Monday, March 31, 2008

Scoring 10,000 test runs was beyond dreams, says Dravid

CHENNAI, India (Reuters) - Indian batsman Rahul Dravid said on Saturday it had been beyond his dreams to achieve 10,000 test runs.

The 35-year-old Dravid became only the sixth player to reach the landmark while scoring 111 for his 25th century on day four of the first test against South Africa.

Dravid also became only the third player to achieve the landmark in both tests and one-dayers, joining compatriot Sachin Tendulkar and West Indies batsman Brian Lara.

"It is a proud moment," he told reporters. "For me, growing up, I dreamt of playing for India. When I look back I probably exceeded my expectations with what I have done over the last 10 to 12 years.

"I can look back and reflect that I maximised my potential over these years," he said. "To do it in Chennai with my family and friends watching was great."

Dravid said he remembered as a boy when Sunil Gavaskar became the first to reach the mark, with a late cut against Pakistan in the Ahmedabad test in 1987.

"I never had an ambition to do it because I never believed," he said. "It is just a reflection of my longevity in the game."


Source:http://uk.reuters.com

Posted by Jimmy at 10:56:29 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Thursday, March 20, 2008

ICL: Maher, Binny clinch thrilling win for Hyderabad Heroes

Hyderabad: Jimmy Maher and Stuart Binny did the Houdini act for Hyderabad Heroes by putting together an undefeated partnership of 73 runs for the sixth wicket in only 6.1 overs to clinch a thrilling win for their team over Kolkata Tigers here tonight with only four balls to spare.
 
With the win, the Heroes are now third in the points table, while the Tigers are at fifth place.
 
Chasing a competitive total of 166, the Heroes didn't have the best of starts and lost their first three wickets, including that of the in-form Nicky Boje, with only 28 runs on the board after five overs. Maher and Justin Kemp then put the Heroes back on track and added 56 runs for the fourth wicket in just over six overs. Kemp was the more aggressive of the two, while Maher kept picking up the singles and two, and hitting the occasional boundary. But, just when Kemp (28) was looking to shift gears, SG Das took a fine running catch to send him back to the pavilion, the successful bowler being Sujay Tarafdar.
 
The Tigers then struck another two quick blows by getting rid of Abdul Razzaq and Chris Harris to reduce the Heroes to 95 for 6 after 13.1 overs. Razzaq and Harris both didn't bother the scorers.
 
The home team at the Lal Bahadur Stadium looked down and out at this stage, but nobody bothered to tell Maher and Binny this as the duo put on a scintalling counter-attack to take the Tigers by complete surprise. As he had been doing through the innings, Maher concentrated on rotating the strike while Binny took the aerial route and hit some scintillating shots in the process to bring the crowd alive.

Source:http://sports.in.msn.com
Posted by Jimmy at 10:12:47 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

ICL: Mumbai Champs register first win

Panchkula: Raviraj Patil hit a composed half-century and Avinash Yadav took four wickets to help the Mumbai Champs defeat the Ahmedabad Rockets to register their first win in the ICL 20s Grand Championship at Tau Devi Lal Cricket Stadium here tonight. The Champs successfully chased down the target of 132 with six wickets and two balls to spare.

It appeared for a while that the Champs were going to throw it all away at the end and lose another game from a winning position, but Patil who came to the middle in the third over at the fall of Subhojit Paul's wicket ensured there would be no such repeat. It may be recalled that the Mumbai Champs lost to Kolkata Tigers by two runs from a winning position. Patil had scored a half-century in that match as well and set the platform for his team but things went haywhire after his dismissal. And, it seemed to be appear in this knock of his that Patil had decided to stay until his team had won the match.

Though Patil (66 not out off 46 balls) was the backbone of the Champs' batting, he recieved good support from captain Nathan Astle, Kiran Powar and S Khanolkar, who all gave him good company at the crease. In fact, it was Khanolkar (13 not out), who really eased the pressure in the last over of the match bowled by Heath Streak.

The Champs needed 10 runs to win off the last over and Khanolkar hit the first two balls to the fence before taking a single off the third ball before Patil finished off the match with the sixth boundary of his inning.Jason Gillespie (two wickets), R Patel and RS Sodhi (one wicket each) were among the wickets for the Rockets.

Source:http://sports.in.msn.com
Posted by Jimmy at 10:26:29 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Cricket-India's Sharma ruled out of first South Africa test

MUMBAI, India, March 17 (Reuters) - Young fast bowler Ishant Sharma was ruled out of this month's first test against South Africa on Monday as Indian selectors grappled with fitness issues following a long and difficult tour of Australia.

The selectors named a 14-man squad for the first two tests of the three-match series beginning on March 26 but vice-captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh must clear a fitness test on March 21.

Sharma, 19, was the find of the tour in Australia where India lost 2-1 in the four-test series that featured a divisive second test in Sydney marred by poor umpiring, but won the tri-series finals 2-0 against the hosts.

He suffered a toe injury during the tour and a finger injury after his return and was advised to take three weeks' rest.

Indian Cricket Board secretary Niranjan Shah told reporters after the selection meeting in Bangalore, attended by new coach Gary Kirsten and test captain Anil Kumble, that Sharma would be considered for the second test if he recovered in time.

The first test will be played in Chennai from March 26 to 30 and the second in Ahmedabad from April 3 to 7.

Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla will be on stand-by as cover for both Harbhajan and left-arm spinner Murali Kartik, who was picked as third spinner, and wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik for Dhoni, who is suffering from a finger sprain.

Kartik, who last played a test in 2004, sustained an ankle sprain while playing in a domestic match on Monday.

Left-arm fast bowler Rudra Pratap Singh comes back after missing the tri-series in Australia with a hamstring injury to bolster the pace attack in the absence of Zaheer Khan, ruled out with a foot injury since the second test in Sydney.

Squad: Wasim Jaffer, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Vangipurappu Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicketkeeper), Irfan Pathan, Anil Kumble (captain), Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartik, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Rudra Pratap Singh. (Reporting by Sanjay Rajan; editing by Rex Gowar)

Source:http://uk.reuters.com/

Posted by Jimmy at 10:25:01 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Monday, March 17, 2008

England beats New Zealand, Test to tie series

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - England took 90 minutes Monday to complete a 126-run win over New Zealand in the second cricket Test and tie the three-match series 1-1.

New Zealand resumed its second innings at 242 for six, needing a further 196 runs to reach an imposing winning target of 438, and was all out 25 minutes before lunch for 311. Brendon McCullum was the last man out for the innings' top score of 85.Ryan Sidebottom, who took a hat trick among 10 wickets in the first Test at Hamilton - won by New Zealand by 189 runs - finished with five for 105 as the leading member of a dominant England bowling attack.Stuart Broad took two for 62 and James Anderson two for 57.

The England win, which means the series will now be decided in the last Test at Napier starting on Saturday, was set up by the maiden Test century of wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose, which revived the tourists' first innings.New Zealand won the toss and put England into bat, reducing them to 136 for five during the second session on the opening day. Ambrose, who made 102 - the only century of the match - then joined with Paul Collingwood in a partnership which produced 164 runs for the sixth wicket.

England recovered to 342 in its first innings, bowled New Zealand out for 198 to take a 144-run lead and dominated the match from that point. After reaching 293 in its second innings, England was able to set New Zealand 438 to win the match while leaving itself almost two full days to dismiss the home team.New Zealand went to stumps at 242 for six on Sunday, having lost Jacob Oram in the last over of the fourth day, and held out for only 19 more overs on the last before England sealed its win.

"The defining moment was Tim Ambrose' maiden hundred in the third session on day one," England captain Michael Vaughan said. "That 150-odd partnership with Paul Collingwood was the defining partnership of the match, on a wicket which batsmen never felt entirely in on.

"Scoring 350 batting first on that kind of wicket was a great effort, then bowling New Zealand out for 198 put us in the box seat from then on."Vaughan said England played strongly except in the field, where there were several dropped catches."We bowled exceptionally well, batted well, we didn't catch well," he said. "We didn't get it all together but hopefully in Napier we can give an even better performance."

New Zealand had England in a tenuous position at 136 for five between lunch and tea on the first day but never recovered from Ambrose's superb assault on their bowling in the last session Thursday."I think if we reflect on the match, the teams were pretty evenly matched apart from Ambrose's hundred," New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori said.

"That really took the game away from us. We bowled pretty poorly to him (Ambrose), bowled to his strengths and he punished us for it. Having said that, England still performed very well. They had to perform on the same pitch we did and they did it much better than us."New Zealand had little hope of saving the match on the last day. McCullum was its main hope and he put in a defiant performance, reaching 85 from 116 deliveries with a hail of boundaries.

But New Zealand lost Vettori for 0 in the second over of the day, after adding only four runs to their overnight total, then Kyle Mills fell for 13 and Mark Gillespie for nine.McCullum was the last man out, caught by Sidebottom off the bowling of Monty Panesar.

Source:http://slam.canoe.ca
Posted by Jimmy at 10:42:51 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Kareena denies being part of ICL

Mumbai (PTI): Actor Kareena Kapoor on Friday made it clear that she was in no way associated with the Indian Cricket League (ICL) headed by former captain Kapil Dev.

"I am not a part of ICL," she clarified, in the wake of reports that ICL was planning to rope her in along with actor Aamir Khan to promote its Twenty20 venture, just like Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta had involved themselves in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Kareena said this here on the sidelines of the launch of Anne French's booklet of her tips for keeping beautiful and healthy skin.

Kareena had participated in a show last November to launch the ICL, which is promoted by Subhash Chandra's Essel Group.

Shah Rukh owns the Kolkata franchise while Zinta the Mohali team of the BCCI's-backed IPL.

Source:http://www.hindu.com
Posted by Jimmy at 10:34:51 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Friday, March 14, 2008

ICL: Badshahs thrash Heroes by 9 wickets

Panchkula (Chandigarh): In the most one-sided match yet in the second edition of the Indian Cricket League, Lahore Badshahs thrashed Hyderabad Heroes by nine wickets with 62 balls to spare here on Thursday night. The Badshahs, who are one of the two new teams in the ICL, have now won both their matches. The team from Lahore had got the better of defending champions, Chennai Superstars, in their first match.

Chasing a paltry total of 87 to win the match, the Badshahs suffered a jolt in the third ball of their innings when Imran Farhat was caught behind off the bowling of Abdul Razzaq. However, that was to be the sole moment of joy for the Heroes on a night when nothing went right for them, as Imran Nazir (62 not out off 32 balls) and Humayan Farhat (18 not out off 24 balls), took their team to a facile win. Nazir played his usual attacking game and finished off the match in style by hitting PIS Reddy for two sixes in four balls to bring an early end to the proceedings.

Earlier, Chris Harris, the captain of the Heroes, must have rued his decision to bat first, as his team was reduced to 31 for 6 in the seventh over, before being eventually bundled out for 86 in the 19th over. Azhar Mahmood was the star act for the Badshahs and he finished with impressive figures of 3.4-1-13-5. Mahmood, was in fact unlucky to miss out on a hattrick, as he took his last three wickets in four balls. He accounted for I Khaleel and PIS Reddy in the first two balls of the 19th over, but PK Reddy denied Mahmood the hattrick, but was out in the very next ball. Mahmood was well-supported by Rana Naved-ul-Hasan (2-19) and Mohammad Sami (2-12).

Only Nicky Boje (39 not out) and Abdul Razzaq (10) reached double figures for the Heroes, and if it weren't for their 38-runs partnership for the seventh wicket, the Hyderabad team would have embarassed themselves further.

Friday is a rest day for the teams in the tournament. The next match is between Chandigarh Lions and Delhi Giants on Saturday afternoon. The Giants will also be in action on Sunday afternoon and would be up against Ahmedabad Rockets.

The Hyderabad Heroes will hope to put up a much better show in their next match, against the Chennai Superstars on Saturday night, while the Lahore Badshahs would be looking to continue their momentum when they face Chandigarh Lions on Sunday night.

Source:http://sports.in.msn.com
Posted by Jimmy at 11:10:54 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Thursday, March 13, 2008

ICL: Mumbai Champs lose yet again

Panchkula, Haryana: Mumbai Champs continued their losing streak in the Indian Cricket League (ICL) as they lost their second match in a row here on Wednesday evening. Kolkata Tigers beat them by two runs in a keenly contested match at the Tau Devi Lal cricket stadium.

Propelled by a breezy 41 from 36 balls by Rohan Gavaskar and a 29-ball 33 from AA Jhunjhunwala, the Tigers made 146 runs from their 20 overs, losing five wickets.

A late cameo of 21 runs from 13 balls by man-of-the-match A.R. Adams also helped them.

In reply, valuable contributions of 52 runs from 31 balls by RP Patil and 30 runs from 22 balls by Champs skipper Nathan Astle proved to be inadequate after a virtual collapse of the lower order.

Adams also claimed three wickets of the Champs team.

The Champs had finished last among the six teams in the inaugural T20 ICL tournament played here October-November last year. Brian Lara too had failed to click in that tournament.

Source:http://sify.com
Posted by Jimmy at 10:23:01 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Australian FM: cricket postpones tour to Pakistan only for safety

CANBERRA, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said here Wednesday Cricket Australia's decision to postpone a tour to Pakistan was made for the safety of players and had nothing to do with coinciding Twenty 20 games in India.

Cricket Australia and the Pakistan Cricket Board announced on Tuesday to postpone Australia's tour to Pakistan, scheduled for this month.

Smith said he strongly supported the decision even though cricket fans worldwide would be deeply disappointed."In the end, the safety and security and welfare of the players has to be the primary and the absolute consideration," he told reporters in Canberra.

Smith said he had heard suggestions the decision was made to free some players for the Twenty20 cricket matches in India and he absolutely rejected that suggestion.The chairmen of the two cricket boards will meet in Dubai next weekend to fix a new date for the tour.


Source:http://news.xinhuanet.com
Posted by Jimmy at 10:23:56 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Ahmedabad Rockets beat Chandigarh Lions in ICL opener

Panchkula: New team Ahmedabad Rockets held their nerves to taste 19-run victory over local side Chandigarh Lions in the inaugural match of the second edition of Indian Cricket League Twenty20 tournament here on Sunday night.

Chasing 159 to win, Lions had hopes till skipper Chris Cairns (21) and Dinesh Mongia (16) were at the crease after they lost three top-order batsmen.Opener Matthew Elliott (39) was the only batsman who made some useful contribution for the Lions.

However, Cairns fell to Jason Gillespie and soon after Mongia departed, falling to Heath Streak, reducing Lions to 113 for 5 in 16.2 overs.With the asking rate creeping up, it was always going to be a big task for the Lions lower order batsmen, who only managed to take the total to 139 for 6.

Earlier, Ahmedabad Rockets had a rollicking start after winning the toss, with former West Indian left-hander Wavell Hinds scoring at will.Hinds, who opened the innings along with Madhya Pradesh batsman Sachin Dholpure, hit five big sixes and three fours to reach 53 in just 43 balls before being unlucky to get run out.

Dholpure, too, looked in good touch and scored briskly accumulating 54 runs in just 43 balls, which included three sixes and four boundaries. Both the batsmen were involved in a 122-run stand for the first wicket.Mongia applied brakes on Rockets' innings by dismissing Dholpure and then cleaned up rival skipper Damien Martyn for 2.

Former Zimbabwean skipper Heath Streak (15) and Reetinder Sodhi (9), both not out, made useful contributions helping their team post a challenging total.Cairns claimed two scalps for the Lions.

Source:http://sify.com
Posted by Jimmy at 10:35:52 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |
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