| County cricket: discuss today's action •Read David Hopps' county cricket awards for 2010•View today's scores with with our comprehensive scoreboard7pm: End of the day at Chester-le-Street, specially extended to help Somerset's early Lord's-bound journey on Thursday. Somerset are 226 for four. Peter Trego and James Hildreth will resume the innings in the morning. Join us then. Cheers all.6.15pm: Somerset's batting bonus point at 200 for four leaves the overnight table like this:Somerset 207pts Nottinghamshire 205 Yorkshire 2026.08pm: Notts 89 for two at the close.5.59pm: Craig Kieswetter gone for Somerset, who are now 180 for four. First batting bonus point 20 runs away.5.38pm: Nottinghamshire must feel they are destined not to win the County Championship, writes Andy Wilson. After spending the best part of two days sitting in the Old Trafford pavilion because of persistent rain, they've now had to go off because it's too sunny. More specifically, the glare of the sun off the roof of the media centre at the Stretford End is shining directly into the batsmen's eyes. So with only 23.2 overs bowled today, and another 10 due, everyone has trooped off the field. This is one of the reasons why Lancashire are rotating the square by 90 degrees at the end of the season, so that the pitches will run north-south rather than east-west. Work is due to start on Monday - the soil has already arrived at Old Trafford. But that will be too late for Notts, who are currently 85 for two, and still 115 short of taking their first batting point.5.01pm: Tim Boon, the Leicestershire coach who joined a protest against the county chairman Neil Davidson, is expected to be appointed as coach to England Under-19s, writes David Hopps. He does not have much success to emulate. England's Under-19 side has vastly underperformed for years under a series of temporary coaches.Boon's departure after five seasons at the county follows that of Leicestershire's chief executive David Smith and chairman of cricket Paul Haywood. Boon's departure seemed certain when he signed a protest letter from the playing and coaching staff at the county, complaining of Davidson's interference in team affairs and asking that he stepped down. Davidson described his position as "unsustainable". Boon looks unlikely to be unemployed for long.4.50pm: Trescothick has cruised to a half-century, writes Vic Marks. Ruel Brathwaite, making his Durham debut, looks the part. And I'm beginning to think that Somerset will have to win here which is still possible, with the score currently 111-1.Just watched four balls on the TV from Old Trafford and three of them were hit for four, which suggests to me that Notts may well be able to get their quota of bonus points. It will be harder for them to win the match.I see the ICC are suggesting a 10-team World Cup - at last. And a Test Championship of sorts. Sounds an improvement to me.3.40pm: At tea Somerset are 52-1, writes Vic Marks. They started positively, Trescothick driving the ball through the covers. Suppiah was also aggressive until he was caught and bowled by Liam Plunkett down by his toes from a back foot drive just before the break. I don't think Trescothick is planning to hang around.3.20pm: At last, some good news for Nottinghamshire at Old Trafford, writes Andy Wilson. Play will start at 4pm, with 33 overs to be bowled on this second day. So the pre-match Championship leaders can start trying to claw back some of the ground they have lost to Somerset and Yorkshire over the last two frustrating days. But they will be racing against time, forced to try to manufacture a result from a maximum of seven sessions - in the knowledge that if Somerset win at Durham, even victory in a contrived fourth day finish would not be enough, as they'll also need a decent hand of bonus points.3.15pm: Kent fear an exodus of some of their top stars this winter and the first has confirmed his departure today with Amjad Khan, as expected, moving to Sussex on a three-year deal, writes David Hopps.Khan, 29, has been troubled by injury, which restricted him to one England Test cap, but he joins Sussex, back in the First Division next season, proclaiming: "I have no intention of being a one-cap wonder."Born in Copenhagen, Khan became the youngest person ever to represent Denmark at the age of 17, and in his first full season with Kent in 2002 he picked up 63 wickets with a further 55 wickets following in 2005. He made his Test debut in the drawn fifth Test against West Indies at Port of Spain in 2009. His international Twenty20 debut also came on the same tour.Sussex's professional cricket manager Mark Robinson said, "Amjad has genuine pace and is a potential match-winner in all formats of the game. Having spoken at length with him, one thing that comes across is how hungry he is to re-establish himself as a potential England cricketer, and to make telling contributions to a winning team. His reasons for coming are all those, as a coach, that you want to hear."3.08pm: Kent have lost both openers in the space of four balls at Headingley, writes David Hopps, and suddenly it is Yorkshire's spectators, basking on a sunlit afternoon, who are visualising a championship trophy. They are opening a new Headingley cricket museum next month, where the old club offices used to be, and a championship trophy in the front window would be just the job. They will be filing in to pay their respects throughout the close season. Museums are under threat of closure all round the country, but Yorkshire are determined to open one and they should find somebody to sit there all day for a pittance to impart knowledge on the county's illustrious history.Kent reached 44-0 in 12 overs with no alarms. It is a very breezy, bright afternoon and little was happening for Yorkshire's quicks. Joe Denly had edged Ajmal Shahzad but Jonny Bairstow had dropped a comfortable catch at second slip. But Denly fended Oliver Hannon-Dalby off the shoulder of the bat and Adil Rashid held thge catch at third slip. Then Sam Northeast followed to Shahzad four balls later, wicketkeeper Gerard Brophy flining himself across first slip to hold the catch.One or two Yorkshire stars of yesteryear are around the ground and had been wondering what would have happened if Yorkshire had declared at their overnight score of 205-7, so taking advantage of the last vestiges of cloudy weather. That has blown away now, but Kent, at 49-2, and needing to win to have a chance of avoiding the drop, are under pressure.How often, one wonders, do Yorkshire regret this moment in May - as reported at the time by the BBC: "A brilliant 68-ball century from James Hildreth guided Somerset to their first Championship win of the season as Yorkshire suffered their first defeat. Set a generous target of 362 to win in 68 overs after Yorkshire declared on 333-4, the home side skated to a six-wicket win with 32 balls to spare. Hildreth hit a superb 102, backed by 93 from Zander de Bruyn, Nick Compton (65) and Marcus Trescothick (53). Yorkshire also lost at Taunton last season after setting a big target. In fact, Somerset's four-wicket win in June 2009 came after being set an even bigger target of 476, at a similar run rate of just over five an over."2.26pm: Somerset lead the County Championship, writes Vic Marks. Durham have lost their ninth wicket. In fact they are all out for 286. The second new ball did the trick with four wickets falling in nine overs to Willoughby and Phillips. In the words of the old song "It might as well rain until September" (end of) as far as Somerset are concerned. But the game moves on here and at Headingley as Trescothick and Suppiah start Somerset's reply. As it stands:Somerset 206ptsNottinghamshire 205Yorkshire 2002.08pm: It really is glorious here now, writes Andy Wilson, keen to stress that it doesn't always rain in Manchester. Bright, warm sunshine, with a bracing wind. Who knows, they might even be playing by 5pm? Peter Hartley, the former Yorkshire seamer who is umpiring here with Neil Bainton, was anything but upbeat in a Sky interview with Paul Allott, stressing that they would not allow play to begin in unfit conditions, however keen Lancashire and especially Notts are to get going. It's another example of the basic honesty of county cricket (despite the odd high-profile exception) that no-one would even question the presence of a Yorkshireman, Hartley, in a role that could conceivably determine whether or not the Tykes win the title, in the same way that the Yorkies had no problems with the former Notts stalwart Tim Robinson umpiring at Trent Bridge last week. By the way Vic, Norman also passed a copy of that book on to me, and it's a terrific little read. A remarkable story, as well, and especially poignant at a time when the Kiwis are coping with the effects of another natural disaster.2.00pm: Bristol's a washout. It's too dark for play in Southampton. Raining in Worcester.1.48pm: As you may know or as you may not know (as a former Yorkshire secretary Joe Lister famously used to say on the public address), there was no maiden championship hundred for Jonny Bairstow at Headingley today, where Yorkshire are 250-9 and David Hopps is now ensconced after finishing The Spin column. Bairstow, more tentative on the second morning according to keen sages, added only two to his overnight 62 when he edged Dewald Nel to Martin van Jaarsveld, who held on at second slip, as he tends to do.Nel, a Scotland pace bowler who was born in Klerksdorp in the Transvaal, is having quite a match. When he took Yorkshire's ninth wicket, and his sixth, that of Oliver Hannon-Dalby leg before, he was assured of a career-best, beating his 5-107 for Scotland against Kenya at Nairobi Gymkhani. It was in the ICC Intercontinental Cup and did not quite make the back pages, even in Klerksdorp. He is also well placed to record the best championship figures against Yorkshire this season.Yorkshire's last-wicket pair of Steven Patterson and Moin Ashraf are resisting pluckily for the last wicket with Ashraf taking 20 deliveries to get off the mark. How Yorkshire get these young Pakistani lads to block I don't know. At my club they just bash it into the wood and laugh at anyone attempting a forward defensive. Unexpectedly, it has just brought Yorkshire a second bonus point, Patterson flicking the persevering Nel to fine leg to bring up 250 to rapturous applause from a crowd of about 2000.It is very breezy, there is lots of blue sky about, and if Patterson keeps middling it, Yorkshire will fear that they will not match the swing found by Kent's bowlers on the first day.Incidentally, we are still stunned in the press box by the forensic questioning last night of the Yorkshire Post's man Chris Waters. Such was the heat generated by his questions that halfway through the interview Yorkshire's director of cricket, Martyn Moxon, took off his jacket. None of us have ever seen that before (although football managers have been known to take off a jacket with the intention of thumping someone). We have asked Chris to throttle down a bit tonight as we have no need to see Moxon, a decent chap, conducting an interview in only his Calvins. Coaches have been sacked for less.1.34pm: At lunch Durham were 232-6, writes Vic Marks. So another bonus point means that Somerset are now level with Notts. Trego intervened with two wickets in two over. His old mucker Blackwell was lbw and Harmison skied a bouncer which was well held by Arul Suppiah. The ball was swirling around in the sky.At lunch I bumped into Norman Harris, an old Observer colleague, who is covering the game for the Times. Norman is the ultimate lateral thinker with theories about everything. He handed me a small book he's just written called "What are you doing out here?" It relates to the 1953 Johannesburg Test between South Africa and New Zealand, involving a heroic innings by Bert Sutcliffe at the time of a railway disaster at Tangiwai in NZ. I haven't read it yet. It's bound to be diverting. Somerset bowling spin if only to get to the new ball quickly.1.25pm: Mr Hopps has spun - read his 2010 County Cricket Awards here. This blog, and a certain canine contributor, loom large...1.21pm: The sun is out in Manchester. Inspection 3.30pm.12.24pm: As it stands:Nottinghamshire 205ptsSomerset 205Yorkshire 19912.20pm: Mr Hopps is hastening to Headingley for that 12.40pm start. Mr Marks is currently being put to work by Five Live Sports Extra. Peter Trego has just dismissed Ben Harmison, caught by Arul Suppiah, to get their next bonus point. 222 for six.12.16pm: Somerset closing in on their second bonus point at Durham, with the home side now 221 for five. Ben Harmison and Phil Mustard stand in their way.12.05pm: No prospect of play at Old Trafford until late afternoon at the earlier.11.51am: Headingley resumption at 12.40pm.11.43am: Two wickets have fallen here, writes Vic Marks at Chester-le-Street. Benkenstein was deftly caught at slip by Trescothick off the bowling of Thomas, who had earned that wicket the night before. Muchall also edged to the keeper off Phillips. But a clatter of wickets does not feel imminent. Ian Blackwell settled in carefully and is now starting to open his shoulders. Ben Harmison has hit some sweet straight bat shots. There's bright sunshine and a gale blowing. Hard work for Somerset but at least they are playing.11.13am: Grim scenes from Old Trafford on Sky Sports 1. Rain pelting down.11.10am: K P Pietersen marooned on his overnight 40 not out as rain falls in Bristol. S P Jones next in for Hampshire, who are 168 for eight against Warwickshire in dry Southampton.10.39am: Scudding clouds greeted the players but we started on time in windy conditions, writes Vic Marks at Chester-le-Street. I think wind makes life more difficult for the bowlers rather than the batsmen. I may change my mind when Somerset start batting. Objectivity is hard to find this week.Just to confirm - we are playing on the ODI wicket, which was good for batsmen last Friday and may still be. For Somerset Dale Benkenstein is the first big obstacle; Ian Blackwell, once of Somerset, will be another one.Drove the Somerset president, former captain Roy Kerslake, to the ground. He's not missed a day all season. Not a man to do things by halves. He did a long stint for Radio Bristol - just to help out.10.37am: News has reached us of record page impressions for the county blog yesterday, so predictably just as the world is queuing up to see what all the fuss is about, it is pouring down. Or at least it is at Headingley, writes David Hopps. Or, to be truthful, at least is still is 15 miles away where I am fuelling myself with endless cafe lattes in an attempt to finish The Spin column.Record attendances in the rain is something that county cricket itself never quite manages, so how this has come about we are not entirely sure. Perhaps the stats counter has a bug in it?But meanwhile here is the Met Office forecast for the three northern grounds. It's better than you might expect:Manchester (Lancs v Notts) Be afraid. Be very afraid. Actually, the Met Office forecast is quite promising. Now there's a surprise. Good news for Notts.Chester-le-Street (Durham v Somerset) Big yellow suns all over the north-east. The sort of place you would want to go on your holidays.Headingley (Yorks v Kent) Chance of play in the final two sessions, but whether it will become bright enough for Kent's batsmen to middle many remains debatable.10.34am: They're playing at Chester-le-Street. Somerset have a chance to get some wickets while Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire play dressing-room poker on either side of the Pennines. By the way the outlook in Cardiff is so grim Paul Rees has not ventured to the Swalec Stadium this morning.10.33am: No play before lunch at Old Trafford, confirms Andy Wilson.10.15am: Oh it's good to be back, looking out from the Old Trafford press box at the most miserable scene imaginable, writes Andy Wilson, back to about 80%, thanks for asking. It rained very hard for most of the night, reverted to grey with a few spits and spots this morning which was handy for taking the kids to school, but now it's persisting down again. Having said all that, the weather forecast on North West Tonight - we have Diane Oxberry, who some of you may remember as one of Simon Mayo's sidekicks on the Radio One breakfast show - is for things to improve considerably after lunch. It's going to take a while to dry out, even with the new drainage system that Lancashire invested in a couple of years ago, but there must be a chance of play starting just as the Rangers supporters are getting off the tram for tonight's game at the other Old Trafford.10.02am: The "as it stands" top of the table:Nottinghamshire 205ptsSomerset 203Yorkshire 1999.55am: Andy Wilson returns to the fray this morning after being laid low yesterday. Happily Tanya Aldred proved a good stand-in on yesterday's blog, and even got to witness six deliveries at Old Trafford. From Sky Sports News' morning whizz around the grounds we can report that it's sunny at Chester-le-Street, raining at Headingley and grey at Old Trafford.9.53am: Here's David Hopps on Yorkshire's first day's work against Kent, in which they scored 205 for seven. Here's Vic Marks on Somerset's early skirmishes with Durham. And here's Paul Rees on Glamorgan's faltering attempt to wrap up promotion against Derbyshire.9.51am: Morning. We go again. Three days of the Championship to go. Still three teams in it. Five years and two days ago we were wondering if it was cowardly to pray for rain. Now we are openly praying for no rain.County Championship Division OneCounty Championship Division TwoCricketAndy WilsonDavid HoppsVic Marksguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Critics call Commonwealth Games crisis a symptom of a failed state • Indian newspapers criticise organisers• Neymar causes Santos manager to be sackedAfter the events in Delhi last week, a nation somewhat on the defensive may have been expected. Far from it. The Commonwealth Games crisis has turned from an issue of embarrassment and mismanagement into a vituperative assault on the very fabric of Indian society and its governance, the catalyst for grievances that go far beyond dirty sinks and collapsing roof tiles.The brunt of the anger has fallen on the Games organising committee, with The Times of India publishing a poll revealing that 97% of readers believed it had "tarnished India's image". The paper concurred: "These jokers ... deserve no mercy. Why should the nation be embarrassed for the folly of these individuals?" The Financial Express was equally unforgiving: "When [committee chairman] Suresh Kalmadi toured the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and declared that 'everything is 100% ready', was he wearing blinkers against the rubble and stagnant water?" Mid Day was blunter still in reference to committee secretary Lalit Bhanot's suggestion that cleanliness complaints were simply down to cultural differences, replying: "Sure dude! Our low standards make it really OK to have crap in the living room ..."All of which is understandable, but as the problems intensified so did the reaction and its targets. Shobhan Saxena, again in the Times, was unequivocal: "We are a third world banana republic which is falling into a bottomless pit." Before asking how anyone expected the country "to pull off an international sporting event without it sinking into the slime and grime of corruption and bad governance". The Games, it seems, were but the tip of the iceberg: "These are the symptoms of a failed state. We make tall claims about growth, but we treat our poor worse than animals. We aspire to be world power, but we can't even provide drinking water to all our citizens. We claim to be world's biggest democracy, but we 'solve' all our social and political problems with loaded guns in hand."He was not alone. The Telegraph commented: "This reality of a rising rate of growth and a corrupt and corroded delivery system ... has led us into the worst anarchy imaginable ... The CWG symbolizes this truth of supreme failure and massive corruption." The Deccan Herald saw the Games as "a microcosm of the way in which activities in the public domain are being handled in this country ... Corruption, confusion, chaos, procrastination, delay, blatant political interference ... The CWG project is not an exception but a typical example." The Hindustan Times finished the job: "In a way, the CWG preparations have been a model-scale version of India itself. Tales of success and ambition laid out on a rockbed of medieval infrastructure and the sheer inability to create a new one."This is criticism the government was not anticipating as hosts – the celebration was not supposed to backfire into lacerating self‑examination and much now depends on how the Games actually pan out. Success will distract but, as The Times observes, failure will only highlight the issues last week's problems raised – principally "the disconnect between India's newfound modernity and the masses of Indians who still face pitiable conditions of existence".BRAZILNeymar: Tantrums, fights, and sackingsNeymar, the 18-year-old Santos forward who turned down a move to Chelsea last month, has provoked his club into sacking their manager. It was the latest incident involving a player who cannot seem to avoid controversy.Neymar was dropped by Dorival Junior for throwing a tantrum when he was not allowed to take a penalty in the Brazilian championship match against Atlético Goianiense. After the kick was converted he remonstrated with, and threw a water bottle at, the bench, lost possession with some over-elaborate stepovers and spent the rest of the match sulking.He did apologise and was fined but Dorival Junior still suspended him from the following game. Santos then announced that the manager had been fired, apparently for breaking an agreement with the club that the player would not be banned.It's the culmination of a busy period for Neymar. At the end of a match against Ceará, he invited his marker for a fight and both teams got involved, sparking a brawl in which a Santos player was hit by a policeman's truncheon. Even when he does take a penalty, it's not simple. In a match against São Paulo, he stopped for a good two seconds in his run-up, waited for goalkeeper Rogerio Ceni to go one way, then struck it into the empty net. Shortly afterwards, Fifa banned the practice, citing examples of penalties they had seen in Brazil.He has now been left out of Brazil's squad for two friendlies but Santos's new coach, Marcelo Martelotte, is taking no chances – he picked Neymar for Wednesday's match against Vasco da Gama and made a point of praising his performance afterwards.USABallpark dining enters the digital ageBaseball fans in Philadelphia are the latest beneficiaries of new technology as the Phillies rolled out their new "At Bat" app – allowing spectators to order food at the game without even leaving their seats, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer.As well as classics such as the Phillie cheesesteak there's a wide selection of mouthwatering treats on offer via the app, including: Tony Luke's roasted pork ("There's more to Tony Luke's than cheesesteaks!"); Bull's BBQ's turkey sandwich ("features the largest grill in all of Major League Baseball!"); Planet Hoagie's Italian hoagie ("hot soup on cold game nights!") and the Eastern Shore crab cake sandwich (vegetarian crab-free crab cake also available!). Fans simply tap in their order, seat and credit-card details and wait for their food to arrive.The Inquirer tried it on two fans, Paul and Ron Sandmeyer, whose food was delivered by a runner 18 minutes after ordering: "The sandwiches arrived hot and moist and the pair made short work of their meal. 'We would have been standing in line way longer than that,' said happily satiated Phillies fan Paul."ARGENTINAHighest exports and biggest earnersTwo different but equally intriguing figures emerged from the Americas last week. The first, a report by the sports marketing firm Euroamericas, shows that Argentina has overtaken Brazil as the leading provider of professional footballers worldwide. Argentinian clubs sold 1,716 players in 2009 against Brazil's 1,443, earning a total of $117m. Meanwhile in North America the Wall Street Journal revealed that five players – David Beckham, Landon Donovan, Rafael Márquez, Juan Pablo Angel and Thierry Henry – earn a combined $21.7m from their clubs, making up about 30% of the entire Major League Soccer payroll of $71.3m.Commonwealth Games 2010Giles Richardsguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
NFL teams look to vending machines as sales option By CLIFF BRUNT 2010-10-01T17:32:39ZINDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Minnesota Vikings president Mark Wilf figures if you can get a soda out of a vending machine, you might as well be able to get a team T-shirt or a set of trading cards, too.... hosted.ap.org |
Indiaaims to host the 2020 Olympics India hails successful Games and looks forward to hosting future sporting eventsWith hours to go before the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, officials and spectators alike said they now hoped to hold the Olympics in India, possibly as early as 2020."The Commonwealth Games have been perfectly flawless," said Santoj Kumar, a businessman on his way to the Jawaharlal stadium, where the closing ceremony will be held. "All the problems and hullabaloo were media created. There is no reason for us not to do the Olympics too."Officials from the event's organising committee confirmed that the possibility had been "informally discussed" but the priority was seeing the current competition through."I have a dream of bringing the Olympics, but when, I don't know," Suresh Kalmadi, the chairman of the Games' organising committee, said earlier this week. "I need to speak to the government about it after the Commonwealth Games." Kalmadi, who is also the Indian Olympic committee president, was widely held responsible for the chaos and delays that marked the run-up to the current event. The former air force pilot said India's legacy from holding the 19th edition of the Games was "Olympic sports".Sheila Dikshit, the chief minister of Delhi, has also backed the possibility of an Olympic bid. "Yes, I think so. Yes, we can. We are confident [of hosting the Olympics]," she said in a recent interview.However, the current event has cost between £2bn and £6bn and many say India could not afford an investment on the scale needed to prepare its poor infrastructure for an even larger sporting event. Nor, according to analysts, does it yet have the organisational resources required. The Commonwealth Games has only 7,000 athletes and officials from 71 countries."The Olympics is 15 times as big and much more complex," said Boria Majumdar, an Indian expert in major sporting events and author of The Sellotape Legacy, a book on the 2010 Commonwealth Games. "We should undoubtedly host the Olympics at some stage but not yet. We need to be much more organised and much more prepared."Delhi was shut down yesterday to allow the marathon to be run and to prepare for the ceremony tonight. Shops were closed and the streets were empty.Though tight security has so far prevented a terrorist attack, it has also prevented spectators viewing many key events. Glitches have continued throughout the Games, with continuing problems over transport and information systems as well as question marks over hygiene, as several athletes fell sick.Mike Fennell, the Commonwealth Games Federation president, said that, despite the chaos, the Games were a success because the athletes enjoyed them. "People have seen an extremely positive image of the Games right across the world. People have had to deal with issues, there's no denying that, but the end result has been good," Fennell said.One of India's favourite sports stars, badminton champion Saina Nehwal, won a gold today to give the host nation second position in the medals' tally, leaving England third. Nehwal's victory brought India their 38th gold medal, one more than England's tally of 37, as English badminton players lost three finals. Australia easily topped the medals table, winning 74 golds."Coming in second is a perfect start to creating a real sports culture in India," said Majumdar.Commonwealth Games 2010IndiaOlympics & the mediaJason Burkeguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Yankees, still trailing in series, refuse to be eliminated For the first time in their American League Championship Series against the Texas Rangers, the New York Yankees played like defending World Series ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |