England dominate draw at Gabba

Shell-shocked Australia must find a way to regroup ahead of Friday's second Ashes Test in Adelaide after their bowlers were embarrassed in the drawn first Test.

The merciless England had declared after lunch on Monday at 1-517 from 152 overs at the Gabba, their highest second-innings total in a Test match in Australia.

Set 297 to win from 41 overs, Australia eased their way to 1-107 from 26 overs before both captains agreed to end the match 15 overs early on a flat batting wicket.

 

Ricky Ponting was unbeaten on 51 with Shane Watson on 41 after Simon Katich was out for four.
England opener Alastair Cook had finished unbeaten on 235, his highest Test score, and Jonathan Trott hit 135 not out.

The Cook-Trott stand of 329 is the best partnership for England for any wicket in Australia, beating the 323 by Jack Hobbs and Wilfred Rhodes at the MCG in 1911-12.

Australia left-armer Mitchell Johnson's Test spot will come under review after his figures of 0-170, with Doug Bollinger and Ryan Harris contenders to take the strike bowler's place.

It was Johnson's first wicket-less Test in the 39-match career of the 2009 ICC Cricketer of the Year.
In his past five Tests, Johnson has taken 11 wickets at the inflated average of 58.90.
As both teams head to Adelaide on Tuesday, Australia are under pressure to find a winning formula and achieve victory in the five-match series to regain the urn.

Cook becomes only the fourth England batsman to score a double hundred in a Test in Australia.
Vice-captain Cook hit 27 fours and batted for 10-and-a-half hours, proving a point after coming to Australia with a Test average under 30 in 10 previous Ashes contests.

readmore

Strauss and Cook reignite contest

England 260 and 1 for 309 (Cook 132*, Strauss 110, Trott 54*) lead Australia 481 by 88 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

If Australia needed any convincing about England's resilience they were given a day-long example as Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook hit magnificent centuries to give the visitors a golden chance to save the opening Test in Brisbane. The openers added 188 and when Strauss departed for 110, the challenge was taken up by Jonathan Trott, who helped Cook put on a further 121 for the second wicket. Cook ended unbeaten on 132 and England held a lead of 88 when bad light closed in. 

While few expected England to fold in a heap - they rarely do these days - even fewer would have expected a stumps score of 1 for 309. However, inspired by their captain the tourists set about showing they'd learnt the lessons from their poor first innings and gave Australia a day of toil in the field to match what England had suffered on Saturday. There is still time for the home side to force something on the final day, but nothing in their bowling in this innings has suggested they have the firepower to succeed.

Strauss's 19th Test hundred, and fourth against Australia, arrived from 184 balls when he late cut Xavier Doherty and his aggression against spin was a key part of the innings. He knew England couldn't block their way to safety, and often used his feet to advance and loft down the ground. Strauss's century celebration was unusually emotional; it hadn't been the easiest start to the series after his first-morning failure and this was another example of England's spirit. The stage was set for him to make it a massive hundred, following Hussey's lead, but he was beaten in flight by Marcus North and couldn't regain his ground, stumped by Brad Haddin.

  

readmore

Virat Kohli inspires India to victory over New Zealand

Virat Kohli struck his third limited overs century as India secured a 40-run victory over New Zealand in the first one-day international in Guhawati.

Kohli scored 105 in 104 balls, ably assisted by Yuvraj Singh (42), as India were dismissed for 276, with Andy McKay taking 4-62 for the tourists.
New Zealand's innings began slowly but Ross Taylor injected impetus with 66.
But his team-mates could not provide sufficient support as India took a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
India's victory margin would have been wider had Nathan McCullum (35) and Kyle Mills (32) not staged an ninth-wicket rally.
Mills joined McCullum at the wicket with the score at 169-8 as the pair mounted an entertaining 71-run ninth-wicket stand before both men were dismissed in successive deliveries in the 46th over as India wrapped up victory.
The hosts, led by stand-in skipper Gautam Gambhir, gave wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha, in for the rested Mahendra Singh Dhoni, his one-day debut, as they were put into bat by New Zealand, temporarily captained by Taylor.
Gambhir (38) and Murali Vijay (29) wasted good starts but Kohli, batting at three, took control of the middle orders to notch his second successive one-day century following on from his 118 against Australia at Visakhapatnam last month.
"It feels good. I had a kind of a lean patch in Sri Lanka recently, the team-mates and coach backed me. I would like to thank them," said the 22-year-old.
"I try to probably stop myself if I feel like playing a big shot and enjoy the singles."

readmore

Biggest Asian Games ever close with a bang in Guangzhou

The skies lit up with dazzling fireworks as an emotional China brought the curtains down on the biggest Asian Games in a riot of colour, foot-tapping music and a cultural extravaganza at the Haixinsha Island on the Pearl River here on Saturday.

If the opening ceremony held at the same riverside venue on November 12th was high on technical wizardry, the closing was a heart-touching display of warmth by the people of this South China city whose infrastructure has improved tremendously as a result of hosting the Games which saw India record their best-ever medal haul till date.

India finished sixth on the medal rostrum with a record 14 gold, 17 silver and 33 bronze for an overall tally of 64, eclipsing their earlier record of 57 medals in the 1982 Asian Games in Delhi.

The closing ceremony was also used by the Games hosts to present cultural segments representing the different regions of the continent, including South Asia in which Indian singers Ravi Tripathi and Tanya Gupta enthralled the capacity crowd.

Hosts China were unstoppable in their relentless march to titles and at the end of the Games had an incredible harvest of 199 gold in an overall haul of over 400 medals, proving once again that they are in the top-most echelons of world sports.


Korea finished way behind in second place while Japan were third that underlined the fact that the Asian Games, the second largest sports event after the Olympic Games, are still being overwhelmingly dominated by the far eastern nations of the continent.

The prelude to the official part of the ceremony was punctuated by dance of Qiling (a legendary animal symbolizing good luck) to celebrate the success of the Games that was followed by an exhibition of acrobatics and dance.

Performers staged "Dragon drunk on the Pearl River", "Painting of Toy figuring in Emotion" and "Wind of the Yao

Ethnic Group" dances while flashbacks of the Asian Games actions were shown on sail-shaped screens before the Chinese President Hu Jintao and Olympic Council of Asia Chief Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah entered the arena to the strains of the Chinese Military Band.

With nine plumes of red smoke rising up from the Guangzhou Tower, an athlete jumped out of the screen while the eight sail-shaped screens showed some memorable moments of the Games competitions.


readmore

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/new/Ndtv-Show-Special-Story-Sports.aspx?ID=581&StoryID=SPOEN20100161433&pfrom=Sports&cp

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/new/Ndtv-Show-Special-Story-Sports.aspx?ID=581&StoryID=SPOEN20100161433&pfrom=Sports&cp

India record its best-ever medal haul in Asian Games

Guangzhou:  India created history by recording their best-ever performance in Asian Games with 64 medals, including a record 14 gold, with star boxer Vijender Singh providing the icing on the cake by bringing the last yellow metal on the penultimate day on Friday.

The men's and women's kabaddi teams expectedly maintained their supremacy by clinching the gold before the women's 4x400m quartet and Vijender (75kg) bagged a yellow metal each on the most productive day for India in the mega-event.

With the addition of 11 more medals today, India's tally climbed to a record 14 gold, 17 silver and 33 bronze (total 64), the biggest ever haul in the Asian Games so far, to jump to the sixth place.

India's best medal haul till date was recorded in the 1982 Games in Delhi when they had won 13 gold, 19 silver and 25 bronze for an overall tally of 57. India had finished 10 in the last edition of the Games in Doha with a tally of 10-17-26.

India have now completed their engagements in the Games and their final standing will depend after the completion of the six events -- men's and women's marathon, men's and women's doubles sepaktakraw finals and women's volleyball final -- tomorrow.

China leads the medal table with 197 gold, 117 silver and 98 bronze (total 412), followed by South Korea (74-63-91) and Japan (47-73-94) at second and third respectively.

While the kabaddi teams did not sweat much to keep their reputation intact in rather lopsided finals, Vijender made amends for his bronze-finish in Commonwealth Games with a gold here while compatriots Santosh Kumar (64) and Manpreet Singh (91kg) settled for a silver each.

The women's 4x400m relay team also lived up to the expectations as they defended the gold they won in the 2006 Doha Asian Games.

readmore

Asian Games: India beat Thailand to win women's kabaddi gold

NEW DELHI: The Indian women fashioned a comprehensive 28-14 victory over Thailand in the finals to win the 11th gold for India on the 14th day of the ongoing Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.

The Indian women dominated the match from the very beginning, leading by 17-7 at half-time.

The second half had also the same result with the Indian women pinning the Thailand players on the ground. 

 

In the semifinals, Indian women overcame Iran by a close margin of 23-22. The match got into an interesting mode when it was tied 22-22 in the closing time there by drifting it to extra-time.

Indian men team, on the other hand, had convincingly won over Japan on Thursday in the semi-finals to enter finals. India did not let Japan score much in the game with the final score as 52-17.

If the men team wins gold against Iran in the finals scheduled later in the day, it will be their sixth one, a record in its own.

readmore

The Ashes 2010: Peter Siddle hat-trick rips out England's middle order

Peter Siddle claimed the ninth hat-trick in Ashes history as England were dismissed for 260 at The Gabba today.

Siddle, who was playing his first Test since January after recovering from a stress fracture in his back, changed the complexion of the opening day of the first Test as he ripped out Alastair Cook, Matt Prior and Stuart Broad in successive balls shortly before the drinks break in the final session.

Six wickets for 54 runs, his best return in Test cricket, was quite a statement by a bustling fast bowler who was a controversial selection for The Gabba. He was chosen ahead of Doug Bollinger, who is in the top 10 in the Test rankings, but whose ambitions to play in his first Ashes Test went unanswered because of lack of match fitness.

Australia's selectors, under fire for the past year, will briefly have an air of wisdom about them after Siddle took the first Ashes hat-trick since Darren Gough achieved the feat for England in Sydney 11 years ago. No Australian had managed it since Shane Warne in 1994.

And Siddle, who was celebrating his 26th birthday, was delighted at Australia's strong start. "It's obviously good to wake up to your birthday in the morning and obviously to have that happen has been amazing, and hopefully the start of a good Ashes for us," he said. "The plan was pretty similar all day, to pitch it up, make them play, be patient and consistent with those lines.

"I got Cook and Prior with two balls like that and I think the third was a bit of adrenaline from the crowd, I bowled it fast. It didn't really come off as the ball I wanted but I got him so there's nothing more I could ask for."

Siddle was a touch concerned his hat-trick could have been spoiled when Broad referred his hat-trick wicket upstairs. "A little bit," he admitted. "I knew it was most likely in line so I was happy with it."
Siddle will never host his own chat show like Warne, or win Celebrity Come Dancing like Gough, but at least they will now be singing the praises far beyond his native Victoria of the man that the Australian tabloids like to call "Sid Vicious."

readmore