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Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan. –Tom Landry
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sPOrTs sunday, 3 november, 2013
trip into the unknown for new Zealand dhaKa
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kanpur to host final west indies odi KANPUR: International cricket will return to Kanpur after a four-year gap as the BCCI picked green Park stadium to host the final ODI between India and West Indies scheduled for November 27. In the original itinerary released on October 15, the BCCI had listed both Baroda and Kanpur as likely venue for the game. It is understood that the a team of BCCI officials, including its game development manager Ratnakar Shetty, operations manager Suru Nayak and, initially, along with West Indies team manager Richie Richardson, had conducted a recce of green Park and were satisfied with the facilities and the ground. Taposh Chatterjee, the central zone member on BCCI's ground and pitches committee, is expected to visit Kanpur early next week to finalise the pitch preparations for the match. Even though green Park is equipped with floodlights, the decision about whether the match could be played under lights would be taken later. It is not entirely clear exactly why Kanpur was picked ahead of Bardoa in the absence of any official media release from the BCCI. A team of BCCI officials had visited Baroda to conduct an inspection, but Sanjay Patel, the Bardoa Cricket Association secretary, who also is the BCCI secretary, could not be reached for a comment. The previous time Kanpur played host to an international was in 2009, for the second Test of Sri Lanka series in November. green Park is the only Test venue in India not to be owned by the concerned state association (Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association) - it is owned by the state government. The last time green Park came close to hosting an international match was in December 2012 when it was a favourite to host the Test match against Australia but was ruled out after Cricket Australia was dissatisfied with the dressing room as well as the team hotel following an inspection. AGenCIes
AGenCIes
EW Zealand will go into the third ODI against Bangladesh without ever playing or even training at the Fatullah Cricket Stadium. Ross Taylor said this will be the first time in his international career that his first visit to the ground is on the day of the match. The visitors had earlier scheduled all their training at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. Even when the Twenty20 fixture was set for the Sylhet Stadium on November 6, before the ground was ruled not to be ready, New Zealand's plan was to train in Mirpur before the day of the game. As a result, they will have to rely on statistics from the current Bangladesh domestic campaign because the playing surface there was relayed before the start of the 2013-14 season. There have been 12 Dhaka Premier League matches, three of which featured former New Zealand players Jacob Oram and Scott Styris. Taylor spoke to Oram who has played just one game there for Gazi Tank Cricketers, where he earned the Man-of-theMatch award for picking up three wickets. "I have never been there," Taylor said. "This is the first time in international cricket where I will turn up at the ground on the day of the match. Jacob Oram played a club game there couple of weeks
ago. He said its low and slow, they got 180odd, the second team got out cheaply. We expect the bounce to deteriorate as the day goes on, but the opposite can happen too." Taylor added that New Zealand will have to play a lot better to make it 2-1 and said it was important they could head to Sri Lanka in a better frame of mind. "Every time you're 2-0 down you have disappointment, and your confidence takes a hit. We have one more game in the series so we want to make it 2-1, which sounds better than 3-0. If we can get momentum and confidence from tomorrow and hopefully take it to Sri Lanka." Shane Bond, the team's fast bowling coach, admitted on Friday that Bangladesh have done things better than New Zealand in all areas of the game. "We have been outplayed," he said. "I think with the ball we have been good in patches but probably not for long enough. Bangladesh have created a couple of good partnerships and we have always felt that 230 was a good score and they went beyond that both occasions so we knew that it was going to be a tough chase." "Bangladesh have bowled well up front so we have never been able to generate a strike rate, the run-rate slant, and then we have put struggled to put partnerships and wickets have fallen in clumps and as a result we lost the games." Bond said that a defensive mindset can creep into a side after conceding a series but added that New Zealand are a good
enough side to start playing better cricket. "I think when you get beaten, you can sometimes be afraid of losing and forget about playing to win, like when you go into a shell and play defensively, "We talk about learning from the last series and what we would do differently. But that doesn't change the fact that if the opposition still
outplays you, you get beaten. We have got a good side. We just need to play better." Despite the scoreline, Taylor backed the side's younger players. The opening pair of Hamish Rutherford and Anton Devcich have struggled, but there have been promising signs from the allrounders James Neesham andCorey Anderson.
Leimer Takes GP2 cHamPiOnsHiP aBu dhaBi AGenCIes
Fabio Leimer secured the GP2 Drivers' Championship title in a dramatic race at Abu Dhabi as Alexander Rossi secured his maiden win in the series. The 24-year-old Swiss driver finished fourth at the Yas Marina Circuit and now has an insurmountable lead over Sam Bird, who stalled from second on the grid, with one race remaining. The initial start was aborted when Nathanael Berthon, Adrian Quaife-Hobbs and Gianmarco Raimondo all stalled on the grid leading to an extra formation lap. As the lights went out the second time around their was heartbreak for Bird who saw his championship hopes all but evaporate as he stalled and was left helpless on the grid. At the front Jolyon Palmer had stormed from third on the grid to lead at the first corner from Rossi and Fabio Leimer, but there was to be more drama further back when Jon Lancaster challenged Tom Dillmann into turn six. The Hilmer driver hit the kerb on the inside of the chicane and was catapulted into the air,
dyson to miss tUrkish EvEnt Simon Dyson has pulled out of next week's Turkish Airlines Open as the fallout from his disqualification for a "serious breach" of the rules in Shanghai intensifies. The Englishman's withdrawal comes after he was summoned to appear before an independent disciplinary panel to answer a charge of deliberately tapping down a spike mark on the line of his putt during the BMW Masters last week. Possible penalties range from a reprimand to expulsion from the European Tour, but the prevailing belief among other players is that he is more likely to be suspended for several months. Dyson's name was missing from the final entry list for the Turkish Airlines Open, which begins on Thursday in Antalya, when entries closed on Friday. The 35-year-old is currently 68th on the Race to Dubai European Tour standings, and his season is now over as with no further events he cannot now qualify for the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, which is for the top 60 only. Dyson released a statement earlier this week vehemently denying that he deliberately cheated, saying he had made an "accidental mistake". sPorts DesK
landing on the head of the Frenchman who had to push the car off his helmet. That incident led to the safety car being deployed and gave Bird, who had been pushed into the pits and restarted, the chance to catch up to the back of the train. RUSSIAN TIME took advantage of the time in the pitlane to change him from mediums to the supersoft tyre in an effort to pass the backmarkers quickly. However, his progress was slow when
the race restarted on lap four and Bird was in at the end of lap eight to move onto the medium tyre once more. At the front both Palmer and Rossi opted for long first stints, with the American the first to pit after 18 laps. Caterham changed just the rears on his car as he stayed on the more durable medium Pirelli tyre. Two laps later Palmer pitted and went onto the supersoft compound - meaning he keeps a fresh set of mediums for Sunday's Sprint Race. The
stop from Carlin was good, but with Rossi setting the fastest lap of the race following his stop, Palmer fell behind the American. The safety car was called for again with seven laps to go when Mitch Evans tried to pass Sergio Canamasas at the final corner. The Kiwi dived to the inside of the Caterham driver only for the Spaniard to turn in and the resulting contact forced the Arden man to park his car next to the pitwall. That left a final sprint to flag as the race clock ticked towards the one hour limit. Marcus Ericsson dived past Leimer for third, meaning that Bird who was running tenth, only needed ninth to keep the title fight alive. His Pirelli's were finished, however, and lack of traction meant he couldn't challenge Daniel Abt ahead of him, leaving Leimer and Racing Engineering to celebrate the Drivers' Championship. "I still can't believe it, it's just amazing, because GP2 is the strongest category apart from Formula 1, and there are not many people who can say they've won this championship! I'm really, really happy, and I'm focussed on tomorrow because there is still another race and I want to finish on the podium," the newly crowned Champion said.
Johnson three clear at HsBc shaNGhai AGenCIes
Dustin Johnson remains the man to catch at the WGC-HSBC Champions in China after an amazing third round 66 featuring 10 birdies and two double bogeys. Despite racking up a six at the par four 10th, Johnson looked all set to maintain or likely increase his overnight five-shot lead when he stood on the 18th tee after clocking up 10 birdies on day three at the par 72 Sheshan International GC. But that five-shot advantage was reduced to three over defending champion Ian Poulter when the American pushed his tee-shot into water and carded a seven. After earlier rounds of 69 and 63 that left the seven-time PGA Tour winner on 18-under. Johnson raced to the turn in just 30 after birdies at three, five, six, seven, eight and nine but, amazingly, found his lead cut to just a shot on the back nine. That was after he had double bogeyed the 10th after two duffed chips came back to his feet and Poulter - playing three groups behind - had matched Johnson's outward 30 and followed that with another birdie at 10 and an eagle from 15 feet at the par five 14th. Poulter, who is looking to become only the second player after world
number one Tiger Woods to defend a WGC title, parred 15 and 16 and, after a first bogey of the day at 17, he two-putted for birdie at the last to post 15-under. With Johnson reeling off four straight birdies from the 13th, that left Poulter five back again but Johnson's closing double bogey renewed the Englishman's hopes of defending the title he won at Mission Hills 12 months ago. Graeme McDowell moved into third place on 14-under - four back after a bogey-free 64 which included an eagle two at the 16th while first-round
leader Rory McIlroy, US Open champion Justin Rose and Canada's Graham DeLaet now share fifth place on 12-under. Rose finished with four birdies in the last five holes to match DeLaet's 65 while McIlroy, after a slowish start, came home in 32 to finish the day six behind leader Johnson. The low round of the day came from Ryder Cup hero Martin Kaymer. After a disappointing Friday 74 the German bettered it by 12 shots on Saturday, his 62 which featured 10 birdies from the second to the 16th setting a new course record.