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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday December 9, 2014
No budging on DRS for stand-in India captain Kohli By Ian Ransom ADELAIDE, Australia (Reuters) - Stand-in India captain Virat Kohli has stuck to the party line on cricket’s decision review system (DRS), saying his team would only endorse its use if it were 100 percent accurate. India’s four-Test series against Australia will go ahead without the use of the sometimes controversial DRS, with the tourists rejecting it in every bilateral tournament they play. “The only point we maintain is that it’s not 100 percent,” he told reporters at Adelaide Oval yesterday. “And we see incidents happen where DRS has been taken and some people feel
that it’s clearly a not-out decision and they’ve been given out. “Or it seems like it’s out and guys have been given not out and (there’s) more than half a ball hitting the stumps. “It just doesn’t make sense to us sometimes. Unless it’s 100 percent accurate I don’t think it can be a thing that will change our take on it. “If it gets 100 percent accurate and consistent, then, who knows?” Kohli confirmed he would lead the side in the first Test in Adelaide starting today in the absence of the injured Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and he has promised to bring a more aggressive approach to his team’s some-
Kevin Pietersen
Virat Kohli times pedestrian play. Though India shuns the DRS for all bilateral tournaments, with world governing body, the ICC, maintaining that both parties must agree to its use, they will have to
play with the system at the upcoming one-day World Cup in Australia and New Zealand next year. After Adelaide, the teams play Tests in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.
Brazil football legend Pele to leave hospital today
van Persie brace lifts United to third LONDON, England (Reuters) - Robin van Persie scored twice as Manchester United continued their recent resurgence to climb to third in the Premier League after a 2-1 victory against Southampton yesterday. The Dutchman scored in each half as United, who were distinctly second best for much of the game, secured their fifth successive Premier League victory. Graziano Pelle ended a personal goal drought
dating back to October by equalising but Southampton have now lost three successive Premier League games and are without a league victory since a 1-0 victory against struggling Leicester City on November 8. Manchester United have 28 points, five behind rivals Man City in second and eight less than leaders Chelsea while Southampton have dropped to fifth on 26 points, one point behind fourth-placed West Ham United.
Pietersen still has hopes of Test revenge over Australia MELBOURNE, Australia (Reuters) - Kevin Pietersen has not given up hope of a return to Test cricket and the chance to avenge the humiliating 5-0 defeat at the hands of Australia in the last Ashes series, the former England batsman said yesterday. The South African-born maverick was sacked by England in the wake of that tour and made reconciliation unlikely by releasing a book in October which contained attacks on the national cricket board and several of his former team mates. In Australia to play for the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash Twenty20 league, however, Pietersen said he foresaw “a lot of changes” in the England set-up over the next six months which could just offer him a route back to Test cricket. “I have 8 300 runs, I’d love to get 10 000 Test runs,” the 34-year-old told reporters. “I’d love to beat Aus-
tralia again ... last time, we got hammered. That doesn’t sit well. I’m not a player who likes being hammered; I’m a player who plays to win.” Pietersen’s final Test was the 281-run defeat in Sydney in January and he has largely been restricted to playing Twenty20 matches since then. While that has done little for his hopes of playing red ball cricket for England again, it has allowed him to recuperate from the knee problem that dogged him throughout his last trip to Australia. “I should have had a microfracture (surgery) before the double Ashes last year,” he added. “But I was flying around this country getting injected by every single doctor to try to get myself through. “Having not played Test cricket since January, my body has felt a hell of a lot better. I’m feeling good, ready to go.”
CRICKET QUIZ CORNER
Pele
(Tuesday December 09, 2014) SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) - Brazilian football legend Pele has overcome a urinary tract infection and will be discharged from the hospital where he had kidney stones removed three weeks ago, his doctors said yesterday. “Considering his good recovery, the medical team programmed his release for tomorrow,” the doctors at Sao Paulo’s Albert Einstein hospital said in a statement. The three-time World Cup champion underwent surgery to remove kidney
stones on November 13, but was readmitted 10 days later with a urinary tract infection that required dialysis. At one point, he was moved into a hospital wing used for more intensive care. The 74-year-old Pele, who is often called the greatest football player in history, assured fans that he had recovered in a video released on Friday that showed him smiling and strumming a guitar with family members by his side.
Compliments of THE TROPHY STALL-Bourda Market &The City Mall (Tel: 225-9230) & CUMMINGS ELECTRICAL CO. LTD-83 Garnette Street, Campbellville (Tel: 225-6158; 223-6055) Answers to yesterday’s quiz: (1) 15 Test catches (2) 198th Today’s Quiz: (1)What is Phil Hughes’ Test batting average? (2) How many catches he took in ODIs? Answers in tomorrow’s issue