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NEWS UPDATE : Asian Cricket Third Sri Lanka-Pakistan ODI abandoned due to rain COLOMBO: The third One-day International between Sri Lanka and Pakistan was abandoned due to rain here at the R Premadasa Stadium on Wednesday. The umpires made this decision after consulting ... Australia want to master all forms of game: Clarke SYDNEY: Australia's limited-overs tour of England and Ireland represents the start of a two-year campaign to make them the top nation in all three forms of the game, captain Michael Clarke said ... Bopara glad to be back for England SOUTHAMPTON, England: Ravi Bopara is eager to make up for lost times as he tries to revive his ... South Africa name unchanged squad for England series JOHANNESBURG: South Africa have kept faith with a winning formula by naming an unchanged squad for the three-Test series in England starting next month, Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced on ...


Tuesday, November 08, 2011

West Indies takes 95-run lead on Day 2

India's famed batting line-up suffered a stunning collapse as an inspired West Indies gained an edge by taking a vital 95-run first-innings lead in the first Test on Monday.After restricting West Indies to 304 all out, riding on Pragyan Ojha's career-best six for 72, the hosts' batting collapsed like a house of cards to be bundled out for a paltry 209 on an unpredictable Feroz Shah Kotla track on a day, which saw as many as 17 wickets fall.It was a combination of poor shot selection and some spirited bowling by the West Indies that saw India's high-profile batting-order crumble, though, many of them got the starts.Virender Sehwag (55), Rahul Dravid (54) and Gautam Gambhir (41) were the notable scorers for the hosts who found it difficult to negotiate the Kotla track, which offered variable bounce.Skipper Darren Sammy led the way with three for 35, while Ravi Rampaul and Devendra Bishoo chipped in with two wickets apiece. The visitors were 21 for two at close of an eventful second day's play, extending their overall lead to 116.Kirk Edwards was batting on 15 while night-watchman Fidel Edwards was yet to open his account as they managed to negotiate Pragyan Ojha and Ravichandran Ashwin after India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni started with spin from both ends.Kraigg Brathwaite and Kieran Powell were the two batsmen to be dismissed. With three full days left, India will seek to dismiss West Indies as quickly as possible to try and come back into the match.Earlier, Ojha's maiden five-for haul hastened the West Indies' slide from an overnight 256 for six. But India undid much of Ojha's good work in the first session.India's start was solid as openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir put on 89 runs in 12.3 overs. Both negotiated an eventful 25 minutes as India went to lunch at 39 for no loss in five overs.Gambhir survived a close lbw shout off Rampaul before Kirk Edwards dropped the left-hander at third slip off Fidel Edwards. And then, Sehwag escaped due to a no-ball by Edwards after the pacer breached through the opener's defence.But lady luck smiled on the visitors when Sammy ran out Gambhir off his own bowling in the 13th over of the innings. Gambhir's dismissal triggered a collapse that saw India lose four wickets, including the one of Sachin Tendulkar, who yet again missed out on an opportunity to record his 100th international ton.Dravid along with Yuvraj Singh (23 off 39) steadied the ship for a while by putting on 32 runs for the fifth wicket but the latter, seeking to establish his Test career, was once again guilty of throwing away his wicket when Sammy lured him with a ball that seemed to have stopped at the batsman.Yuvraj committed himself to the shot a tad too early, and Kirk Edwards did the rest at extra covers. The breakthrough West Indies were looking for came right after the tea break.Wickets of Dhoni and Ravichandran Ashwin only made matters worse for India. Ishant Sharma (17) tried to offer resistance during his eight-wicket 49-run stand with Dravid, but that did not prove to be enough. The session prior to tea too belonged to the West Indies.Apart from Tendulkar and Gambhir, they also sent back VVS Laxman and Sehwag. First up was Gambhir. Sammy got a finger to Sehwag's booming straight drive and the ball went on to hit the stumps on the runner's end, catching the southpaw well short of the crease.If luck played a part in Gambhir's dismissal, Sehwag's wicket was bizarre. The batsman's right foot was in the air while he tried to work the ball around his hip off leg-spinner Bishoo, and wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh clipped the bails off in no time.Baugh was in fact on fire today, effecting four dismissals. That brought Tendulkar to crease, but the Kotla was stunned into silence in a matter of 25 minutes as the champion batsman made his way back to the dressing room after being rapped on the pads by a Fidel Edwards delivery.Credit must go to Sammy, who brought back his most lethal bowler after Tendulkar's arrival. Edwards looked hostile during that spell and returned with measly figures of five for one in as many quick overs.Tendulkar was followed by Laxman who was caught behind off Bishoo who was in the middle of a good spell at that point of time.Bishoo, however, got some stick from Yuvraj who smashed him straight down the ground for a six, and then followed that with two more boundaries.Earlier, continuing from where he had left on Sunday, Ojha picked up two wickets to his add to his overnight three and helped his team open the floodgates.While Ojha's effort was the primary reason behind the Wet Indies' slide, Ravichandran Ashwin played his part by chipping in with one to finish with figures of three for 81 in 27 overs, creditable enough for a debutant.Toiling hard on a track bereft of any movement or bounce, pace spearhead Ishant Sharma was rewarded when he found centurion Shivnarine Chanderpaul (118 off 196 balls; 7x4, 2x6) off guard with a sharp incoming delivery.There were some doubts over the decision by made Kumar Dharmasena, but TV replays showed that the ball would have gone on to the hit middle and leg.Umesh Yadav, another Indian playing in his first Test, though was a letdown, often straying down the leg. After Chanderpaul's dismissal, however, it was a matter of time before the West Indies innings folded up in 108.2 overs.Of his team's 442 minutes of batting, the Guyanese consumed 286 of them while facing 196 deliveries. Between the two, the new spin-twins of Ojha and Ashwin finished with figures of nine for 153.Introduced in the 99th over in place of Yadav, Ojha struck immediately removing overnight batsman Carlton Baugh with a ball that didn't turn as much as he had expected it to.Baugh's dismissal ended a 69-run partnership for the sixth wicket with Chanderpaul. After Ojha had Baugh trapped in front, the bowler did a repeat to send back West Indies skipper Darren Sammy with an arm ball that pitched around the middle stump for his maiden five-for in Test cricket.Making his debut against Sri Lanka in 2009, his previous best was four for 107

Aamer shifted to seaside Prison Portland

LONDON: The teenage bowling sensation Muhamamd Aamer has been shifted from notorious Feltham Young Offenders Institution to a special secure rehabilitation centre for young people in Weymouth known as Her Majesty's Prison Portland, a seaside tourist attraction town in Dorset, England, it can be revealed.After being sentenced to 6 months detention (not imprisonment) on Thursday with fellow players Salman Butt and Muhammad Asif, who were both sent to the high security Wandsworth prison in South London, the young bowling genius was sent to Feltham Young Offenders Institution. The decision to send Aamer to Her Majesty's Prison Portland, which is located in the village of Easton, came after it was decided by the Prison Services' Youth Justice Board that the young bowlers deserved to be at a better rehabilitation centre with modern educational, recreational and teaching facilities with no stigma such as the one attached to the Feltham Young Offenders Institution. The Weymouth Young Offenders Institution is considered a youth hostel and one of the best rehabilitation centres for the 15-21 years old offenders convicted on various charges.A source told Geo News that Aamer will have every kind of facility at the centre where he can play sports, attend education classes, exercise at the gym, use internet and take part in charitable events after a month or so, including collecting money for the local charities. Aamer will, each week, receive up to 25 hours of education, skills and other activities, including programmes looking at improving the behaviour of the young inmates.A source told that Muhammad Aamer demonstrated extremely good behavior for the two days he spent at the rehabilitation centre. The news of his arrival at the Feltham Young Offenders Institution had spread like wildfire amongst the more than 750 under 21 years old young inmates at the prison even before he was sent there from the holding cells at the Southwark Crown Court on Thursday. According to a source at the institution, Aamer spent the first two nights in Bittern unit, where the 8 holding units are named after birds. He was given access to TV, games and telephone straight away.Aamer's quick relocation is a far cry from the notorious Feltham Young Offenders' Institution where a 19 years old Pakistani Zahid Mubarek was killed in March 2000 by a white racist psychopath Robert Stewart. The teenager was sent to Feltham Young Offenders Institution after being found guilty of stealing razors and interfering with a motor vehicle.Robert Stewart, a prolific offender from the Manchester area, attacked Zahid Mubarek when he was preparing to come home at the end of his sentence. Hours before his release, Stewart took a table leg and batters his cellmate. Seven days later, Zahid Mubarek died in hospital from his injuries. Stewart was charged with his murder and found guilty of murder and sentenced to life.A report by the Commission for Racial Equality seven years ago found "widespread racism" at the jail, with Black and Asian inmates subjected to bullying and unfavourable treatment by wardens. Sir David Ramsbotham, the chief inspector of prisons, said the prison was "rotten to the core". The report said inmates had not been encouraged to report cases of racial abuse, and only five or six had been reported every month, but since his report the number has increased to 50 or 60 per month.

Pakistan win Sri Lanka Test series

SHARJAH : Pakistan clinched the three-Test series against Sri Lanka 1-0 after the third and final match ended in a draw at the Sharjah stadium here on Monday.Pakistan, set 255 runs to win in a possible of 61 overs, finished at 87-4, with Misbah-ul Haq unbeaten on nine and Asad Shafiq on four not out after losing four early wickets.Umpires called off play four overs earlier due to bad light.Pakistan won the second Test in Dubai by nine wickets, while the first Test in Abu Dhabi ended in a draw.Rain wiped out the pre-lunch session and when play resumed after two hours and 35-minute delay, Sri Lanka declared their second innings at 181-6 with opener Tharanaga Paranavitana unbeaten on 76.Saeed Ajmal took three and Umar Gul finished with two wickets