Daily Sports News

The first half of the day belonged to Pakistani Akmal Brothers but it was Sri Lanka who came out victorious in the end, giving them a first home ODI serious victory against Pakistan. Even though Pakistan posted a challenging score of 289 but the openers Jayawardene and Upul Tharanga made it look like child’s play. The opening stand of 202 for the first wicket made sure that Sri Lanka easily defeated the visitors to take the series 3-0. Jayawardene had not scored a single 50 against Pakistan in last ten innings but today performance of 123 of only 108 balls made sure that he removed all the doubts that critics had on his batting ability. Upul Tharanga played an important role in the Lankan innings by providing support to an aggressive Jayawardene after reaching his 50.

Contributions to the Pakistani score of 289 came from Akmal Brothers, Kamran scoring 45 and Umar scoring 66. Younis Khan contributed with 44 and Afridi with a quickfire 32 or 18 balls. For Lanka, Mathews bowled superb taking two wickets with a low economy rate of 4.10 runs per over, Murli even though took two wickets but was a bit expensive giving 6.4 runs per over.

During the Lankan Batting Pakistan managed to take four wickets but it was two late in the match as the openers have provided the rite platform for an easy victory.

It has been amazing for Sangakkara since he took captaincy and now has won both his opening series in the test and ODI format of the game. He scored the winning runs to sail Sri Lanka to a serious victory. Jayawardene was declared the Man of the Match for his impressive batting performance.

Alberto Contador became the second Spaniard to win the tour more then once; his last victory came in 2007 and could not take part in the 2008 as his team Astana was banned from the tour due to a drug scandal. After the 20th stage it was quite clear that Contadore would take victory in Paris, as the last day is considered as a day of enjoying the stage, moving in to Paris and enjoy the grandeur of Champs-Elysées.

The stage also saw another display of the sprinting ability of the fastest sprinter in the world, Mark Cavendish. This was his 6th stage in the tour this year making a total of 10 stages including 4 from previous year. Cavendish gave another stage win to his Team Columbia-HTC.

The 21st and final stage of the tour was 164 kilometers from Montereau-Fault-Yonne to Paris Champs-Élysées. The last stage had no climbs but two intermediate sprints, first at Haut des Champs-Elysées at 120 kilometer mark and the second on the fourth lap at Champs-Elysées at 133 kilometer mark.

Team Colombia-HTC took control of the pace making from the time the peloton entered the Champs-Elysées. All the nine riders of the team were committed to get their man, Cavendish a stage win. Colombia train worked in an excellent manner and the effort was lead by Renshaw and Gorge Hincapie, Renshaw took the second spot behind his teammate. Garmin – Slipstream rider Tyler Farrar took the third spot.

This year’s tour saw excellent results for the young Luxemburg rider Andy Schleck who came on the second place in the tour and also won the white jersey in the young rider classification. Another impressive result came from Lance Armstrong who came back to the tour after years of game, he finished third. The King of the Mountains crown went to Franco Pellizotti of team Liquigas. Thor Hushovd of Cervelo Test Team took the green jersey.

Finally the 75 year wait is over; an Ashes test victory at Lords for England over rivals Australia at Lords. England are now 1-0 ahead in the Ashes as the first test at Cardiff resulted in a draw.

England gave the visitors a mammoth target of 552 to win, but Australia was bowled out by England for 406 in the post lunch session on the fifth day. The day belonged to Andrew Flintoff who just before the start of the match announced his retirement from test cricket after the ongoing Ashes series. He took five wickets in 27 over’s giving away just 115 runs with three on the fifth day. This is Flintoff’s third five wicket haul in test career of 77 matches. He was also awarded the Man of the match for his excellent effort.

Michael Clarke’s effort in the form of 136 runs to rescue Australia went in vain as the Aussie batting tumbled against England. There was good support from Off-spinner Graeme Swann who took four wickets for 87 runs.

A generous Ricky Ponting accepted defeat with grace and in a post match interview said that the Aussie team was outplayed by England from the very first delivery of the match. He also added that he looks forward to the next test at Edgbaston and his team would come back strongly in the third test. The biggest concern for the Punter is now his bowling attack, especially Mitchell Johnson.

SCORECARD

The Ashes 2009 – 2nd Test, Australia vs England,Played at Lord’s, 16-20 July 2009

Result – England beat Australia by 115 runs

Benzema to replace Ronnie?

The enigmatic French striker is said to be the replacement of C.Ronaldo as his record transfer move is nearing completion, if reports are to be believed. Man U are poised to invest some of the €95m from the sale of C.Ronaldo on the Lyon striker.

In the past few years, Benzema has been linked with all European superpowers. Though he might have expressed his desire to stay at Lyon, an offer from the Red Devils is too hot to ignore, as they launch a €35m for the 21 year old.

President of OL, Jean-Michel Aulas, had appeared to have allayed any transfer speculation when he stated to Le Progres yesterday,

“We spoke a lot and it’s true that there are many clubs after [Benzema], but only after the [2010] World Cup. We interrogated his agent and we are not under the impression that he will leave in the short term.”

This somewhat contradicted a statement made to Le Dauphine Libere last week, when Aulas said,

“Kaka will not stay at Milan and will go to Real . Ribery and Cristiano Ronaldo will perhaps leave. We are entering a spiral of craziness and I would not say that Karim is untransferrable.”

Benzema, too is willing to leave the club and has said

“If president Aulas received an offer and pushed me to go, I would be obliged.”

This comment was made after France’s recent 1-0 victory over Turkey. But all of this depends on Tevez’s future at Old Trafford. Inter, Juventus and Milan from Serie A, Real Madrid and Barcelona have also expressed interest in the striker in the past.

Maicon to Madrid?

Maicon and his agent have both told the press this week that they are unhappy about the Brazilian being under-appreciated by Inter. Real Madrid is known admirers of the star, who is arguably the best right-back in the world, and there has been much talk of a €40 million bid for the player….

But with Sergio Ramos as a right-back will Real want another player?

Pirlo coming to the Bridge?

Andre Pirlo is one of the most under-rated players in the world. As per reports it seems he is wanted by his old manager Carlos Ancelotti and there are murmurs that Leonardo, the new Milan manager is not satisfied with his performance. Moreover, the player himself hinted on a move this summer.

Milan Vice President Adriano Galliani has declared that Pirlo will stay at Milan 99.9 per cent, but he also said that about Kaka and Andriy Shevchenko.

India thrashed Ireland by 8 wickets to complete the group stages on a winning note. Ireland, despite improving their game in the past years, fell well short of matching up the Indians as they were 112-8 in a match reduced to 18 overs thanks to rain.

As usual, Dhoni won the toss and elected to field as he believed that due to the rain, the Duckworth-Lewis theory may come into play. And from then on, it was India all the way. J.P. Bray, Irish opener, has been having a terrible series and this match proved to be no better as he was bowled out by Zaheer for a duck after facing 7 balls. When Zaheer began his second over, Porterfield, was dismissed after a wonderful catch by Yusuf Pathan in the slips. Zaks was declared man of the match for his four wicket haul.

Then, if the Indian seamers proved to be bad for the Irish, it got worse as the spinners stepped up. Ojha, who is having a wonderful series, once again showed why his captain trusts him by taking KJ. O’Brien off an inside edge, on the first ball of his spell. It is amazing to see an orthodox spinner like Ojha, who lacks the carom ball, seldom bowls the doosra and other special deliveries, take wickets thanks to his flight and simple pace variation. But the Irish did strike back at the spinners, this time with sweeps as a few balls ran to the boundary. Moreover the Irish exploited the short boundary at Trent Bridge at Nottingham. And then R.West got himself run out thanks to his diabolical running because when he was run out, his leg and bat, despite being well inside the crease, were well, above it (didn’t touch the ground), and hence he was declared run out.

But as it has been happening in the previous matches, the Indians seem to relax a bit at the death, thereby helping the Irish to cross the 100 run mark, at a time when tight bowling could have restricted the Irish to a score well below 100. So this a major concern for the coach Gary Kristen as the Indians are yet to face serious opponents who would challenge their bowlers more than the Irish. But when it was India’s turn to bat, it was all smooth sailing for the openers Rohit Sharma and Gambhir who are in the top of their form. They played a sensible innings spiced with boundries. They steered India to the finish line, though Gambhir fell for 37 to West, the tone was set for a victory. As the captain too fell for 14, Rohit Sharma stayed till the end with a well earned half century.

So all is set for India to scorch the super eight. However the Indians have to improve their bowling in the death if they are to retain the coveted ICC T20 crown …

It is a feeling of deja vu with memories of 92 World Cup coming back to haunt to Australia as they are out of a major ICC event, in the very first round mind you, for the first time in 15 years barring their loss to INDIA in the inaugural Champions Trophy which was a knockout tournament by the way. But now coming back to yesterday’s match which went to the last over, a farcry from their thrashing at the hands of the Windies just last weekend, thanks mainly to Australia’s wagging tail & incredible slogging by Mitchell Johnson & later by Brett Lee giving them a respectable total of 159 for 9.

The day started off brilliantly for Sri Lanka as Angelo Mathews struck in his very first over getting rid of the dangerous David Warner. Australia’s top scorer of last match not was able to replicate his earlier success in the tournament & instead getting out on a duck with Tillakaratne Dilshan taking a simple catch at point. An over which was a precursor of things to come & the radical changes that Sri Lanka put in against Australia which the latter was simply not prepared for. Kumara Sangakkara in his very first match as captain was to excel with his batting being the cornerstone of Sri Lanka’s innings during their successful pursuit of 160 at the end of the day. Sri Lanka knowing the importance of slow bowlers, having witnessed their stranglehold over batsman in the earlier matches, left the likes of Nuwan Kulasekara & Farveez Maharoof in the process as was evident with Sanath Jayasuriya coming on to bowl the second over of the match.

Lasith Malinga, their premier fast bowler, came on to bowl only as a second change after which Ajantha Mendis was introduced in the powerplay. After getting a single run of the very first over Ponting & Watson took the attack to the opposition smashing debutant Udana & Malinga for 15 runs in each of the fourth & the fifth over respectively. Enter Mendis, who got rid of Ponting as he tried to smash him losing his leg stump in the process. This started a period of 10 overs in which Australia lost 5 top order wickets adding just 47 runs. Mendis picked up Watson in his next over as he tried to sweep him but fell leg before wicket on 22. Mendis took care of the top order with Mike Hussey was trapped lbw before Johnson took over his possible role as an allrounder remaining unbeaten in the end.

Some might say that Sangakkara was the man of the match but Mendis was the X-factor in the match which went Sri Lanka’s way.

It was a top race with frills & thrills, drama & all the makings of a soap opera but in the end one man came on top & that was the one & only Jenson Button. After all not often you see a driver being stalled at the starting grid & colliding midway besides spinning of the track, Barrichello being the unlucky man this time. Vettel from Red Bull camp might also be grieved as he took pole in qualifying only to be surpassed by the eventual winner in the form of Jenson Button who overtook him on the first lap itself as Vettel went just wide on exiting turn 9. It was a day of mixed fortunes for Brawn GP as their ace driver this season Jenson Button won in the end & Brazilian Barrichello had to retire midway. Now it seems that the sixth win from seven races of the season for Button should be enough for him to win the driver’s championship with a 26 points lead at the moment. It would equal a record along with Jim Clark and Michael Schumacher, some of the all time greats of the sport.

The Istanbul Park remember is one of the 3 anti clock wise racing circuits in F1 GP. Besides the slew of measures taken at the beginning of the season seems to have paid off as weaker teams like Red Bull, Brawn GP & even Force India aren’t a walkover anymore. These changes were introduced to nullify the superior cars like that of Ferrari & bring driver’s skills at the fore. The official Formula 1 website states

“The regulation changes for 2009 are some of the most extensive ever introduced to Formula One racing and fall into three main areas – aerodynamics, KER’S and tyres. Formulated with help from the Overtaking Working Group’s (OWG) engineers, the new rules aim to (1) reduce the aerodynamic sensitivity of the cars to turbulence; (2) increase overtaking opportunities; and (3) slow the cars in the very quick corners. To compensate for the loss of down force from the aerodynamic changes, slick tyres have been brought back for the first time since 1997 to boost mechanical grip. As a result of the changes the 2009 cars appear quite different to their predecessors, with the removal of the vast majority of barge boards (now only allowed in a very small area – see red arrow), wing lets, chimneys and cooling gills leading to much cleaner looking designs.

Forthcoming Technical news articles will examine each of the key areas of change in detail.”

Fellipe Massa, winner last year, finished sixth ahead of BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica and Toyota’s Timo Glock. Toyota’s Jarno Trulli and Williams’ Nico Rosberg had a battle for fourth the forth spot which Trulli won this time. Kimi Raikkonen had a hard afternoon with his Ferrari at ninth ahead of Alonso’s Renault, the Spaniard was followed by McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton & then came BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld and Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima. McLaren had a poor day after Heikki Kovalainen was 14th.

On a day kissed by rain, Federer accomplished the unthinkable, he won the FRENCH OPEN. The mixed tears of joy and relief ran down Federer’s face as he won the coveted French open title, the only trophy missing in his gallery of impressive titles. The Swiss beat Soderling ,7-6 and 6-4 in less than two hours, on a day which could have been spoiled by rain. But all the elements were in Federer’s favor as Soderling hit the net on reply to Federer’s serve.

The match will be a true spectacle to many a Federer fan as he displayed his once exquisite form, hitting aces, dropshots, etc to thrash Soderling. The first set was won easily by Federer in less than 25 minutes as he took four break points and won the set 6-1. The only moment during the match when Fedex was unnerved was during the second set when a spectator ran onto the court with a Barcelona flag and tried to place a hat on Federer’s head. Truely a huge disappointment to the French authorities.

Federer lost three points in a row after this incident as Soderling leveled it 2-2. But Federer quickly recovered his composure to take the set 7-6 in the tie breaker by 6-1. This set lasted for 49 minutes as Federer produced four aces by service. In the third set, Federer won the break in the first game of the set, leading 1-0, then after that each player won their respective service games, and on the score of 5-4, Federer served for the match and won the third set and the match.

By winning the French open, Federer became only the sixth man in tennis history to win all the four slam titles, with Andre Agassi being the last man to do it in 1999, presenting him with the trophy. What an irony it was, to watch Agassi present Federer the trophy, to equal Agassi rival, Pete Sampras’s record of 14 grand slam titles.

“This was my greatest victory” said Federer although it was Soderling’s win over Nadal, the four time French Open champion, who was attempting to become the first man to win five in succession. Soderling, playing his first grand slam final, and watched by fellow Swede Bjorn Borg who has won this title six times said “You gave me a lesson how to play” and later said “To me you are the greatest player in history”.

Federer has finally achieved the French Open title can now and go on with the rest of his career without worrying about never winning the French Open……