 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Sat, August 30, 2008 5:17 pm By James Coolridge  Printer friendly version
 Email to a friend
 JOHANNESBURG – The South African cricket coach Mickey Arthur on Friday said a proposed limited-overs series with Pakistan will not take place offered a welcome break for his exhausted players.
“A lot of the senior players have played a helluva lot of cricket this year, and break is the need of the hour,” Arthur told a news conference.
“I’m sure the tri-series is not going to take place and, in retrospect, it’s a relief that the Champions Trophy was called off because we would have been back on a plane flying out on Sunday,” added Arthur here at the press conference.
Arthur and his squad had just returned from England after their two-month tour, where they claimed their first test series win in 43 years but lost the limited-overs series 4-0.
The coach said his players would be in no shape to take part in another limited-overs series.
“I can’t think of one player who was involved in both the test and one-day series in England who has not picked up a niggle.
Captain Graeme Smith’s is suffering with an elbow injury, Mark Boucher has a fractured finger, Morne Morkel a side strain and Dale Steyn is yet to recover from a niggling shoulder injury, Arthur said. All this make a break essential for the boys.
The Pakistan board have been in negotiations with Cricket South Africa to stage a one-day series in South Africa. Sri Lanka proposed was planned to be the other team. This month’s Champions Trophy in Pakistan got postponed due to security concerns.
Although England, under new captain Kevin Pietersen, ripped South Africa apart in the one-day series, Arthur was delighted with his side’s overall performance.
“I’m still immensely proud of the team,” he added. “It was a huge positive to win the test series that was really the be-all and end-all of our tour.
“We knew the one-dayers would be tough and I don’t think a really good England has got the credit they deserve.”
He said he noticed a change in the mood of the team ahead of the final test at the Oval, with South Africa already 2-0 up and assured of the series win.
Tags : Cricket, Champions Trophy, England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Graeme Smith, one dayers
Fri, August 29, 2008 11:46 am By James Coolridge
 Melbourne, Sep 7: Two weeks before Australia depart for what they call as the toughest challenge in world cricket, the tour to India; Michael Hussey said the team is yet to getting settled after injuries to key players and the controversy brooding over Andrew Symonds.
Hussey is hoping that senior players like Captain Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden, will regain form after recovery from injuries. He feels that they would be fit in time for the challenge. He also added that they have also not given up hope on Andrew Symonds joining the Kangaroo squad.
Australia’s preparation for the tour has not been ideal with important members of the team nursing injuries. Skipper Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden missed the ODI series against Bangladesh as they recover from wrist and Achilles problem. Lee took a break to deal with his marriage break-up while Symonds’ banishment has raised serious doubts over his availability for the Indian tour.
‘We are pretty much up in the air at the moment,’ Hussey said in Cricinfo Saturday.
‘We’re certainly not settled on anything. We hope that the experienced players will be back in the team, such as Ponting, Hayden, Symonds, Lee. They know their games very well,’
‘They have got a lot of experience, they’ve played well in India before and so I don’t think it’ll take them too long.’
Hussey was able to be a part of the Australia’s historic Test triumph in India in 2004-05. He plans to look forward for his first experience in India.
‘I’ve never played a Test in India but I think the Australian team that won in ‘04, they said that was probably the Everest and I don’t think that’s changing. India stands among one in the best three in the world and I think it’s going to be a wonderful series. Probably it is the hardest place to win in international cricket.’
Hussey also said that Symonds’ return is a big matter for the team.
‘I just hope from Andrew’s point of view he can get his head right. He’s a very important member of our side. He will be helpful in Indian soil and I am hoping he’s going to be part of that trip.’
Tags : Cricket, India, Australia, Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey, Andrew Symonds, Matthew Hayden, Bangladesh
Thu, August 28, 2008 11:41 am By James Coolridge
 BUCHAREST – The Romanian soccer coach Victor Piturca’s is under axe fr after the defeat against Lithuania in their World Cup qualifier. His job could be in danger after a “shameful” home defeat yesterday. He has been warned by officials and the media on Sunday.
“It was a shameful result but it’s not the time to discuss Piturca’s dismissal now,” Romanian Football Federation (FRF) president Mircea Sandu said the reporters here. “We’ll review the case after the match (against Faroe Islands) in Torshavn, for sure.”
Romania, who play the Faroes on Wednesday, had been expected to easily beat unheralded Lithuania in their World Cup Group Seven match on Saturday.
“Piturca’s main aim was to get at least seven points from the first three matches (in the 2010 World Cup campaign) but he has already failed to achieve that,” Sandu said.
Piturca was severely criticised by the local media after the team’s first defeat at home since 2005.
“The failure put Piturca’s job in great danger,” feels influential daily Evenimentul Zilei said. “He said he would quit in 2010 but his departure could happen much earlier.”
A crowd of 20,000 frustrated spectators at the game in the western city of Cluj whistled at the players and shouted slogans against Piturca, calling the sacking of him.
“Very few ideas in attack, huge errors in defence, a poor playing manner recalling the Euro 2008 finals’ disagreeable 2-0 defeat against the Netherlands,” Pro Sport daily wrote on its front page.
Romania’s last defeat at home was three years ago to the Netherlands won 2-0 in Constanta at Piturca’s first match in his second spell in charge of the team.
Piturca rejected Sunday’s criticism, saying Romanian soccer was not as strong as fans and the media believed.
Romania will host group favourites France in Constanta on Oct. 11.
Tags : World Cup, Soccer, Romania, Lithuania, Victor Pitruca, Cluj, Summary: The Romanian media along with football officia
Wed, August 27, 2008 11:37 am By James Coolridge
 Colombo, Sep 7: Sri Lanka has decided to act tough with national players who are refusing to go ahead with the England tour. The Sri Lankan Cricket Committee have decided to go ahead with strict actions if any player fails to obey the diktats of the board. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Interim Committee Chairman Arjuna Ranatunga stressed that he would not budge from his stand in honouring Sri Lanka’s tour obligation with England next year.
“As far as SLC is concerned we will not change our decision to send the Sri Lanka team to play in England. We have signed an MoU with England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and we have to honour that,” the State-run Sunday Observer quoted Ranatunga, well-known as “Captain Cool” as saying.
The former World Cup winning Sri Lankan captain Ranatunga, who was well-known for backing players on and off the field during his playing days, has clarified his stand saying that his duty was to look after Sri Lanka cricket even if the players went ahead and retired from the national team to partake in the IPL tournament.
Claiming that SLC had “never signed” a contract with the IPL contracted Lankan players permitting them to play in the IPL whenever they wanted to, Ranatunga has said that the players were given “the green light to pad only in the inaugural IPL tournament”.
“They need to sign a two-year contract with the ICC and SLC even if they are to retire and go to the IPL,” Ranatunga clarified the stand.
Sri Lanka is supposed to play two Tests and three one-dayers in May next year in England and the time table is clashing with the 2009 IPL tournament, which was ironically approved by SLC for the national players to play.
The players argue that the IPL contracts had been signed long before the idea of a tour to England was mooted. They want to go ahead with their initial commitments.
Skipper Mahela Jayawardane, Muttiah Muralitharan, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Pervez Mahroof, Thilakaratne Dishan, Dilhara Fernando and Ajantha Mendis are some of the key players who have signed three-year contracts with the IPL.
As per some unconfirmed reports, some players are even considering of retiring from the national team in order to honour the IPL contracts which they have already signed.
Tags : World Cup, IPL, Arjuna Ranatunga, SLC, Sanath Jayasuriya, Srilanka, ECB, Wales, Skipper Mahela Jayawardane, Muttiah Muralitharan, Kumar Sangakkara, Pervez Mahroof, Thilakaratne Dishan, Dilhara Fernando,
Tue, August 26, 2008 11:35 am By James Coolridge
 LONDON- French pride took a fresh hammering on Saturday when the national team were smashed 3-1 in Austria as Europe’s big guns began their 2010 World Cup qualifying campaigns.
The day also witnessed Italy snatching a 2-1 stoppage-time win in Cyprus, European champions Spain edged Bosnia 1-0, Germany crushed Liechtenstein 6-0 and England were booed before beating Andorra 2-0.
France coach Raymond Domenech found it a hard time to justify the debacle Domenech, who is bound to come under renewed fire from the French media, had promised that France would come victorious in Vienna after the fiasco at Euro 2008.
However, goals from Marc Janko, Rene Aufhauser and Andreas Ivanschitz left them reeling in Group Seven as Austria marked the first competitive game of new coach Karel Brueckner with a magnificent victory.
“It’s never nice to lose,” Domenech told later to reporters. “I have my feelings about what happened but I need to watch the game on video to confirm my impressions.”
World champions Italy made a grand start as Marcello Lippi began a second term in charge of the Azzurri, having steered them to 2006 World Cup glory over France.
Two goals from Antonio Di Natale, the second a stoppage-time winner,helped them to grab a 2-1 victory over Cyprus in their Group Eight opener in Larnaca.
Former Real Madrid coach Vicente Del Bosque began his reign as coach of Spain with a home victory in Group Five against Bosnia, courtesy of David Villa’s second half strike.
Del Bosque took over from Luis Aragones after Spain’s Euro 2008 final victory over Germany.
The Germans were found more convincing on Saturday in their Group Four demolition of Liechtenstein, that helped by two goals from Lukas Podolski either side of halftime. England, with Italian coach Fabio Capello kicking off his first international qualifying campaign, garnered a victory against Andorra in Barcelona in Group Six, although the travelling England fans booed the team at halftime.
Tags :
Mon, August 25, 2008 10:49 am By James Coolridge
 New York, Sep 7: The former world number one Swiss tennis star Roger Federer, who is looking forward for his first Grand Slam title of the year, overcame Serbian Novak Djokovic in four sets, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2, to enter the US Open final for the fifth consecutive year.
Federer is now a victory away from his fifth US Open and 13th Grand Slam title and extended his run of victories at Flushing Meadows to 33 as he made to his 13th final in the last 14 majors.
Federer, who has never been beaten in a semi-final or final here, is standing behind American Pete Sampras who enjoys a massive record of 14 Grand Slam titles.
Federer had earlier lost to Djokovic in the Australian Open semis in January, upped the tempo in the last two sets after taking the first set with flawless display of stroke-making and then dropping the second.
An early break had helped Federer to get the first set, but Djokovic regained the game taking a notch higher to take the second set.
The Swiss made a re-entry in business in the third and one break, in the 11th game, was enough for him to go two sets to one up. In the fourth set Federer served four aces in the sixth game and another one in the eight to completely bamboozle Djokovic. Altogether he served 20 aces in the match which could be well called as a facsimile t of last year’s final and in which he clearly looked the better player.
Federer has not lost a game here since his loss to Argentine David Nalbandian in the fourth round in 2003.
Federer was seen jubiliant when he said he was excited to be playing in another final and hoped to win it. For him, the No. 2 seed said, winning the Open here meant a lot.
In the finals, Federer would face the winner of the other semi-final between world number one Spaniard Rafael Nadal and No six Andy Murray of Scotland.
Tags : Roger federer, Tennis, Switzerland, US Open, Novak Djokovic, grand slam, Pete Sampras
Sun, August 24, 2008 10:47 am By James Coolridge
 BUENOS AIRES - Argentina’s indifferent World Cup qualifying campaign continued on Saturday when they were held 1-1 at home by Paraguay and had striker Carlos Tevez sent off early again. The point has helped Paraguay to stay top of the 10-team South American group on 14 from seven games with Argentina two points behind in second place. This is Argentina’s third draw in a row.
The last remaining winless and unbeaten records ended when Peru defeated Venezuela 1-0 to move off the bottom and Colombia lost 1-0 at home to Uruguay, who climbed to third.Brazil, away to Chile on Sunday, temporarily camr down to sixth and out of the qualifying places.The top four teams qualify for South Africa in 2010 and the fifth plays off against a side from the CONCACAF region. Tevez, sent off in the first half of the 2-1 defeat in Colombia in November for a petulant kick at an opponent, faces a ticking off from coach Alfio Basile after leaving his team in the lurch again.The Manchester United forward, wearing boots for his second international since then, was dismissed after two bad tackles in the first 31 minutes.”I have to speak to him in private about these dismissals,” said Basile.”Everything was difficult. We played nearly the whole game with 10 men, our goalkeeper was injured and we conceded an own goal. So you can’t really analyse this match in the normal way.”
HEINZE BLUNDER
Tevez’s red card came with Argentina trailing to a Gabriel Heinze own goal, the defender having headed past goalkeeper Roberto Abbondanzieri as both tried to deal with a long ball into the area in the 13th minute.
Despite the setbacks, Argentina caught the rivals on a draw in the 61st minute when substitute Sergio Aguero provided the finishing touch after Lionel Messi burst through the Paraguay midfield. A 14th-minute header from Sebastian Eguren gave Uruguay their win in Bogota.
“I think we controlled the match. Colombia was repetitive and you couldn’t see them finding a way through,” said Uruguay coach Oscar Washington Tabarez after the match.
Peru was belittled 6-0 by Uruguay in June and this has brought just a few spectators into the stadium. Only a few thousand spectators bothered to watch them on Saturday.Bolivia had Alejandro Gomez sent off after only 18 minutes and coach Erwin Sanchez ordered from the touchline in the second half in a 3-1 defeat in Ecuador.
Tags : Soccer, Brazil, goal, Argentina, Peru, Venezuela, South America, Colombia, red card, Chile
Sat, August 23, 2008 10:44 am By James Coolridge
 Karachi, Sep 6: Pakistan’s embattled coach Geoff Lawson has made it clear that there exist no job insecurity following the quitting of Pakistan Cricket Chairman Nasim Ashraf, who was the biggest supporter of the former Aussie Test pacer.
Lawson said here on Saturday he overlooked several lucrative positions in Australia to become Pakistan coach and can go back to some other important job back home any time he likes.
‘I have no insecurity,’ said the former Aussie fast bowler in Karachi. He took over as Pakistan coach last summer following the death of Englishman Bob Woolmer during the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.
There have been reports that Lawson is expected to face the axe along with several other people occupying key positions in the cricket establishment once a new PCB chairman is appointed later this month.
Traditionally it is seen that a new PCB chief brings in new set of officials after asking the previous officials to quit or face the axe.
Lawson does not enjoy much experience as an international coach and was handpicked by the former PCB chief ahead of his vastly accomplished compatriot Dav Whatmore.
During his 14-month stint so far, Lawson’s biggest achievement is reaching the final of the inaugural World Twenty20 Championship in South Africa last September. Under him, Pakistan have played two Test series - against South Africa at home and against India in India, but lost both.
Critics have always raised voices against Lawson calling him a weak coach and the Aussie’s fractious relations with the national selectors and the Pakistani media has not helped his cause much. But Lawson is not a worried man.
“I had several lucrative options in Australia but accepted to be Pakistan’s coach because it was a big challenge for me. And I will continue to focus on my task which is to make Pakistan the world’s best team.”
Lawson said that if the new PCB feels he is not fit for the post, he will happily go back to Australia and take up some other assignment. Lawson lamented the fact that foreign cricketers believe that Pakistan is an unsafe destination for them.
“I live in Lahore and move around in the city like a normal person, going shopping and to restaurants. I don’t feel unsafe,” said Lawson. Lawson travelled to Australia and New Zealand last month to convince the players there that they would be completely safe in Pakistan during the Champions Trophy.
But the players were not convinced and later the ICC was forced to postpone the ICC Champions Trophy. Thanks to the security fears.
‘It was unfortunate. The players were convinced that Pakistan was unsafe because they see this country through the eyes of the Western media and believe it’s a dangerous place,’ says Larson.
Tags : World Cup, PCB, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, tests, Australia, Geoff LAwson, Nasim Ashraf, pace bowler, West Indies, Dav Whatmore
Fri, August 22, 2008 10:41 am By James Coolridge
 Colombo, Sep 6: Sri Lanka cricket’s crisis over the timing of the England tour is clashing with the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) next year. This has deepened Saturday with the interim administration and several key players in the team refusing to budge an inch from their positions.
Despite reports that Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) wanted to go ahead with the England tour with the best players, several key players in the team have stood their grounds on their commitments to play the IPL tournament. This has led to the intervention from sports minister Gamini Lokuge.
According to a top SLC official, the initiatives by the minister to hold “compromise talks” with the administrators and the players “are yet to provide a breakthrough”.
“Efforts are being made to this crisis over the past two months. The players have completed two series after the crisis (Asia Cup tournament and the tour by India). But a solution is yet to be brought out,” the SLC official cleared on Friday.
The sports minister has appointed SLC CEO Duleep Mendis to solve out the crisis. .
When contacted, Mendis expressed his confidence and said he was hoping to meet the players next week to find a compromise. He also stressed that there was no way that Sri Lanka could send a second-level team for the proposed England tour.
“We have to send the best team for the England tour. I will have to come out with suggestions on how best we could solve this problem,” said Mendis.
Sri Lanka is due to play two Tests and three one-dayers in England next May. The time table is clashing with the 2009 IPL tournament.
The players argue that the IPL contracts had been signed long before the idea of a tour to England was mooted and want to go ahead with their initial commitments.
Skipper Mahela Jayawardane, Muttiah Muralitharan, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Pervez Mahroof, Thilakaratne Dishan and Dilhara Fernando are some among the key players who have signed three-year contracts with the IPL. The 38-year-old left-handed Sanath Jayasuriya is the third highest paid player of the IPL.
Sri Lanka’s new 23-year old spin sensation, Ajantha Mendis, also has signed up with the Kolkata Knight Riders for a period of three years.
Tags : Cricket, IPL, England, Sri Lanka, Duleep Mendis, SLC, Sanath Jayasuriya
| | | | |
Posts RSS
Comments 
RSS
