Dominant years for Indian cricket under Greg Chappell guidence

Lauding new Indian coach Greg Chappell’s leadership abilities, former Australian speedster Dennis Lillee on Monday predicted dominant years for Indian cricket under his guidance.

“Greg has phenominal abilities in coaching and Indian cricket will have dominant years under him,” Lillee, who was described by Chappell as one of the tough players whom he had handled while captaining the Australian side.

Lillee, who is here on his routine annual visit to the MRF Pace Foundation to select the Indian boys for training, said: “Greg had shown great leadership abilities as captain of the Australian team. No doubt that his cricketing experience will help India to be a dominant force in world cricket.”

The legendary bowler, however, declined to respond when asked to give his comments on players like Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar. “I cannot comment on them.”

As for the coming Ashes series between England and Australia, Lillee said “England look a well-knit team now and the series is going to be a close affair”.

But we have to wait when India will play match under his guidence.

ICC arbiter likely for Ganguly

The International Cricket Council today described as “incorrect” media reports in India that the game’s governing body was likely to reopen Sourav Ganguly’s case regarding the six-match suspension.

ICC President Ehsan Mani said the Ganguly issue did not come up for discussion during the Board meeting.

“Reports in India about the ICC reopening Ganguly’s case are not correct,” Mani said after the ICC’s Business Forum in London.

He said the Indian Cricket Board had written to the ICC on the Ganguly issue and the apex body had in turn replied to the Indian authorities.

“We are now awaiting a reply from them.” Ganguly was slapped with a six-match suspension for his team’s slow overrate during the one-day series against Pakistan.

BCCI had appealed against the suspension by it was turned down by ICC Appeals Commissioner Michael Belloff.

Mani also said that the change in rules regarding one-day matches are on experimental basis for a ten-month period.

“If we find that it is good we will continue with these new rules. If we find that it is damaging to the game we will not adhere to it.”

New labor contract

Now Nba has a new labour contact system.The National Basketball Association players union won’t have to pay legal fees if a high school player sues to overturn the league’s new 19-year-old minimum-age requirement, union spokesman Dan Wasserman said.

According to the labor agreement announced last week, which must still be ratified by owners and players, the National Basketball Association would pay the legal fees associated with the case, Wasserman said in an interview at the organization’s summer meeting in Las Vegas.

Under the new labor contract, a player can’t enter the NBA draft until he’s 19 or until one year after his high-school class graduation date. Players who entered the league directly from high school include LeBron James, Tracy McGrady, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett.

Last year, eight of the first 19 picks in the draft came from high school, and three of the past four No. 1 overall picks — Kwame Brown, James and Dwight Howard — skipped college. Players coming directly from high school can be selected in tonight’s NBA draft.

NBA Commissioner David Stern had lobbied for a 20-year-old age limit, saying it was too difficult for team executives to evaluate players at such a young age.

Billy Hunter, executive director of the players association, has said he’s philosophically opposed to an age limit but relented during negotiations to secure economic concessions from the owners.

Opposition

A number of players, including Indiana Pacers All-Star Jermaine O’Neal, who entered the NBA from high school, argued against a minimum age.

Former Ohio State University football player Maurice Clarett sued to enter the National Football League draft last year as a sophomore and lost.

NFL policy bars players from entering the draft unless three full college seasons have elapsed since their high school graduation. The league says the rule protects young athletes from injury and protects the jobs of current players.

Clarett argued the policy violated U.S. antitrust laws, and a federal judge in New York sided with Clarett. That ruling was overturned by an appeals court that said the NFL was shielded from liability because its policy was ratified by a collective bargaining agreement with the union.

Stern said he’s confident that the NBA rule would survive any legal challenge.

“It has been held up over time from legal attack,” the commissioner said when the league and union announced the new labor deal on June 21.

Shane’s it at again

The story that drove Shane Warne into hiding finally broke when a London newspaper published more allegations about the cricketer’s extramarital sex and explicit text-messaging.

Three days after Shane and Simone Warne announced their separation after 10 years of marriage, the Daily Mirror claimed Warne had an affair that lasted more than a month with a 31-year-old sales manager, Kerrie Colliemore, just before his family arrived in Britain.

The paper said Warne had assured Colliemore he had separated from his wife.

A “close friend” said Warne began bombarding Colliemore with text messages after they met at a nightclub in Southampton, where the leg spinner captains the English county team Hampshire.

The friend claimed to have found 48 text messages from Warne on Colliemore’s phone, one of which was so steamy it could not be printed.

“Shane wouldn’t leave her alone. The phone was on fire with his messages. Kerrie couldn’t believe how raunchy he was. He had the hots for her big time. She didn’t know anything about his past and thought he was separated,” the friend is quoted as saying.

“He couldn’t keep his hands off her. He wanted sex outside, inside, wherever he could,” including, according to the article, on the bonnet of his black BMW.

The affair apparently ended when Colliemore discovered Simone and the children were on their way from Melbourne.

The lurid account of Warne’s sex life is the latest in a string of off-field scandals to surround the drama-prone cricketer.

Less than two weeks ago the same paper published claims from a 25-year-old London student that Warne pestered her for sex after a night out with his friend, the England batsman Kevin Pietersen.

Five years ago, Warne was stripped of the Australian vice-captaincy after making a string of lewd calls to a Leicestershire nurse, and last year a South African woman, Helen Cohen Alon, was jailed for extortion after claiming he hassled her for sex.

Warne has not been seen since releasing a statement with Simone about the marriage break-up, and it remains unclear whether they have escaped to Spain.

Hampshire have given Warne a fortnight off, and he is due to join the Australian Test squad on July 11 before the Ashes series. Warne’s brother and manager, Jason, was not available for comment last night.

Despite the vivid accounts given by the friend of Colliemore, the paper quotes the woman herself as saying: “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I have absolutely nothing to say.”

The latest allegations raise more questions about how Cricket Australia handles constant unsavoury revelations about the private life of its most famous cricketer. Its public affairs manager, Peter Young, could not comment specifically but said: “Clearly we would prefer Shane Warne to be creating publicity for the game of cricket through his on-field performances.”

Sharapova rules Russian battle at Wimbledon

Defending champion Maria Sharapova beat fellow Russian Nadia Petrova in straight sets at Wimbledon to set up a semifinal against two-time winner Venus Williams, who defeated Mary Pierce.

Sharapova, seeded second behind Lindsay Davenport, overcame eighth-ranked Petrova 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 at London’s All England Lawn Tennis Club today. Davenport, who won the title six years ago, beat Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-6, 6-3 and will face Amelie Mauresmo, who ousted Anastasia Myskina. Williams, champion in 2000 and 2001, fought off a late Pierce rally to triumph 6-0, 7-6 (12-10).

Maria Sharapova survived the first test of her Wimbledon title defence, working her way through an error-riddled first set before moving into the semi-finals with an eventually straightforward victory over her fellow Russian Nadia Petrova.

While Sharapova found her rhythm and range - not to mention her piercing grunt - in the latter stages of a 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 win, so sloppy was the first set that the 18-year-old will be grateful to have a day on the practice courts before she meets Venus Williams in the semis.

“Finishing off matches is very tough and it gave me the shivers,” Sharapova said after her 22nd straight victory on grass. “It’s so good to be in the semifinals again.”

Sharapova had gone through to the quarters without losing a set. While eighth-seeded Petrova was to become the first player to take her to a tie-breaker, the 23-year-old will feel disappointed she did not take advantage of Sharapova’s mistakes, not grabbing her first break point until Sharapova was serving for the match.

The flipside of a scrappy day for Sharapova is that, while not at her best, she was still able to shake off in straight sets a player who, while never having won a WTA title, provides solid testing material for the higher-ranked players.

There was also the opportunity to get some valuable court-time ahead of the greater battles to come, the 55 minutes she took to fight her way through the first set being just 12 minutes shorter than the average time of her previous four matches.

And, if she did not look as sharp as she had in previous matches here, or during last year’s unexpected run to the title, Sharapova has won 22 consecutive matches on grass.

The second-youngest women’s Wimbledon champion in the Open era last year, aged 17, Sharapova hasn’t dropped a set in the defense of her only major title. Neither has Williams, who will make her first Grand Slam semifinal appearance since 2003, when she lost to sister Serena in the Wimbledon final. The winner this year will pick up a check for 600,000 pounds (USD 1.1 million.)

The pair have met twice on the women’s tour, Sharapova beating Williams in straight sets on hard courts in Zurich in 2004 and this year in Miami.

Sharapova, who had dropped 17 games in her previous four matches, was taken to a tie-break in an opening set with no breaks of serve. She closed out the set in 55 minutes with two powerful forehands, one down the line, the next into the corner that wrong-footed her opponent.

Champion’s Luck

Petrova, a semifinalist at last month’s French Open, had her serve broken in the second game of the second set as Sharapova opened up a 3-0 lead.

Petrova got her first break point of the match at 5-3 only for the champion to win the point as her ball clattered against the top of the net. Sharapova won the next rally with the help of another net cord and then sealed the match as Petrova overhit a forehand. The second set took 30 minutes.

Petrova “has such a big serve but I was able to pull through,” said Sharapova, who beat her opponent in their only other previous match in Los Angeles in 2003. “I knew she has a big game so I had to be prepared.”

Venus Williams also won the U.S. Open in 2000 and 2001 and was runnerup in five of six Grand Slams through Wimbledon 2003. Her father Richard told the British Broadcasting Corp. before today’s match that she and Serena didn’t love the game as much as they used to.

Venus Power

Venus responded by taking just 21 minutes to overpower the 2000 French Open champion and win the first set. Pierce needed eight games to get on the scoreboard and then rallied to take the second set to a tiebreak.

Pierce, who already matched her best performance in the only grass-court Grand Slam by reaching the last eight, had five set points to take the match into a decider. Each time, Williams battled back and, as Pierce tired, forced the victory. The second set took 68 minutes.

They followed Mauresmo and Myskina onto Centre Court after the French No. 3 seed reached her third semifinal in as many appearances at the event. Mauresmo, who missed Wimbledon in 2003, beat ninth-ranked Myskina 6-3, 6-4.

Myskina, 23, made 20 unforced errors and has now failed to go beyond the quarterfinal in five Grand Slams since winning last year’s French Open. Mauresmo leaped and punched the air after Myskina put a backhand wide to end the match after 69 minutes.

“Last year I had a couple of chances to make it through to the final and didn’t take them,” Mauresmo said. “I hope I’ve learned from that experience.”

‘Different Style’

Davenport dropped one point in the first-set tiebreak against U.S. Open champion Kuznetsova, the fourth Russian quarterfinalist and seeded fifth. Kuznetsova, who turned 20 yesterday, has never been beyond the quarterfinals of the sport’s other three Grand Slams.

Davenport has beaten Mauresmo 10 times in their past 13 matches, none of them on grass.

“She’s playing great and she’s a great athlete,” Davenport said. “I admire her a lot and will have to play my best. She plays a different style, comes in a lot and mixes up her pace.”

Now both of them are planning for the big one ‘FINALS’. But there is a big hurdle between final . So both revials
are ready for the semis.

Better than a bump on the head

The last time many fans saw Andy Roddick with a trophy, it was falling out of an overhead bin on an airplane and hitting him in the head.

The TV ad still airs often, and Roddick was asked about it Monday after reaching the Wimbledon quarterfinals.

“Every place I go, it’s the first time they’ve ever seen it,” Roddick said. “I’ve been watching that thing for a year now.”

The second-seeded Roddick hopes to fly home next week with his first Wimbledon trophy. He’s three wins away and faces frequent practice partner Sebastien Grosjean on Wednesday.

(more…)

Aussie crisis is over

Australia are blanking out the unwanted memory of their last trip to Edgbaston as they seek to continue their NatWest Series momentum against England.

The world champions have set about making up for their slow start to the triangular limited-overs tournament with two emphatic victories, over England in Durham and then by a landslide 10 wickets at Bangladesh at Old Trafford on Saturday.

But their next date against the hosts is a day-night fixture on Tuesday in Birmingham - where their 2004 ICC Champions Trophy ended on what captain Ricky Ponting describes as a “dirty day” for the Aussies last September.

England have made great capital out of that six-wicket semi-final success over the old enemy when the world’s second most important one-day competition came to this country last autumn.

Since then Australia appear to have ridden out a mini-crisis in their limited-overs form at the start of this Ashes summer - and Ponting is determined to accentuate the positive rather than dwelling on an isolated past setback.

“It was an awful day in every way - the way we played, and then me breaking my thumb and having to miss the tour to India,” he grudgingly recalled.

“But that is long gone. It was a dirty day for us, so we will not be talking about it at all.”

The Aussies’ most recent experiences have been highly encouraging for them, not to mention a little ominous for their opponents.

With key all-rounder Andrew Symonds back in harness - an important half-century against England on Thursday and a career-best five for 18 with his off-breaks against Bangladesh in Manchester - Ponting has good reason to be optimistic again.

“Instead of Edgbaston last year, we can talk about the other day in Durham and some of the good things we did there and try to take those into the next game,” he said.

“That is what our team meetings are about, trying to identify the smaller aspects of our game we know we can still improve on.”

The same recipe will doubtless be on the menu for the remainder of Australia’s NatWest campaign which picks up at Canterbury against Bangladesh on Thursday once Tuesday’s final qualifying match with the hosts is out of the way.

Ponting and Co have twice been on the receiving end over the past week or so of Bangladesh’s shot-a-ball middle-order batsman Mohammad Ashraful.

The 20-year-old’s maiden one-day international hundred brought unconsidered Bangladesh an astounding five-wicket victory at Cardiff eight days ago - and even in defeat on Saturday he contributed an audacious half-century.

In between, he fell just short of a quickfire hundred against England at Trent Bridge.

But while Ponting acknowledges Ashrafaul’s wristy gung-ho batting has put him in line for a man-of-the-series award, he does not anticipate lasting success with such a high-risk attitude.

“He is riding his luck a lot at the moment,” he said.

“He has lots of shots going through his mind - you can see that as the bowler is running in.”

Better shot selection is a must, though, if Ashraful is to make the most of his talent - according to Ponting.

The Tasmanian, himself an established world-class batsman with a special natural ability of his own, added: “He is playing pull shots to balls that are just short of a length.

“He has been getting away with it. But you can be the best player in the world and you won’t stay in international cricket for long playing that way. It just doesn’t work.

“He has got things going his way at the moment - but I don’t think it will last that long.”

The two fiercest rival’s will display thier best game in the arena . Spectator’s will really enjoy.