Monday, March 9, 2009

India beats New Zealand by 58 runs in cricket international


New Zealand Tour — Indian Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar made 163 from 134 balls before retiring hurt to spur India to a 58-run win over New Zealand in Sunday's third one-day cricket international.
Sachin Tendulkar's ton helped India to 392-4, and they then bowled out New Zealand for 334 in a match that included 31 sixes - the most ever in a one-day international.
Sachin Tendulkar reached his 43rd century in one-day internationals and his 91st century for India in all forms of the game, before leaving the field in the 45th over with an abdominal injury.
In reply, New Zealand's Jesse Ryder scored 105, including a century from 72 balls, in a 166-run opening partnership with Brendon McCullum (71) to put New Zealand ahead of the demanding required run rate at the start of its innings.
The openers gave New Zealand faint hopes of victory, given the flat pitch and short boundaries, but those hopes were all but extinguished when seven wickets fell for 52 runs between the 22nd and 34th overs.
New Zealand had slumped to 251-8 in the 38th over before Kyle Mills smashed 54 from 32 balls and Tim Southee 32 from 20 in an 83-run ninth wicket partnership which briefly revived the threat.
Seam bowler Munaf Patel was ordered out of the attack by the umpires after he bowled two high full tosses in the 45th over. Off-spinner Yusuf Pathan bowled out Patel's uncompleted over and captured Mills' wicket, hastening New Zealand's dismissal for 334.
The match produced a total of 726 runs, the second-highest aggregate in one-day cricket internationals, eclipsed only by the 872 runs scored by Australia and South Africa in 2006.
"Frankly, before starting I thought 390 or 380 could have been a not inappropriate score," India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said.
"Our bowling was not up to the mark. When the ball is old and not reversing it's very difficult to bowl yorkers and that's the time you have to use all your experience to bowl in the right areas."
Tendulkar's innings included 16 fours and five sixes or 94 runs from boundaries and helped India to the highest total in a one-day international in New Zealand, surpassing New Zealand's 350 against Australia.
Tendulkar's score was the second-highest individual total in a one-day international in New Zealand, after the 180 of Australia's Matthew Hayden, and ensured India reached its highest total against New Zealand, surpassing its 376-2 at Hyderabad in 1999.
The score was India's highest against a major cricket nation in one-day internationals, having scored 413-5 against Bermuda in 2006. It was the ninth highest total by any country in one-day international cricket.
India's 18 sixes was also an innings record in a clash of Test-playing nations and the 31 sixes was a record for all ODI.
Tendulkar reached 50 off 59 balls, a century off 101 balls and 150 off 127 balls but was clearly impeded in the latter part of his innings by what appeared to be strained abdominal muscles.
No word was immediately available from the Indian team on the seriousness of his injury.
Tendulkar put on 138 for the third wicket with Yuvraj Singh who made a superb 87 and a further 138 with Dhoni who made 68.
India particularly savaged young seam bowler Tim Southee who conceded 105 runs from 10 overs, to become only the second bowler to concede more than 100 runs in a 50-over ODI. Australia's Mick Lewis gave up 113 from 10 overs against South Africa in 2006.
"It was amazing batting, probably what everyone in New Zealand wanted to watch," said New Zealand's stand-in captain Brendon McCullum, who sent India in to bat.
"We'll take a little bit of pride out of the way we came back."
Regular captain Daniel Vettori did not play so he could be with his wife for the pending birth of their first child.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Stuart Broad, bless him, hit out of the park


Sometimes I watch television for programmes apart from sport. I have a favourite. It's called QI and is hosted by cricket fan and all-time legend Stephen Fry. His regular guest is Alan Davies - a British actor who began his successful comedy career as a stand-up. There is a long-running joke that Alan gets all questions wrong, and Stephen looks at him mournfully and says: "Oh Alany, Alany, Alany!". I rather felt that way today when Stuart, bless him, was hit for six sixes in one over.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Gunmen attack Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan


LAHORE, Pakistan – At least a dozen men ambushed Sri Lanka's cricket team with rifles, grenades and rocket launchers Tuesday, converging on the squad's convoy as it drove through a traffic circle near an eastern Pakistani stadium.
Seven players, an umpire and a coach were wounded, none with life-threatening injuries, but six policemen and a driver died.
The attackers struck as a convoy carrying the squad and match officials reached a traffic circle 300 yards (meters) from the main sports stadium in the eastern city of Lahore, triggering a 15-minute gunbattle with police guarding the vehicles.
The assault, just ahead of a match, was one of the worst terrorist attacks on a sports team since Palestinian militants killed 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
By attacking South Asia's most popular sport, the gunmen guaranteed themselves tremendous international attention while demonstrating Pakistan's struggle to provide its 170 million people with basic security as it battles a raging Islamist militancy.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the incident "has humiliated the country" and the head of the Interior Ministry, Rehman Malik, declared Pakistan was "in a state of war."
Malik told The Associated Press that authorities were investigating whether the attackers wanted to take hostages.
"We are looking at the possibility the gunmen wanted to hijack the bus and take it to a nearby building and create a drama," Malik said. "The way they came prepared and in large numbers indicates such a plan."
Tuesday's attackers melted away into the city, and none was killed or captured, city police chief Haji Habibur Rehman said. The attackers abandoned machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and plastic explosives, Punjab police chief Khwaja Khalid Farooq said. They carried backpacks stuffed with dried fruit, mineral water and walkie-talkies — provisions also abandoned at or near the scene, officials said.
Authorities did not speculate on the identities of the attackers, but the chief suspects will be Islamist militants, some with links to al-Qaida, who have staged high-profile attacks on civilian targets before.
The bus driver, Mohammad Khalil, accelerated as bullets ripped into the vehicle and explosions rocked the air, steering the team to the safety of the stadium. The players — some of them wounded — ducked down and shouted "Go! Go!" as he drove through the ambush.
Sri Lanka had agreed to this tour — allowing Pakistan to host its first test matches in 14 months — only after India and Australia backed out of scheduled trips over security concerns. The assault will end hopes of international cricket teams — or any sports teams — playing in the country for months, if not years.
Tuesday's attack came three months after the Mumbai terror strikes that killed 164 people. Those raids were allegedly carried out by Pakistan militants, and the assault in Lahore resembled them in many respects. Both were coordinated, used multiple gunmen, apparently in teams of two, who were armed with explosives and assault rifles and apparently had little fear of death or capture.
U.S. State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid told reporters in Washington that the United States "utterly" condemned "this vicious attack on innocent civilians but also on the positive relations that Pakistan and Sri Lanka are trying to enjoy."
Authorities will also consider possible links to Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger separatist rebels who are being badly hit in a military offensive at home, though Sri Lankan military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said it was unlikely the group was involved.
Authorities canceled the test match against Pakistan's national team, and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa ordered his foreign minister to immediately travel to Pakistan to help assist in the team's evacuation.
A special flight carrying the players — including two who had been hospitalized — left Lahore late Tuesday and was headed to Colombo, said Pakistan Cricket Board chief operating officer Salim Altaf.
TV footage of the attack showed at least two pairs of gunmen with backpacks firing from a stretch of grass and taking cover behind a small monument before moving on. It was taken from the offices of

Pakistan Attack on Sri Lankan Cricket Team: Echoes of Mumbai?



Play Video Pakistan Video:Sri Lanka cricketers return home Reuters
Play Video Pakistan Video:Cricket attack weapons recovered BBC
Play Video Pakistan Video:Sri Lankan cricket team back home after attack AP
In a commando-style operation, a dozen gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team in the heart of Lahore, Pakistan's cultural and political hub, at 8:45 Tuesday morning. The attackers fired rockets, grenades and multiple rounds of ammunition at the team's bus and the police escorting it, killing eight people and injuring six. To some eyewitnesses, it was last November's Mumbai attacks replayed on Pakistani soil. (See pictures of this terrorist attack.)

Thursday, February 26, 2009

The ICC Under-19 World Cup Update Five


Former player, now manager and Indian team boss, Neil Maxwell insists Twenty20 cricket will be the saviour of the game if everyone gets onFormer player, now manager and Indian team