England tie with India in World Cup thriller

BANGALORE: A masterly century by Sachin Tendulkar and an inspired bowling spell by Zaheer Khan led India to a nail-biting tie against England in their World Cup Group B match on Sunday.

After India slammed 338 runs, England were coasting before Zaheer produced a superb bowling spell to take three quick wickets to revive India’s fortunes.
The match went down to the last ball with England needing two to win but they managed to get one to tie the match — a result that was loudly cheered by all those lucky enough to witness it at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Earlier India’s total revolved largely around Sachin Tendulkar’s (120) 47th one-day international century and a record fifth in World Cups.
In reply, England’s run-chase was set well on its way helped by a cracking century by skipper Andrew Strauss (158), the first century by an English captain in a World Cup.

Mohammad Ashraful back from the brink

DHAKA: Mohammad Ashraful thought he had played his last innings in the World Cup before his part-time bowling gave him a new lease of life during Bangladesh’s Group B must-win game against Ireland.

Former skipper Ashraful, who was not selected for Bangladesh’s opening match against India, was out for one run playing a suicidal sweep shot in an important stage of the innings, which put his future in doubt.
As he trudged back to the pavilion, the 26-year-old feared that pens were already being sharpened to write his one-day international obituary.
His two wickets for 42 runs not only gave him the hope of reviving his one-day career but also helped Bangladesh win the game by 27 runs.
“It was a very painful moment for me when I got out,” Ashraful told Reuters in an interview on Monday as he reflected on the dramatic game three days earlier.
“I thought maybe I played my last innings in this World Cup. I was really very disappointed.
“But when I started warming up for fielding, our fielding coach and trainer cheered me up.
“Tamim (Iqbal) and Shakib (Al Hasan) also came to encourage me and they asked me to get ready for bowling.”
He continued: “I finally came on in the 12th over, bowled two overs in the power play, did well, which gave me confidence.
“Then I changed ends and got a wicket (caught and bowled Ed Joyce). It came as a big relief. When I got the second wicket, it took all the pressure off,” said Ashraful.
When Ashraful bowled all-rounder Andrew White for his second wicket he celebrated in a manner as if that alone had won Bangladesh the game.
“The celebration came from inside. I didn’t really plan for it,” said Ashraful.
Ashraful bowled nine overs in the match and the first seven of them were extremely tight. If he had not received some punishment in his last two overs, his bowling figures would have been even more impressive than they were.
In his 165-match ODI career, the longest by a Bangladeshi, Ashraful has bowled nine overs only once previously and that was back in 2002 against the West Indies.
Ashraful, who bowled leg spin at the start of his career before turning to off spin, has only 17 wickets to his credit in a career spanning nearly a decade.
Ashraful, however, planned to pay more attention to his bowling after the Ireland game, and he believes it can also help cement his place in the squad.
“I have been bowling for the last two years but I didn’t get that much a chance to do it in international cricket,” he said.
“Hopefully, I will bowl regularly now. Both coach and captain know that I am interested in bowling,” he said.

Pakistan to keep momentum going – Saurav Ganguly

Most people had termed Sri Lanka to be the favourite to win this match but as I always believe, it is the team in form on that particular day which took away the honours.
Pakistan needs to be congratulated for the win, but at the same time Sri Lanka will have to be careful in preparing wickets.
They have to prepare the twenty-yards in such a way that the team batting first after winning the toss doesn’t carry away most of the advantage. The wicket at Premadasa slowed down as the game went on and run-chase was extremely difficult.
I have liked the Pakistan team as much I have seen them till now.
Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq at four and five will have crucial role to play in the tournament and will be the anchor for the team’s batting. The Pakistan think-tank have set the batting line-up in such a manner that it portrays perfect balance with Afridi and Razzaq at seven and eight.
The Pakistan bowling also looks to be in good health with Afridi and Shoaib Akhtar leading the pack. Afridi seems to have developed hugely as a bowler and is leading with his heart.
They could have won the game with ease had they not let off Sangakkara and Chamara Silva early on.
It will be interesting to watch Pakistan in the next few games, waiting to find out as to how they keep the momentum going.
Sri Lanka, I have always believed, is a top heavy batting team. They rely heavily on Sanga and Mahela and if these two fail to shoulder the team Samaraweera, Kapugedera, Chamara Silva, Angelo Mathews seem to lack the wherewithal to carry the burden.
Sri Lanka is definitely missing Lasith Malinga in their scheme of things. His ability, experience with the new ball and at the death is being surely missed by his team.
The big matches are now on in this World Cup and it’s time for the cricket fans to sit up and take note. One needs to keep a close eye on how the big guns are shaping up for the final onslaught from the quarter-final stage.

Imran shocks Shehab 5-4 in 6-Red Snooker Championship

 Pakistan’s top ranked cueist Imran Shehzad won and lost a match in the last-32 round of inaugural Asian 6-Reds Snooker Championship in Chanthaburi Thailand.
Imran registered an exciting 5-4 win over Mustafa Shehab of United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the first match round of 32.
Imran, who suffered a shock defeat against newcomer Muhammad Shahid in the final of NJI 36th National Snooker Championship here, chalked out his best win in the Asian event, when he overpowered Macau Indoor Asian Games gold medalist Shehab in a fully extended nine-frame contest.
Lahore-based recovered from 1-2 and 3-4 down to carve out 0-53, 33-0, 0-43, 34-22, 18-48, 38-37, 19-44, 31-22, 45-0 victory.
However in the second match of last-32 round, Kamal Chawla of India beat Imran Shahzad 5-3.
Imran after losing the first two frames came back strongly and took the next three frames in row to gain 3-2 lead.
Kamal Chawla showed a great fight back won the three frames in a smart fashion to record 43-24, 46-0, 0-66, 10-31, 07-31, 44-08, 57-0, 37-21 win.

World Cup final venue fails fire inspectionWorld Cup final venue fails fire inspection

 Wankhede Stadium, venue for the Cricket World Cup final on April 2, has not met fire safety standards, the chief fire officer for Mumbai said on Friday.
“We will soon write a letter to the MCA (Mumbai Cricket Association) stating there is a need to comply with fire safety norms at the stadium. Once they abide by the terms we would again conduct an inspection,” chief fire officer Uday Tatkare was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.
“The team has found that the newly renovated stadium has many loopholes in its fire safety mechanism. The stadium must be in compliance with the fire safety conditions,” Tatkare said.
The stadium also failed an inspection by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in December but earlier this week was given the go-ahead for its three World Cup matches starting on March 13.
“Among the mandatory fire apparatus are … water hydrants, internal riser system for the stands, no-smoking indicators, fire alarms and extinguishers have to be installed,” a Mumbai fire officer told PTI on condition of anonymity.
“There are some lapses which they need to look into.”
The MCA, responsible for the stadium, was confident it could comfortably meet the fire brigade’s demands.
“The fire brigade officials had come for a visit few days back and they had suggested a few safety norms after their visit,” Association secretary Lalchand Rajput told Reuters on Friday.
“We are working on those and we will be ready. There is absolutely no worry. There has been no formal letter from the fire department yet.”
The ICC’s tournament director Ratnakar Shetty told Reuters:
“I am not aware of this. I am not in Mumbai.”
The World Cup starts in Dhaka on Saturday with a match between co-hosts Bangladesh and India.

Butt, Amir maintain innocence, will appeal

KARACHI: Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir returned to Pakistan on Sunday and pledged to clear their names of corruption charges that earned them bans of at least five years each from an International Cricket Council (ICC) tribunal.

Former test captain Butt and pace bowlers Amir and Mohammad Asif were foundguilty of corruption by the tribunal on Saturday in Doha.
Butt was banned for 10 years with five of them suspended if the 26-year-old does not re-offend and takes part in a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) anti-corruption campaign.
Asif, 28, was banned for seven years with two suspended under the same terms as Butt, while 18-year-old Amir was given a straight five-year ban.
Only Amir, whose lawyer said he would appeal, has a realistic chance of playing international cricket again.
Five-year bans were the minimum an independent three-man tribunal could impose under the ICC’s anti-corruption code once it had concluded that Butt, Asif and Amir were guilty of spot-fixing in the fourth test against England last August.
Butt and Amir encountered no hostile reception when they exited the airport and both maintained their innocence.
“I am innocent of the charges made against me and I stand by what I say. I will not rest until I get the ban overturned,”
Butt told reporters at the airport.
“I don’t think our arguments were heard properly and the ban is unjustified.”
Amir expressed similar concerns with the hearing.
“I am innocent and I was confident they would clear me. The ban came as a total shock,” he said.
“We are waiting for the ICC to release the detailed judgement of the tribunal after which we will decide what to do but we have made up our minds to appeal the ban in the first instance.”
Butt said he wanted to see the detailed judgement to find out on what grounds the tribunal had handed down such lengthy bans.
“We will appeal the ban once we get the judgement and study it. But we definitely want to clear our names from this ban,” he added.

Messi hat-trick puts Barca 10 points clear

MADRID: Lionel Messi’s brilliant hat-trick fired Barcelona to a 3-0 win over Atletico Madrid on Saturday that set a record for consecutive La Liga victories of 16 and stretched their lead over Real Madrid at the top to 10 points.
The Argentine World Player of the Year struck twice in 12 first-half minutes and again in the 79th to move two goals clear of Real forward Cristiano Ronaldo at the top of the La Liga scoring charts with 24 goals.
The victory lifted the champions to 61 points from 22 matches and beat the previous best for straight league wins set by Alfredo Di Stefano’s Real in the 1960-61 season.
Real, who suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at Osasuna last weekend, can trim the gap back to seven with a win over promoted Real Sociedad at the Bernabeu on Sunday (1800).
Villarreal earlier squandered a chance to close within three points of Real and lost their unbeaten home record when they slumped to a 1-0 defeat against promoted Levante.
The loss, their first in 12 home games this season, leaves them on 45 points, six behind Real and four ahead of fourth-placed Valencia, who host promoted Hercules in Sunday’s late kickoff (2000 GMT).
Athletic Bilbao boosted their chances of a place in Europe when goals from David Lopez, Gaizka Toquero and Fernando Llorente gave them a 3-0 home win over 10-man Sporting Gijon.
The victory lifted the Basque club to fifth place on 38 points, a point above Espanyol who were three goals down by the 18th minute at Almeria and eventually lost 3-2.
MESSI MAGIC
Atletico were looking for a morale-boosting result at the Nou Camp that would keep their hopes of European qualification alive but any prospects of derailing the Barca express were effectively snuffed out by two moments of Messi magic.
His first goal in the 17th minute was a trademark dash in from the right wing and he left several opponents trailing before arrowing a low shot past David De Gea.
Spain striker David Villa slipped the ball through for Messi to score his second in the 29th. Atletico captain Antonio Lopez got a foot to the ball but Messi burst clear and clipped a shot in off the right-hand post from close range.
The 23-year-old had a powerful header acrobatically saved by De Gea before he beat Diego Godin to a loose ball and prodded it over the line to complete a memorable treble.
“I am happy with the win against a tough team who are not going through the best time and that could have made things hard for us,” Messi told Spanish television.
“I am not thinking about being league top scorer at all,” he added. “The important thing is that we continue this winning run as we have Real Madrid just behind us and we know they will fight to the end.”
Atletico are seventh on 30 points, seven behind Espanyol and eight adrift of Bilbao.
In other games on Saturday, Getafe thumped visiting Deportivo Coruna 4-1 and Real Mallorca were held to a 1-1 draw at Osasuna as Japanese midfielder Akihiro Ienaga made his debut for the Balearic Islands club.
Real Zaragoza and visitors Racing Santander played out a 1-1 stalemate.