Plane crash near Austrialian cricket practice in St. Vincent

KINGSTOWN, Mar 4: A small plane crashed on Saturday as it approached a runway near a field where Australian cricketers were training for the upcoming World Cup. There were no serious injuries. The pilot, co-pilot and two passengers from St. Vincent sustained minor bruises in the crash and were able to walk away from the overturned plane, witnesses said. The single-engine Cessna 172, which Airport Director Cordel Robinson said was a private plane registered in Barbados, was attempting to touch down at E. T. Joshua Airport in Kingstown when it crashed into a fence and came to rest in a stream. It was traveling from Barbados. The Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority will investigate the incident. Phillip Hope, spokesman for the Australian cricket squad, said players were unfazed by the crash a few hundred yards (meters) from Arnos Vale Playing Field, where the team was training for the cricket World Cup. "I do not think this is really going to create any panic among the players," Hope said. St. Vincent and the Grenadines will host warm-up matches for the March 11-April 28 cricket tournament starting on Monday. courtesy:timesofindia

Give Sehwag some more time: Dravid

MARGAO, Feb 15: Skipper Rahul Dravid defended the under-performing Virender Sehwag and pleaded with the media to give the Delhi batsman some more time to come good. "We would like to see him scoring more runs and I am sure he will make it. Give him some time," Dravid said after India's five-wicket win against Sri Lanka in the third and penultimate One-Day International. Sehwag, back to his familiar role as opener, flopped by making only 12 runs after a promising start when he slammed three fours. Dravid credited his three pace bowlers, especially Zaheer Khan, for playing a crucial role in the win. "Zaheer put up a brilliant effort and was given good support by Munaf Patel and (Ajit) Agarkar. The first three wickets by Zaheer put the pressure on the Sri Lankans," he said. "I would love to win the series before the World Cup and it will be a morale-booster for us," he added. Dravid said having developed into a versatile batsman gave him more satisfaction than reaching the personal landmark of 10,000 runs. "I am glad that I put up a good partnership (133 runs in 139 balls) with (Mahendra Singh) Dhoni that helped us to win the match. I am glad to play in different positions for the Indian team. That has given me good satisfaction, more than the 10,000 runs," he said. Zaheer took a career-best 5-42, his first-ever five-wicket haul in his 116th ODI, and his victims included the visitors' top three - Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga and Kumar Sangakkara - in his first three overs. The left-arm pacer credited his fine comeback from virtual oblivion in the earlier part of the season to his superior physical fitness. "I have played lot of cricket this season in England which has helped me to bowl well. I am now focusing on my physical fitness," he said. Zaheer said missing out on the Caribbean tour last year would not hamper him when goes there for the World Cup next month. "I have played there before and I know the conditions there. It's important to start well there and pick up early wickets. That will help me to put pressure on the other teams," he said. Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene also praised Zaheer's bowling. "Zaheer's three early wickets put the pressure on our team. But we recovered from 93 for four and had a good chance to win. But the partnership between Rahul and Dhoni took the match away," he said. "The wicket kept a bit low and that's why we could not score more runs", he said after opting to bat first. Jayawardene also urged his team-mates to go ahead and win the series, locked 1-1 after today's win by India, at Visakhapatnam. "It will help us to go to the World Cup with our heads high," he said. "Now that both the teams are on level terms it will be a big challenge for us in the next game," he added. courtesy:timesofindia

'Ganguly's has given solidity in batting

VISAKHAPATNAM, Feb 17: Skipper Rahul Dravid on Saturday said the successful return of Sourav Ganguly has given the Indian top order much needed "experience and solidity", and hoped the former captain would sustain his good form into the World Cup. "We have got a good opening today. Sourav has come back and the manner in which he played in the whole series was noteworthy," Dravid said after India's series-clinching 7-wickets win against Sri Lanka.
"He has done exceedingly well. He came up with solid runs under his belt and gained confidence ahead of the World Cup. "We hope he will keep up the momentum. His experience and solidity at the top is good for the team and he had led the team in the last World Cup will definitely be an advantage to us." Dravid said Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh being among runs was a welcome news ahead of the next month's quadrennial event in the West Indies. "I am pretty happy about it. It will give them confidence and the way they placed is very heartening and good for them and good for the team," he said. The captain sounded upbeat after the series win and said the team would "hit the ground harder" in the Caribbean. "It is a great series win especially to come back from 0-1 and win the last two matches successively. Winning the series has given lot of confidence to the team in total," he said. "One great thing about our team is that we have so much of depth and flexibility. Whichever the 11 out of 15 players we play in a match, we have to win each game. "For this match Sachin Tendulkar was not there and played an eleven today and the team performed to our strategies." Dravid denied injuries were a concern with the mega event less than a month away. "We did not want to risk them (Munaf Patel and Irfan Pathan). Munaf had a stiff back and Pathan this morning bowled couple of overs at the nets and he was bit underdone. "The World Cup is not happening tomorrow and these injuries are not a concern because they are minor in nature." "We will hit the ground harder during the World Cup, which is a different tournament held in different atmosphere and hope these players will be hundred per cent fit by then," he said. The 33-year-old Bangalore batsman said the team should keep its momentum going into the World Cup. "There are many teams in the run as contenders like the West Indies and Sri Lanka besides others. I have faith in my batting and the team's batting and if we keep the momentum going, we should find success in World Cup. "We got to keep bettering our performances. If we win matches like this in the World Cup and perform to our potential and keep consistency in tact it will be better." Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene insisted the series loss would not hamper the team's chances at the World Cup. "The Indian side is a balanced one. Playing at home, they cherished the atmosphere but World Cup is a different aspect and we will sure peak to our abilities there," he said. He admitted that a "lot of things went wrong" for his team on Saturday. "Losing a lot of wickets early on was one of them and we did not capitalize on the situation on a good wicket. "We knew the pitch was very good, and the top order failed miserably. Only pride was Chamara Silva batting well with a couple of other guys chipping in." Right-handed Silva hit a run-a-ball 107 not out to help his side recover from a top order collapse and post a challenging 259 for seven. "We always knew the talent Silva possesses from the way he batted in New Zealand. It is brilliant to see the way he batted and gives us confidence for the World Cup." Jayawardene said his new ball bowlers failed to provide the necessary breakthroughs. "Defending a total like 260 on a pitch like that, it is crucial we get early wickets with the new ball, which we did not do," he said. "We bowled both sides of the wicket and gave too many wide and no balls. We had no momentum from that point on."
On his personal batting form, Jayawadene said, "personally I'm very disappointed with the way I have been batting in the last couple of months. "I have been hitting the ball pretty well in practice, but not spending time out in the middle."
courtesy:timesofindia

Cummins to turn out for Canada

New Delhi: As the cricket World Cup arrives in the West Indies for the first time, the Caribbeans will also get ready to welcome the return of the native — Anderson Cummins.The forgotten paceman of the 1990s will rewrite record books as he will be playing at the World Cup after a gap of more than a decade and for a different team.Cummins, who made his international debut with the West Indies in 1991, shone despite being in the shadow of star seamers such as Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and Ian Bishop.
Third appearance
But Cummins, who last played in 1996, will now play in his third World Cup, this time donning Canadian colours.The Barbados-born Cummins played in 63 one-day internationals, capturing 78 wickets including 12 at the 1992 World Cup. He was also a useful lower order batsman.
During his five years of service to West Indies cricket, Cummins also courted controversy.He was not included in the squad for the first Test against South Africa in Barbados in 1992 as Kenneth Benjamin made his debut.The crowd, supporting the local boy Cummins, boycotted the match and protested, "No Cummins, no goings."In 1996, Cummins moved to Canada and 11 years later, he has dramatically emerged from oblivion to play for his adopted country.
Cummins will only be the second player in the history of the game after Kepler Wessels to play for two countries at the World Cup.Wessels turned up for Australia in 1983 and later led South Africa in 1992.Canada is placed in Group C that also has New Zealand, England and Kenya.

courtesy:Hindu

J.P. Yadav stars in Central's win

— Photo: Vivek Bendre

GOTCHA! Central Zone's Monish Mishra is stumped by South's Thilak Naidu.

Mumbai: Central Zone defeated South Zone by 25 runs in the All Star Series Deodhar Trophy tournament here on Saturday. Central's Jai Prakash Yadav dismissed South's main batsmen. He bagged four wickets for 44 runs.Batting first, Central scored 251 for nine in 50 overs. Shreyas Khanolkar, scored his second half-century in the tournament and Mohammad Kaif made a valuable 58-ball 43.South began the run chase on in earnest with Swapnil Asnodkar facing Rudra Pratap Singh and the nippy Shalabh Srivastava with confidence. But a suicidal attempt for a single removed him from the scene of action when his side was cruising at nine runs an over.
Sweet timing
V.V.S. Laxman was in control of himself and played some delectable shots with sweet timing. But, Yadav's inswinger found a way through Laxman's defence and hit the stumps. Venugopala Rao and S. Badrinath could not resist the temptation and nicked to the keeper and the first slip respectively. To make it a memorable outing on a breezy evening at the Brabourne Stadium, Yadav removed Arjun Yadav to rattle South. Sending down 10 straight overs, Yadav played his part in breaking South's backbone.Khatib Sahabuddin, sent in to make the most of the Power Play phase, lasted only seven balls before Laxman and Rowland put South on course. But Laxman's and Rao's dismissals changed the complexion of the game and swung it in Central's favour. Thilak Naidu and Balchandra Akhil delayed the inevitable with a 57-run stand.
The scores:
Central Zone: S. Joshi c Venugopala b Kalyankrishna 26, F. Fazal c Asnodkar b Sahabuddin 10, S. Khanolkar (run out) 54, M. Mishra st. Naidu b Ojha 12, M. Kaif lbw b Akhil 43, Abbas Ali c Badrinath b Akhil 21, P. Chawla (run out) 17, J. P. Yadav c Naidu b Sahabuddin 15, R. P. Singh c Akhil b Sahabuddin 19, M. Kartik (not out) 21, S. Srivastava (not out) 2; Extras (lb-4, w-7) 11. Total (for nine wkts. in 50 overs) 251.
Fall of wickets: 1-29, 2-45, 3-99, 4-127, 5-169, 6-188, 7-192, 8-211, 9-239.
South Zone bowling: Sahabuddin 10-0-39-3, Kalyankrishna 4-0-28-1, Akhil 9-0-52-2, Ojha 10-0-43-1, Rao 7-0-36-0, Laxman 10-0-49-0.
South Zone: B. Rowland b R. P. Singh 70, S. Asnodkar (run out) 10, K. Sahabuddin c Joshi b Srivastava 1, V. V. S. Laxman b Yadav 35, Venugopala c Joshi b Yadav 0, S. Badrinath c Kaif b Yadav 2, A. Yadav c T. P. Singh (sub) b Yadav 10, T. Naidu b R. P. Singh 45, B. Akhil c R. P. Singh b Srivastava 25, D. Kalyankrishna b Chawla 2, P. Ojha (not out) 2; Extras (lb-3, nb-9, w-12) 24. Total (in 45.4 overs) 226.
Fall of wickets: 1-27, 2-28, 3-92, 4-92, 5-105, 6-125, 7-147, 8-204, 9-220.
Central Zone bowling: R. P. Singh 8.4-0-41-2, Srivastava 9-0-58-2, J.P. Yadav 10-0-44-4, Kartik 10-0-32-0, Chawla 8-0-48-1.

courtesy:Hindiu

Wadekar applauds Dravid's India

MUMBAI, July 3: Former India skipper Ajit Wadekar, whose feat of leading the team to a Test series victory in the West Indies has been emulated by Rahul Dravid after 35 years, was all praise for the 'The Wall' for leading from the front. "Rahul has always led from the front and has done it again. He knows exactly the difference between batting in one-dayers as compared to doing so in Tests. He knows the latter is a five-day game and one has to bat patiently and that's what he's done so brilliantly," Wadekar said after India's 49-run series-clinching win in the fourth and final Test at Kingston. Wadekar also hailed the spin duo of Harbhajan Singh, who piloted the West Indies downfall in the first innings with career-best away figures of 5 for 13, and veteran leggie Anil Kumble, who used the vagaries of the pitch to claim six wickets in the second innings and stop the hosts well short of the target. "Harbhajan and Anil have always bowled well in tandem. Both bowled brilliantly and played a big part in the victory. In fact, it was a mistake in not playing Harbhajan in the first two Tests. Otherwise, India could have won the series stylishly with a handsomely bigger margin," the former left-handed stylish batsman said. courtesy:timesofindia

Nothing wrong with wicket: Harbhajan

KINGSTON (Jamaica), July 2: The Sabina Park track had no demons in it, Harbhajan Singh said after picking his second five-wicket haul in the fourth and final Test against West Indies here. The Indian off-spinner said scoring runs on the track, which has already seen 26 wickets fall in two days, was not difficult, provided the batsmen applied themselves. "There is nothing wrong with the wicket. It is a wicket where fast bowlers can hope for wickets, spinners can hope for a bat-pad chance and batsmen too can make runs if they apply themselves," Harbhajan said after the second day's play. "I would say it is the best wicket we have had in the entire series. On other places, you were either going for 2 or 4 runs in an over," he added. Harbhajan said he did not try to do anything different than what he has been doing all these days. "I didn't bowl any special ball. There was no magic ball. It was the same I had bowled in St. Kitts or in my eight years of international career. "This is cricket. Sometimes you toil hard for 50 overs and end up with just one wicket and on other occasions you get five wickets off five overs," he said. The Punjab bowler said India now needed to bat as long as possible to put up a match-winning total on the board. "You can't say any total is safe these days. We know teams have gone on to chase 400 runs. We would need to get more runs to put pressure on them," said the bowler who picked his wickets from just four-odd overs. Harbhajan also gave credit to India's fast bowlers for maintaining pressure on West Indies' batsmen right through the series. "We didn't expect West Indies to fold up so cheaply. But then our fast bowlers have bowled well throughout this series. It's been amazing. They took early wickets, of the likes of Lara and Gayle who have been among the runs in this series." Harbhajan rounded off his comments with a word of praise for his captain Rahul Dravid, who held the innings on both the occasions here. "He is a champion player. Every team would like to have a batter like him. Whenever something special is needed, he is there. Whenever somebody needs to stay at the wicket and get runs, he is there. "I would be happy to finish this tour with a win. But it would not be easy. They too would be up for the challenge." courtesy:timesofindia