Gul, Tanvir put Pakistan ahead in windy Wellington

Pakistan's seamers punctuated spells of ordinariness with sparks of brilliance to dismantle New Zealand's top order and put their side ahead at stumps. Umar Gul and Tanvir Ahmed were lethal in the first hours of the first two sessions, and though Ross Taylor survived their bursts with a mix of caution and enterprise, the home batsmen suffered from a general lack of confidence that prevented them from counterattacking when the bowlers were on song, and from dominating when they weren't. Gul began Pakistan's dominance with a new-ball spell that oozed intent from the outset. Resisting the natural urge to crank up the pace when aided by a breeze, he relied on subtle sleight of hand and a high...

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Watch live India Vs South Africa 12:30GMT

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World Cup places up for grabs

This match is being used to mark the 40th anniversary of one-day cricket, which began back on January 5, 1971 when Australia faced England at the MCG after the scheduled Test was abandoned due to rain. How times have changed. Floodlights, coloured clothes (and colour TV), white balls, Powerplays, HawkEye, the switch hit and much more. What hasn't changed, though, is Australia's desire to win and they haven't been doing a lot of it lately. The Twenty20 victory on Friday was a welcome change of fortune and now the one-day series is the last chance to prepare before heading to the World Cup next month. But with the squads having to be named by January 19 in reality there is one game before the players will know their fate. Judging...

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Finch sets up four-run win for Australia

One swallow doesn't make a summer, but one Finch made Australia's day at the MCG, where the hosts ended England's eight-match winning streak in Twenty20 games. In his second game for his country, the hometown batsman Aaron Finch muscled a promising unbeaten half-century that pushed the total to 7 for 147, and the seamers held their nerve to give Cameron White his first victory as Australia's captain. In another tense finale after the final-ball thriller in Adelaide, England needed 13 off the last three deliveries, and Chris Woakes slammed Brett Lee over long-on for a crowd-silencing six that made the equation seven from two balls. But Woakes and Tim Bresnan couldn't repeat the dose against the pace of Lee, who bowled short at the...

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Pakistan Vs Newzealand 2nd Test at Wellington 03:00PKT

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Bahrain vs India 16:15GMT

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Egypt vs Kenya 17:00GMT

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Hussain double-strike hurts PIA

The final of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, Pakistan's premier domestic first-class tournament, will be played under lights with the use of coloured balls, an unprecedented event in Pakistan first-class cricket. David Richardson, ICC's general manager, cricket, expressed his support for the experiment. "This concept has been trialed in other countries and it is part of our wider policy of investigating the possibility of introducing day-night Test matches," Richardson said. "Just like we need to find ways to promote and protect Test cricket, this initiative shows the intentions of the PCB to promote the longer form of the game in Pakistan and try to make cricket even more popular than it already is. We are very pleased with how this trial...

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Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid

Following four consecutive Copa del Rey triumphs between 1905 and 1908, Madrid were given their royal title in 1920 and became one of the founding members of the Liga on its 1929 inception. A team including legendary goalkeeper Ricardo Zamora were champions in 1931/32 and 1932/33. • With the Chamartin Stadium in ruins following the Spanish Civil War, board member Santiago Bernabéu led construction of the venue that now bears his name, opening in 1947. The club then pulled the masterstroke of signing Alfredo di Stéfano, and with Francisco Gento and Miguel Muñoz, Madrid set about dominating European football. • Los Merengues won the first five instalments of the European Champion Clubs' Cup, and completed the...

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Kamran, Misbah-ul-Haq in ODI squad to play NZ

Wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal has finally returned to a Pakistan squad, picked on Wednesday for the ODI series against New Zealand. The squad for Pakistan's last assignment before the 2011 World Cup is effectively a shadow squad for the tournament; Akmal changes places with his younger brother Adnan, who misses out. Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq, who played only two ODIs last year, against South Africa in the UAE before he was dropped for the final three, also returns. That means no place for the veteran Mohammad Yousuf, who has been effectively dropped from both Test and ODI cricket over the last month or so. His chances of appearing in the World Cup, at this stage, appear slim. Opener Ahmed Shehzad returns to the side, suggesting he...

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Arsenal vs Ipswich

Arsenal may have been off the pace in the inaugural Premier League season in 1992/93, but they made up for it by winning both the FA and League Cups. The Premier League crown eluded them until 1998 - two years into manager Arsene Wenger's tenure - when they did the league and FA Cup double. Under the Frenchman, the Gunners shook off their "boring" image and began to play some of the most attractive football in England. In eight of his 14 seasons at the club, Arsenal have finished first or second. And together with star players such as Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira and Dennis Bergkamp, Wenger took Arsenal to another "double" in 2002. The Gunners reached the Champions' League final in 2006, becoming the...

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QEA final to be a day-night affair

The final of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, Pakistan's premier domestic first-class tournament, will be played under lights with the use of coloured balls, an unprecedented event in Pakistan first-class cricket. David Richardson, ICC's general manager, cricket, expressed his support for the experiment. "This concept has been trialed in other countries and it is part of our wider policy of investigating the possibility of introducing day-night Test matches," Richardson said. "Just like we need to find ways to promote and protect Test cricket, this initiative shows the intentions of the PCB to promote the longer form of the game in Pakistan and try to make cricket even more popular than it already is. We are very pleased with how this trial...

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Eyes on World Cup spots as ODIs begin

The Test series between the top two teams in international cricket was meant to be this tour's biggest draw, but the ODI series that starts on Wednesday is almost as significant. Bilateral one-dayers are an after-party to a grand event, though not in this case with the World Cup just over a month away and with the teams required to finalise their fifteen-member squads for the event by January 19. Three of the five games in this series - the last official 50-over preparation for the two sides ahead of the World Cup - will be played out before the deadline and they are likely to influence the composition of the final squads. Injuries to Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir have led to call-ups for Rohit Sharma and M Vijay for the ODI...

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Tasmania demolish Victoria by nine wickets

Tasmania have demolished the reigning champions by nine-wickets in a rain-reduced clash at the Bellerive Oval to go to the top of the Big Bash table. Standing in for the absent Tim Paine, 22-year-old debutant Jonathan Wells thumped an unbeaten 51 from just 33 balls to guide Tasmania to their target of 108 in just 11.3 overs. Play was delayed initially by 40 minutes of persistent drizzle, reducing the contest to 15-over-a-side fixture, but once the covers were removed, George Bailey had no hesitation in inserting Victoria when the coin fell his way. It proved a masterstroke when the visitors lost Glenn Maxwell and acting captain Brad Hodge in the opening two overs. They slumped to 3 for 20 when Matthew Wade fell to Rana Naved-ul-Hasan....

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Lee, Tait and David Hussey in ODI squad

Brett Lee, Shaun Tait and David Hussey have all been given the chance to press for World Cup selection after being named in Australia's squad for the first ODI against England. The match in Melbourne on Sunday will be the only one-day game Australia will play before their 15-man World Cup group needs to be finalised, so there is plenty at stake for several fringe men. Nathan Hauritz was also chosen, having not been part of Australia's team in any format since he was axed before the first Ashes Test. Hauritz, Xavier Doherty and Steven Smith are all in the 14-man squad, and with the World Cup to be played on spin-friendly subcontinental surfaces, they will all be keen to impress in the 50-over format. Michael Clarke, who last week announced his retirement from Twenty20s, will captain...

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Australia bat as Finch and Woakes debut

Cameron White has won his first toss as Australia's Twenty20 captain and chose to bat at Adelaide. Aaron Finch, the Victoria batsman, will make his debut for Australia and Chris Woakes, the Warwickshire seamer, gets his first cap for England while Ian Bell returns for his first Twenty20 since 2008. Woakes, who replaced the injured Stuart Broad in the England squad, made his senior debut against the Prime Minister's XI in Canberra on Monday and claimed 2 for 63 from nine overs. He has been preferred to Chris Tremlett with Michael Lumb, the specialist Twenty20 opener, is also on the sidelines. Australia have a bowling attack full of pace with Shaun Tait, Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson primed to unleash on the batsmen. James Pattinson...

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Tribunal defers verdict till February 5

Three Pakistani players will have to wait until February 5 to discover the eventual outcome of the spot-fixing charges laid on them by the ICC. A six-day hearing in Doha, Qatar failed to come up with a verdict on the various corruption charges that Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir face over incidents in two Tests last summer against England. The very fact that the Oval Test was also under investigation, in addition to the Lord's Test, provided a late twist to the final day of an ultimately anti-climactic six-day hearing. The players will remain provisionally suspended until they reconvene in Doha to hear the judgement of the ICC tribunal formed to deal with the spot-fixing case. At the end of a day of fevered speculation...

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The over-priced, the steals, the toppers and the unsold

The dust is settled, the final hammer blow has fallen. IPL-4 will get underway with a whole lot of changes in personnel - some expected, some unexpected, some baffling, some daft, and some even inspired. Of all the players who formed part of the auction, the ones who are likely to be the biggest talking points are the ones who fall in either of the following four categories: unsold heavyweights, over-priced players, under-priced 'steals', and the players who bagged the biggest pay-checks. Over-priced players: Ravindra Jadeja fetched 950,000 USD, Johan Botha had the same, and Piyush Chawla walked away with 900,000 USD. A bit lower down the scale, Umesh Yadav had 750,000 USD, and Venugopal Rao had 700,000. None of these five are bad players,...

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Amir's lawyer requests deferred verdict

Mohammad Amir's legal counsel has requested the ICC's three-man tribunal examining the charges of spot-fixing to take more time to study the case before announcing its verdict. The closing statements of the six-day hearing were presented on Tuesday morning and while the verdict was expected later in the day, Amir's laywer Shahid Karim was hoping for a deferment. "We have requested the judges to look at the case carefully and properly and with due consideration before they announce the verdict," Karim told Geo TV. "This is up to them, and if they have looked at it with thought and consideration, then after we finish they'll tell us if the verdict is announced today or at a later date. "I am satisfied that the hearing has been very...

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Andy Flower eyes World Cup win

Team director Andy Flower believes England can win the upcoming World Cup.England will begin their lead-up programme with a 50-over match against a Prime Minister's XI in Canberra on Monday, before meeting Australia in two Twenty20s and seven one-day internationals. Those matches will form the bulk of their preparation for the World Cup on the sub-continent, which begins with their opening group game against Holland on February 22. While Flower concedes playing on the harder surfaces in Australia is not ideal ahead of the spin-friendly dust bowls in Asia, he still believes his team have the capacity to follow their World Twenty20 success of a year ago and clinch the 50-over crown for the first time. "I think it's possible, but it's...

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Lankan President wants best 15 for WC

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse urged the selectors to pick the best team for next month's World Cup.A presidential statement said that no player must be left out of the team due to personal preferences of individuals. "It will be selection committee's responsibility to pick the best 15," president was quoted as saying. The veteran opening batsman Sanath Jayasuriya who is now a ruling party parliamentarian has been included in the provisional squad of 30 players which will be pruned down to 15, later this month. Jayasuriya's inclusion at 42 years and that of Chaminda Vaas' have raised eye brows. Both were stars of Sri Lanka's successful 1996 World Cup campaign. Both have not figured in Sri Lanka's recent successes in the one...

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PCB meets Afridi on selection matters

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt held a lengthy meeting with Shahid Afridi to pick the World Cup squad.Afridi later told reporters that it had been a very good meeting. "Such a meeting was due and a lot of positives came out of it. The chairman was briefed on everything and he was very receptive to what I had to say on different issues," he said. The skipper made it clear that he had no intentions of stepping down despite criticism from some quarters on his leadership. "I don t know exactly what anyone is saying but I try to learn if some great players like Wasim Akram or Imran Khan speak," Afridi said. "But everyone has to realise that the present team is very different from the one we had in the 90s when we won the World...

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Ex Pakistan players hail selectors

Pakistan's former Test players have supported the selectors for picking a well balanced World Cup preliminary squad.Former chief selector and Test leg-spinner Abdul Qadir, however, criticised the selection of former captain and senior batsman Mohammad Yousuf in the preliminary squad. "If captain Shahid Afridi pressed the board and selectors to recall Yousuf then he is wrong because Yousuf is no longer fit enough for the one-day version. His fielding is just not up to the mark," Qadir said. The selectors on Tuesday recalled Yousuf for the World Cup squad while ignoring another former captain Shoaib Malik. Qadir said the decision to recall Kamran Akmal and Rana Naved was a good one and it would pay dividends for Pakistan team. "They are experienced players and they will be useful in the...

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Lee may quit if not picked for WC

Brett Lee hinted that he may end his cricketing career if he was overlooked by for the upcoming cricket World Cup.Lee while expressing his desire to lead the Australian bowling attack during the mega event said, "I hope that I am in it, and want to lead the attack for Australia." Lee, who has already announced retirement from the Test cricket, was last month named in the provisional 30-man squad which is supposed to be altered to a 15 member unit during this month. The fast bowler however remains positive of making a comeback in the ODI side after being overlooked by the selectors for the series against Sri Lanka earlier. "Hopefully I can bring some experience and different blood back in the team. I'm ready to play, and if I'm...

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PCB undecided over WC skipper

Pakistan Cricket Board will not decide on who will captain Pakistan in the World Cup before January 9.Although flamboyant all-rounder Shahid Afridi has been leading the team in Twenty20 and One-day Internationals since last year but in recent days there has been a debate in the media over whether the board is going to retain him for the World Cup. The fact that Butt called Afridi over to Lahore for a meeting soon after he returned from New Zealand after leading the team in the Twenty20 series has increased speculations over captaincy. Ijaz Butt now himself has added to the confusion by stating that the board had still not decided who would be captain in the World Cup. Butt went one step further by stating that Afridi was not a...

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Thierry Henry back with Arsena

Arsenal great Thierry Henry has begun a training stint with the club in order to keep fit during the Major League Soccer off-season.Henry, who plays for the New York Red Bulls in MLS, remains a favourite with Gunners fans after scoring 226 goals in a highly successful spell with the club between 1999 and 2007. The 33-year-old left Arsenal to join Barcelona in the summer of 2007 before signing for New York in July last year. A statement on Arsenal's official website read: "Thierry Henry is back at Arsenal. "The Gunners legend returned to London Colney on Monday to train with Arsene Wenger's squad. The short-term arrangement will help Henry maintain his fitness ahead of the new MLS campaign, which begins in March. "Henry joined the New...

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Korea vs Bahrain 16:15GMT

The Taeguk Warriors are Asia's most successful World Cup campaigners, having progressed to the finals on eight occasions and last year reaching the knockout stage outside their own country for the first time. However, Asian Cup glory has eluded them since 1960 and the importance of making a winning start to the tournament against Bahrain in Group C tomorrow has not been lost on coach Cho Kwang-rae. "The first match of the tournament is the most important," he said. "We have prepared well for this with a training camp in Abu Dhabi and I am confident the players will do a good job against Bahrain. "I have watched videos of them and also seen them play live so our analysis is done. They are a strong team in general so I am sure it will...

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India vs Australia 13:15GMT

The Socceroos went into Asia's showpiece competition, their first after switching to the Asian Football Confederation, as strong favourites to claim the title on the back of a strong 2006 World Cup and boasting a squad laden with top-class talent. However, Tim Cahill's injury-time equaliser salvaged a disappointing draw in their opening game against Oman before Graham Arnold's side went down 3-1 to Iraq. Victory over Thailand saw them make the quarter-finals, where they went out on penalties to a Japan side they had beaten 12 months previously in Germany, leading to a barrage of negative headlines. Galatasaray defender Neill stressed the lessons from that experience will stand Australia in good stead in Doha when they play India...

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AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2011 Fixtures

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 19:15  - Group C KOR : BHR  Al Gharafa Stadium Tue, 11 Jan 2011 16:15  - Group D PRK : UAE  Qatar Sports Club Stadium 19:15  - Group D IRQ : IRN  Al Rayyan Stadium Wed, 12 Jan 2011 16:15  - Group A UZB : KUW  Al Gharafa Stadium 19:15  - Group A CHN : QAT  Khalifa Stadium Thu, 13 Jan 2011 16:15  - Group B JOR : KSA  Al Rayyan Stadium...

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India win despite van Wyk fifty

Morne Van Wyk defined irony on a lovely Durban night at the marvellous Moses Mabhida Stadium. On the day where he went unpicked by the IPL franchises, van Wyk hit a cultured 39-ball 67 to threaten to overhaul India's strong 168, but he fell in the 11th over to trigger a collapse and India closed in quickly. South Africa had deployed three spinners on a slow, low surface, but Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina propelled India to a match-winning total. Van Wyk had the crowd in screaming in delight with his strokeplay: He looted 25 runs from six deliveries, spread over two overs, from Munaf Patel: There was a stunning pick-up shot over midwicket boundary, a pulled six and a cut boundary but the best shot was a scorching square drive to...

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Wright urges patience after crushing defeat

John Wright, the New Zealand coach, has called his team's performance in the Hamilton Test as "unacceptable" but has urged "patience" from fans following the crushing three-day defeat. New Zealand lost all ten second-innings wickets in a session to be shut out of the game that, until tea on the third day, had been closely fought. The Test was Wright's first major assignment in his new role as coach, after he replaced Mark Greatbatch following New Zealand's forgettable one-day campaigns in the subcontinent. "I'm a little bit older and wiser," Wright, who was formerly India's coach, told Radio Sport. "It's certainly been an interesting experience. You've got to have a look at things and I suppose in reality you're looking at the challenge...

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Second-oldest cricketer of all time dies aged 103

Syd Ward, the oldest known surviving first-class cricketer and the second longest-lived ex-cricketer whose age has been incontestably established, died at his home in Wairarapa, New Zealand, on New Year's Eve at the age of 103. Born in Australia, Ward moved to New Zealand at an early age and worked in Wellington as a jeweller. A top-order batsman, he played ten matches for Wellington between 1929-30 and 1936-37 scoring 282 runs at 14.84. The highlight of his career came in December 1935 when he was in the Wellington side which beat the touring MCC by 14 runs. Ward was also an accomplished rugby player for the state before his career was ended in 1933 by a badly-broken ankle. He had no children but his nephew said he had been...

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