Triumph of cricket

Five days of intense cricket in front of a sell out crowd on all five days. This, Sir, is The Ashes. After 14 and half sessions of intriguing cricket with constantly changing fortunes, England had the laugh, racing into a jubilant huddle as a near full house cheared them on with complete enthusiasm. Valiant knocks, brilliant display of swing bowling! Matches like this ensure the victory of Test cricket. It all started off with 14 wickets falling on the first day, 5 of them going to Peter Siddle who helped bundle out England for 215. Australia's innings didn't start of any better, with Anderson picking up a five wicket haul, with a good use of reverse swing. But fighting half centuries from Steven Smith and Paul Hughes, and a score of nearly hundred by debutant number eleven Agar, in an astoninshing last wicket partnership ensured that Australia took the lead. A bad start by England to their second innings was followed by a stabilising partnership by the watchful Cook and Pietersen, who exhibited the use of the straight bat with near perfection. This was followed by a vital, fighting stand between Bell and Broad. Bell showed immense amounts of concentration and technique to bring up his eighteenth Test century, and rescued England from a precarious position along with Broad, whose innings included a controversial umpire decision. Being bowled out for 375, England set Australia a target of 311, difficult but possible, and would have been the highest successful Test chase at Trent Bridge if it was chased down. Australia did go about scoring well the batsmen getting decent starts, but wickets in regular intervals did not help them one bit. They went into the final day requiring 137 runs with 4 wickets in hand, Haddin and the first innings' Golden Boy Agar at the wicket. But Agar couldn't repeat his magic and Australia quickly lost wickets to be stranded at 231/9, requiring another 80 runs with only a wicket left. But Australia's last wicket pair proved to be a thorn in England's flesh yet again, this time involving Haddin and Pattinson, putting on 65 runs before Haddin, after a fighting innings of 71, was given out virtue the Umpire Decision Review System. Anderson picked up another five wicket haul, giving him ten wickets in the match, proving to be that one vital difference between the two teams, helping England clinch a 1-0 lead in the series.

 

-SN

The Investec Ashes- Debutant shines

England- Cook, Root, Trott, Pietersen, Bell, Bairstow, Prior, Broad, Swann, Finn, Anderson
Australia- Watson, Rogers, Cowan, Clarke, Hughes, Smith, Haddin, Siddle, Pattinson, Starc, Agar

The first test of the Investec Ashes started with an inspiring bowling spell from Peter Siddle, exactly as he had done two years back. At lunch on day 2, Australia have taken a 14 runs lead, thanks largely to the batting efforts of Phil Hughes and debutant, number eleven batsman Agar.
England were bowled out in their innings for 215, with Peter Siddle 5 for 50. Jonathan Trott top  scored for England with 48 from 80 balls. He had looked completely in control of his innings before he dragged a wide one from outside off stump onto his stumps, that saw Siddle and the rest of the Australian team celebrate the fall of a very important wicket. This will surely be one shot that that the usually calm and patient Trott would not be proud off.

The first wicket to fall was that of English skipper Cook, edging a loose drive off a full length delivery out off stump. Pattinson let out a cry of delight as the ball went into Haddin's gloves, as the man who scored 766 runs in the previous Ashes series was now walking back to the pavilion with a score of just 13.
After a miserable first spell where he proved to be costly, Siddle came back with a bang his second spell from the opposite end, bowling a yorker with a hint of away swing which saw Root playing the wrong line and thus losing his wickets.
Come back man Kevin Pietersen was dismissed playing a poor shot, away from his body to a ball that shaped away, edging to Clark at second slip, giving Siddle his second wicket.
The fourth wicket to fall was Trott, giving Siddle his third scalp.
Siddle came back with a beautiful delivery to get rid of Ian Bell for 25. The ball angled in and then curved away fron Bell, whose thick outside edge carried to Watson at first slip.
England's sixth wicket fell, again courtesy Siddle, but this time it wasn't due to a good ball. An ordinary delivery, wide and short outside off stump saw Prior cutting the ball to Phil Hughes at point, giving Siddle his fifth wicket and leaving England tottering at 180/6.
England's tail was wiped away without any trouble, with the Bairstow providing some stability to the middle order after the dismissal of Trott, scoring 37 before he played around a a full delivery on off stump from Starc and losing his wicket in the process.
Australia came out to bat needing trailing by 215, but ended up struggling at 75 for 4 at stumps on the first day.
The first break through came when Finn, after being smashed to the boundary couple of deliveries back, induced Watson into a drive who edged it to Root at third slip, losing his wicket for 13.
Finn accounted for another dismissal, when Cowan played a horrible shot, chasing a wide one and ended up edging to Swann who took a good, low catch at second slip.

The next wicket to fall was that of skipper Clark, who fell to a peach of a delivery from Anderson. The ball was on length, curving in to pitch on off stump and then shaped back past Clark's outside edge, hitting the top of off stump, dismissing Clark for naught. But he can't be blamed as the delivery was truly unplayable.
Anderson accounted for four more Australian wickets, ending up with a five wicket haul, as his reverse swing worked completely in his favour.
Ausralia were struggling at 117 for the fall of 9 wickets, when debutant Agar walked out to bat, as even a score of 150 seemed impossible. But from then on the spectators were treated to some spectacular batting from Agar and Hughes as they added 153 runs for the last wicket enabling Australia to score 280 runs, giving them a lead of 65 runs.

Agar seemed much more than a number eleven number batsman, as he drove, cut, pulled and swept the English bowlers with immense confidence and perfect timing. His late cuts seemed to come off the bat of a top order batsman and he also smashed Swann for two biggies over the ropesm with superb use of his feet, as he raced away to 98, the highest score at number eleven. He was supported at the other end by Phil Hughes, who made a steady 81 and had absolutely no problem to let the debutant take control. Agar required only 101 deliveries to score his 98, before he was caught in the deep, narrowly missing a historical century, and he walked back to the pavilion with a roaring, standing ovation from the crowd which had witnessed a brilliant innings from a 19 year old debutant.
- SN

Andy Murray vs Novak Djokovic -Wimbledon Final

Andy Murray ended the 77 year long drought to become the first British player since the late Fred Perry to lift the Wimbledon crown after beating Novak Djokovic 6-4,7-5,6-4.The Brit came through a nervous final game where he failed to capitalize on three championship points only to convert the fourth to win his first ever Wimbledon title.
It was an electric atmosphere in the Centre Court and even outside on the grass banks where the supporters gathered in huge numbers to support the Scot on a hot day in London .But it was worth it as after 3 hours and 10 minutes they erupted with joy as they had witnessed an historic feat by Murray ,who climbed onto the stands to celebrate with his family and support team.
Djokovic didn't  have a good day as he was unusually erratic and made many unforced errors off his forehand. On the other hand Andy was playing exceptionally getting a good percentage of  first serve wins and keeping his cool during the many long rallies in the game.
The match started with Murray putting good pressure and earning 3 break points. But he failed to convert any ,and djokovic fought back and took the game. Andy broke Djokovic's serve in the 3rd game ,but the Serb broke back with a vengeance to level the game at 2-2.Murray put pressure on the  Djokovic serve again and broke to take a 4-3 lead and he held on to take the first set 6-4.
Djokovic started the 2nd set strongly and raced to a  4-1 lead ,but Andy persevered and fought back to bring the set at 5-5.The momentum was in Andy's favour as he broke the World no1's service game and clinching the set 7-5 with an ace and taking a 2 nothing advantage into the third set with crowd almost sniffing  Murray's victory.
Murray looked to be in cruise control as he took a 2-0 lead in the 3rd set. Novak as he so often does, fought back and won the next 4 games to lead 4-2,but Andy was in no mood to play another set and displayed some fine tennis to claw his way back and serve for the title at 5-4 and finally to the delight of everyone the crowd and back home in Dunblane he held his serve, which was game, set, match and championship!

 

-A M

German Grand Prix Review

In what was another disappointing race for Hamilton after starting on pole , reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel cruised to yet another victory , his first on home soil.

 A poor start from Hamilton saw the Red Bulls move into 1st and 2nd places. Sergio Perez made an aggressive start, pushing Button off the track in the 2nd lap. Massa with an excellent early surge moved into P6 but his run of poor luck continued when he spun out on the 1st corner of the 4th lap ending his race. Meanwhile,Paul di Resta while making an early pitstop almost collided with J.Eric Vergne, in a case of dangerous release, which was decided to be investigated after the race.

A number of drivers made pitstops early in the sixth lap to change to medium compounds. Vettel was comfortably in the lead when he came in to the pits on the eighth lap, allowing Webber to take the lead. However Vettel came out ahead of Hamilton.In the next lap, a pit stop gone wrong resulted in a wheel coming off Webber's car and injuring a cameraman in the pit lane itself . Webber though , managed to continue the race in 21st place. Hamilton, just behind Rosberg in 4th wanted his teammate to give way at one point but the German wasn't party to it. 

Grosjean came out in third place after his pit stop, changing to mediums after starting on soft tyres. Raikkonen moved up with an excellent overtaking manoeuvre past Rosberg on the 15th lap. Grosjean was tearing through the Nurburgring with an excellent pace in second spot right behind Vettel. The other Lotus of Raikkonen too looked in fine shape, with him overtaking the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton using DRS, on the same chicane as before. The Brit had some real problems with the grip on his tyres and would have been gutted after another bad race from a very promising spot on the starting grid. 

Safety car was brought on the 25th lap after Bianchi's car rolled onto the track after a premature ending to his race due to an engine problem. The Toro Rosso of J.Eric Vergne was also out of the race at this point. 

Safety car went out before the 30th lap and the top four of Vettel, Grosjean, Raikkonen and Alonso began pulling away from the rest of the field. It was an engaging battle between the two Lotus cars for P2 from this point on with Grosjean in no mood to let his teammate Raikkonen gain the upper hand. Grosjean made a pitstop on the 41st lap and came out in 6th, with Raikkonen yet to make his 3rd pit. He was followed by race leader Vettel, who dropped to 5th after his stop. Raikkonen eventually made his pitstop preceded by Button, allowing Vettel to lead the pack followed by Grosjean. Alonso tried to get himself a spot on the podium with some fast laps, but was unsuccessful. Lotus ordered Grosjean to let Raikkonen into P2 .

Vettel did very well to hold off the flying Finn and take the chequered flag .They were followed by Grosjean , Alonso and Hamilton . Jenson Button finally earned himself some points claiming the sixth spot as did teammate Perez finishing eighth .The two were separated by the Red Bull of Mark Webber. Nico Rosberg finished ninth after starting from eleventh and Nico Hulkenburg took the last point up for grabs making it three out of four Germans to end up in the points ,Adrian Sutil being the only one who missed out in 13th spot.His teammate Paul Di Resta  didn't contribute to Force India's points tally either finishing 11th , this being the first time in the last seven races that he failed to do so.

With the race for the title heating up and the Mclarens hitting some good form all eyes will be on Hungaroring as the F1 troupe makes its way to Hungary for the tenth race of the season .

A B

Andy Murray Vs Jerzy Janowicz-Semi Final Match Report

The Wimbledon Centre Court erupted with joy as Andy Murray progressed to the finals by beating  Jerzy Janowicz of Poland 6-7(2-7) 6-4 6-4 6-3 and will meet the Serbian World no 1 Novak Djokovic who earlier defeated Juan Martin Del Potro in a marathon 5 setter.

The 6 8' Janowicz started very confidently launching some massive serves and thunderous forehand shots dismissing any signs of nerves on the occasion of his first ever grand slam semi finals. Andy did have a few opportunities to break Janowicz's serve but failed to capitalize and the 1st set went to tiebreak in which Janowicz prevailed to take the lead in the match.

Andy fought back immediately breaking Janowicz's first game in the second set ,he then survived a few breakpoints in his serve to take the set 6-4 and leveling the match.

But the momentum shifted again in this topsy turvy encounter as janowicz started the 3rd set  very strongly breaking Murrays serve and racing to a 4-1 lead .The Brit then fought back to the crowds delight and won 5 games in a row to win the 3rd set and take a 2-1 lead in the match.

The game then halted to close the roof of the centre court and play under lights due to the constant complaints of Janowicz about the bad light, this decision was greeted with boos  from the crowd and disgust from the world no 2 who felt that the light was good enough for another 45 min of play.

The game resumed after a 20 min break ,and Andy was back in the groove and his scintillating tennis coupled with some erratic play from Janowicz  ensured he took the set 6-3 booking his ticket to yet another wimbledon final.

After his emotional loss to Roger Federer last year in the final ,Andy would like to make amends and win the crown in front of his home crowd against Djokovic. Andy would take confidence in the fact that he beat Djokovic at SW19 at the Olympics last year .Djokovic too would love to add a second wimbledon victory to the one he one in 2011. This sets up a sumptuous clash to end a memorable tournament which included massive upsets and the rise of young stars of the future like Janowicz.

-A M

 

Lions to lambs

Two consecutive losses in the ongoing Tri Series and it looks like the tigers have been tamed. After lifting the ICC Champions Trophy, the Indians moved to West Indies with immense confidence, but it seems like fate has something else written for them. Disaster struck in the first match, when India lost the match by one wicket, courtesy a damp wicket and the capability of the West Indian bowlers to exploit the moisture perfectly. As if the loss wasn't enough, inspirational skipper M.S.Dhoni was ruled out for the rest of the tournament due to an injury, which meant Virat Kohli would be captaining the Indian side for the first time, in their second game of the tournament, against Sri Lanka. It was a positive start for the skipper winning the toss, and considering the previous two low scoring games on the damp pitch, he put Sri Lanka into bat first. Sri Lanka started off cautiously, scoring only 16 in the first five overs, without the loss of any wicket. Kohli seemed to have made the right decision, but soon the Lankan batsmen shed caution. It seemed like the pitch was much drier than the previous two games, as only Yadav seemed to be extracting something from the pitch, but he too constantly strayed in length, allowing Tharanga to cut with ease. As Jayawardene cut loose, Tharanga chose to adopt the cautious method at the other end. Some good stroke play, along with loose bowling from the Indian bowlers as well as some shocking let offs in the field helped the Lankan batsmen amass a big total. Jayawardene was dropped on 25 by Vijay at Short Backward point, when he took a risk playing a reverse shot off Jadeja, the first risk that the Lankan batsmen took. The Lankans piled up the runs steadily, rotating the strike very well, with Jayawardene hitting the odd boundary.

 Jayawardene's chips over Extra Cover off both the spinners, Jadeja and Ashwin, were more than delightful to watch, and he brought up his century, his first ODI century in two years and 50 innings. As Sri Lanka took the batting Powerplay in the 35th over, Tharanga opened up, carting both Ashwin and Ishant to boundaries. With the fall of Jayawardene's wicket for 107, Angelo Mathews walked, and Tharanga looked completely in control at the other end. From here on top gear mode was on as the Lankans took full advantage of the incompetent length bowling by the Indians, amassing 180 runs in the last 16 overs, as Tharanga went from 72 from 105 balls to the eventual 174 from 159 balls. As Tharanga brought up his highest ODI score, he was also involved in a double century stand with Jayawardene, the seventh time he is involved in a double century partnership, a record he now shares with Ricky Ponting. In his 134 run stand with Mathews, Tharanga was so dominant that Mathews scored only 44. As Yadav conceded 22 runs in the 49th over, which included a flat six over point, a wide which also ran away to the boundary and then two fours, Sri Lanka marched to 348 for the loss of only one wicket, the first instance of an innings in a 50 over game ending with only one wicket down.
 It was clear that India missed Dhoni on the field, as Kohli clearly felt the pressure of international captaincy, making blunders like playing Shami Ahmed instead of Bhuvaneshwar Kumar. Kumar has constantly given the much needed early breakthrough, whereas Ahmed seemed completely ineffective. Also Ashwin was introduced only in the 20th, after Sri Lanka had comfortably scored 90 runs.
Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews followed up his good batting with some intelligent captaincy and economical bowling. He took one of the new balls and started off with a maiden. Rohit Sharma fell early, caught at short mdwicket. Mathews brought both the spinners on within the mandatory powerplay, giving the Indian batsmen no pace to work with at all. At the end of the mandatory powerplay India managed only 28 runs, and Dhawan and Kohli soon perished, the pressure getting to them, and Vijay followed soon.

What followed was the typical Indian batting slump we have seen over all these years, with only Raina, Vijay and Jadeja making decent contributions, as India managed only 187, managing to beat Tharanga's score in the match. This 161 runs loss also happens to be India's biggest defeat after putting a side in.
-SN

Grit, Spit, and find Neymar.....

 

(with a few dives here and there)

Brazil 3-0 Spain

The Lineups:

Brazil: Julio Cesar; Dani Alves, Thiago Silva, David Luiz, Marcelo; Paulinho, Gustavo, Oscar; Hulk, Neymar; Fred.
Subs: Jefferson, Fernando, Lucas Moura, Hernanes, Dante, Filipe Luis, Jean, Rever, Bernard, Jo, Jadson, Cavalieri.
Spain: Casillas; Arbeloa, Pique, Sergio Ramos, Jordi Alba; Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta; Pedro, Torres, Mata.
Subs: Valdes, Albiol, Javi Martinez, Azpilicueta, Villa, Fabregas, Soldado,
Monreal, Cazorla, Silva, Jesus Navas, Reina.

Brazil have deservedly won the Confederations Cup with a dominant performance against Spain in the final.

It was a scrappy early opener for Brazil. The cross in to Fred was missed by him and Neymar; in the ensuing melee, Fred tapped it it. Brazil started the game with a plan based on quick transitions from defence to attack along with pressing Spain hard and quick.

Oscar missed a good chance from inside the box in the 8th minute after good play from Neymar and Fred. Brazil did not allow Spain to get into their rythm, forcing them to uncharacteristically hack away the ball under pressure.

It was terrific pressure from Brazil, ridding Spain of possession; a snap shot from Paulinho almost caught Casillas off guard but he recovered well. Tempers flared in the 15th min with Neymar tried to run off the last defender Arbeloa, but fell theatrically as Arbeloa was yellow carded. Crowd pressure forced the ref to ignore quite a lot of instances of diving by the Brazilians. At the other end,Cesar had to save from Iniesta in the 20th minute, from Spain's first real chance; Torres headed wide from resulting corner.

 Brazil were not afraid to stick their foot in. Tackles were hard and their closing down stifled Spain greatly. 23rd min saw a speculative David Luiz-esque free kick from distance by Ramos, which was well off target.  Torres initially trying hard to create something for Spain but with little success; eventually faded out altogether. David Luiz and co got the job done in defence upto this point with minimum fuss.

An excellent counter saw Hulk feed Oscar who went down with Ramos in the vicinity; minimal contact there again! Hulk smashed it over and wide from the resulting free kick. Another counter from Brazil saw Neymar find Fred with a threaded pass, his shot parried by Casillas.

Spain were outmuscled and outpaced by Brazil, desperately searching for inspiration from the Barca pass masters in Xavi and Iniesta in midfield. Problem was Spain could hardly keep the ball and create something. A number of Spain set pieces were dealt with by Brazil with consummate ease.

It took a terrific goalline clearance by David Luiz to deny Pedro from inside the box after a excellent through ball from Juan Mata. That was Spain's first real chance of the half, in the 40th minute. But then Brazil with another lightning quick counter, playing around a little before Oscar found Neymar with a return pass, and the boy wonder smashed it into the roof of the net, giving Casillas no chance. 2-0 To the home team in the 43rd minute; it was a deserved lead. At half time, The Maracana erupted in joy; 2-0 against the World champions, things looking very rosy for Brazil. Spain struggling in defence and Busquets, Alba et al largely anonymous.

The Second half saw Alvaro Arbeloa rightly come off for Azpilicueta, given his bad performance on the day. But before Spain could realize what was happening, they were 3 down. A searching run from midfield by Paulinho found Fred after an intelligent dummy by Neymar, and the Fluminese frontman slotted home coolly into Casillas' left bottom corner.

The Brazilian full backs and midfielders continued closing down Spain. Del Bosque saw it fit to bring off Mata for Navas in the 51st minute, and the sub Navas won a penalty within a minute of his introduction with some quick feet, hacked down by Marcelo. Sergio Ramos was surprisingly the man to step up for the penalty. As many may have foreseen, the Real Madrid defender put the penalty wide. Spain effectively dug their own grave on that occasion.

Spain continued to probe; an excellent piece of skill saw Iniesta turn away from 2 yellow shirts, but his pass was quickly intercepted. That summed up Spain's match. Nothing went right for them. The ineffectual Torres was replaced by Villa as a last resort in the 57th minute. Del Bosque was effectively a spectator from this point on.

Navas continued his side's miserable evening with a wayward attempt in the 66th min. It got even worse in the 68th minute as a pacy run from the halfway line by Neymar following a long ball and a knockdown saw him brought down by Pique. The first straight red card of the Confed Cup saw Spain one man down, hoping the game would end then and there.

72nd minute saw the highly rated Jadson replace Hulk, suggesting it was little more than a procession from this point on. Yet, Scolari still unhappy with certain aspects of his team' play, wildly gesticulating on the touchline; it was no wonder Brazil worked their socks off, who would want to be on the end of that!


Big Phil decided to take Fred off former Man City striker Jo, allowing Fred to get the applause his performance deserved. But Cesar had to make a surprising stop from Pedro, and yet again Spain wasted the resulting setpiece. Hernanes was brought on for an increasingly comfortable looking Brazil; but not before Cesar made a classy save from a curler from Villa. Paulinho the man off, the last sub of the game. 2 minutes of stoppage time, with everybody who was. watching this game screaming for the ref to end it. And it did indeed end, with the Maracana cheering their team with gusto, after an outstanding performance from the home team. Spain did not turn up for this game, and the better team won, with panache. Is it the end of 5 years of world football dominance, or is it only a temporary blip?
-A B