Sports

London, August 16: The Ashes triumph of 2005 was one of England’s most cherished achievements in recent times, but veteran pacer Steve Harmison wants the current squad to come forward and create their own history by winning the current series.

”I’ve got my memories, but that is all they are. That is all that 2005 is. People keep going back to it as though it was somehow relevant to now. It isn’t. It has gone,” Harmison, a member of the 2005 England squad, said.

London, August 16: Warwickshire’s Jonathan Trott will make his Test debut in the Ashes decider at The Oval on Thursday, after being confirmed as Ravi Bopara’s replacement in a 14-man squad for the crucial fifth Test.

Trott is expected to slot into the middle order, with his county team-mate, Ian Bell, promoted to No. 3. Monty Panesar also returns to the reckoning as a potential partner for Graeme Swann if England choose to go in with two spinners.

Chennai, August 16: Former Team India Skipper Rahul Dravid, master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, hard hitting player Suresh Raina and left arm speedster Ashish Nehra were recalled into the Indian team for the upcoming tri-series in Sri Lanka and for the next month’s Champions Trophy tournament to be held in South Africa.

Auckland, August 16: New Zealand face a severe examination of their skill and stamina as they prepare to take on buoyant Sri Lanka in a two-Test series starting on Tuesday.

On top of the challenge of playing on unfamiliar wickets in oppressive heat and humidity, Daniel Vettori’s Black Caps will be up against a home side fresh from a 2-0 series win over Pakistan last month.

Vettori admitted holding the hosts to two draws would be a good result for his inexperienced team, whose four Test wins over the past two years have included three against lowly Bangladesh.

England, August 17: With the Ashes to play for, England arrive at The Oval this week in a wonderful position.

It may not have seemed so in recent days when it has been possible to believe that the Ashes disappeared down the Murray-Darling at least a month ago, never to return.

England were as staggeringly bad in Leeds as Australia were predictably efficient. With a 1-0 lead and the prize nominally five days away, they froze, utterly confusing their role in the leporidae family, acting like rabbits in headlights instead of pulling them out of the hat.

Johanesburg, August 16: Jonty Rhodes, the former South African player, has said home advantage will mean little in next month’s Champions Trophy in South Africa since teams travel a lot more and are used to different conditions these days.

“The support of the crowd does make a difference if things go a bit flat and they can lift you, but South Africa won’t be relying on that,” Rhodes told the Supercricket website. “They’ll be relying on planning and getting in place all the processes involved in winning.”

Colombo, August 16: Sri Lanka are likely to go in with a new opening combination for the first Test against New Zealand beginning on Tuesday in Galle. Having sat out the limited-overs leg of the recently concluded home series against Pakistan due to injuries, Tillakaratne Dilshan is likely to feature at the top of the order on his return.

Melbourne, August 16: Luke Pomersbach’s drunken driving rampage has irked his West Australia skipper Mike Hussey who feels the Twenty20 batting star must need to get his act together before making a comeback bid to the side.

Pomersbach, 24, has been banned from playing for his state side Western Australia until at least January next year after escaping a jail sentence for a drunken rampage that included assaulting a police officer in Perth last Sunday.

Colombo, August 16: Shahid Afridi shone with bat and ball on his debut as Pakistan’s Twenty20 captain to steer the world champions to an emphatic 52-run win over Sri Lanka here on Wednesday.

Afridi smashed 50 off 37 balls in Pakistan’s 172-5, and then claimed 1-21 in four economical overs and effected a run out with a direct throw as Sri Lanka were shot out for 120 with 11 balls to spare.

Ohio (USA), August 16: Top-ranked Dinara Safina dispatched a worn-out Flavia Pennetta 6-2, 6-0 to reach the final of the Western & Southern Financial Group Open.

Safina will play recent No 1 Jelena Jankovic in the final after the Serb came back from 6-2 down in the last-set tiebreaker to beat Elena Dementieva 7-6, (2), 0-6, 7-6 (6).

“I don’t believe I won this match,” Jankovic said.

Safina reached her eighth final in 14 tournaments this year, ending Pennetta’s winning streak at 15. After a ragged opening match, the Russian favorite has gotten a little stronger and sharper each day.

Edgbaston, August 16: Sussex won the English Twenty20 Cup for the first time on Saturday when they defeated Somerset by 63 runs in the final at Edgbaston.

West Indian all-rounder Dwayne Smith hammered 59 off only 26 deliveries with seven fours and three sixes to help Sussex reach 172 for seven after being put into bat.

Somerset never seriously threatened to achieve the highest ever score to win a domestic Twenty20 final once Marcus Trescothick had been dismissed for 33.

Sydney, August 16: Former Australian batting greats Dean Jones and Mark Waugh feel that Mike Hussey is under immense pressure to save his place in the side.

They feel that Hussey’s Test batting average has more than halved in the past two seasons and was under threat to hold his position heading into the home summer, although both said he had the tools to climb out of the hole.

Hussey’s Ashes average stands at 25.83. His overall Test average is 52.39, but in 2009 it sits at 27.84 from eight Tests, compared with last year’s 37.50 and 2007’s 74.80.

Hyderabad, August 15:India’s hopes of a medal in the World Badminton Championship remained unfulfilled with the elimination of their women’s top player Saina Nehwal and the mixed doubles pair of V Diju and Jwala Gutta here on Friday.

Cheered on by a large gathering at the Gachibowli stadium, Saina did raise visions of an upset win, but failed to keep her rampaging Chinese rival, World number two Wang Lin, at bay consistently to go down fighting 16-21, 19-21.

Melbourne, August 15: Australia’s batsmen overcame the early loss of Simon Katich to rattle along at more than five runs an over on the first morning of their two-day warm-up against England Lions at Canterbury.

By lunch, Shane Watson had produced his fourth half-century in as many innings since taking over from Phillip Hughes at the top of Australia’s order, and was sitting pretty on 91 not out with Mike Hussey unbeaten alongside him on 19.

Karachi, August 15: Saeed Ajmal said that he had exchanged tips on bowling the doosra with Muttiah Muralitharan during the Pakistan tour of Sri Lanka. Murali was interested in how Ajmal bowled the doosra.

“Yes we had a few chats, it was interesting and useful to talk to a great bowler like Murali, I asked him about some of his newer deliveries and his methods behind those deliveries,” said Ajmal.

Chennai, August 15: Amid mounting speculation on him being appointed Kolkata Knight Riders’ coach, former India coach John Wright today said he doesn’t mind reuniting with Sourav Ganguly in the Indian Premier League next year.

“We worked well together. It was a good combination. I have no qualms about working again with Sourav Ganguly,” Wright, who was the Indian team’s coach during Ganguly’s captaincy,” Wright, who is here as New Zealand ‘A’ assistant coach for the Buchi Babu tournament, told reporters.

Melbourne, August 15: Australian captain Ricky Ponting says he is relieved at being promised a short break after the Ashes as senior players like him risk exhaustion if they don’t get enough rest in between the choc-a-bloc cricket calendar.

“Rest is really important for all the senior players during such a long and hectic schedule, with no break in our program until April next year. That means almost a year on the road for some of us,” Ponting wrote in ‘The Australian’.

Melbourne, August 15: With his Test slump continuing unabated, Australian batsman Michael Hussey is no longer ‘Mr Cricket’ and has become ‘Mr Average’, say former greats Mark Waugh and Dean Jones.

Waugh and Jones believe that Hussey’s position in the team is seriously under threat.

Hussey’s Ashes average of 25.83 has been a disappointment and continues a decline over the past two seasons. His overall Test average is a mighty 52.39, but this year it sits at 27.84 from eight Tests.

London, August 15: Retired opener Marcus Trescothick has ruled himself out of returning for the decisive fifth Ashes Test.

Trescothick, who played his last Test three years ago because of his battles with a stress-related illness, admitted he even suffered a nightmare about playing at The Oval. He believes it would be wrong to return and a ”traumatic dream” convinced him about that.

London, August 15: Brian Lara, the former West Indies captain, has confirmed he is in talks with the Trinidad & Tobago board about a role for him in T&T’s Champions League campaign.

His role is likely to be a coaching one since he cannot join the side as a player – under the rules, the squad must be the same as the one that participated in the domestic competition.

Aberdeen, August 15: Ireland will be boosted by the presence of captain William Porterfield in the one-day and four-day squads to play Scotland over next week in Aberdeen.

Gloucestershire have excused Porterfield from playing the County Championship match against Leicestershire, leaving him free to play Ireland.

Ireland and Scotland first play an Intercontinental Cup match starting on August 17, followed by two ODIs on August 22 and August 23. Phil Simmons, the Ireland coach, said the game against Scotland would help Porterfield fine-tune his batting.

London, August 15: Steve Tikolo’s century and a double strike at the top of Canada’s innings put Kenya in a strong position at the end of the first day’s play in the ICC Intercontinental Cup.

The innings began on the wrong note for Kenya who, after electing to bat, lost both openers for 27. Tikolo took on the task of rebuilding the innings and had two good partnerships, of 53 with Alex Obanda for the third wicket and 116 with Maurice Ouma for the fourth wicket.

London, August 15: The ICC president David Morgan will meet Pakistan board chairman Ijaz Butt in Dubai on August 27 to resolve the issue of Pakistan’s hosting rights for the 2011 World Cup.

The two bodies decided to reach an out-of-court settlement for Pakistan’s loss of 14 World Cup matches due to security concerns after the ICC agreed to pay a US$ 10.5 million hosting rights fee and a substantial compensation.

Karachi, August 15: Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has apologised to the Pakistan Cricket Board for appearing on a television show without PCB’s permission and accepted that he has violated the players’ central contract.

A senior official of the board told PTI that the fast bowler, who was served a show cause by the PCB, has replied back on July 31 apologising for his actions.

“Look, now he has to decide either he wants to play for Pakistan again or continue his dispute with the authorities. Both things are not possible,” the official said.

New Delhi, August 15: Former captain Rahul Dravid is set to return to the Indian One-day team after nearly a two-year gap when the selectors meet tomorrow to pick the squads for next month’s tri-series in Sri Lanka and the subsequent Champions Trophy in South Africa.

Krishnamachari Srikkanth and his colleagues in the selection committee would go by the players’ performance in their last ODI series in the West Indies, which they won 2-1, besides their fitness levels which was assessed under coach Gary Kirsten’s hawk eyes.