SporT World
Asian Voice - Saturday 13th October 2012
Sachin admits contemplating retirement Indian cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar admitted that he was contemplating retirement and said he would reassess his future next month. In an interview, the 39-year-old said he would decide on a "series by series" basis as he acknowledged that the clock was running down on his record-breaking career. "I am 39 and I don't think I have plenty of cricket left in me," he said. Asked if he has been thinking of retirement, he replied: "Of course, I have been. I am 39 plus and it is not abnormal for me to think of it. At that moment, I will go by what my heart says. At this moment, my heart says I am okay. But you will have to
Pietersen back in England fold after ECB deal
Axed England batsman Kevin Pietersen is set to play international cricket again after reaching an agreement with the England and Wales Cricket Board, the ECB said last week. "The ECB and Kevin Pietersen confirm that agreement has been reached concerning a process for his reintegration into the England team during the remainder of 2012," the ECB said in a statement. "Upon completion of the programme, the England selectors will consider Kevin for future matches." The 32-year-old star batsman was cast into international exile in August after sending text messages to touring South Africa players that contained criticism of then England captain Andrew Strauss during the Test series. He missed out on England's failed World Twenty20 title defence in Sri Lanka and was not also selected for the upcoming tour of India. The ECB confirmed reports that Pietersen had apologised to Strauss for what he admitted were "provocative" messages to the South African players. Pietersen has apologised to Andrew Strauss.
look at series by series." Any talk of dropping Tendulkar - the highest runscorer in Tests and the first player to score 100 international centuries - had been taboo in India. But some commentators said last month it was time for him to
hang up his bat after he made a series of low scores against New Zealand in a home Test series. Tendulkar has scored a record 51 Test centuries but he has now gone 25 innings without a hundred in the fiveday format since making 146 against South Africa in Cape Town in January, 2011. England are to play four Tests against India in November and December and Tendulkar made clear he expected to be playing. "I need not take a (retirement)
call right now. When I play in November, I will reassess things," he said. Questioned about suggestions from a number of former players that his reflexes had slowed, Tendulkar insisted that only he could determine whether he was still up to playing at the highest level. I am still the best judge of what happens to my mind and body. When I feel it is time, I will take a call," he said. "It is going to be a tough call nevertheless. It is going to be tough because this is what I have been doing all my life. It is going to be difficult to suddenly hang (up) my boots one day."
India eves qualify for ICC World Twenty20 2014
Indian women’s cricket team has qualified for the ICC Women's World Twenty20 2014 after beating host Sri Lanka by nine wickets. After opting to bat first, Sri Lanka posted 100 for eight in its 20 overs. Sri Lanka was well served by a 42-run third wicket stand between Chamari Atapattu (28) and skipper Shashikala Siriwardena (23). But thereafter the innings lost momentum, and Sri Lanka lost four wickets off four balls in the final over of the innings. Ekta Bisht picked up the wickets of Dilani Manodara, Yasoda Mendis and Eshani Kaushalya to get a hat-trick, while also effecting two run outs. Bisht, with figures of three for 16 was the best bowler on view for India. In its reply, India chased down the target with 32 balls and nine wickets to spare. Openers Sulakshna Naik and Poonam Raut added 38 runs in four overs. Thereafter Raut, who was unbeaten on 45 off 40 balls with five boundaries added an unbroken 64 runs for the second wicket with skipper Mithali Raj to lead the side
to a win. The India captain was pleased to have won the match, in spite of the team's performance in the group stage: "It's a relief because in the league stage, we lost all our games, so it was definitely disappointing. It really needed a match like this to get the team back into confidence." Raj admitted that the team has some improvements to make: "I think our middle order is definitely a concern. Even the bowling attack, considering the wickets were helping the spinners, was disappointing. The Indian team has always produced quality spinners, so it was all the more disap-
Former England player Cyrille Regis presents the winners with their trophy
Glasgow in a nail-biting match which ended 4-2 to the Londoners. Team manager of the Whiechapel team, Faisal Ahmad, said: “I’m really proud of the team, they were fantastic – an early goal from ‘player of the tournament’ Djibdil Djalod set us up to lead the final. All the guys
Action at a Glance Virat Kohli lone Indian in ICC World T20 team
Flamboyant Indian batsman Virat Kohli is the lone Indian to be named in the ICC World Twenty20 Team of the year that includes Pakistani spinner Saeed Ajmal filling in the slow bowler slot, and outgoing Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene taking over the captain's mantle. Kohli is the only Indian to be named in the team of the year, whereas three Sri Lankan players and two each from the new champions West Indies and Australia made it into the 11-man team by a five-member ICC panel. Chris Gayle and all-rounder Shane Watson, the player of the tournament, were named openers, while Kohli, Jayawardene, England's Luke Wright and West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels occupied the middle-order slots. Australian seamer Mitchell Starc and limited-overs specialist Lasith Malinga were the two fast bowlers in the team, while Ajantha Mendis of Sri Lanka was named the other slow bowler along with Ajmal. Former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum was selected as the wicket-keeper, while South Africa were the only major cricketing nation without a representative in the team.
India move up to second T20 ranking table
pointing to see that the spinners could not penetrate much." Sri Lanka captain Shashikala Siriwardena said her side had tried to focus on the cricket, and not on the qualification opportunity: "We wanted to play this as a normal game, we didn't want to think about whether we are qualifying or not for the next World Twenty20. We just wanted to play good cricket, just like it was another match. Today also we had a good start, but in the end, we couldn't make the 20 extra runs as 100 is not enough in a pitch like this. Our bowlers also didn't do as well as I expected, so it's a bad day again."
London team wins The Salvation Army football tournament Players from Booth House Lifehouse in Whitechapel, London held their nerve during a dramatic football final to be crowned overall winners of the 2012 Salvation Army Partnership Trophy on 3 October 2012. The annual five-a-side football tournament is for homeless men and women living in Salvation Army Lifehouses and other supported housing units run by The Salvation Army Housing Association (SAHA). Close to 300 players in 26 teams from across the UK gathered at the Power League stadium in Birmingham for the competition. The winning team from London, made up of Ricky Ingram, Jamel Paxton, Daniel Ifield, Keegan Rodrigues, Djibdil Djalod and Pedro Mancel beat the skilful five-a-side team from
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played superbly.” Former England international and West Bromwich Albion striker Cyrille Regis gave up his time for free, to present the winners with their trophy. He said: “I am delighted to be involved with The Salvation Army Partnership Trophy today. I am very impressed with the
work The Salvation Army does, working with residents of Lifehouses in Birmingham and beyond.” Major Julian Watchorn, Deputy Director of Homelessness Services, says: “We believe everyone is valuable and has a contribution to make. Our Lifehouses offer people not just shelter for the night but the opportunity of engaging in establishing a sense of purpose and of rebuilding relationships through education, training, employment , befriending and much more.” He adds: “The competitors are all living in our Lifehouses, and football gives them an opportunity to be part of a team, and gives them a sense of confidence and achievement to make a positive change in their lives.”
India might have failed to qualify for the semi-finals of ICC World Twenty20, but four wins out of five matches have pushed the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side up by one place to the second spot in the latest T20 International team rankings. India now trail Sri Lanka (129) by nine points and are followed by Pakistan (118) and England (118). Virat Kohli's good run catapulted him to the 10th position with a jump of nine places. The young Delhi batsman scored 185 in five matches and is fourth highest run-getter among all batsmen so far. Among bowlers, Harbhajan Singh dropped out of top-20 as he slipped to 23rd with a loss of six places. R Ashwin zoomed to 25th spot after gaining 17 places. Australia's Shane Watson continued to make an upward movement with his allround exploits as he moved up one place to second in the T20 rankings for batsmen after becoming the highest run-getter in the tournament to date with 242 runs.
Umpires caught agreeing to spot fix
A television channel in Mumbai has said it has caught on camera international umpires agreeing to fix matches during domestic Twenty20 tournaments. Footage screened on India TV on Monday appeared to show umpires from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka negotiating deals with under-cover reporters to spot-fix matches. The channel showed footage of Pakistan's Nadeem Ghauri, Nadir Shah of Bangladesh, part of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) international panel of umpires, and Sagara Gallage of Sri Lanka agreeing to give favourable decisions in exchange for umpiring contracts and money. The ICC said in a statement: "The ICC and its relevant members have been made aware of the allegations made by India TV and calls on the station to turnover any information which can assist the ICC's urgent investigations into this matter.”