Cricket World Cup 2015: Ireland dealt qualification blow by India

Ireland’s hopes of reaching the World Cup quarter-finals suffered a blow as India sealed top spot in Pool B with a fifth straight win in the tournament.

Ireland came into the match knowing that a point would see them qualify.

Despite an opening stand of 89 between William Porterfield and Paul Stirling and 75 from Niall O’Brien, their 259 total was never likely to be enough.

So it proved as Shikhar Dhawan (100) and Rohit Sharma (64) helped India to a comfortable eight-wicket victory.

The margin of defeat is a reality check for Ireland, who have performed well above expectation in this tournament, claiming three wins (two against Test-playing nations) to give them six points and genuine hope of reaching the last eight.

They can still do so, but they will need to beat Pakistan in their final pool game or gain a point should the fixture be rained off.

Much like their game with South Africa, in which they conceded 411 runs before being bowled out for 210, the gulf in class between the sides in Hamilton was vast.

They started well, with Porterfield (67) and Stirling (42) using the pace of the opening bowlers well to amass an encouraging opening stand and suggest a competitive total over 300 was a possibility.

But India’s switch to spin bowling halted their progress as Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravinda Jadeja and Suresh Raina frustrated the top order and claimed the important wickets of Ed Joyce (bowled by Raina) and Andy Balbirnie (caught by Mohammed Shami off Ashwin).

Niall O’Brien offered resistance and hit well but when he and brother Kevin both fell to Shami, Ireland’s hopes of a decent score disappeared, with the returning Indian pace bowlers cleaning up the tail.

It was the fourth time India had bowled out a team in this high-scoring World Cup but Ireland’s consolation is that they made the highest total against MS Dhoni’s side.

Ireland had two opportunities to gain a foothold early in the India innings as Dhawan twice presented difficult catching chances off the bowling of John Mooney but the bowler was unable to hold on to the first and the second eluded the grasp of Porterfield at square leg.

After that, India were ruthless as Dhawan and Sharma amassed 174 before the latter chopped on to his own stumps from World Cup debutant Stuart Thompson.

Thompson, whose first over went for 18 before he was hastily withdrawn, also claimed the wicket of Dhawan, who miscued one to Porterfield at deep cover, but these were the only high points of the innings for Ireland as Virat Kohli (44) and Ajinkya Rahane (33) saw the reigning champions home with 79 balls to spare.

Listen to highlights from Test Match Special’s and 5 live Sport’s 2015 World Cup coverage.

Ireland captain William Porterfield: “I don’t think it can [knock Ireland’s confidence]. There are a lot of good things to take. We were disappointed to come off having not capitalised on a good situation. You have to give credit to India and they way they came back.

“It was a very good pitch and there wasn’t a lot of help for the seamers. We just couldn’t kick on like their opening pair did. Ashwin bowled very well. We just lost some wickets in that period. All in all I think we played very well.

“We have put in a lot of yards in the last few weeks. It is all about being fresh for that game [against Pakistan]. It is winner takes all so we need to mentally prepare and be ready. If you can’t get up for these games you won’t be up for any.”

India captain MS Dhoni: “We’ve been here four months, the guys put in a lot of effort in the Test series so I knew we had to step up the intensity from the one-day series, and all the boys have done that.

“We’re a little jet-lagged after coming from Perth, the boys were a little sleep-deprived so that’s another reason this game was important.

“Our bowlers are really doing the job for us, they’ve stepped up – not just the three fast bowlers, the spinners are complimenting them and when we’ve used part-timers they’ve done well.”

source: www.bbc.o.uk

Ashes 2013: England crush Australia at Lord’s to take 2-0 lead

England crushed Australia by 347 runs at Lord’s to take a 2-0 lead in the series and tighten their grip on the Ashes urn.
The hosts bowled Australia out for 235 late on the fourth day, having set them a notional 583 to win after declaring on 349-7 when Joe Root was dismissed for 180.

The tourists’ last-wicket pair frustrated England for an hour and threatened to take the match into a final day.
But with just four balls remaining before a delayed close, Graeme Swann trapped James Pattinson lbw for 35 to send England’s players into delighted celebrations.

The off-spinner finished with 4-78, and nine wickets in the match, while Tim Bresnan, James Anderson and Root took two wickets apiece.
Once again, the day featured controversies over the decision review system – Steve Smith and Ashton Agar fell to marginal calls – but there was no masking the gulf in quality between the sport’s two oldest rivals.

The resounding victory, England’s third biggest in terms of runs, puts Alastair Cook’s team in a commanding position from which to win their third Ashes series in a row.

Don Bradman’s 1936-37 Australians are the only team in the 136-year history of Test cricket to have come back from 2-0 down to win a series.
Should Australia fight back to draw 2-2 – something neither team have ever managed – England would still retain the urn, having won the last two series between the sides.

Despite an overnight lead of 466, England chose to continue batting in an effort to get Root to his double-hundred and further wear down the pitch.
But, after Jonny Bairstow had been caught behind cutting at Ryan Harris, Root attempted a ramp shot and scooped to Smith at third man, providing the cue for Cook to declare and set about dismantling the Australia batting order for the fourth time in the series.

Shane Watson’s innings followed a familiar trajectory, a trio of fours followed by an lbw dismissal as Anderson nipped one back. Ex-England batsman & Test Match Special summariser
“When you win in four days and are so much better than the opposition, you can’t criticise England. I think Australia will hope to get better but I’m not sure they can. England will just win again.”

Swann removed left-handers Chris Rogers and Phil Hughes in quick succession on a pitch tailor-made for his spin-bowling artistry.
After two sharply turning balls had fizzed past the outside edge, Rogers played no stroke to a delivery that went on with the arm and knocked over off stump.

A similar delivery accounted for Hughes, who played for spin that was not there and was trapped lbw. For the second time in the match Hughes used up one of Australia’s reviews, which established the ball would have hit leg stump.
On 36-3 at lunch, and with Swann turning the ball considerably, Australia were in danger of crumbling to a lower total than their first-innings 128, but Michael Clarke and Usman Khawaja battled hard in a stand of 98.

Clarke was struck three times by Stuart Broad, with one ball thudding into the badge on his helmet, and showed good footwork to the spinners before he glanced Root to leg slip to depart for 51. The part-time off-spinner, generating some alarming turn from the rough outside the left-hander’s off stump, accounted for Khawaja for 54 in the next over, when a thick edge was caught by Anderson at second slip.

When Bresnan removed Smith and Agar either side of tea – both to thin edges that were given out by the third umpire despite no obvious Hot Spot marks on the bat – the game was as good as up. Swann collected his third wicket when Brad Haddin padded up and was given out lbw. With no Australia reviews remaining, Haddin was powerless to overturn what turned out to be an incorrect call.

Anderson castled Peter Siddle to break a partnership of 30 with Pattinson and move England to within one wicket of glory. The resistance of Pattinson and Harris, however, frustrated England and forced them into taking an extra half-hour. Seven more overs came and went, with plenty of near misses, until Swann got a ball to fizz past Pattinson’s outside edge and clatter into his back leg to deliver the final act of a compelling drama.

Given the vast margin of victory, it is easy to forget that England were reduced to 28-3 on the opening morning of the match after winning the toss under cloudless skies. A classy 109 from Ian Bell helped them recover to 361 before Australia were blown away in an abject, and at times comical, display of batting.

England stuttered again at the start of their second innings, but such was the margin of their lead that it only needed one innings of substance to all but ensure a home win. Root was the man to oblige, with a masterful century that ground Australia into the Lord’s turf and set the stage for England’s bowlers to bring home the match – and quite possibly the series.

Source : www.bbc.co.uk

The Open 2013: Lee Westwood rues loss of form at Open

Lee Westwood said not doing “enough right” on the last day of the Open cost him the chance to win a first major. The 40-year-old led by two shots after 54 holes but his worst round of the championship, a 75, saw him finish in a tie for third at Muirfield, four shots behind winner Phil Mickelson. “I didn’t play badly, but I didn’t play great,” said the Englishman.

“There have been lots of very good players who have never won a championship and perhaps Lee Westwood is going to be one of those who never win. “He’ll be badgered by people and he will get the feeling, if he lets it get to him, that people are wondering why he doesn’t win.” “It’s a tough course – you’ve got to have your ‘A’ game. I missed a few shots out there.” Westwood made five bogeys as he slid down the leaderboard to finish on one over, while American Mickelson shot the round of the day – a 66 – for a three-under total.

“Sometimes you play well and somebody plays a bit better and sometimes you play poorly,” he added. “I didn’t really do either and Phil obviously played well. He shot the round of the day, five under par and birdied four out of [the last] six – that’s a pretty special finish in a major championship.
“But you’ve got to play well to give yourself your own momentum, and I just couldn’t get there today.

“I didn’t do a lot wrong, I just didn’t do enough right. I know what I’ve got to work on.” Westwood, who has finished either second or third at a major eight times in his 62 attempts, “really enjoyed” the experience of beginning the final round as leader.

He said: “It’s where any professional golfer wants to be. It means a lot and you go out there and try your best, but there was no pressure. “I was amazed to be in the lead going into the fourth round, because every time I turned into the wind I was really struggling. “I didn’t feel like I was striking the ball well but I putted lovely this weekend. I made my fair share so there was a lot of positives to take out of the week. “I’m not too disappointed. I don’t really get disappointed with golf any more.”

Source : www.bbc.co.uk

The Open 2013: Phil Mickelson cards superb 66 to win at Muirfield

Phil Mickelson came from five strokes back to clinch his first Open title and fifth major on a dizzying final day at Muirfield.

The 43-year-old American triumphed by three shots from Sweden’s Henrik Stenson, with English pair Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood four back, alongside Australia’s Masters champion Adam Scott.
Mickelson surged to the third leg of a career Grand Slam of all four majors with a stunning five-under 66 to finish three under.

Former European Ryder Cup captain BBC Sport at Muirfield. “What an unbelievable round by Mickelson. He almost made it look simple. He played with such freedom. The second shot he hit to 17 was absolutely majestic and then he went on to birdie the last, which was the sign of a true champion. He was the best guy out there this week.

“The only disappointment was Lee Westwood’s round today. He played a poor round and only he knows why. It’s not his last chance, but this one will hurt. Fortunately he is extremely resilient and he will fight back.”

The left-hander, who won the Scottish Open last week, birdied four of the last six holes and was in tears on the final green as he hugged caddie Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay.

The mercurial Mickelson’s Open record had been modest up to now, despite a third place at Troon in 2004 and second at Royal St George’s in 2011, as he slowly got to grips with a style of the game he initially “hated”.

But a play-off victory over the Castle Stuart links in Inverness last week, and now his first Claret Jug, should make amends for his devastation at recording a record sixth runner-up spot in the US Open behind Justin Rose last month.

“This is such an accomplishment because I never knew whether I’d be able to develop my game to play links golf,” said Mickelson. “I played arguably the best round of my career, and shot the round of my life. It’s such a difficult six-hole finish, I putted so good. It feels amazing.”

He added: “The range of emotions I feel are as far apart as possible after losing the US Open. But you have to be resilient in this game. These last couple of weeks, these last couple of months, I’ve played some of the best golf of my career.”

Mickelson delighted to “shoot the round of his life”. Mickelson, who won the Masters in 2004, 2006 and 2010 and the US PGA in 2005, continues the list of illustrious former champions at Muirfield, which includes such greats of the game as Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson, Nick Faldo (twice) and Ernie Els, who was defending champion this week.

American Mickelson becomes the third consecutive player in his 40s to win the Open, after Els and Darren Clarke. Westwood, seeking a first major title at the 62nd attempt, led by two going into the final day and moved serenely into a three-shot lead after five holes. But he took two to get out of a pot bunker on the short seventh and from then on was always struggling for momentum in a 75.

“I didn’t play that badly, my round came unstuck at seven, eight and nine,” said Westwood.
“Phil must have played really well. To birdie four out of the last six here on any day is good going. But to do it today on a breezy day with the flags blowing and in the Open Championship is exceptional.”

Stenson carded 70 for his best finish in a major, while Ryder Cup hero Poulter surged from eight strokes back with a brilliant 67 on an overcast, breezy day in contrast to the heat and sunshine of the rest of the week in East Lothian.

Scott, who blew a four-shot lead to finish runner-up to Els last year, hit the front at one stage on a topsy-turvy afternoon that saw the lead change hands numerous times, but the 32-year-old faltered late on with a 72.

Tiger Woods began two behind Westwood and in prime position to strike for a 15th major title and first since 2008. But he went backwards from the first and ended with a 74 for two over.

Source : www.bbc.co.uk

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso says team must start winning

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso has admitted he needs to start winning races if he is to have any chance of beating Sebastian Vettel to the title.

The Spaniard is 34 points adrift of the Red Bull driver after Vettel won Sunday’s German GP with Alonso fourth. “There is still a long way to go and if you have the package to fight everything is possible,” Alonso said. “To recover you need to win two or three races and at the moment it seems we are not able to do so.”

“If we concentrate in our own performance and improve the general weekend performance we can start to think good in terms of the championship”
Alonso admitted that Ferrari needed to “improve our situation” at the next race in Hungary on 28 July.
“If we concentrate in our own performance and improve the general weekend performance we can start to think good in terms of the championship,” he said.
“We’ve got three weeks until Hungary. They [the team] have got to do something, they’ve got to do it immediately.”

Vettel’s team-mate Mark Webber said that the drivers’ championship was “getting away from everybody”. Alonso climbed up from eighth on the grid to finish fourth at the Nurburgring, just four seconds behind Vettel, but he said that was down to the fact Ferrari had chosen a different strategy from the leading runners rather than outright speed.

“We started eighth and we finished four seconds behind the leaders, we did a good race from the position but obviously not good enough,” he said.
“It was very good the strategy. It gave us the possibility to fight for the podium. “We were not quick enough today. We didn’t have the pace and even with that we fight for the podium and were very close to the leading group.

“If I start fifth and we do soft-hard-hard-hard [tyre compounds] as the main competitors [did], I don’t think I finish four seconds behind them because we are slower than them and they will pull away so were fighting with them thanks to the strategy.” Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali said of winning the title: “It is do-able, for sure, 100%. Everything changes so quickly; everything is still possible.”

And Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton said he believed the possibility of winning the title was still “on” for Alonso.

Source : www.bbc.co.uk

Posted in F1

Cesc Fabregas: Man Utd make revised £30m bid for midfielder

Manchester United have made a second bid for Barcelona and Spain midfielder Cesc Fabregas.
United confirmed a £25m offer last Monday and have increased that to £30m plus add-ons, with executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward leaving the club’s pre-season tour to negotiate a deal.
“As I understand it, Ed had a response [to the first bid],” said Moyes at a press conference in Yokohama. “We have made a second offer but Ed is dealing with it rather than me.”

The Scot added: “When you’re interested in good players you want to give it every opportunity to materialise and I’ll do that. I hope things can continue and move forward.
“At this moment in time I can only tell you that Ed is working hard trying to make the deals happen. We can only hope that some of them fall into place shortly.”
Fabregas came through Barcelona’s La Masia academy before Arsenal signed him as a 16-year-old in 2003.

He developed as one of the London club’s key players under manager Arsene Wenger before becoming Arsenal captain in November 2008.

The 26-year-old spent eight years with the Gunners, playing 303 games and scoring 57 goals.
However, he returned to the Nou Camp when he signed a five-year deal with Barcelona in a £25.4m move in August 2011.

He has since helped the Catalan club win the Copa del Rey in 2011-12 and La Liga in 2012-13.
Fabregas has played 96 times in two seasons with Barcelona, including 60 league games, but has rarely featured in his preferred midfield role, with Xavi, 33, and Andres Iniesta, 29, ahead of him.
Fabregas has made 83 appearances for Spain, winning the 2010 World Cup and the European Championship twice.

Source : www.bbc.co.uk

Victoria Azarenka is one of five players to pull out of Wimbledon

World number two Victoria Azarenka is one of five players to pull out of Wimbledon on Wednesday after failing to overcome a knee injury.
The two-time semi-finalist fell heavily during Monday’s 6-1 6-2 first-round win over Maria Joao Koehler of Portugal.
Earlier, Steve Darcis, who beat Rafael Nadal in the first round, pulled out with a shoulder problem.

Number 10 seed Marin Cilic is also out with a knee injury while John Isner and Radek Stepanek were forced to retire. Azarenka, 23, had continued her first-round match after lengthy treatment and heavy strapping but failed to recover in time to face Italian Flavia Pennetta on centre court. Darcis, who was scheduled to play Lukasz Kubot of Poland. announced his withdrawal on Twitter: "Having to throw in the towel after beating Rafa!? THE hardest decision of my career!!! #triedmybestanyway!!!"

Neither Darcis or Azarenka took to the court for their second round matches."It happened against Rafa in the middle of the first set when I fell down," added Darcis."After the (Nadal) match, a few hours after, I start to feel so much pain, I couldn’t sleep that night. I saw the physio and the doctor yesterday. hey did a good job. It’s a little bit better today. But no chance I can play. I mean, I cannot serve. Even on the forehand side, I cannot hit a ball. It makes no sense to go on the court to withdraw after two games."

Both Isner and Stepanek required treatment during their second round matches but failed to recover enough to continue. American Isner had played just two games of his match against Adrian Mannarino of France when he was forced out with an injury to his left knee."Always serve and land on my left leg, like I have done 20 million times playing this game, and this is the first time I just felt this, like, sharp pain," he said."It wasn’t like a pop… it just grabbed really badly, and I knew I was in serious trouble then. I knew at that point it was not likely I was going to be able to play."

Stepanek soon followed, trailing one set to love and 5-3 to 24th seed Jerzy Janowicz, when he retired with a hamstring problem. Cilic made it five withdrawals when he pulled out ahead of his second-round match with Frenchman Kenny De Schepper. The world number 12 could have met Andy Murray at the quarter-final stage.

source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/

Andy Murray plays Yen-Hsun Lu at Wimbledon 2013

Andy Murray will take the lessons from one of the hardest defeats of his career into Wednesday’s second-round match against Yen-Hsun Lu at Wimbledon.
The British number one plays Taiwan’s world number 75 in the second match on Court One at approximately 15:00 BST.
They follow the match between French 31st seed Julien Benneteau and Spain’s Fernando Verdasco.
Murray has played Lu twice before, beating him in Indian Wells in March, five years after a shock defeat in the first round of the Beijing Olympics.

"I was so excited to play in the Olympics and be part of it that I was doing a lot of media," Murray said in his BBC Sport column."I was going to the opening ceremony, I was trying to speak to all of the athletes and take pictures with them, I was collecting the pins from each team – I was loving being part of it."But when I lost, I thought, ‘Why was I doing all that stuff? I’m here to win matches, I’m not here to collect pins.’ I loved going to the opening ceremony but had to think, ‘Is that the best thing for my preparation?’ "I learnt a lot from that match. It was one of the toughest losses of my career, and I don’t plan to repeat the experience on Wednesday." Lu beat British number two James Ward over four sets in the opening round, and the 29-year-old is a former world number 33 and Wimbledon quarter-finalist.
With that in mind, Murray refused to look too far ahead despite the absence of Rafael Nadal in his half of the draw after the Spaniard’s surprise loss to Steve Darcis on Monday."It’s pretty irrelevant right now," said Murray. "I would have to win at least four more matches before that would even become something I would think about."


Second seed Victoria Azarenka will open play on Centre Court against Italy’s Flavia Pennetta at 13:00, and the Belarusian will hope that her knee holds up after falling and twisting it during her first-round match."For two minutes I had such a consistent pain that it just completely freaked me out what happened," said the Belarusian. Azarenka and Pennetta will be followed on the main show court by sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga against Latvian Ernests Gulbis, and seven-time champion Roger Federer against Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsy. Third seed Maria Sharapova faces Portugal’s Michelle Larcher de Briton in the third match on Court Two. Laura Robson, the British women’s number one, will be in action on Thursday.

source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/

Kevin Pietersen makes England return in T20 clash with Kiwis

Kevin Pietersen is returning to England duty in good form, according to stand-in skipper Eoin Morgan. Pietersen faces New Zealand in the second Twenty20 international at the Oval on Thursday, with England one down in the two-match series. It is his first England game since a knee injury forced him out of the tour of New Zealand in March. Morgan said: "He takes a lot of pride in when he goes out there and bats. He looks in good form."

Pietersen returned from injury in a County Championship match for Surrey, scoring 177 not out in a drawn game against Yorkshire over the weekend. And Morgan, a stand-in for rested captain Stuart Broad, wants Pietersen to help England come back from Tuesday’s defeat by New Zealand, when they fell five runs short of the Kiwi’s imposing 201 for four. "What he brings to the table, probably very few people in the world can," Morgan told the ECB website. "He can take the game away from you at any stage and we saw during the week the way he performed."

After the Twenty20 game, Pietersen will join up with the England squad for their Ashes warm-up match against Essex, which starts on Sunday. The Test series against Australia starts at Trent Bridge on 10 July.

source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/

British Grand Prix: Silverstone to offer tickets on the day

Silverstone will sell tickets on the gate for this weekend’s British Grand Prix for the first time in nine years. The Formula 1 venue is normally sold out at this stage, but managing director Richard Phillips is still predicting a good attendance.

"It’s true that not all tickets have yet been sold, but Silverstone will nevertheless be playing host this weekend to the third biggest crowd in British Grand Prix history, with about 300,000 expected over the three days and pushing 130,000 on Sunday.

"Those numbers are testament to the British fans, whose enthusiasm and commitment was demonstrated all too clearly last year when, despite the warnings after heavy rain led to waterlogged car parks and horrendous traffic jams, 90,000 still turned up to watch qualifying."

Silverstone’s three-day attendance record is 315,000 – set in 2011. "Ticket sales were slower than usual during the initial sales period, but we have seen a significant upturn since F1 returned to Europe," said Phillips. Sales have increased in the run-up to Sunday’s race and Phillips is still expecting a large attendance. "While we don’t expect to reach the record attendance levels of 2011 and 2012, we are anticipating another big crowd here at Silverstone this weekend," added Phillips.

"A promising forecast for the weekend, has prompted us to put measures in place to sell tickets to fans deciding to turn up on the day. "This weekend’s attendance looks set to be one of our biggest in recent years." A spokeswoman added that they expect about 5% of tickets to be available on the gate on the Sunday.

source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/