Jamaica, June 29: West Indies levelled the series 1-1 by defeating India by eight wickets at the second one-day international at Sabina Park Sunday. The game was dominated by West Indies from the start. A painstaking 95 from skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his defiant 101-run ninth-wicket partnership with Rudra Pratap Singh helped pull India out of a hole and reach a decent 188 after being 82 for eight.
Melbourne, June 28: Cricket has sometimes been hailed as an overhyped sport. But this is the one time when many in Australia are hoping the game will work its charm and help mend bridges with Indians.
“Cricket’s about friendship and love for the game. While we’re here to try to do both, Cricket Victoria is trying to foster the game at the community level and involve students in far-flung areas who are mostly Indians,” Greg Shepperd, the Delhi Daredevils coach, told IANS at the impressive Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
London, June 28: The one-time Wimbledon men’s doubles champions — Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi– will be at the opposite side of the net Sunday in the mixed doubles third round here.
Bhupathi with compatriot Sania Mirza beat Britons Colin Fleming and Sarah Borwell 7-6 (4), 6-4 in the second round here Saturday. The 13th-seeded Bhupathi and Sania are the Australian Open mixed doubles champions.
Mumbai, June 28: Only Indian greats, left-arm spin magician Bishen Singh Bedi, prolific opener Sunil Gavaskar and champion all rounder Kapil Dev, have been named by the International Cricket Council in its 55-strong Hall of Famers list, which has 22 Englishmen in it.
The ICC, while announcing Colin Cowdrey as the 19th cricketer to be formally inducted in its elite list of cricket greats, provided the list of persons who have been chosen for the Hall of Fame, but yet to be formally inducted.
Islamabad, June 28: Pakistan captain Younis Khan has asked his team-mates to push for better IPL contracts following their success in the World Twenty20. “These players are now world champions and highly marketable. There is a higher value to their performances,” Younis said.
Kingston, June 27: Prior to Friday only one international team had managed to score over 300 runs at Sabina Park in a One Day International – Pakistan made 349 against lowly Zimbabwe in the 2007 World Cup. Today two teams surpassed the 300 mark but one enjoyed it considerably more than the other.
London, June 27: Ana Ivanovic raced into the fourth round at Wimbledon with a straight sets defeat of Australia’s in-form Samantha Stosur today.
The Serbian former world number one beat the 18th seed 7-5, 6-2 in an hour and 10 minutes on the new 4,000-capacity Court 2.
The 13th seed now faces defending champion Venus Williams, the third seed, for a place in the quarter-finals.
Ranchi, June 27: A case was lodged Saturday against the general secretary and treasurer of the Jharkhand Olympic Association (JOA) for allegedly embezzling funds, police said.
The case against JOA general secretary S.M. Hashmi and treasurer Madhukant Pathak was lodged at the Lalpur police station here by B. Shankar Prasad, president of Badminton Association of Dhanbad.
Hashmi is also the convener of 34th National Games Organising Committee (NGOC).
Lahore, June 27: With the World Twenty20 title on his sleeves, skipper Younis Khan asked his players to renew their contracts with the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises, asserting that they deserve more than what they are getting. ”After all, these players are now World champions and highly marketable. There is more value on their performances.
New Delhi, June 27: The domestic and international schedule at home for the coming season will be finalised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) when its Tours Programmes and Fixtures Committee meets here on July 1.
“This is the first meeting of the committee since it was formed,” said one of the members of the panel headed by BCCI Vice-President Lalit Modi.
The Aussies are to play a best-of-seven ODI series, in October-November, which will be followed by a full tour by Sri Lanka, comprising three Tests and five ODIs, in November-December.
London, June 27: It’s been barely six months since Kevin Pietersen was unceremoniously dumped as the England captain after his email to the ECB seeking the removal of the-then coach Peter Moores was leaked to the media.
However, Pietersen believes that the fall-out that happened then, helped players let out some of their frustrations and has now ensured that the dressing room is a much happier place.
Colombo, June 27: India and New Zealand will fly out to Sri Lanka to play a tri-nation ODI series in August this year, ahead of the Champions Trophy.
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) secretary Nishantha Ranatunga said the tournament, which would be an unscheduled one in the Sri Lankan cricket calendar, is expected to take place from August 4 or 6. The agreement was reached among the Sri Lankan, Indian and New Zealand officials during their representatives’ visit to London for the ICC meeting this week.
Karachi, June 27: The Pakistan cricket Board has decided to award category A central contracts to senior players Mohammad Yousuf and Abdul Razzaq, who have made a return to the national team after resigning from the rebel Indian Cricket League.
Sources in the Board said PCB Chairman Ejaz Butt had approved the contracts for the two players, who leave with the national team for the Test tour of Sri Lanka today.
Lahore, June 27: With the pressure mounting on him to reverse the decision on his retirement from Twenty20 cricket, captain Younis Khan said he was ready to reconsider his decision in the interest of the nation.
Younis told Geo News that in the past he had accepted the captaincy on public demand and if the people still insisted him to continue as captain of Pakistan’s Twenty20 team he would be ready for this in the interest of his country.
Johor Bahru, June 27: Saina Nehwal’s dream of pocketing back-to-back titles went up in smoke as Chinese qualifier Xin Wang stunned the second-seed Indian in the quarter-final of the Malaysian Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament here today.
Saina cut a sorry figure as Wang took just 26 minutes to tame her fancied opponent 21-14, 21-10 in a lop-sided affair.
Jamaica, June 27: Powered by Yuvraj Singh’s cracking 131 runs, India defeated West Indies in the first of the four one-day internationals here at the Sabina Park Friday.
Yuvraj smashed one of his typically dazzling centuries and comeback man Dinesh Karthik struck a solid 67 as India set the West Indies a stiff 340-run target.
West Indies put up a brave fight with a 65-run 1st wicket stand between C.H Gayle and R.S. Morton and a 3rd wicket 51-run partnership between R.R Sarwan and S. Chanderpaul, though losing wickets at regular intervals.
Coimbatore, June 26: The first round of the 2009 Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) under the aegis of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) will be flagged off here Saturday amidst high expectations with a new promoter and sponsor in place besides a touch of modernisation by way of GPS tracking and electronic timing.
Kingston, June 26: After playing in cooler climes for over five months, adapting to hot, humid conditions of the Caribbean isles will be the key to his team’s success in the four-match ODI series against West Indies, feels India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
After playing two Tests, five One-dayers and two Twenty20 games in New Zealand in March-April, the Indians went to South Africa for the Indian Premier League (IPL) before moving to England for the World Twenty20. In all the three countries the players had to brave cold, windy conditions.
Abu Dhabi, June 26: Pakistan will continue to suggest the option of Dubai and Abu Dhabi as surrogate home venues for the 2011 World Cup and also pursue its legal case against the ICC, who they say, unlawfully stripped Pakistan of its right to host matches in cricket’s premier tournament.
Sydney, June 26: It is hard to assess a fellow’s character in an interview lasting 40 minutes, which is the amount of time I have been allotted with Sachin Tendulkar – and properly privileged I feel to get it, too.
But I am afforded a useful insight before the interview even starts. We are in the Opus store near Covent Garden, where Tendulkar has been the subject of an interminable photo shoot as part of the launch of his latest website.
London, June 26: International cricket’s leading administrator insisted Thursday he was doing all he could to support Pakistan after confirming the troubled country would not host matches at the 2011 World Cup.
However, International Cricket Council president David Morgan, speaking to reporters on Thursday after the second day of the global governing body’s meeting here at Lord’s, also said the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had accepted the help of a “task team” in retaining its position in international cricket.
Washington, June 26: A hotshot tennis star who teaches teens at a Weymouth private club has been charged with raping a female high school student who took private lessons from him, the Herald has learned.
Louis Desmarteaux, a 24-year-old college tennis champ who was the only American in this year’s amateur Australian Open, is still teaching at the family-oriented Weymouth Club, despite facing charges he repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl last year, according to prosecutors and a source close to the situation.
London, June 26: French Open champions Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic crashed out of the Wimbledon tennis championships in a sensational first-round loss to American James Blake and Mardy Fish 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 in the men’s doubles in London on Thursday.
However, India’s Sania Mirza and Chia-Jung Chuang of Chinese Taipei sailed into the women’s doubles second round with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over American Jill Craybas and Carly Gullickson.
Johor Baru, June 25: Indian ace Saina Nehwal bounced back from a game down to outpoint Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon and advanced into the quarter-finals of the Malaysian Grand Prix Gold, here today.
The second seed Saina was a game down before she got her acts together and roared back to subside Intanon’s challenge 18-21, 21-12, 21-18 in 46 minutes.
Saina will next face Chinese qualifier Xin Wang who beat sixth seed Ai Goto of Japan in her pre quarter-final match.
Bloemfontein, June 25: The United States ended Spain’s record winning streak with a 2-0 upset victory on Wednesday that gave it an unlikely but deserved place in the Confederations Cup final.
Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey exposed a sluggish Spanish defense and Tim Howard made several quality saves to stop Spain’s record run at 15 wins and put the Americans into their first FIFA men’s final at any level.
Altidore took a deflected pass from Dempsey in the 27th minute, turned Joan Capdevila and beat Iker Casillas with a shot that bounced off the goalkeeper’s hand and into the net.