British Grand Prix Review

On a day marked by tyre failures and safety cars, Nico Rosberg clinched the British GP ahead of Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso.

We couldn’t have asked for a more entertaining start to the grand prix with Felipe Massa and Adrian Sutil making their way ahead gaining six and two places respectively. Boy!! It looked like the traffic cops cleared the way for Massa as he made his move from eleventh to fifth seemingly effortlessly. Their move up was at Mark Webber’s cost who dropped out of the top ten and to make things worse for him a minor collision with Romain Grosjean damaged his front wing.

Lap nine witnessed the first of the day’s five tyre failures with Lewis Hamilton’s left rear tyre bursting . This caused the race leader to go right to the rear of the pack to 22nd place, leaving Vettel in the lead.

In the next lap Massa followed Hamilton’s footsteps losing his left rear tyre in the same stretch that Lewis did. This being the third left rear tyre burst of the weekend with Perez also facing the same problem during free practice. But that was not the last of them with Esteban Gutierrez ,Jean-Eric Vergne and Sergio Perez also having to retire from the race for the same reason.

With five tyre failures in the race and four of them being left rear tyres , there was obviously a lot of concern regarding the safety of the drivers, and Kimi Raikkonen would definitely consider himself a lucky man as he was hit on the helmet by some of the debris but thankfully nothing happened to him.

With the pit crew instructing their drivers to stay of the curbs to avoid any such incidents, a lot was left to be desired from the tyre manufacturers,Pirelli ,who will have a lot of answering to do. Pirelli must go back to their drawing boards and sort out this issue by the next weekend before the German grand prix as they can ill afford to have tyres that bursting like balloons, putting the drivers’ lives at risk.

In the meantime, both Lewis Hamilton and Paul Di Resta made their way from behind to battle for eleventh. In what was a very engaging duel of brilliant overtaking manoeuvres, Hamilton came out victorious finally making it past Di Resta using the DRS.

On the other hand, Vettel was cruising at the top , leading the pack right since Hamilton’s tyre failure and it seemed like he would take home yet another victory and move closer to the championship , but it wasn’t to be. A gearbox failure forcing him to retire in the 42nd lap leaving Rosberg in the lead, behind the safety car, followed by Raikkonen and Adrian Sutil . Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber having made pit stops during the safety car were on fresher tyres and once the safety car was off, easily made their way past Sutil and Raikkonen , both of whom were on a two stop strategy.

Lewis Hamilton too eventually made his way pastRaikkonen, to finish fourth followed by Raikkonen and Felipe Massa who pushed  Adrian Sutil down to seventh . The Toro Rosso of Daniel Ricciardo took the eighth spot and Paul Di Resta once again ended up in the points after making his way from way back in the grid to finish ninth. Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber claimed the last point up for grabs.

With neither of the McLarens grabbing points yet again , their decision to focus on the next season seems justified, well let’s hope it pays off .

A podium finish for Alonso and a retirement for Vettel mean that the race for the championship is far from over. With both Alonso and Raikkonen snapping at his heels Vettel will have to produce strong results in the coming races if he wants to defend his title. Whether he can do so, only time will tell.

With the next race in Nurburgring just a week away the question on every body’s mind will be – can Pirelli spot the root cause the for tyre failure and correct it?

-AkV

Champion of Champions

As India take on West Indies today in its first match of the tri series, we got to look at the expectations from the Indian team in this series. After a near flawless performance in the recently concluded ICC Champions Trophy, the Indians will be looking to continue their dream run. At the same time the hosts, West Indies, who have started the series with a mauling victory over Sri Lanka, will be looking to avenge their loss to India in the Champions Trophy.
A major concern for India prior to the start of the Champions Trophy was their openeing combination as both Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir couldn't make it to the squad due continued below par performances. But that concern was soon wiped away as the new opening pair of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma gave India good starts very regularly in the tournament. The more prolific batsman of the pair was Shikhar Dhawan who, following his mindblowing debut Test century against Australia, looked to be in sublime form amassing 363 runs from the tournament with an outstanding average of 90.75. Two back to back centuries; 114 against South Africa at Cardiff and 102* against West Indies at The Oval; and also scores like 48 against Pakistan at Birmingham, 68 against Sri Lanka at Cardiff and 31 in the finals against England in a rain marred game at Birmingham, ensured that he lifted the Golden Bat award for the top scorer in the tournament. His partner Rohit Sharma seemed to have adjusted to the opener's role quite comfortable and seemed to be in his forte with two consecutive half centuries to start off the tournament, to silence his critics and also do justice to the faith that his skipper M.S.Dhoni has on him. But after that he again seemed to get back to his old self, squandering good starts. It will be very important to see how Rohit Sharma performs in this series as his inconsistency is a worrying matter that has constantly given the Indian team trouble. And also it is a matter of concern that big scores continue to elude this batsman whose strokeplay is absolutely beautiful when he is at his best. It is sad that a player gifted with such good technique and one who oozes with batting talent, hasn't been able to cement his place in the side for an extended period of time.
Virat Kohli, a player rated as one of the finest young batsmen in international cricket currently, didn't give his best at the start of the tournament, being dismissed after making good starts in the first three matches of the tournament. But a fine half century against Sri Lanka in the Semi Final and a well made, steady 43 against England when it mattered the most, assured everyone that this Delhiite's good form had not gone anywhere. A lot will always be expected from this Golden Boy of Indian cricket.
Suresh Raina, the exciting southpaw from Uttar Pradesh, didn't do much with bat in the Champions Trophy. But his talent with the bat and ability to give the team good finishes is unquestionable and his mere presence in the field lifts the spirit of the whole team, no matter what the situation is and is one of the finest fielders in today's game.
After centuries in both the warm up games, a lot was expected from the lad from Tamil Nadu, Dinesh Karthik. He didn't quite live up to the expectations but did score a valuable half century against West Indies at The Oval and he has always been a livewire in the field taking some breathtaking catches and making brilliant saves, and he seemed to be at his best in the outfield in the tournament.
Skipper M.S.Dhoni added another feather to his already full cap by lifting the Champions Trophy, which came India's way mainly due to some difficult but brave selections. Dhoni didn't get to do much with the bat in the tournament but was at his usual best with the gloves, and his captaincy, which seems to be maturing with every match, was absolutely impressive, especially with the use of Jadeja. One of the finest performer in the tournament was Ravindra Jadeja picking up 12 wickets in the tournament, which earned him the Golden Ball award, and proved to be more than useful with the bat, giving the side the perfect balance. He is slowly turning out to be one of the finest all rounders in the modern game and might actually be deemed fit to earn the 'Sir' tag if he continues playing the way he currently is.
India's bowling unit silenced all the critics with their 3 seamers and 2 spinners attack. India's recent find Bhuvaneshwar Kumar was at his economical best in suitable conditions, swinging the ball both ways. The lanky pacer Ishant Sharma seemed a different bowler, hitting the deck hard and also producing sufficient amount of swing at the same time. He picked up 10 wickets in the tournament which also included a 'Man of the Match' winning spell in the Semi Final. Pacer Umesh Yadav surprised everyone with his clinical bowling spell against Australia in the Warm up game to pick up a 5 wicket haul. His ability to take wickets at regularly intervals makes him an important addition to India's bowling arsenal but he needs to work on his economy rate. India's current spin wiz, Ashwin, picked up 8 wickets in the tournament. He continued to land the bowl in the correct areas, regularly foxing the batsmen with his carrom ball.
This Indian team looks to be in brilliant form and oozing with confidence and will look to go with all guns blazing into this Tri Series. The only drawback that the team might facing is fatigue, having very little time to rest after their Champions Trophy victory.
-SN    

British Grand Prix Preview

Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes grabbed pole position for the 2013 British grand prix at Silverstone . This was after he was unhappy with his car after a rain hit Friday practice session. His mechanics have surely worked very hard on the car after that to keep the crowd favourite happy in his home grand prix.

Coming in at a not so close second was teammate Nico Rosberg who was beaten by Lewis by a whopping 0.452 second margin. How often do we get to see that big a margin between the leader and the rest of the field?

The two Red Bulls - Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber took the third and fourth positions respectively, on the grid.

In what was a good day for Force India , Paul Di Resta took the fifth spot , his career best qualifying position so far , which would have made him happy ,more so after failing to make it past Q1 in the past two races .Adrian Sutil brought the other Force India home at seventh.

 The Toro Rosso of Daniel Ricciardo came in at sixth , equaling his best , probably motivated by the prospect of replacing Mark Webber behind the steering wheel of the Red Bull next season.  His teammate Jean Eric Vergne , who is also vying for the Australian veteran’s vacancy , failed to make it to Q3 ,running wide on his final lap in Q2 and will be starting from thirteenth on the grid .

The two Lotuses of  Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen , the third contender for the Red Bull seat , set the eigth and ninth fastest times in Q3 and Fernando Alonso of Ferrari rounded up the top ten.

This meant that neither of the Mclarens or the Ferrari of Felipe Massa could make it to Q3.

Button who lost out on the final qualification round because of Kimi Raikkonen who just made the cut at the last moment , sending Button into the knockout zone and eleventh place on the grid.

With the mercedes’ lapping much faster than the other cars it will be interesting to see if either of the Red Bulls will be able to clinch victory here , but it doesn’t look like the Red Bulls or Mercedes’ will face too much of a challenge from any one else , especially with Raikkonen and Alonso struggling for pace . But who knows ? Especially with both of them gunning for the title too, they will be even more determined to prevent Vettel from increasing his lead over them.

We must keep an eye out for Toro Rosso though, as they looked very good during the qualifiers and will almost certainly end up in the points this weekend.

But being a Force India fan I will be looking out for Paul Di Resta. He looked very impressive in the qualifying session and even in the past two races , in which he finished seventh and ninth after starting from seventeenth in both races and now that he is starting in fifth , his dreams of making a podium finish seem a little more realistic and he would definitely be looking to improve upon his performance in Silverstone last year where he was forced to retire in the second lap due to a tyre failure.

Will it be the Red Bulls?  Or the mercedes’ ? Or will we see a fight back from the Ferraris and the Lotuses? Are the Toro Rossos capable of springing a surprise?

And will Paul Di Resta get that elusive podium finish?

Who knows? Let’s watch to find out!!

 -AkV

Aussie top order batsmen find form

One of the positives of the recently concluded 4 day warm up match between Australia and Somerset, at Taunton, is that the Australian top order managed to make good starts and get decent scores, thus ensuring a comfortable victory for the Aussies over the english domestic side. Usman Khawaja and Philip Hughes made fluent half centuries whereas Ed Cowan squandered a confident start. Play resumed on the final day with Khawaja and Cowan making runs very efficiently. Lady Luck too seemed to be favouring them as whenever they edged the ball, it always penetrated the slip cordon.
Cowan who didn't trouble the scorers much in the first innings seemed to be in prime forming, driving and punching with panache, before he was very unexpectedly dismissed. He raced to 46 in 89 balls (which is actually a decent paced innings in Test matches) before he was dismissed edging the ball to Alex Barrow off the bowling of Gemaal Hussain (who dismissed him for the second time in the match), when he tried to bring up his half century with a boundary. This continues the string of good starts that Cowan has made in First Class matches without converting them into big scores. The last time he scored a first class hundred was when Australia played South Africa in Brisbane last summer
Khawaja who didn't do much in the first innings (27 runs), seemed to be in complete control in this innings, rotating the strike very regularly and putting away that occassional bad ball to the boundary, before he was dismissed for a well made 73, caught by Trescothick off the bowling of Dockrell.
Hughes walked out at number three and he started off very positively, which included a huge six over mid wicket off the bowling of  George Dockrell. Hughes balanced hits to boundary with plenty of singles, while at the other end Khawaja brought up his half century. Hughes seemed to be carrying on from where he had left on the first innings (a well made, undefeated 76), before he was dismissed for 50 (of 90 balls), bowled by Dockrell, giving him his second wicket of the innings. He finished with 3 for 78, picking up his third wicket by dismissing Michael Clarke for 26, when Australia needed less than 60 runs for their victory.
Brad Haddin walked into bat after the dismissal of Hughes and played a confident, aggressive innings and scored 52* from just 40 balls. His innings was filled with eight shots to the fence and two above the fence. He brought up the winning runs with a six off the bowling of Dockrell.
A well made 90 by Watson in the first innings, one good start each by Cowan and Khawaja, two well made half centuries by Hughes, two decent starts by Clarke and by Haddin! These innings might seem enough to take the Aussies to victory against Somerset (obviously because their bowling came into place too), but their batsmen need to do much more if they have to give any trouble to the bowlers of the England Cricket team, who in favouring home conditions have been almost unplayable.
-S N

Hope At Anfield

Exciting times beckon liverpool football club as the early signings of Kolo Toure,Iago Aspas,Luis Alberto and Simon mignolet have been announced.The club seems determined not to repeat the mistakes last summer and in a way replicate the success of the january transfer window with the signings of Sturridge and the Mystical Philippe Coutinho.The sale of Andy Caroll is a clear indication of Brendan Rodgers's intensions that he wants to play a particular style of football and is ready to let go of andy who is the most expensive purchase in british football as he does not fit in his style of play. Many players are tipped for the door at Anfield,Ousamma Assaidi looks as though a return to holland may be on the cards after a torrid time last season.Jonjo shelvey too has been linked away as swansea may fancy to place a 5mn bid on the young midfielder.Luis suarez who's song was serenading the grounds regularly due to his goal scoring prowess last year by the Anfield faithfull has left some of the fans frustrated with his comments of wanting to leave Anfield as the supporters feel he should stay after the support he recieved from the club and fans .Even if he does leave it would add another 40-45 mn in LFC's transfer kitty which would suggest some more astute signings by the club. Henrik mkhitaryan has been heavily scouted nd linked to a move,but his 3rd party ownership is posing problems to complete a move bringing him to melwood.Liverpool are also linked with centre half options with tiago Ilori and the highly rated kyriakos Papadoupolos being potential transfer targets. Hopefully Liverpool make the right decisions in the transfer which would allow Brendan Rodgers to impose his style of pass and move football and take LFC to where they truly belong, CHAMPIONS LEAGUE football at Anfield. - A M

Well, this is the Junkies' first post! Lets see what's new then.

Spain defeat Italy on penalties. Man City new boy Jesus Navas with what Pellegrini will be hoping the first of many more joyous moments for him! Overcame chronic homesickness and is now on the search for the promised land with City.

And all of the mega-bucks that come with it.

Former Lord of the Manor of Frodsham and Ex-Liverpool striker Djibril Cisse leaves QPR. Al-Gharafa and Panathanikos? Past his best, clearly.

Danny Simpson moves to QPR in what is finally some good news for R's fans. The former Newcastle man chooses to drop a division to help QPR compete for promotion.
Mismanagement and absence of relegation clauses means QPR are not in a very good state. Good luck getting out of the rut, 'Arry. Few better than the man-who-would-be-England-manager.

Will he? Won't he? Manchester United fans would like to think the prodigal son may return to Old Trafford.

Liverpool seem to have learnt from their past mistakes in the transfer window, having completed the signings of Simon Mignolet from Sunderland, Kolo Toure on a free, Luis Alberto from Sevilla and Iago Aspas from Celta de Vigo. 2 proven players at the Premier League level and 2 relative unknowns from abroad. Will things work out for Liverpool this season? We'll have to wait and see!

More to follow...