FASTEST ON THE FIRST
SPORTS
Afternoon Despatch & Courier www.afternoondc.in
MUMBAI | THURSDAY, JANUARY 2, 2014
Corey Anderson scores the fastest
ODI century off 36 deliveries as New Zealand overwhelm Windies
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UEENSTOWN, NEW ZEALAND: New Zealand allrounder Corey Anderson cracked the fastest century in oneday international cricket history as New Zealand thrashed the West Indies by 159 runs in a rain-shortened third ODI. His whirlwind performance in partnership with Jesse Ryder, who smacked the sixth fastest century of all time in that form of the game, took New Zealand to 283-4 in a match reduced to 21 overs each side. The West Indies then wilted when faced with a daunting run rate of nearly 13.5 an over and could only manage 124-5 in reply. The series is now all square at 1-1 with two matches to play. Anderson -- who finished not out 131 -- took a mere 36 deliveries to reach his century, beating the previous record set by Shahid Afridi, who needed 37 balls to reach three figures playing for Pakistan against Sri Lanka in 1996. Ryder faced 46 deliveries to reach his ton. The burly Anderson hit 14 sixes, the third highest in an ODI innings behind Rohit Sharma (16) for India against Australia two months ago and Australia's Shane Watson (15) against Bangladesh in 2011. Anderson and Ryder put on 191 for the fourth wicket as they hammered the West Indies attack. After the start of the game was delayed five hours because of the weather, Ryder set the tone for the New Zealand innings when he cracked a boundary from the first ball he faced.
ALL GUNS BLAZING... Corey Anderson in full flow during his innings against West Indies on Wednesday.
The demise of fellow opener Martin Guptill (one) was only a matter of time. He was all at sea against the bounce generated by Jason Holder and after surviving two caught behind appeals there was no mistake with the third. Brendon McCullum belted 33 off 11 deliveries as New Zealand raced past 50 in just 26 balls and Ross Taylor came and went quickly for nine. That brought Anderson to the wicket to join Ryder in a rollicking partnership for which the West Indies had no answer. Anderson took 20 deliveries to reach his 50, passing the milestone in an over in which he hit four sixes in a merciless attack on the usually tight bowling of spinner Sunil Narine. In a near chanceless innings he only faced 47 balls for his 131, while Ryder faced 51 balls for his 104 which included five sixes. The West Indies reply was quickly in trouble when Johnson Charles was removed without scoring by the third ball. Llendl Simmons (13) and Kieran Powell (one) fell cheaply to reduce the West Indies to 19-3 in the fourth over. Captain Dwayne Bravo crafted a well-compiled 56 not out and Narsingh Deonarine added 29 as the West Indies abandoned any thought of a run chase and were reconciled to batting out time. BRIEF SCORES: New Zealand 283 in 21 overs [Jesse Ryder 104, Corey Anderson 131] beat West Indies 124 for five I 21 overs [Dwayne Bravo not out 56] by 159 runs.
Afridi hails new ODI century record holder Johnson warns England not to back away
KARACHI: Pakistan allrounder Shahid Afridi hailed New Zealand batsman Corey Anderson, who broke his longstanding record for the fastest oneday century -but admitted he had never heard of him before. Anderson bettered Afridi's 17-year-old record by one ball, reaching the three-figure mark off just 36 balls against the West Indies in Queenstown in the third one-day international. Afridi set the mark aged just 16, in only his second limited-overs match, against Sri Lanka in Nairobi in October 1996. He said he had never heard of Anderson before today. "I never heard his name and early morning my nephew told me about his feat and I sort of said the first news of 2014 is of my record being broken," Afridi told AFP. "But I must say it's a great
achievement and Anderson deserves all the praise. It needs a super effort to score a hundred off 36 balls," Afridi said. "Records are meant to be broken and I knew it would be broken some day." Afridi admitted he had hoped the record would last until he quit the game. "I sort of wanted this record to stand until I retire because it has been a big pride for Pakistan and for me and whenever my name comes the record is mentioned," he said. "Now Anderson's name will come but I am sure with the advent of Twenty20 cricket this record will surely be bettered in the future." He said he had always expected West Indian Chris Gayle or Australian David Warner to break the record. "I had never expected it to be broken by a new player," said Afridi.
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YDNEY: Destructive paceman Mitchell Johnson has set the scene for a tetchy final Ashes Test by claiming that England's batsmen are deliberately backing away from fast bowlers as an unsettling tactic. While it is normal for batsmen to walk away from a delivery if anyone in the crowd interferes with their line of sight, Johnson said he suspects the regularity with which it has happened during the series indicates England are doing it for other reasons. The fiery left-armer said he expects Alastair Cook's team to continue to do so in the fifth and final Test in Sydney starting on Friday. Australia are chasing a 5-0 Ashes series whitewash for only the third time against England. "That's how they play the game and have always played the game since I've been playing," Johnson said. "It's always happened so I don't think they'll change. It definitely is frustrating when it happens all the time but that's part of the game, it's part of their tactics." The issue came to a head during the fourth Test in Melbourne won by Australia by eight wickets, when star English batsman Kevin Pietersen walked away during Johnson's run-up. It infuriated Johnson, who is the leading wicket-taker in the series, and he threw the ball in
James Faulkner and Nathan Lyon during a practice session ahead of the final test. Pietersen's direction and exchanged words with the batsman. Johnson warned that he would respond if England try it again in Sydney. "The only thing I regret is throwing the ball," he said. "I think that was probably a little bit inappropriate but the rest of it was fine. I just let (Pietersen) know that he needed to stop doing it. The sight screens are big enough, he should be watching the game. I won't back down if it happens again."
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First individual Oly medallist Jadhav still waiting Padma Award
By Philem Dipak Singh
NEW DELHI: A technicality in the government rules for posthumous Padma Awards has rendered India's first individual Olympic medallist K D Jadhav ineligible for the coveted civilian honour and his son Ranjit is so aghast that he now wants to throw away the bronze his "forgotten" father won in 1952. Wrestler Jadhav was the first Indian to win an individual Olympic medal in 1952 in Helsinki but is the only one among the entire lot of country's Olympic medallists not to have been conferred with the Padma Awards. All of India's individual Olympic medallists from 1996 Games onwards have been conferred with Padma Awards and only Jadhav who died in 1984 has been left out. A Home Ministry rule on posthumous conferment of Padma Awards says, "The award is normally not conferred posthumously. However, in highly deserving cases, the Government could consider giving an award posthumously if the demise of the person proposed to be honoured has been recent, say within a period of one year preceding the Republic Day on which it is proposed to announce the award." Going by this, it would be difficult for Jadhav to get the honour but his son Ranjit wants his father to be conferred with the Padma Bhushan by changing the rule just like recent changes which allowed for sportspersons to get Bharat Ratna. "My father brought laurels to the country by winning the bronze medal in 1952 Helsinki Games. He was the first Indian to win an individual Olympic medal but he has been forgotten now. I feel it's better to throw away the Olympic medal into the Arabian Sea," Ranjit told PTI from his home in Karad in Western Maharashtra. "If the government can change the rule recently to allow sportspersons to get the Bharat Ratna, why can't they do it in the case of Padma Awards," he said. Ranjit said that government can consider his father's case as an exceptional situation as all the other individual Olympic medal winners after Jadhav (from Leander Paes onwards) have won Padma Awards but not him. "It is a case of the person who achieved the laurel first being ignored while those who followed him have been recognised," said 42-year-old Ranjit, the only son of Jadhav. "It took 44 years for an Indian to win an individual Olympic medal (by Paes in 1996 Atlanta) after my father. And it took 56 years for a wrestler to win an Olympic medal (by Sushil Kumar in 2008 Beijing) after my father. I am not against them getting the Padma Awards. But, is it not a humiliation to my father that he got the first individual Olympic medal and he was not conferred with Padma Awards while those who won the medals later, long time back, have got the awards?" Ranjit asked.