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| Suns hand depleted Celtics third straight loss PHOENIX (AP) -- Amare Stoudemire and Channing Frye scored 26 points apiece, and the Phoenix Suns handed what was left of the Boston Celtics their third straight loss, 116-98 on Wednesday night.... hosted.ap.org |
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 |
Coroner: Ind player who died had enlarged heart OWENSBORO, Ky. (AP) -- A Kentucky coroner says preliminary results from an autopsy show Southern Indiana center Jeron Lewis may have died from a heart condition.... hosted.ap.org |
David Gold and David Sullivan complete takeover of West Ham United David Gold and David Sullivan have completed their takeover of West Ham United. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |
Horse racing: Today's best bets and the latest news from Leopardstown Today's best bets plus the latest news from today's big meeting at LeopardstownToday's best bets, by Chris CookThe winner of last year's Champion Hurdle let down his fans yesterday, today we get to see if the runner-up can do any better. Celestial Halo (2.45) was beaten just a neck by Punjabi at Cheltenham in March and can fairly be said to be a stronger contender this year at the age of six. He can prove it by winning the Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown this afternoon.The gelding was a wide-margin winner on his reappearance at Wincanton, when he carried top weight in a handicap and hammered Mamlook by 10 lengths. The runner-up was an easy winner at Ascot yesterday on his first run since. Celestial Halo was mugged by Khyber Kim at Cheltenham last month but he was giving 4lb to the winner, whose yard was flying at the time, and Paul Nicholls reckons that his charge is in better shape now, having been freshened up for this.There is probably not much to choose between Celestial Halo and Solwhit, who has won top-class races on four of his last five starts. The difference for punters is that Solwhit is odds-on while his rival is 2-1. In my book, their chance is about the same, with the English raider shading it by a fraction.At a less glamorous level, Alastair Lidderdale is in form for what seems like the first time in ages and his Take It There (3.10) is a tempting 5-1 in the staying handicap chase at Market Rasen. This mare won round here twice in November and can be forgiven her defeat at Taunton when sent out again shortly after the second of those. Sharpened up with a spin on the Flat at Wolverhampton, she is preferred to the market-leaders Quazy De Joie and Extra Smooth.Towcester will, as ever, take some getting on today's heavy going but Man Of The Moment (2.50) has done it before, having won the same race last year. He will be sharper than for his reappearance spin around Market Rasen and, at 4-1, is a better option than the unreliable Gunship, favourite by dint of having won last time.Rite Of Passage1.45pm Greg Wood at Leopardstown: Dermot Weld described Rite Of Passage as "a natural" after his easy win in the maiden hurdle, but has yet to decide whether he will line up against Dunguib, the hot favourite, in the Supreme Novice Hurdle at Cheltenham."My thoughts would be to give him one more run over hurdles and then if that goes to plan obviously he'll go to one of the novice hurdles at Cheltenham," Weld said. "Whether it's over two miles [in the Supreme] or two miles five [Neptune Investment Novice Hurdle], we'll decide nearer to the time."He won over two miles and three furlongs in a bumper at Naas and over a mile and six on the Flat, so he does stay very well. He's a very laid back and relaxed individual, and there's all the gears there. The second [Grey Soldier] was a very good horse in France on the flat, and he got the run through so this fella really had to show the gears he had. He'll have learned a lot from that."He's a natural jumper, and a stronger horse this year. He's always jumped super, he pinged the first as if it was a fence almost. He's a very athletic individual and hopefully we can have a lot of fun with him."Ladbrokes quoted odds of 12-1 for Rite Of Pasage for both the Supreme and the Neptune.Mor, Mor2.10pm Greg Wood at Leopardstown: Henry de Bromhead already has a major chance in the Arkle Trophy at Cheltenham with the former Irish Champion Hurdle winner Sizing Europe, and may find an alternative engagement for An Cathaoir Mor, who came from well off the pace to beat Sports Line in the Irish equivalent."That was some ride [by David Casey]," de Bromhead said. "We took a bit of a chance running him within a week [of his last victory] but as I said last Sunday, he's the one horse you could do it with, he's just got such a tough constitution."He has to come late. I did say to David that I wasn't sure when he was 20 lengths off them down the back, but he said that this horse [usually] travels so easily and he was struggling to travel early on, so they must have been going some gallop."He just had to sit and wait, and he said that when they turned in, he thought he was a certainty. Whether he's a Cheltenham horse, I don't know. He loves testing conditions and he's such a heavy-topped horse that I'm not sure you'd want to risk him around there. The Powers Gold Cup would be a possibility, but he definitely wants it soft."An Cathaoir Mor is 16-1 for the Arkle Trophy with Ladbrokes, while Sports Line is unchanged at 14-1 with William Hill.Solwhit steams in3.30pm Greg Wood at Leopardstown: Charles Byrnes's quiet monotone makes him sound like a man waking up from a general anaesthetic, but he has plenty to be excited about as he has the new Champion Hurdle favourite with some bookmakers."That was fantastic," Byrnes said after Solwhit's defeat of Donnas Palm and Sublimity in the Irish Champion Hurdle. "That's all he wanted really, a proper-run race from start to finish, and he got it today. At Newcastle [in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle] they absolutely walked and then sprinted for three furlongs, and even the last day here [at the Christmas meeting], they went a reasonable pace but not a proper one."He's a brilliant jumper, the fastest jumper I've ever had, and he's so calm and takes everything really easily. I told Davy [Russell] not to let Celestial Halo get more than three or four lengths up, and as it turned out, he wasn't the one to be watching."Paul Nicholls hopes that better ground at the Cheltenham Festival will help Celestial Halo, who could finish only fourth, to bridge the gap with the winner in the Champion Hurdle. "To be honest, he looked like a three-miler in that ground," Nicholls said. "Ruby [Walsh] just said that he's not totally convinced that ground suits him. Both times he's run really well at Cheltenham it's been on decent ground, and we just have to hope that the spring ground suits him better. If not, he'll be jumping fences after that. He's got to improve on what he's done to win, that's for sure, but then they all have."Solwhit is as short as 3-1 favourite for the Champion Hurdle with Boylesports, but unchanged at 6-1 with Ladbrokes. Sublimity is 14-1 (from 25-1) with William Hill, while Celestial Halo is out to 16-1 with the same firm.Horse racingHorse racing tipsChris Cookguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |