Tiger Woods returns to masters

Tiger Woods known for 82 worldwide victories and fourteen majors of Masters is set to play at Augista National, after four months of seclusions. He said “At Masters I won my first major game and after the long time I was away from the game, I m ready to start it again “.The Masters starts on April 8.

Stewart wins third race of the year at New Hampshire

Stewart started 13th and wound up winning for the third time in four races, passing at will inside and outside in a dominant performance in the New England 300.

Once again, the 34-year-old Stewart climbed the fence. Since Loudon isn’t Daytona, when he reached the top of the fence, he couldn’t just climb into the flag stand. This time he had to clamber over and onto the stairs leading to the stand, where he grabbed the checkered flag, waved it, pumped his fists and acted in general like a kid half his age. And a crowd of 100,000 at New Hampshire International Speedway roared its approval.

“Yes,” said Stewart, “it wore me out climbing up on the fence again. And, yes, I’m still too old and still too fat to be doing it. I’m going to have to hire a trainer because I do plan on winning some more races this year. So I’m not going to not do that that. I’m going to have to get a trainer so I feel better after I get up there.”

After starting 13th, he picked up seven positions in the first 20 laps and reached first place by lap 51. By race’s end, those behind Stewart were mainly left scratching their heads.
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Rogers turn himself in to authorities on assault charges

Texas Rangers pitcher Kenny Rogers turned himself in to authorities today, after he was charged with misdemeanor assault for attacking television cameramen from a June 29 incident, at Ameriquest Field in Anaheim, Calif.

Rogers first shoved Fox Sports Net Southwest’s David Mammeli, who was shooting video of the pitcher on his way to a pregame stretch, and told him, “I told you to get those cameras out of my face.”

The pitcher then approached Larry Rodriguez of Channel 4 KDFW and took the camera from Rodriguez before throwing it to the ground and kicking it. Rodriguez was taken out of the stadium on a stretcher and taken to a hospital. Both men later filed police reports.

Arlington police issued a Class A misdemeanor warrant against the pitcher on Monday in connection with the assault on Rodriguez, Arlington police spokeswoman Christy Gilfour said. The charge is punishable by up to one year in jail and a USD 4,000 fine. He was booked into the Tarrant County Jail on Monday morning and released on USD 1,500 bail.

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Ausralia vs England

Ausralia lead by 2-1

Cavalier Adam Gilchrist shows his batting abilities in the final

Australia won the deciding one-day international against England by eight wickets at The Oval here Tuesday to take the three-match series 2-1.

Set 229 to win, the world champions cruised to their target with more than 15 overs to spare.

Adam Gilchrist, scoring his first one-day international hundred in over a year, finished on 121 not out and Damien Martyn was unbeaten on 24.

Gilchrist faced just 101 balls with two sixes and 17 fours.

A cavalier Adam Gilchrist century and a return to bowling form from Jason Gillespie helped Australia to a comfortable victory in the third and final Natwest Challenge match at The Oval yesterday. Chasing England’s modest 228 the tourists passed the victory mark with eight wickets in hand and more than 15 overs to spare.

Australia won the series 2-1, completing a clean sweep of both one-day international tournaments after an embarrassing start to the tour that included losses to county side Somerset and international minnows Bangladesh. As at Lord’s, however, the Australians were back to their intimidating best and prevented England from obtaining any foothold in the match.

Adam Gilchrist was named man of the match for his 121 not out, made from just 101 deliveries and including 17 punishing fours and two sixes. Ricky Ponting, who made 43 and added 94 for the second wicket with Gilchrist, was awarded man of the series honours.

The extended one-day carnival now winds up and attention moves to the first Test match, commencing next Thursday at Lord’s. Their domination of England in the last two matches of the Natwest Challenge will be a big fillip for the tourists, who have a three-day tour match at Leicestershire before the Ashes campaign begins.

At The Oval, Ricky Ponting again called correctly and elected to bowl, a critical factor given the impact of the toss so far in this series and the newly-introduced ’supersub’ rules. England nominated Vikram Solanki as their supersub, while Australia - with Matthew Hayden fit and playing - demoted Simon Katich to that role.

The Australian bowlers were again miserly and restricted England to 7/228, a score that was below par on a flat and lifeless Oval deck.

McGrath and Lee tied down England’s top order, their pressure inviting excessive caution, error and poor shot selection. Trescothick utilised a dozen balls without scoring before Lee tempted him to slash and top-edge to Kasprowicz at third-man. At the other end McGrath pinned down the English batsmen with four impeccable maidens. His fifth over was equally frugal and should have produced a wicket after Michael Vaughan lofted to Gillespie at fine leg, however the South Australian’s abysmal tour seemed to continue as he grassed a straight-forward chance.

McGrath was livid but the error didn’t cost Australia greatly, Vaughan (15 from 30) falling victim to an accurate throw from Ricky Ponting. Four overs later Strauss, after showing glimpses of good form, edged Kasprowicz through to Gilchrist, leaving England treacherously placed at 3/61 from 16.3 overs. Kasprowicz added to their woes by removing Flintoff, again caught behind, just 13 runs later.

The rescue mission yet again fell to Kevin Pietersen and Collingwood. They started in similar vein to recent comebacks, but the introduction of Gillespie was the telling factor. With Pietersen more watchful than usual, Gillespie maintained a more difficult line and length and was able to restrict both boundary balls and opportunities for singles. His improvement paid off when Collingwood squirted a full delivery to cover to give Gillespie just his second one-day wicket against England on this tour, an event openly celebrated as his colleagues rushed to congratulate him.

Pietersen lost his next partner, Geraint Jones, very quickly to leave the home side tottering on disaster at 6/93, before Michael Vaughan made a telling decision - he called in supersub batsman Solanki and cast opening bowler Simon Jones into spectatordom. It was a move that helped England secure a respectable target but at the significant cost of a key bowler.

With Pietersen batting intelligently and utilising a controlled mix of aggression, and Solanki batting solidly, English pushed through to a more admirable 6/186 before a clever Gillespie slower ball found its way through Pietersen’s defence. He departed with 74 runs to his name, from 84 deliveries and with eight fours and two sixes, the last an amazing flat-batted swat from a Gillespie bouncer that Pietersen had actually charged at.

Solanki passed his half-century and with help from an adventurous Ashley Giles, England went through to 7/228 at the luncheon break. It was below the average one-day international score of 237 at The Oval, though it was much closer than it could have been.

Gillespie finished with 3/44 from his ten overs, figures that reflect his improvement in technique and direction, while Kasprowicz bowled well to return 2/46. Lee and McGrath enjoyed less success in terms of wickets but were equally miserly.

The home team’s own new-ball attack was unable to mimic the frugality of the Australian bowlers, Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden keen to disrupt their line and rhythm from the outset.

Gilchrist was particularly fierce on anything full, driving with relish at Gough and Harmison. He struck three consecutive boundaries from the Yorkshireman’s second over, prompting Vaughan to replace him at the bowling crease with Flintoff. The following over from Harmison, however, was treated with even more disdain, yielding 16 runs, all in boundaries.

The pair added 91 before the first loss, as Gough returned and invited Hayden (31 from 47 balls) to wave outside off stump. He edged through to Geraint Jones, registering yet another score that was not a success but not quite a failure. Gough’s second set of two overs was almost as expensive as his first, however, and his days as an England player must be all but numbered. In retrospect it was a poor decision to retain Gough and sub out Simon Jones.

Ponting joined Gilchrist at the crease and the two saw the score through to 1/185 in better than even time, before Ponting advanced to Giles and edged onto his pad, Jones nabbing the rebound and stumping the Australian captain (43 from 44 balls).

Damien Martyn joined Gilchrist and the pair seemed keen to end the game as quickly as possible, Martyn being particularly severe on Steve Harmison, who conceded 81 from 9.5 overs. Hopefully for England this won’t dent his confidence leading into the Ashes.

Victory came from the penultimate ball of the 35th over, a Martyn pull shot for four from a Harmison no-ball. Australia had eight wickets in hand including that of supersub Katich who had replaced McGrath at the start of the innings, though this was academic.

It was a masterful performance by Australia in both its Natwest Challenge wins, but also a relief, something apparent in the unusually vigorous celebrations of Gilchrist after he reached his century and also in Ponting’s expression post-match.

England: Marcus Trescothick, Andrew Strauss, Michael Vaughan, Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff, Paul Collingwood, Geraint Jones, Ashley Giles, Darren Gough, Stephen Harmison, Simon Jones, Vikram Solanki (super-sub).
Australia: Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting, Damien Martyn, Andrew Symonds, Michael Clarke, Mike Hussey, Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie, Glenn McGrath, Michael Kasprowicz, Simon Katich (super-sub).

Eddie Irvine has ruffled a few feathers at BAR Honda by insisting that Jenson Button would be no match for Michael Schumacher were they to become team-mates next season.

The former Ferrari driver, who missed out on winning the F1 title in 1999 by just two championship points to McLaren’s Mika Hakkinen, said the rumours circulating around Silverstone over the weekend suggesting that Button was about to replace Rubens Barrichello were ‘laughable’.

“There is no surer way of seeing your value plummet, than being constantly upstaged by someone with the same machine,” he said.

“That is why any suggestion Jenson will go to Ferrari next season is laughable. Michael Schumacher would just blow him away. And that would not be a great career move.

“Anyway, Ferrari are not interested in Jenson. The man they really have their eye on is McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen.”

Irvine, who partnered Schumacher at Ferrari from 1996 to 1999, once compared the experience to being constantly hit around the head with a cricket bat.

Tresco guides hosts to emphatic win

England v Australia, NatWest Challenge, Headingley

NatWest Challenge, Headingley: England 221-1 beat Australia 219-7 by nine wickets

Marcus Trescothick struck a commanding 104 as England won the opening match of the NatWest Challenge against Australia by nine wickets at Headingley.

Michael Vaughan admitted England’s biggest-ever victory over Australia in one-day history would do their confidence no harm ahead of the Ashes.

England took a 1-0 lead in the NatWest Challenge, the inaugural contest under the new regulations which include substitutes, by the gaping margin of nine wickets, the largest in 83 limited-overs contests between the countries stretching 35 years.

Marcus Trescothick put down an important marker for this summer’s bigger challenges with a match-winning innings against Australia to help England complete a comfortable victory in the historic opening match of the NatWest Challenge.

Everything went the home side’s way as the world champions were restricted to 219 for seven, Collingwood taking four wickets with his medium-pacers.

Trescothick, caught off a no-ball on five, was still there when England won with four overs remaining. Skipper Michael Vaughan began to regain form with an unbeaten 59. Australia had made what seemed a useful 219-7 on a difficult pitch, Mike Hussey smashing four fours and a six as 30 came off the final two overs. Vaughan had struck a timely early blow when he won the toss on an overcast morning.

The use of ‘powerplays’ - easier scoring opportunities for the batsmen - failed to have a great deal of significance in their first appearance in an international match.

Both captains simply opted to use both additional five-over segments with the fielding restrictions immediately after the first 10.

However, the toss soon proved to be telling as the pitch proved problematic, batsmen finding it extremely difficult to judge the variable pace and bounce.

England failed to capture a breakthrough until the scoreboard read 62.

Geraint Jones provided the inspiration for England, diving full length to his right to cling onto an inside edge from Gilchrist, who had hit a bright 42.

The left-handed Trescothick then scored 104 not out as England won with four overs to spare. It was his 10th one-day hundred and his first against Australia.

In the next over Matthew Hayden, who had struggled for 47 balls for his 17, mis-timed a short one from Flintoff to mid-wicket.

The slower pace of Paul Collingwood then paid dividends as he accounted for Ricky Ponting, Andrew Symonds and Michael Clarke cheaply.

When Simon Jones completed a respectable 10-over spell that saw considerable seam movement, he was the first player to be replaced by a substitute, as England opted to bolster their batting for later in the game, Vikram Solanki coming into the match.

Damien Martyn had made a watchful 43 with four fours when he cut a short one and the ball brushed the glove, Jones taking another excellent catch standing up to the stumps, to give Collingwood 4-34 from his 10 overs.

But Hussey cut loose in a stand of 51 with Brett Lee that came in the closing five overs.

He smashed three consecutive fours in the penultimate over of the innings from Flintoff.

Then in the last one bowled by Gough he launched a massive swipe that went deep into the stands at mid-wicket, Lee adding a brutal four through the covers.

Most significantly, conditions changed as England came out to bat, the skies lifting to bright sunshine, and the ball did not seam around in the same fashion for the Australians.

They could, however, have accounted for both England openers with less than 20 on the board.

Andrew Strauss had made only one when he edged to Gilchrist, but the keeper could not hold a low catch diving to his left.

Trescothick then cut Lee to third man where Glenn McGrath took a neat low catch, only for the celebrations to be cut short as a result of Lee over-stepping for the fourth time.

Strauss brought up the fifty in the 14th over with a pull for four, but with his confidence increasing he attempted a reverse sweep off super sub Brad Hogg and was expertly caught by Gilchrist.

Hogg had been introduced as Australia’s sub when Shane Watson suffered a thigh injury, the tourists opting to technically replace Hayden but allowing the opener to stay on as a fielder for Watson, to enable Hogg to bowl 10 full overs if necessary.

Vaughan’s return to form came at the expense of the out-of-sorts Gillespie, hit for successive boundaries by the England captain, who advanced down the wicket to loft one over mid-off.

Vaughan won the match in fine style with a dismissive pull to the boundary off Lee, who sent down a total of seven no-balls, some almost a foot over the crease.

Australia thought they had dislodged Trescothick on 82 when Gilchrist confidently claimed a catch at the stumps as the Somerset left-hander tried to cut, but umpire Koetzen was unmoved.

Trescothick also hit the unfortunate Gillespie for consecutive boundaries, and combined delicate strokeplay with brute force in one Hogg over, with a late cut for four followed by a towering six over mid-wicket.

SUBSTITUTIONS

The game, the first of three one-dayers before the Ashes and which followed the teams’ dramatic tie in the final of a triangular one-day series, saw the introduction of substitutions for the first time, as well as 20 overs of fielding restrictions rather than 15.

Headingley in the gloom has always favoured swing and seam. Thursday morning was played out under a thick blanket of cloud, to be replaced by blazing sun in the afternoon before the cloud returned in the final stages

The world champions, put in, enjoyed a 62-run opening stand but that was all.

Adam Gilchrist, having played and missed half-a-dozen times, adapted cleverly by replacing straight-bat shots with cross-bat pulls and shovels to leg. Simon Jones was pulled for six, as was Darren Gough.

But Gilchrist’s good fortune ran out after he had made 42 off 51 balls as an attempted glance off Steve Harmison ended in Geraint Jones’s gloves.

Matthew Hayden, never fluent, followed six runs later as a half-hearted pull off Andrew Flintoff found Kevin Pietersen at mid-wicket.

Ponting and Damien Martyn hauled the score to 107 before three more wickets fell for 13 runs, all to Collingwood. The batting all rounder, who became the first England player to take six wickets in a one-dayer last month against Bangladesh, revelled in the conditions.

Ponting mis-timed a pull and was caught for 14 by Pietersen in the deep. Andrew Symonds edged to the slips while Michael Clarke’s expansive drive was beaten by a delivery nipping back through the gate.

If it had not been for the excellent Martyn and Hussey, things would have been even worse. Martyn made a hard-earned 43 before he was caught behind to make it 159 for six in the 42nd over while Hussey ended on 46 not out off 52 balls, hitting three consecutive fours off Flintoff in the penultimate over, then flat-batting Gough for six as 30 came off the last two overs.

The substitutions’ rule also favoured England. They opted for a batsman in Vikram Solanki. If England had lost the toss he would probably not have got on the field but instead Vaughan was able to call on him to bolster the batting and fielding after Simon Jones had been bowled out after 31 overs of the Australian innings.

The second match is due to take place at Lord’s on Sunday, with the third and final game at The Oval on Tuesday.

NatWest Challenge, 2005, 1st Match
England v Australia
Headingley, Leeds
7 July 2005 (50-over match)

Result: England won by 9 wickets
Series: England leads the 3-Match series 1-0

Toss: England
Umpires: MR Benson and RE Koertzen (SA)
TV Umpire: NJ Llong
Match Referee: RS Mahanama (SL)
Man of the Match: ME Trescothick

SCOREBOARD

Australia innings (50 overs maximum) R M B 4 6

+AC Gilchrist c GO Jones b Harmison 42 68 51 5 2
ML Hayden c Pietersen b Flintoff 17 75 47 3 0
*RT Ponting c Pietersen b Collingwood 14 49 30 2 0
DR Martyn c GO Jones b Collingwood 43 104 71 4 0
A Symonds c Trescothick b Collingwood 6 9 10 1 0
MJ Clarke b Collingwood 2 6 9 0 0
MEK Hussey not out 46 74 52 4 1
SR Watson c Strauss b Harmison 3 13 13 0 0
B Lee not out 15 19 19 3 0

Extras (b 2, lb 12, w 15, nb 2) 31
Total (7 wickets, 50 overs, 218 mins) 219

DNB: JN Gillespie, GD McGrath.

FoW: 1-62 (Gilchrist, 15.3 ov), 2-68 (Hayden, 16.3 ov),
3-107 (Ponting, 27.2 ov), 4-116 (Symonds, 29.5 ov),
5-120 (Clarke, 31.3 ov), 6-159 (Martyn, 41.1 ov),
7-168 (Watson, 44.5 ov).

Bowling O M R W

Gough 10 1 50 0 (1nb, 2w)
SP Jones 10 1 28 0 (2w)
Harmison 10 0 39 2 (3w)
Flintoff 10 0 54 1 (1nb, 5w)
Collingwood 10 0 34 4 (2w)

England innings (target: 220 runs from 50 overs) R M B 4 6

ME Trescothick not out 104 197 134 8 1
AJ Strauss c Gilchrist b Hogg 41 110 84 2 0
*MP Vaughan not out 59 86 65 7 0

Extras (b 1, lb 2, w 3, nb 11) 17
Total (1 wicket, 46 overs, 197 mins) 221

DNB: KP Pietersen, A Flintoff, PD Collingwood, +GO Jones,
AF Giles, VS Solanki, D Gough, SJ Harmison.

FoW: 1-101 (Strauss, 24.3 ov).

Bowling O M R W
Lee 9 0 48 0 (7nb)
McGrath 8 1 26 0 (1w)
Gillespie 10 0 66 0 (1w)
Watson 3 0 16 0 (1w)
Symonds 10 0 32 0
Hogg 6 0 30 1

Australia full substitute: GB Hogg (ML Hayden, England innings, 22.0 ov).

England full substitute: VS Solanki (SP Jones, Australia innings, 31.0 ov).

England: Marcus Trescothick, Andrew Strauss, Michael Vaughan, Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff, Paul Collingwood, Geraint Jones, Ashley Giles, Vikram Solanki, Darren Gough, Stephen Harmison.

Australia: Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting, Damien Martyn, Andrew Symonds, Michael Clarke, Mike Hussey, Shane Watson, Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie, Glenn McGrath.

Michael Schumacher insists the title race is anything but over but confessed the gap to the leading two manufacturers is still too wide.

The Ferrari ace was forced to settle for third place after watching championship leader Fernando Alonso disappear into the distance and eventually cross the line over a minute ahead of his F2005.

“We are quick enough to be in with a shout of victory, and this is obvious,” he said. “The gap to Alonso is wider than we would have liked and even Kimi’s form was striking,” admitted the seven-times world champion.

“Still, we have to be pleased with third place as the race could have gone worse. After the times we set on Friday and Saturday, I thought that we really were in with a chance of victory”.

The reigning champion believed that some improvements have been made. Qualifying, which had been one of Ferrari’s biggest concerns, saw much improved times on those from the previous races.

“Now we have to try to obtain good results and be competitive at every stage of the weekend,” he said. “We have already improved and there is no reason why we cannot continue to do so. The important thing is to persevere and believe in ourselves. We have to stay as calm as we have been until now and concentrate on the work to be done.”

Despite the odds, the German was not about to concede his championship crown just yet. “Firstly, the second half of the season begins now and logic dictates that the gap is still bridgeable. Secondly, I am a realist and as such am a lover of mathematics; there is still the probability of winning.

“Formula 1 is such a changeable sport that it would be foolish to give up on the title. We are not so foolish. As I have said, we have to focus on getting back to the top. We will be trying to do this at Silverstone this weekend”.