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friday, april 4, 2014
Sammy defends wait- Parker, Duncan lead Spurs past and-watch approach Warriors 111-90
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Darren Sammy
as it the rain? Or was it Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels? West Indies needed 81 to win from 37 balls with six wickets remaining when a hailstorm ended the first semi-final of the World T20, leaving Sri Lanka winners by 27 runs by the Duckworth-Lewis method. Gayle made 3 off 13, and Samuels was unbeaten on 18 off 29 when the rain came down. Darren Sammy said it was disappointing to go out under the rain rule, and refused to answer when he was asked whether West Indies could afford Gayle and Samuels taking as much time as they did. When he was asked a related question about the high number of dot balls faced by Gayle and Samuels, Sammy admitted that both had not been able to deliver in this tournament, but said that both had performed in the past. “When you lose a cricket game, people tend to point out all different areas where that should have happened, this should have happened,” Sammy said. “But I am sure if you look at all the games we have played, there are more than 27 dots [25, between Gayle and Samuels]. “Probably 50-something dots. It’s not ideal for Twenty20 but we’ve developed a formula in which that works for us. We know we are a boundary-hitting team. We know we have got to improve in rotating the strike but if you look at the
way Gayle plays, he normally gives himself some time to get used to the wicket and catch up in the end. But the thing is, in this tournament he has not carried. “Marlon has not been batting well for us. It is one area - we always tell him, whatever rate you walk into, you try to keep it at that or increase it. Yes, we could say Marlon has not had the best of tournaments but he is one of our better batsmen and in the last World Cup (in 2012), he was the star for us. People have a few dips in form.” West Indies began with 17 runs off the opening over but scored only 13 off the next five of the fielding restrictions. Sammy and Dwayne Bravo had catapulted them home against Australia in a tense chase and also nearly doubled the score against Pakistan in the last five overs. The captain pointed to that and said West Indies could have pulled it off again. “Gayle and [Dwayne] Smith have a very clear idea of how they want to go and play. The first over, we were off to a flyer but they brought on the offspinner (Sachithra Senanayake) and (Lasith) Malinga who bowled really well at Gayle and Smith. We were again behind the eightball and just when Bravo looked like picking it up like he did in the last game, he got out but we still had the belief that we could get 12 runs an over in the last six. I guess we have been doing that in this tournament. It is just disap-
pointing but there is nothing we could do about it.” Sammy praised Sri Lanka for their display and said the rain gods had intervened because they wanted Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, both of whom will be retiring from T20 internationals at the end of the tournament, to win a world limited-overs title after four losses in finals in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2012. “Disappointing to come out of the tournament like this but credit to Sri Lanka. They won the toss, batted first. Probably they knew that some (bad) weather was around. But we have had a good run in this tournament, it is just sad that we got knocked out by the D/L system. But that’s life. You move on and we will start planning for the next T20 World Cup. “I took it like ‘you know what, we have won a World Cup’. We are a praying team, we know God normally answers our prayers but today, I guess two gentlemen who have played for Sri Lanka, given a lot not only to Sri Lanka cricket but cricket on the whole, I guess the Almighty wants them to leave on a high, so I guess they have one more game to try and win a World Cup and leave on a high. Probably that’s the reason why God put a hand in this match. I am sure I will have another shot at playing the T20 World Cup and we are looking forward to winning it again in the near future.” (Cricinfo)
Tony Parker
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he San Antonio Spurs continue to win big and to rest players, and the limited minutes are starting to show in the revival of Tim Duncan’s game. Tony Parker had 18 points and eight assists and Duncan had 15 points and eight rebounds and San Antonio rolled to a 111-90 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night, extending the Spurs’ franchise record winning streak to 19 games. ‘’They’re playing amazing right now,’’ Golden State guard Stephen Curry said. ‘’That’s the best in the league right now.’’ San Antonio (59-16) extended its league-leading record to four games over the Thunder (54-
19) ahead of their matchup Thursday night in Oklahoma City.
Tim Duncan
Hafeez quits as Pakistan T20 captain
Knicks rout Nets 110-81, move into 8th in East
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ew York’s once faint, nearly unrealistic playoff hopes have become a real possibility. The Knicks intend to seize the opportunity and run with it. ‘’We know what we want,’’ Carmelo Anthony said. J.R. Smith had 24 points, eight rebounds and six assists, Anthony added 23 points and 10 rebounds, and the Knicks beat the city ri-
val Brooklyn Nets 110-81 Wednesday night to move percentage points ahead of Atlanta for the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff spot. The Knicks were 21-40 on March 3 after a sevengame skid and are still just 33-43. But they know that record gets wiped away if they can finish off this turnaround. ‘’We want to get there. That’s the goal,’’ Anthony
said. ‘’Despite this emotional season, this up-and-down season, I think it would be a big deal to get in that spot.’’ Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 17 points a game after spraining his right ankle to help the Knicks win for the 12th time in 15 games, dominating a team that had the best record in the Eastern Conference since the new year. New York won its third straight. (Yahoo! Sports)
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was able to rest his core players with his team leading by as many as 26 points and never trailing after the opening three minutes. ‘’Our minutes stayed low and it’s just like Pop likes it, so we’ll see what happens tomorrow (against Oklahoma City),’’ Duncan said. Duncan played only 20 minutes and Parker 28. Both sat out the entire fourth quarter. After struggling with his outside shot for much of the season, Duncan is regaining his soft touch just in time for San Antonio’s 17th consecutive postseason appearance. He finished 7 for 11 from the field, including 6-for-7 shooting in the first half on a series of soft jumpers, bank shots and a dunk. (Yahoo! Sports)
Mohammad Hafeez
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ohammad Hafeez has stepped down as Pakistan’s T20 captain, just days after the team’s exit from the group stage of the 2014 World T20 in Bangladesh. Hafeez has also relinquished the vicecaptaincy of the ODI side as well.
He was given the T20 captaincy in May 2012 after Misbah-ul-Haq decided to step down. Misbah continues to lead the Test and ODI sides. “As a Pakistan T20 captain I solely take the whole responsibility for the performance in the World T20
and decided to step down from the captaincy,” Hafeez told a press conference after meeting with the PCB chairman Najam Sethi at the Gaddafi Stadium Lahore. “Whether we played either good or bad I owe it as captain to produce results but it didn’t happen. I had a productive discussion with the chairman and I myself offered to step down.” During his stint as T20 captain, Hafeez led Pakistan to the semi-finals of the 2012 World T20 in Sri Lanka. However, the team exited at group stage after losing to West Indies on Tuesday by a massive 84 runs. It was the first time Pakistan had failed to progress to the semi-finals in five editions of the tournament. Hafeez’s overall T20 record stands at 18 wins (one via a one-over eliminator) and 11 losses from 29 matches. (Cricinfo)