Djokovic defeats Tsonga for third China Open title
MONDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2012
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Vettel wins Japan GP
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Cleverley stunner caps United romp
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SPAIN: Barcelona’s Argentinian forward Lionel Messi (center) vies with Real Madrid’s midfielder Xabi Alonso (left) and Real Madrid’s defender Sergio Ramos during the Spanish League Clasico football match. —AFP
Messi, Ronaldo ensure Clasico draw BARCELONA: Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo both scored twice as Barcelona and Real Madrid drew 2-2 in a politically-charged Clasico yesterday which kept the Catalan giants eight points ahead of their bitter rivals. Ronaldo put Madrid ahead after 23 minutes but Messi responded just after the half hour mark with Barca having shown little going forward. The 98,000 capacity crowd of vociferous Catalans glimpsed the possibility of going 11 points clear after Messi struck a free-kick to put them ahead after the break but Ronaldo responded five minutes later. In the dying stages, Barca had the chance to win it with Martin Montoya hitting the woodwork. On a tense night at Camp Nou, fans created a mosaic of the Catalan flag, “The Senyera”, in
a clear demonstration of the nationalist fervor in the region where many want independence from Spain. In a surprise move, Barca lined up with Adriano Correia in the centre of defence alongside Javier Mascherano with Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique both injured. Real coach Jose Mourinho put his confidence in the side which won the league last season with Mesut Ozil returning to the starting line-up despite a poor start to the campaign where Luka Modric appeared to have moved above him in the pecking order. In a cautious opening, Barca had possession but were generally too deep and the Madrid players were happy to sit on the halfway line, looking to pounce when their moves broke
down. Despite their impressive winning streak, which had yielded six victories in the opening six La Liga matches, Barca have lacked their usual silky passing and their hesitation was made worse by a lack of confidence in their defence. Angel Di Maria had an early shot wide and Adriano was forced into a last ditch clearance but the first clear opportunity fell to Karim Benzema after 12 minutes. However, volleying the ball on the full from a Ronaldo cross, he blazed wide. The general air of nationalism was again demonstrated after 17 minutes and 14 seconds when fans raised their Senyera flags and chanted for freedom for Catalonia. The moment was chosen as a reference to the fall of Barcelona in 1714 during the War of Spanish Succession when Catalonia came under
centralised rule from Madrid. Sergio Ramos had the chance to put Madrid in the driving seat after 20 minutes but allowed a clear header from a corner he was unable to hit the target. Madrid looked the more incisive side going forward and they got their reward when Ronaldo beat keeper Victor Valdes at his near post with a low left-foot drive after being played in by Benzema. The Frenchman then failed to double the advantage, leaning back with his shot from 12 yards, and the ball came back off the post while Di Maria hit the follow-up wide. It got worse for Barca with Dani Alves limping off to be replaced by youth product Montoya. But forced out of their shells, the game opened up and they equalised with their first
Windies crowned T20 champions COLOMBO: Darren Sammy’s West Indies were crowned the new World Twenty20 champions yesterday after a 36-run victory over hosts Sri Lanka in a dramatic final in Colombo yesterday. The West Indies, restricted to 137-6 after electing to bat, hit back to bowl Sri Lanka out for 101 and silence a sell-out crowd of 35,000 at the Premadasa stadium that included President Mahinda Rajapakse. It was the first world title for the West Indies since the 50-over World Cup triumph under Clive Lloyd in 1979, and handed Sri Lanka their fourth defeat in a major final since 2007. Spinner Sunil Narine grabbed three wickets for nine runs and Sammy took two as the hosts, who had excelled in the field in the first session, undid the good work with irresponsible batting in the second. Skipper Mahela Jayawardene survived two dropped catches to top-score with 33, while tailender Nuwan Kulasekara hit 26 off 13 balls, including three fours and a six in the 16th over of seamer Ravi Rampaul. Sri Lanka’s unorthodox spinner Ajantha Mendis had taken four wickets for 12 runs as the West Indies collapsed once Chris Gayle was removed in the sixth over for only three runs. Marlon Samuels was the only batsman to defy the spot-on Sri Lankan bowling, making 78 off 56 balls with the help of six sixes and three boundaries. His brilliant strokeplay, which earned him the man of the match award, helped the West Indies add 105 runs in the last 10 overs after they were reduced to 32-2 from the first 10. “It is hard to explain what this victory means to me and my team,” said Samuels, as the West Indies celebrated wildly with energetic ‘Gangnam Style’ dancing. “Sri Lanka beat us twice in a practice match and in the Super Eights. But I told Chris (Gayle) that we can’t lose to them thrice. All the hard work paid off today. The West Indies are finally going well again, we have a great future.” Jayawardene said it was tough to lose before the home crowd, but wanted his team to learn from the mistakes and prepare for the future. “The way we started the game was fantastic, but a couple of mistakes in the field and a few bad overs shifted the momentum,” the Sri Lankan captain said. “We are disappointed for the huge crowd that came to support us. We need to sit together, have a chat on what went wrong and then move on.” Sri Lanka have now lost two successive 50-over World Cup finals in 2007 and 2011 and two World Twenty20 finals in 2009 and 2012. Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara added 42 for the second wicket after Tillakaratne Dilshan had fallen in the second over. The hosts were cruising at 48-1 in the 10th over when the West Indies bounced back by claiming four wickets for 13 runs. Sangakkara holed out in the deep off Samuel Badree for 22, Angelo Mathews was bowled by Darren Sammy, Jayawardene was caught off a reverse sweep and Jeevan Mendis ran himself out. Sri Lanka had taken an early grip on the match by keeping the West Indies down to 14-2 in the first six powerplay overs after Johnson Charles had been dismissed off the fifth ball of the match. —AFP
COLOMBO: West Indies’ cricketer Chris Gayle (front) performs as teammates watch after their win over Sri Lanka in the ICC Twenty20 Cricket World Cup final match. — AP
SCOREBOARD COLOMBO, Sri Lanka: Scoreboard of the World Twenty20 final between Sri Lanka and the West Indies at Premadasa stadium yesterday: West Indies J. Charles c Kulasekara b Mathews 0 C. Gayle lbw b A. Mendis 3 M. Samuels c J. Mendis b Dananjaya 78 D. Bravo lbw b A. Mendis 19 K. Pollard c Dananjaya b A. Mendis 2 A. Russell lbw b A. Mendis 0 D. Sammy not out 26 D. Ramdin not out 4 Extras: (lb2, w3) 5 Total: (for six wickets, 20 overs) 137 Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Charles), 2-14 (Gayle), 3-73 (Bravo), 4-87 (Pollard), 5-87 (Russell), 6-108 (Samuels). Bowling: Mathews 4-1-11-1 (w1), Kulasekara 3-0-220 (w1), Malinga 4-0-54-0, A. Mendis 4-0-12-4 (w1), Dananjaya 3-0-16-1, J. Mendis 2-0-20-0 Sri Lanka M. Jayawardene c Sammy b Narine 33
T. Dilshan b Rampaul 0 K. Sangakkara c Pollard b Badree 22 A. Mathews b Sammy 1 J. Mendis run out 3 T. Perera run out 3 L. Thirimanne c Charles b Sammy 4 N. Kulasekara c Badree b Narine 26 L. Malinga c Bravo b Narine 5 A. Mendis c Bravo b Samuels 1 A. Dananjaya not out 0 Extras: (lb2, nb1) 3 Total: (all out, 18.4 overs) 101 Fall of wickets: 1-6 (Dilshan), 2-48 (Sangakkara), 3-51 (Mathews), 4-60 (Jayawardene), 5-61 (J. Mendis), 664 (Perera), 7-69 (Thirimanne), 8-96 (Kulasekara), 9100 (A. Mendis). Bowling: Badree 4-0-24-1, Rampaul 3-0-31-1 (nb1), Samuels 4-0-15-1, Gayle 2-0-14-0, Narine 3.4-0-9-3, Sammy 2-0-6-2 Result: West Indies win by 36 runs.
opening. Pepe jumped and failed to connect with the ball which dropped at the feet of Messi in front of goal and he slotted home. The match lost its cageyness, but after the break neither side was able to take control with imprecise passing and niggly fouls creating few clear cut chances. It was at this moment that Barcelona received a moment of inspiration from Messi with a 25yard free-kick into the top corner after he himself had been fouled. The goal was Messi’s 17th in Clasico matches. Ronaldo though was not to be outdone and, latching onto an Ozil pass in the area he finished clinically. Barca finished the stronger with Montoya seeing a curling 25 yard shot crash against the upright. — AFP
Australia women retain World Twenty 20 crown COLOMBO: Jess Cameron’s show with the bat and Lisa Sthalekar’s all-round skills helped Australia retain the Women’s World Twenty20 title with a close fourrun victory over England in the final yesterday. Put in to bat, the defending champions, who won the last edition of the tournament in West Indies, made 142 for four from their 20 overs, riding on a strong opening partnership. England lost wickets at regular intervals during their chase and required 16 off the last over but managed 11 to reach 138 for nine. Danielle Hazel needed to hit a six off the last ball for a victory but she could just get a single sparking widespread celebrations in the Australian camp. “So proud of this team,” an emotional Australian captain Jodie Fields said during the prize distribution ceremony. “I love this jersey, whenever you put this jersey on, you have to fight hard. England played a really good match, but we had the belief in our team.” Jess Jonassen picked up three wickets for 25 while Sthalekar and Julie Hunter shared four wickets between them as Australia dropped a number of catches. Skipper Charlotte Edwards (28) topscored for England and kept the team in the hunt with four boundaries and a six but the 2009 champions lost their way after her dismissal. “Last 18 months we have worked towards this. It didn’t go our way, but congratulations to Australia,” Edwards, who was adjudged the player of the tournament, said. “We didn’t bowl well up front, and just couldn’t pin them. I wouldn’t change the decision to bowl first. Our bowling is
good, the wicket is still good. “It still came down to six off the last ball. It wasn’t to be a fairy tale, but hope we have done the country proud.” Meg Lanning (25) and Alyssa Healy (26) notched up 51 for the opening wicket for Australia to build a solid platform and then Cameron (45) and Sthalekar (23 not out) added another 51 for the third to set England 143 for a win. —Reuters
COLOMBO: Australia’s captain Jodie Fields hold up the ICC Women’s Twenty20 Cricket World Cup trophy. — AP