South Korea's Suwon Samsung Bluewings defender Mato Neretljak (L) and Australia's Sydney FC forward Bruno Cazarine (R) jump for the ball during their AFC Champions League Group H football match in Suwon, south of Seoul. The Suwon Samsung Bluewings won the match 3-1
England Team Director Andy Flower renews ECB contract LONDON: England's cricket coach Andy Flower has renewed his contract with English Board and will continue in his current role as the team's Director, it was announced here Tuesday. Zimbabwe-born Flower will remain on a permanent contract and is currently preparing for an international summer that sees England face Sri Lanka, India and Ireland. He was offered the role of England Team Director on a permanent basis in 2009. During this two-year period England has risen from sixth in the ICC Test rankings to third behind India and South Africa and has climbed a place from sixth to fifth in the ICC one day rankings. In 2009 England defeated Australia 2-1 to regain the Ashes and last winter became the first side since 1987 to retain the Ashes with a convincing 3-1 victory in Australia. England has also won a first global title with a seven wicket victory over Australia in the West Indies in 2010 to become the current ICC World Twenty20 Champions. England will face Sri Lanka this summer in a three match Test Series followed by a Twenty20 and ODI Series. England will then face India in a four match Test Series, followed by an ODI against Ireland in Dublin and will end the summer with a Twenty20 and ODI series against India. Speaking about the renewal of his contract, Flower said: "I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to build on the considerable progress we have made to date as a squad and remain fully committed to developing the side and ensuring we are in a position to realise our objective of becoming the number one side in the world." -APP
Ganguly to join Pune for IPL 4 MUMBAI: After going unsold in the players' auction, Sourav Ganguly on Tuesday made a dramatic return to the IPL by signing up for Pune Warriors as replacement for Ashish Nehra. "We were waiting for Ashish Nehra's fitness report and ultimately the report came on Monday. I was already in talks with Ganguly and we decided that the amount of experience that Sourav has in cricket will no doubt help the team. So we finalised Ganguly last night," Pune Warriors Team Director Abhijit Sarkar said referring to the finger injury that Nehra has been nursing. Former India captain Sourav Ganguly, who played for Kolkata Knight Riders for three IPL seasons captaining them in two editions, went unsold in the January players' auction despite a rather modest base price of 400,000 US dollars. The 38-year-old refused a mentor's role with KKR after that and there had been speculation of a possible comeback through another franchise. The left-handed batman was first sought by Kochi Tuskers Kerala but their application was rejected by the IPL's Governing Council. However, he signed on the dotted line for Pune on Monday, giving a major fillip to the side which has lost six matches on the trot after starting promisingly with a couple of back-to-back wins. The IPL governing council had allowed Ganguly to play after the Pune Franchise sent an application on Monday for his signing. Pune Warriors have lost six matches in the IPL this year. NNI
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Salman, Junaid and Azam get Test call-ups BARBADOS: Wicket-keeper Mohammad Salman, allrounder Hammad Azam and left-arm seamer Junaid Khan are the new faces in Pakistan's 15-member squad for the upcoming two-Test series against West Indies. Misbah-ul-Haq who led the Test side creditably in the aftermath of the spot-fixing scandal, remains in charge. Salman, Azam and Junaid have all been, in effect, kept on after being blooded in the limitedovers leg of the West Indies tour. The only minor surprise in the squad was the exclusion of Adnan Akmal, who has been the Test wicketkeeper in charge since his elder brother Kamran lost his place in the five-day format in the aftermath of the spot-fixing scandal last summer. Over four Tests against South Africa and New Zealand he performed well with the gloves, generally neat and clean and, importantly
Bridgetown : Pakistani bowler Mohammad Hafeez celebrates with Ahmed Shehzad after taking the wicket of West Indies batsman Ramnaresh sarwan during the fourth ODI between West Indies and Pakistan at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown. Reuters
Murray: ‘I can compete with Nadal’ LONDON: Andy Murray is optimistic about being able to topple Spanish ace Rafael Nadal on clay after running the world number one close in Monte Carlo last month. Nadal has a phenomenal record on clay, winning 213 of his 229 competitive matches on the surface overall, and claiming 34 successive victories heading into this week's Madrid Open, where he is the defending champion. One of those 34 triumphs came against Murray in the semi-finals in Monte Carlo, but the Scot gave Nadal some food for thought in that match as, despite struggling with an elbow problem, he took a set off the eventual tournament champion before going down to a 6-4 2-6 6-1 defeat. When asked how much that performance had helped him and what more he needed to do in order to challenge Nadal on clay, Murray said: "I still feel I can improve. I said I played well in that match but I still feel I could've done better. "There are things I can improve upon from that match in terms of where I was with my game before Monte Carlo. "That was a big step in the right direction. I practice with Rafa quite a lot. I enjoy playing against him." The Scot, who has won four of his 14 career meetings with Nadal, all of which came on hardcourt, added: "I feel I can definitely compete against him and win against him, but it's a very difficult thing to do because he's one of the best players of all time. "It's difficult, but I think I
can get there." Murray, who is on the opposite half of the draw to both top seed Nadal and number three Roger Federer in the Madrid Open, has not played an official match since that semi-final in Monte Carlo as he withdrew from the subsequent tournament in Barcelona due to his injury. Despite that enforced layoff, though, the world number four insists he is feeling "great" heading into this week's tournament - an event in which he has reached the quarter-finals in the last two years and which he won in 2008, albeit when the event was hardcourt rather than the current clay surface at La Caja Magica. "I feel great," said the 23year-old. "I've been practising really well. I feel good again, got the right mentality just now and that's something I'll have to keep up, but I've been playing very well so hopefully I can keep that up here." Murray has a first-round bye in the Spanish capital, where he is seeded fourth. His opening match will be against either Frenchman Simon or experienced Croatian Ivan Ljubicic in the second round. Murray has won five of his six meetings with Simon including in the 2008 Madrid final and also in Monte Carlo last month - while against Ljubicic, the Scot has a 3-3 record. "I've got a tough first match but definitely one I can win if I play well," he added. -NNI
Ganguly joins Pune Warriors NEW DELHI: Sourav Ganguly, the former India captain, has been signed by Pune Warriors as a replacement for Ashish Nehra, who was ruled out for the remainder of the 2011 season with a finger injury. Ganguly's contract is for a period of one year and is an IPL lifeline to the batsman after he went unsold at the player auction in January, where his base price was $400,000. Ganguly will be vice-captain to Yuvraj Singh and is likely to join the Pune squad ahead of their match against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on May 4. "We were waiting for Ashish Nehra's fitness report and ultimately the report came yesterday," Abhijit Sarkar, Pune's team director, told PTI. "I was already in talks with Ganguly and we decided that the amount of experience that Sourav has in cricket will no doubt help the team. So we finalised Ganguly last night." Ganguly played for Kolkata Knight Riders in the first three seasons of the IPL and led the team in two of them, while Brendon McCullum was captain for the other. Kolkata fared poorly in those years and are the only franchise not to make the semifinals. Kolkata did not bid for Ganguly in January despite his name coming up for sale twice, as they revamped their squad entirely, and the batsman later refused a mentoring role with the franchise. Pune Warriors are bottom of the ten-team league at present, having lost six consecutive matches after winning their first two. Ganguly has an average IPL record 1031 runs at an average of 28 and strike-rate of 110 - and could strengthen an underperforming and short batting order. -Online
given his brother's faltering form, safe in taking 17 dismissals. Though there was no big innings with the bat, there was a handy 44 in Hamilton earlier this year. His replacement has impressed behind the stumps in the ongoing ODI series but hasn't really had an opportunity to do so with the bat, having batted once in three ODIs upto the fourth game between the two sides. There is a fair degree of stability from the last Test squad for New Zealand with the three newcomers the only changes. Sohail Tanvir has been replaced by Junaid and the continuing development of middle order batsmen Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali means there is no place for Khurram Manzoor. Azam, for the first time since Yasir Arafat's brief Test flirtation in 2007-08, offers Pakistan a genuine Test all-round option - Shahid Afridi's one-Test comeback last year at Lord's notwithstanding.
Michael Yardy returns to lead Sussex after depression LONDON: England spinner Michael Yardy made a successful return to competitive action by leading Sussex to a five-wicket CB 40 win over the Netherlands at Hove. The 30-year-old, who returned home early from the 2011 World Cup in late March because of depression, took 136 and then made 39 with the bat. He said: "I'd like to thank all those who have sent messages and to the media for giving me privacy. "I ask that people respect my decision to focus on performances for Sussex." Back on familiar territory at his home ground, he dismissed Netherlands batsman Tom Cooper caught behind down the legside during his eight overs. Yardy also deflected the ball on to the stumps off his own bowling to run out centurion Eric Szwarczynski as the visitors posted 225-7 from their allotted 40 overs in the Group A match. He then contributed 39 as
the Sharks overhauled their target with 19 balls to spare. Yardy was an integral component of the England team that won the ICC World Twenty20 in the Caribbean in May 2010. and was also part of the one-day squad thrashed 6-1 in Australia in January and February. Following that tour, the England players had only four days at home before departing for the World Cup in the subcontinent. Yardy's form suffered in the 50-over competition and his usual brand of economical slow left-arm bowling deserted him. In three matches against India, Ireland and South Africa he took two wickets for 159 runs in 26 overs and made only 19 runs, which resulted in him being left out for England's final two group matches. He announced his decision to leave on 24 March, two days before England's quarterfinal defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka in Colombo. -NNI
Younis Khan, who was rested for the one-dayers, returns for the Tests, as does Umar Gul. The first Test will be played from May 12 at Providence Stadium in Guyana, and the second will be played at Warner Park in St Kitts from May 20. The series is widely regarded as Pakistan's best chance to win their first-ever Test series in the Caribbean, against a weakened West Indies side that might be missing several key players. Pakistan already have an unassailable lead in the fivematch ODI series, having won the first three. West Indies won the lone Twenty20 fixture. Squad: Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Younis Khan, Taufeeq Umar, Mohammad Hafeez, Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Mohammad Salman (wk), Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Umar Akmal, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Tanvir Ahmed, Junaid Khan, Hammad Azam -Online
Australia axe Mike Young as fielding coach SYDNEY: Mike Young, the former American baseballer, is believed to have been sacked as Australia's fielding coach. Cricket Australia has not confirmed the decision, which is thought to have been made before the implementation of the Don Argus-led review into Australia's performance. Young travelled with the squad during the World Cup but did not join the players on last month's trip to Bangladesh. Wade Seccombe, the former Queensland wicketkeeper who has coached at the Centre of Excellence over the past year, was on hand in Dhaka as the fielding coach for the three one-day internationals in April. A former minor-league baseball manager in the United States, Young was made Australia's fielding coach during the tenure of John Buchanan, and was often seen patrolling the boundary rope while the Australians were in the field. He was involved with the Australian side for most of the past decade, and in 2009 also consulted for India. However, at times he has also returned to America, and during 2005 he managed a baseball team in Illinois. -Online
MADRID: Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia returns the ball toCaroline Wozniacki of Denmark during their MadridOpen tennis match in Madrid. -Reuters