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.

Captaining the team for the first time, Sangakara lead the Lankan team to a series victory. This is the first home series win for Sri Lanka against Pakistan. Kumar Sangakkara scored an unbeaten century and closed all doors for a Pakistani victory. The Lankan team made a clean sweep in the series 2-0. Sangakkara was 111 not out and now has 19 test centuries to his name. He had an excellent 122 run fourth wicket stand with teammate Thilan Samaraweera who contributed 73 runs to the Lankan score.  New comer in the team Angelo Mathews was not out at a score of 33 runs.

Lanka were give a world record chase target of 492 runs to chase for a victory but could not beat the record. The best chase in the history of the game has been of 418 runs by the West Indies team in 2003 against the Australian team in Antigua.

This has been a disappointing series for the visiting Pakistani team as they had lost the first test on the fourth day of the test and the second on the third day of the test.

This match was also the last test match for Sri Lankan pacer Chaminda Vaas who quit test cricket. He has been an inspiration to many young pace bowlers. Vaas was the first successful pacer in Lanka with has a history of producing excellent spinners. Vaas has to his credit of taking 355 wickets in 111 test matches.

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

The experienced duo of Ramnaresh Sarwan & Shivnarine Chanderpaul put up a fine show at the end of the day to help Windies reach the final four. The game brought memories of 2004 Champions Trophy win over England which helped the team take their first major tournament home since the 79 World Cup also in England, seems UK is their favourite hunting ground. But after their horrific show in England this summer who gave them a chance as they were blown away two nil in both the test & one day series & failed to win a single game on this tour. The partnership of 37 from 20 balls helped them reach a target of 80 easily in the end even though the loss of five early wickets left them in more than a spot of bother. It might well be another pointer of things to come as Windies might just relive their glorious past in England where they’ve won 2 World Cups in a row, including the inaugural One Day World Cup in 1975, before their juggernaut came to a halt against the mighty Indians, who had won a single match in the previous two editions of the tournament, ending their reign at the top.

The result came as no surprise as the Windies’ captain was vindicated in his views of upholding T-20’s as his preferred format of the game. The match though was even shorter as the game was curtailed in the end with heavy showers which persisted throughout the match. England scored 161 for 6 in their allotted 20 overs after winning the toss & electing to bat. They never had any momentum to their innings as wickets fell regularly in their laborious effort at the end of which Ravi Bopara was the top scorer with 55 off 47 balls. England were hit hard as Luke Wright failed yet again at the top of the innings falling to Pollard in the second over scoring 6 runs. Pieterson was in form though as he scored 31 off 23 before Simmons got him out. There onwards wickets fell regularly as the batsmen to follow failed to convert their starts into big score especially since the next five batsman went to double figures without getting past 20 runs. In the end this might have been the thing which helped Windies as they chased a revised total of 80 from 9 overs successfully, M/S Duckworth Lewis favouring them this time.

The English football team was having a field day against Andorra but the same couldn’t be said for their cricket team. Well, it was the opposite as they were completely outplayed, as South Africa won the match comfortably by 7 wickets.

The home side never got going and was all out for 111 as they lost their last seven wickets for 33 runs!!!!!!! For a side which appeared to be doing so well in the series against the Windies before the start of the T20 World Cup, this is a total shocker. South Africa gave an all-round performance, as they bowled, fielded and batted well, proving once again why they are favorites for the trophy. This puts S.A in a commanding position and their pace attack seems to resemble that of the Windies which struck fear in the heart of every opponent. This leaves England in a precarious position because they have to beat India and West Indies if they are to progress and even so these two victories doesn’t guarantee them a position in the semis…..

Steyn took Bopara with an inside-edge from the batsman hitting the stumps. K.P on the other hand started with boundaries off his first two deliveries but hit an Albie Morkel full toss straight to Vd Merwe who caught it in an extraordinary fashion. This came in the 6th over and England’s score at the end of it was 25-3. This is the lowest score in the powerplay section in T20 history! The English batting managed to put up an insignificant total of 111 as the rest of the batting fizzled out….Wayne Parnell, the new weapon in S.A’s pace arsenal ended up with 3/14. As S.A began their batting they looked out-of-sorts as Smith top-edged Broad to James Foster, who had to dive to take the skier, and Herschelle Gibbs looked out of sorts – and could have been run out twice. And the batsmen struggled against the English spinners as the required run rate went up for more than a run-a-ball.

It was good for the English until Kallis decided to crash their party. Any pressure on S.A disappeared then, and even Gibbs made a few shots to the rope and Swann over the rope for a maximum as they seem to call it in this format of the game. Then it ended as Kallis cut Anderson to the point fence to end up with 58 from 49 balls. The English pace attack seems to be toothless and their over dependency on Swann isn’t paying them any dividends either. They have ways to go if they are to succeed in the shorter format of the game.

The Lakers have once again turned on the heat for the Magic as they beat the Magic in OT to take a 3-1 lead in the 7 match finals as they pulled off an stunning 99-91 victory over the Magic. This comes at the back of the Magic victory at the Amway arena in the third game. The Lakers rallied to beat the Magic in the 4th quarter, when the Magic had a 7 pt lead. The Lakers then managed to get on terms as the Magic missed their shots and with 7 seconds remaining, the Derek Fisher scored an astounding three pointer, leaving the Magic with 4.6 seconds on the clock.

The Magic immediately called for a time out but failed to capitalize as they missed the hoop and the game went into overtime. Then it was Lakers all the way, after they took the lead 91-90, and the Magic couldn’t find their feet. With this the Lakers won their second OT game and now are just one game win from their 15th championship. This is the first time since Magic Johnson’s Lakers and Larry Bird’s time that two games in the finals have gone to OT. So, Bryant and Wright may not be as great as them, but they may leave a legacy behind as this season finals seems to be hotly contested.

As expected Kobe had 32pts, 8 assists and 7 rebounds for the Lakers. But the dark horse of this game was Derek Fisher, who has previously bailed out the Lakers in many a difficult game. Ariza too contributed when needed. But Howard had a terrible night, as he missed many from the free throw line and was just 6 of 14. Had he gotten two more points from the throws he got in the dead of the 4th quarter they would have all but sealed the Magic’s win and the series would have been tied 2 a piece!!!!!!! But Howard did manage 16 points, 21 rebounds and a finals-record nine blocked shots. Hence, the Superman’s cape was left wrinkled and torn…..

The loss, as far as I can see it, is because of the Magic’s poor show from the free throw line as they were 22/37. Moreover the Magic missed a slew of opportunities which would have sealed the game in their favor. Once again the Magic have to beat the odds which they have been doing all season, injuries, playoff deficits and buzzer-beaters, etc, etc…..

However this obstacle might be too difficult to overcome as only eight NBA teams have come back from a 3-1 hole in a best-of-seven series. Is this the end of a well fought season for the Magic?!!

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 …

The wait is over…. The Magic have won their first NBA final after 20 years. So there is no blaming them for all the fanfare, which seemed as if they had won the series…..

There was no stopping the Magic as they held off the Lakers to a four point victory, 108-104, in front of their home crowd, at the Amway arena. This was pulled off in a nice fashion after they put up a nine point lead in the fourth. With this victory, they stopped the Lakers’s victory parade and made even Bryant look vulnerable…. Most of the Lakers’s shots ended up in the loo.

In seven tries, this is the first victory for the Magic, and this means a lot to the fans as well as the franchise. The Magic improved their shooting immensively with a record 62.5 success rate. However, it was a bad day for Kobe despite leadig all the scores wit 31 pts as he missed a key free throw and then turning over the ball, dribbling it off his foot. But from the Magic side, it was a complete team effort as five players scored atleast 18pts. Dwight Howard had 21 pts, Lewis 21, Alston 20 while Pietrus and Tukoglu had 18. Playing their first final at their home since 1995, the Magic managed to erase that 6 consecutive losing streak. They were destroyed by the Rockets 14 yrs ago. The Magic lost the first two games, by 25 pts and by 5 pts, respectively. Still despite a success rate of 62.5, the game was close call as the Magic couldn’t control the Lakers very well. This success rate managed to eclipse the Bull’s 18 year old record.

“I’ve said it throughout the season and throughout these playoffs,” Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy said.

“The one thing that you can’t question about our team is their resilience in situations like that, whether it’s from game to game, minute to minute our team will keep playing.”

Then again, the praise must be with the Magic, as the managed to keep the heat n the Lakers and pull off a victory as the talks of the team’s resiliency showed. Moreover despite Phil Jackson’s experience and mind games, his statements backfired as it was like poking the Magic with a stick after their bitter losses. And so, no matter which team should be up 2-1 now, the Magic feel they are right back in this series and believe they can pull off, what according to their critics has been claimed impossible. The Magic not only avoided a sweep, but managed to give the soon to be scuttled Amway Arena, three more games which will be a great meal for their hungry fans.

“We were taking better shots tonight,” Howard said.

“We didn’t rush. We attacked. That allowed us to get some easier shots. Instead of us shooting the ball with a big guy Lamar Odom or Gasol in our face, we did a good job of getting to the rim. Skip (Alston) did a good job of attacking and allowing guys to get open for free shots.”

So, have the Lakers began celebrating too soon????