TOP 100 SPORT SITES
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| Halftime: Happy 34th birthday, Tiger Woods Time to sing Happy Birthday today to two of the super-greats in sports history: Sandy Koufax and Tiger Woods. (We're guessing the candles will ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
Carling Cup semi-finals fall to the big freeze Both of this week's Carling Cup semi-finals have been postponed due to heavy snow and plummeting temperature across England. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |
No. 1 pick Blake Griffin to have season-ending surgery The Los Angeles Clippers say Blake Griffin will have surgery on his broken left kneecap, ending the No. 1 draft pick's season before it even ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
Morgan snapped up at IPL auction • 'Nerve-racking' morning as Morgan is bought for £134,000• Only England player to arouse interest at auctionEoin Morgan endured a "nerve-racking" morning before being bought by the Royal Challengers Bangalore for $220,000 (£134,000) in the Indian Premier League auction. The Dubliner was the only England player to be purchased today as a host of big names failed to attract the interest of the eight franchises.Despite impressing on the tour of South Africa, Graeme Swann went unsold, as did Australia's Brad Haddin, while Shahid Afridi was just one of the many Pakistani players who failed to attract interest. However, the short-form specialist Morgan, 23, will join his fellow England batsman Kevin Pietersen in southern India after the Royal Challengers bettered the $210,000 bid from the Super Kings Chennai."I'm very happy," said the Irishman. "I was at home watching it on the internet. I hadn't planned to watch it and my housemate said he would watch for me but I couldn't sleep this morning and I came in about 15 minutes before my pool."It was nerve-racking. It was weird, it was like playing Championship manager, watching the text come up," he said of the online coverage of the auction. "The big shock for me was Shahid Afridi. After seeing him not get a gig I thought I would struggle but once it came up that Bangalore had bid for me I knew I was sorted."Morgan, whose innovative and exciting batting style is born of a childhood playing hurling, is "pretty sure" he will be available for the full six weeks of the tournament, which begins on 12 March, one week after the third and final one-day international between England and Bangladesh. The Middlesex player has played in India three times, twice with his county and once with the England academy, but he admits to being unfamiliar with most of his new team-mates. "I don't know many of their Indian players but I have seen them play as I watched the previous IPLs. They have a very strong side, with the likes of Kevin Pietersen, Jesse Ryder and Jacques Kallis."The only other England-based player to be purchased was Hampshire's Michael Lumb, but his $50,000 deal with the Rajasthan Royals was finalised outside the auction room, as he has never played international cricket. Mark Ramprakash, Tim Bresnan, Anthony McGrath, Jonathan Trott, Monty Panesar and Robert Key also went unsold.IPLTwenty20CricketMikey Staffordguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Andy Murray will need to pass muster as tall order awaits in fourth round Andy Murray’s mood cannot be improved upon, as he touches fists with Brad Gilbert, his former coach, at the end of a TV interview and chats to a knot of British writers while climbing a precarious flight of steps, excellent preparation for the challenge that awaits in the fourth round of the Australian Open tomorrow. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |