golf to finish the three rounds with an 18-under 198 total and win by three from American Jonathan Moore (61).

"It has been a long week obviously because of the weather and I couldn't have asked for a better way to end the week," world number 20 Garcia told reporters.

"It has been a great experience as this is my first time in Malaysia and to be able to win is a treat. "The most important thing about playing under these kinds of conditions is to keep the momentum going especially with so much disruption. It's hard to keep up mentally and I sort of did that yesterday morning where I finished poorly but today I came back strongly."

The tournament's highest-ranked player did not drop a shot during the final round at the Horizon Hills Golf and Country Club, firing seven birdies to make the turn in 29 and spark hopes of a rare 59.

The 32-year-old Ryder Cup winner could only par his final two holes, though, as he signed for a joint best round of the week to claim his second tournament win of the year, following his Wyndham Classic victory on the PGA Tour in August.

Thailand's Thaworn was also celebrating as he produced a final-round 65 to finish tied fifth and clinch his second Asian Tour Order of Merit title ahead of his 46th birthday this month.

He had started the final round one shot behind Marcus Fraser, who trailed the Thai by $25,261 in the merit standings, but the Australian could close with only a level-par 72 for a share of 21st. — Reuters

Yokohama, December 16
Brazilian giants Corinthians won the Club World Cup in Japan on Sunday, overcoming European champions Chelsea 1-0 in a closely-fought encounter. Striker Guerrero got the goal as the Sao Paulo club secured their second intercontinental title — they won the FIFA Club World Championship in 2000.

Interim Chelsea boss Rafael Benitez made three changes to the team that thrashed Mexican side Monterrey 3-1 in the semi-final — replacing Oscar, John Obi Mikel and Cesar Azpilicueta with Frank Lampard, Ramires and Victor Moses. Corinthians coach Tite changed just one player from the side that scraped to a 1-0 last-four win over Egypt's Al Ahly, bringing in Jorge Henrique for Douglas.

The match at the 68,000-capacity International Stadium in Yokohama was frenetic right from the first whistle with both sides creating several chances as play swung from end to end. Chelsea came closest to taking the lead after eight minutes when Corinthians goalkeeper Cassio fumbled a Gary Cahill effort from a corner, before gathering the ball just short of the goal-line as Victor Moses looked to pounce.

On 25 minutes the referee waved away a penalty appeal by Corinthians when centre-forward Guerrero went down softly under a challenge by Cahill. Emerson should have scored three minutes later after Cahill let the ball slip under his foot. But the Corinthians forward blazed his shot over the bar from the edge of the penalty box with just Petr Cech to beat.

Guerrero then had a shot blocked shortly afterwards before striker Fernando Torres was similarly denied at the other end. The Spaniard should have done better on 37 minutes however, expertly controlling a long-range pass from Lampard that split the defence. — Reuters

Los Angeles, December 16
Amir Khan had lost his previous two fights - and his super lightweight championship - prior to Saturday, so he fired trainer Freddie Roach and hired Virgil Hunter to replace him.

Khan also picked as his next opponent Carlos Molina of Norwalk, probably because Molina at 5-feet-6 is four inches shorter than Khan and because Molina is a light puncher. That's important because Khan in July was stopped by Danny Garcia in the fourth round and a loss like that often is followed by a fight with someone who can't crack. Khan and Molina squared off Saturday in the main event at the Sports Arena. Khan, as expected, dominated Molina and stopped him after the 10 th of 12 rounds in front of 6,109.

Referee Jack Reiss called a halt to the bout on the advice of Molina's corner, with Khan getting credit for a 10 th-round technical knockout. There were no knockdowns and Khan was ahead by nine points on all three scorecards. Khan, of England, was much quicker and landed much harder punches, one of which opened a cut around Molina's left eye in the third round. Molina proved a gutsy foe and did land a few clean shots, but they did nothing to Khan (27-3, 19 KOs).

New Delhi, December 16
Indian hockey team captain Sardar Singh was bought for a whopping $78,000 (around Rs 40 lakh) by Delhi franchisee Delhi Waveriders in the Hockey India League (HIL) auctions today.

Sardar’s base price was $27,000 but his brand value was so great that Waveriders did not have any hesitation in loosening their purse strings to own the talented defender for the highest price in the auction. Sardar is one of the five marquee players in the fray. The others are Sandeep Singh, Moritz Fuertse (Germany), Jamie Dwyer (Australia) and Teun de Nooijer (Holland). Each of the five franchises could pick up only one marquee player. The Delhi franchise also netted other talented Indians like forward Yuvraj Valmiki (for $18,500—base price $9250), mid-fielder Gurbaj Singh ($36,000- (base $18,550) and penalty corner specialist Rupinder Pal Singh ($56,000 from a base price of 9,250).

Another big name of Indian hockey, drag-flicker Sandeep Singh, was snapped up for his base price of $27,000 by Mumbai Magicians, but being a marquee player, he will end up getting 15 per cent more than defender Joel Caroll of Australia, whom Mumbai bought for $56,000 (base price $20,000). They also bought No 1 Indian custodian PR Sreejesh for $38,000 (base $13,900), and three talented Pakistan players—mid fielders Mahmood Rashid and Fareed Ahmad and goalkeeper Imran Butt. But otherwise, there were not many takers for the Pakistan players and those who were sold got only moderate prices. Rashid Mahmood was an exception, getting $41,000 as against his base price of $25,000.

Jaypee Punjab Warriors bought marquee player Jamie Dawyer of Australia for $60,00 from a base price of $25,000. Top Indian players like SV Sunil ($42,000) (who would have been a marquee player had there been a sixth team), Shivendra Singh ($27,500) and Ignace tirkey ($37,000) were bought for rather cheap prices. Jaypee Punjab seem to have invested more for talented foreign players as they bought defender Mark Knowles of Australia for $57,00 and goalkeeper Japp Stockmann of the Netherlands for $68,000.

After Sardar Singh, Moritz Fuertise commanded the highest price as the German midfielder was bought for $75,000 (base price $25,000) by Ranchi Rhinos. They also bought Indian midfielders Kothajit Singh ($33,000) and Birender Lakra ($41,000) from their rather modest base price of $9250 each.

Uttar Pradesh Wizards, bought drag-flicker VR Raghunath for a whopping $76,000 from a base price of $13,900.

London, December 16
Asia won the Royal Trophy by the tightest of margins on Sunday, edging Europe in a sudden death playoff to complete a stunning comeback in the team match play competition after the contest had finished level at 8-8.

South Korean Kim Kyung-tae rolled in a 15ft birdie putt on the 18th, the first playoff hole, as he and compatriot Yang Yong-eun saw off Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts and Francesco Molinari of Italy in the fourball decider.

Asia's second win in the sixth edition of the annual contest loosely based on the Ryder Cup model then drew a 'Gangnam Style' celebratory dance from Japanese captain Joe Ozaki.

"I am so proud of all my players, but especially K.T. Kim. It was a great Royal Trophy and a great way to finish," Ozaki said during the presentation ceremony.

The narrow defeat capped a disappointing day for Ozaki's opposite number Jose Maria Olazabal, the Spaniard forced to pull out of his singles match before a ball was hit on Sunday because of a neck injury. With Olazabal's withdrawal, each side added half a point to their overnight tally to leave the scores at 5-4 in Europe's favour with 8 1/2 needed from the remaining seven singles matches to claim the title. — Reuters