TOP 100 SPORT SITES
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| New era for Cotton Bowl A new era for the Cotton Bowl begins Jan. 2 when Mississippi plays Oklahoma State at the $1.2 billion Dallas Cowboys Stadium.... hosted.ap.org |
England struggling to save Test As the shadows lengthened across Newlands this evening, South Africa began to make the inroads into the England innings that will almost certainly see them to yet another victory here and level the series with one Test remaining.When Graeme Smith called his batsmen off midway through the afternoon session he was asking England to make 466 to win in four and a half sessions. These are the times of thunderous bats and batsmen. Targets once regarded as the stuff of fantasy have become more of a reality. But the pages of history still have their say, too, and Smith and his opposite number, Andrew Strauss, will have known that only one side have ever scored more in the fourth innings. That was England, moreover, in the exceptional mind-numbing timeless Test in Durban seven decades ago, but that was a draw.For a while, as Strauss and Alastair Cook played the new ball with fine judgment and aggressive intent, there existed the possibility that by the close, with all wickets intact, the target would be reduced to something approaching three runs per over for a day's play, well within the compass. The first-wicket partnership brought 101, the eighth time that the pair, now second only to Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe in terms of runs scored together, have reached three figures together.The wickets of both in the space of three overs – Cook, having made 55, his second half century of the game, to an aggressive but nonetheless rash attempted pull which steepled to the wicketkeeper, and Strauss taken at bat and pad off the seductive spin of Paul Harris for 45 – set England back on their heels.Were it not for the referral system, which detected a huge inside edge on to his pad, England would also have lost Kevin Pietersen for a pair, lbw to a combination of Friedel de Wet's intelligent full-pitched delivery and Daryl Harper's notorious incompetence. It made little difference. Pietersen has yet to recover his formidable game after the enforced lay-off following his achilles operation and this tour is proving far from the triumphant return that many foresaw.The escape from De Wet should have sounded the alarm that he is picking his bat up wide and consequently bringing it down crookedly as his weight shifts to the offside in attempting to work the onside rather than playing himself in straight. When he has a mind to, no one can hit the ball more percussively back past the bowler than he. Yet he attempted to work the second ball of a new spell from Dale Steyn, and the first to him, from off-stump and out towards mid-wicket, missed and did not even contemplate a challenge to Tony Hill's upraised finger. That is nought and six in the match, dismissed twice by Steyn in only three deliveries.Jonathan Trott batted his way to the close serenely enough for 24 and had the nightwatchman, Jimmy Anderson, who survived 15 balls in doing his job, for company, but South Africa were rampant. In the first Test England batted out the final day by the skin of their teeth having lost a single wicket overnight. They closed on 132 for three, the target, reduced to 334, but a speck on the horizon.The task looks beyond them now for although this has generally been an excellent Test pitch, it is starting to dust up while still offering decent pace and bounce to those willing to work hard for it. Several deliveries from the pacemen produced the puff of dust on pitching that shows the surface being disturbed.Some deliveries may behave erratically. There is rough too, which is there to be exploited by Harris with his left-arm spin, a different proposition with men round the bat and passive batsmen. To survive England might need to attack him, for he will bowl a strong quota of overs if the game goes any distance .In the morning there was some criticism of the reticence shown by South Africa in pursuing their declaration, with Jacques Kallis displaying little urgency while Smith, resuming on 162 not out, threw his bat willingly, a fourth double century against England a secondary consideration.England contributed to the sluggishness by slowing down the over rate, managing only 10 overs in the second hour before lunch as the bowlers found ever more inventive ways to hold up play. Somewhere along the line Strauss will pay for this with his wallet and perhaps his time, although a two-Test ban to be served while the team are in Bangladesh, a tour he might well miss in any case, would carry no weight.Only 85 runs came in the morning from a paltry 24 overs for the wickets of Smith, for 183, hooking a well-directed bouncer from Graham Onions to Paul Collingwood at long leg, and, mercifully for the progress of the innings, Kallis, attempting to force Anderson but caught behind.AB de Villiers flung the bat willingly enough before he was well caught by Stuart Broad at deepish mid-on, Mark Boucher spanked Graeme Swann's first delivery over mid-wicket for six, and JP Duminy not only survived his first delivery for the first time in three innings, but batted brightly, until his dismissal down the legside prompted the declaration from South Africa's captain.England in South Africa 2009-2010England Cricket TeamSouth Africa cricket teamCricketMike Selveyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Dimitar Berbatov may need knee surgery, says Sir Alex Ferguson Dimitar Berbatov may require exploratory knee surgery after being left out of the squad for Manchester United's 1-1 draw with Birmingham City. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |
AP Source: NASCAR looking for new garage boss CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- NASCAR is interviewing candidates for a new Sprint Cup Series director, and current garage boss John Darby will train his replacement before moving into a managerial role.... hosted.ap.org |
Bath 10-28 Ulster Bath 10-28 UlsterEven allowing for the fact that Bath were forced to play for more than half of this match with 14 men after Danny Grewcock, whose career has not been totally immune from reckless ill-discipline, was sent off for stamping on the arm of British Lions flanker Stephen Ferris, Ulster's chances of reaching the last eight of the Heineken Cup for the first time since lifting the trophy in 1999 looked a long shot. In fact, they needed to leave the Rec with a bonus-point victory and hope that Stade Français failed to muster anything from their fixture against Edinburgh in Scotland.As events transpired, Ulster gave it a decent crack. After a conservative first half in which Niall O'Connor kicked three penalties to give them a 9-7 lead, the provincial side put themselves in with a shout of maintaining their part of the qualification bargain with a quick-fire brace of tries shortly after the break.Andrew Trimble set the wheels in motion when he skinned Joe Maddock on the outside to complete a sensational score from 60 metres out, whereupon Darren Cave went over by the posts after Simon Danielli, on his old stamping ground, had set up the outside centre with a searing infield break. Paddy Wallace bagged a third touchdown with two minutes remaining to keep lingering Irish hopes alive, though Stade's losing bonus point in Edinburgh meant that a fourth Ulster try – and the ensuing bonus point – would have been immaterial in any event. Still, it was a much merited triumph for Ulster, who had previously lost all of their 11 Heineken Cup matches on English soil, though Bath also deserve a pat on the back for the guts they showed after Grewcock's dismissal. Red card maybe, but there was no hint of a white flag from the west country club, that's for sure.Maybe Grewcock was a mite unfortunate to be shown red following an incident at the breakdown six minutes before the interval. Ferris, who performed with aplomb all afternoon, was holding on to Grewcock's leg at the time, despite the fact that neither player was in possession of the ball. But Jérome Garces, the French referee, had no hesitation in showing red after a touch judge had drawn his attention to Grewcock's felony. Yellow may have been fairer.And so ended a miserable Heineken Cup campaign for Bath, whose lone victory came against Edinburgh at the Rec. Any mathematical hopes of qualifying for the quarter-finals disappeared in the Parisian mud last weekend, when they lost to Stade, though all realistic aspirations of progressing further had long since gone. With their form in the Guinness Premiership, in which they are only six points ahead of bottom club Leeds, just as disappointing, it has been a grim old season for the former kings of English rugby.Still, this was a match of some importance to them, not least for their quartet of England Elite Player Squads players - Shontayne Hape, Matt Banahan, David Wilson and Lee Mears. Wilson, who performed solidly enough, could well be named at tight-head prop in the starting XV for the Six Nations encounter against Wales on 6 February while Hape, the 28-year-old rugby league convert from New Zealand, also did his chances of an international debut much good.Heineken CupBathUlster RugbyRugby unionguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |