TOP 100 SPORT SITES
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| Watford stave off threat of administration Watford have avoided administration by paying back the £5 million that the club owed their former chairman. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |
Ponting delighted by Australia's fightback • Australia bowl out tourists for 139 to secure series victory• Hauritz takes five wickets as Pakistan collapseCaptain Ricky Ponting has rated Australia's 36-run win over Pakistan in the second Test among the most satisfying of his career. The hosts dismissed Pakistan for 139 on a dramatic fourth day to cap an incredible win which few thought possible when the hosts posted just 127 runs in their first innings.While Australia have made a habit of snatching dramatic victories at the Sydney Cricket Ground in recent years – having toppled India and South Africa late on the final day in the previous two Sydney Tests – Ponting claimed the most recent triumph was even more rewarding."I don't think anyone else in the world other than probably all the blokes inside our room thought we could win," said the Australia captain. "In the other SCG Tests we've probably been in positions where we should have won the games. So this one, turning up today 80 runs ahead, I think all of us felt that if we could get 150 we were going to be right in the game. Where it ended up today was a sort of a difficult number I think for Pakistan to look at and try to chase."Pakistan needed 176 for victory, and Ponting said: "Those sort of totals are always hard to chase but what Huss and Sids [Michael Hussey and Peter Siddle, who put on 123 for the ninth wicket] did today and what the bowlers did and probably more importantly today what the fielders did ... those little things like that can be the difference between winning and losing the game."Ponting conceded the furore surrounding his decision to bat first on a green SCG wicket on the opening day had taken a toll on the entire team.Although he could see the lighter side of his contentious decision after pulling off the unlikely triumph, the home captain stood by his brave call before admitting he is unlikely to ever choose to bowl first in a Test match again."It's been a pretty tough few days not only for me but the team," Ponting said. "We felt that we probably underperformed a little bit on the first day and as a captain and a top-order batter the last thing I want to do is bat on a wicket that I don't think we can make any runs on."So I backed us at the start of the game to make more in the first innings of the game than what I thought Pakistan could make in the last innings of the game. As it turns out we got 120-odd and then bowled them out for 139 in the last innings of the game. It just goes to show I guess how hard chasing runs in Test cricket is."What we've read over the last couple of days and what we've seen and heard on the news probably just steeled us all a little bit and just made us want to fight the game out as much as we can and prove that we're never out of the contest."Shell-shocked Pakistan captain Mohammad Yousuf accepted the blame for his side's disappointing second innings before conceding his side's lack of Test experience was a major factor."I think they batted very well in the second innings and my shot this afternoon was very pathetic and it turned the game," he said, referring to an aggressive drive he returned caught and bowled to Nathan Hauritz just after tea."I think otherwise we win the game, not easily but we [would] have won. We have to be professional, we have to perform ... we need to take the pressure, especially me I'm a very experienced player, while they're all young."The three-match series will now shift to Hobart on 14 January with Australia holding an unassailable 2-0 advantage.CricketAustralia Cricket TeamPakistan cricket teamguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Sexing up snooker would see a great game go to pot ONE BY ONE, life’s little pleasures are taken away from us. There is nothing I like more than collapsing in a narcoleptic stupor at the end of a long day and watching Peter Ebdon take several hours to play a safety shot. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |
Eoin Morgan bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore at IPL auction Eoin Morgan will play for the Royal Challengers in this year's Indian Premier League (IPL) after the Bangalore franchise bid $220,000 ($£134,000) for the England batsman in today's auction. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |
Sri Lanka commitments cast doubt on Lancashire new boy Kumar Sangakkara • Proposed series with India could make player unavailable• Kumar Sangakkara's arrival may be as late as AugustLancashire's signing of Sri Lanka's captain Kumar Sangakkara has been thrown into doubt by Sri Lankan efforts to host India for a five-week tour in the middle of the English county season.Sangakkara's arrival in England was already due to be delayed until mid-June because of Asian Cup commitments — and his involvement at all must now be questioned after Sri Lanka's belated decision to extend their international commitments.Nishantha Ranatunga, the Sri Lanka Cricket secretary, said: "The Test series with India is almost certain of coming through. We are also awaiting confirmation from India and New Zealand on a tri-nation series."Provisional dates suggest that Sangakkara's arrival could be delayed until mid-August, which would leave Lancashire forced to abandon plans to put him at the heart of their plans in one-day cricket next season.If India refuse to tour, Sri Lanka would be likely to abandon attempts to fill the blanks in their schedule which leaves them without international cricket until the end of 2010. But the Indian board rarely take decisions quickly — and that could leave Lancashire in limbo for several weeks to come.The only positive development, from Lancashire's point of view, is that the Asia Cup in June might be postponed because a clash with football's World Cup makes it commercially unviable. That decision could come by the end of the month. Until then, Lancashire have signed an overseas player who, through no fault of his own, has no idea when he might be available.LancashireSri Lanka cricket teamCounty Championship Division OneCricketDavid Hoppsguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |