saturday, august 17, 2013
guyanatimesGY.com
21
Farah storms to E world double
Ponting backs Limacol Caribbean Premier League concept
M
Mo Farah
o Farah’s career reached incredible new heights as the Briton became only the second man in history to complete an Olympic and world ‘double-double’ in the distance events. The 30-year-old held on in a thrilling finish to add the 5,000m title to the 10,000m gold he won last Saturday. It was a battle between Farah and Kenyan Isiah Kiplangat Koech down the home straight, with the Londoner moving away in the last 40m on Friday. Farah crossed the line in 13 minutes and 26.99s to claim his fifth global outdoor title. “I never thought in my career I would achieve something like this,” said Farah. “This was very tough - it was all left to the last two laps. I had a lot of pressure but at the same time I enjoy it. “I am very proud to represent my country and hold the Union Jack. To all the people who give me great support I can’t thank you enough. Thank you to all the people back home - I am very proud.” The historic feat in Moscow concludes an incred-
ible 12 months for Britain’s greatest distance runner who has now matched the feats of Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele. Multiple world record holder Bekele claimed double gold at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and repeated his exploits at the Berlin World Championships a year later to join his compatriot Haile Gebrselassie on the list of history’s distance running greats. Some will argue the absence of world records for Farah over the two distances is a hole in his glorious CV. Farah, however, stands head and shoulders above his compatriots as the most decorated British athlete in history. Before the start of these championships, Farah was level with triple jumper Jonathan Edwards and decathlete Daley Thompson with three major championship titles, but he moved above them in the space of a magnificent six days in the Russian capital. BBC Sport commentator Brendan Foster called Farah the greatest British athlete of all time. “For my money he is the
greatest we’ve ever had,” said Foster, who won bronze in the 10,000m at the 1976 Olympics. “He put himself at the front and he would not let them past. Farah has always had challengers and he’s always been able to hold them off. “We are enjoying great times in distance running. Now we have a man who’s inspiring the next generation of runners.” Five athletes in the field had faster personal bests than the 2011 5,000m world champion, and seven had gone quicker than him this season. The race started at a slow pace which suited the Briton and with 600m remaining the double Olympic champion set off for the finishing line. Farah could not entirely break free of Koech, but he was always in control and a final lap of 53.51 saw off the challengers. He finished 0.28 seconds ahead of Ethiopia’s Hagos Gebrhiwet, with Koech falling back to take the bronze. BBC commentator Steve Cram, the 1500m world champion in 1983, said: “That was another incredible performance. His fifth global title - that’s a fistful of gold. “That was hard, really, really hard. It’s not getting any easier, but it’s just as sweet and just as brilliant. We are in special times with this special athlete.” Great Britain’s men’s 4x400m relay team were unable to make it a double celebration, though, as they had to settle for fourth place. (BBC
Sport)
SLC declines PCB’s offer to play day-night Test
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est cricket will continue to await its first day-night encounter after Sri Lanka’s team management declined Pakistan’s proposal to play a day-night Test during their year-end tour to the UAE. Sri Lanka Cricket cited its players’ lack of practice with the pink ball as the source of their reluctance. “Since the national team players have not practiced under lights and with the new pink ball, the executive committee decided to stand by the decision taken by the national team management, to inform PCB that SLC is not willing to play a day-night Test match as requested by PCB,” a SLC release said. SLC president, Jayantha Dharmadasa, had been positively disposed to the idea of Sri Lanka being part of the first day-night Test, but others closer to the team had
strong reservations. The series against Pakistan will be Sri Lanka’s first Test outing against a top-eight opposition in almost a year, and SLC’s decision is understood to have also been influenced by their desire to safeguard their team’s chances in an important series. PCB spokesman Nadeem Sarwar had told ESPNcricinfo that the PCB’s interest in pioneering day-night Tests was grounded in an attempt to revive interest in the longest format. “The major aspect in our discussion with SLC is the correspondence on the colour and brand of the ball. The venues are definitely ideal and there is no dew factor involved in December and January,” Sarwar had said. MCC has trialled daynight first-class matches, with a view to fine-tuning the colour and characteristics of the ball in order to
make it fit for international cricket. Day-night Tests are not only likely to stoke viewer interest in the format, but as a result, the matches are also expected to be more lucrative for broadcasters and advertisers. Last year, the ICC approved day-night Tests, but left it to member boards to agree on the hours of play, and the colour and brand of the ball. Only the PCB has so far shown interest in playing day-night Tests. It has also experimented with day-night long-form cricket twice by playing the firstclass Quaid-e-Azam trophy final in January 2011 and December 2011 under lights with an orange ball. Sri Lanka’s tour of Pakistan begins in December, and comprises of two Twenty20s, five ODIs and three Tests. Either Abu Dhabi or Dubai would have hosted the day-night Test, if SLC had agreed to it. (cricinfo)
x-Australia captain Ricky Ponting has given the concept of the Limacol Caribbean Premier League (CPL) his thumbs-up. The batting legend, who made his first senior international tour with his country to the Caribbean in 1995, has been playing for the Antigua Hawksbills, and he said the inaugural tournament involving six franchises was exactly what the region had been crying out for. “The style of cricket the West Indies play is really suited to this format of the game,” he said. “If you look at (Chris) Gayle, (Kieron) Pollard, Marlon Samuels -- they have got some really terrific Twenty20 players. The West Indies fans and players have really embraced Twenty20 cricket and it has gone really well. The crowds have enjoyed it and they have come out in big numbers wherever we have been.” Ponting said the concept is great, and it’s right but the biggest challenge now for these types of events is finding the right time in the calendar. Quality of pitches and attracting the world’s best players to the Caribbean would also be hurdles for the organisers in future but he believes those hurdles are ones that can be overcome. “We have seen that some players who committed to play two or three months ago have not been able to make it and that is going to be a challenge moving forward -- how they attract the
Ricky Ponting
bigger name players -- but the way this event has gone, I am sure they will be able to do that,” he said. “From a cricketing point of view the pitches are so important. In this tournament we have had low-scoring games but otherwise they have been reasonably close as well so the competition has gone really well so far.” For Ponting, a triple International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricket World Cup winner, with 27,483 international runs, 71 hundreds for his country at Test and One-Day International (ODI) level, and a total of 560 appearances for Australia in Tests, ODIs and Twenty20 Internationals, this tournament has been part of his swansong to playing the game he loves so much. At 38 years old and with a young family, he dismissed the idea that he might change his mind about retiring this year. “No, I’ve definitely no thoughts of that,” he said. “It has been a pretty hard period for me, I have been away for six months straight,” he said. “I went to the Indian
Premier League (IPL), I went straight from there to Surrey and then straight from there to here for the Limacol CPL. For someone of my age, that is a little bit too long with a couple of little girls at home -- I am missing them a lot. “I have been travelling for 20 or 21 years so it is time for me to settle back into a normal life after this tournament. So, depending on how we go in our next game, if we do not qualify for the semi-finals then Saturday (against the Guyana Amazon Warriors) could be my last game of cricket,” added Ponting. And what is his take on the ongoing Ashes series? “I have kept in touch with it and putting my biased goggles on for a minute I think the boys have probably played a little bit better than the scoreline suggests as they have been in with a chance of winning three Tests,” he said. “But the scoreline reads 3-0 and that is the difference sometimes between the really good and experienced teams and the ones on their way up-- the know-how -- to actually get across the line and to win games. “That is what England have done. They have got a really good team, an experienced team and their bowling group has been together for pretty much the last six or seven years now,” said the former Australian captain.
Nixon rues loss but confident Tallawahs will rebound
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ingston, JAMAICA – Head coach Paul Nixon was left regretting a tactical decision after Jamaica Tallawahs went down by five runs to Guyana Amazon Warriors in a thriller at Sabina Park on Thursday. Chasing 140 for victory and a place in the semi-finals of the Limacol Caribbean Premier League, Tallawahs just failed to achieve victory, after needing ten from the final over. Nixon said in retrospect, with the game delicately balanced at 72 for three at the end of the eleventh over, he could have introduced a right-hander at the fall of Danza Hyatt’s wicket instead of sending in South African left-hander Jacques Rudolph. “We got ourselves in a good situation but I made the wrong decision, sending Jacques the left-hander in. We should have sent a righthander in and made it much easier. I think I made a tactical error there. With Chris (Gayle) in at the time and Jacques to come in, it was the wrong decision. If we could do it all again, we would change it,” Nixon said. “We’ve got quite a flexible order depending on the situation of the game. We have a
lot of guys who can hit, a lot of guys who can rotate the strike. The left and righthanders are important and with Steven Jacobs’ off-spin, we think he was a guy at the time we could have targeted. “The Warriors have got a lot of quality spinners and it’s always going to be tough but when you know a guy is only going to go one way generally, there is a time and a place to put your chips on the table and try and change the game in four or five balls and that could have been it. We’ve learnt our lessons.” He added: “There are still things we would have loved to have done better. There are still two games to get a win so we’re pretty confident being at home. These guys (Warriors) have done the double on us so well done to them.” Gayle top scored with 43 and Chadwick Walton
stroked an aggressive 36 in his first match of the tournament, but the Tallawahs batting fell away as they chased quick runs. They were 130 for six at the start of the final over bowled by Chris Barnwell, but lost South African Vernon Philander and David Bernard Jr, within the first three balls, to lose all momentum. “The guy held his nerve and bowled a good last over but we shouldn’t have let it come down to that. We’ve got to win the game up front and win the game in the middle of the innings,” Nixon stressed. “The mood is very sombre. The guys are disappointed to lose the game. We felt we restricted the Warriors well and that pitch was a very good one. The groundsmen did a very good job because the rain we’ve had over the last few days was enormous.” Jamaica will square off with Barbados Tridents at 14:00h (15:00h Guyana time) the feature match of today’s doubleheader, as they lobby for a spot in the semi-finals of the inaugural tournament. St Lucia Zouks and Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel clash in the first game at 10 am, also at Sabina Park.