Shamik Das


Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Once more unto the breach, dear friends ...

The scoreboard shows the impossible task facing South Africa as they went from requiring 22 runs from 13 balls to needing 22 runs off just one ball, thanks to the ridiculous rain rules at the time, in their 1992 World Cup semi-final defeat to England

Allan Donald cuts a forlorn figure as South Africa blow it in their classic 1999 World Cup semi-final against Australia at Edgbaston

The 2007 World Cup semi-final pits the Boks against the Aussies for the second time in three tournaments, but will it be sweet revenge or yet more heartache for the South Africans?

Third time lucky?

Monday, April 23, 2007

Bye-bye Boris

Boris Yeltsin

Boris Yeltsin, the first post-Commie President of Russia, has died today aged 76.

The Bobby Robson lookalike, president from 1991 to 1999, is widely credited with managing the peaceful transition from Communism to democracy, following the demise of the Soviet Union.

A smiling Boris Yeltsin    Bobby Robson

A heavy drinker, with a history of heart trouble, he bowed out of the Kremlin to make way for Vladimir Putin eight years ago.

He will be sorely missed by his fellow countrymen.

Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1931-2007)

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Gol of the season?

Judge for yourself:



Stunning. Absolutely superb. Pick up the ball in your own half, trick your way past half a dozen players and finish it off with a faultless strike.

Just like Giggsy against the Arsenal on April 14th 1999 and George Weah for Milan back in 1996 ...

    

... but the best individual goal of all time has to be this one by Maradonna:



Peerless on so many levels - context, class and coolness - simply unbeatable!

Friday, April 13, 2007

Ouch!

"Hee-hee hee!"

A cheeky croc chills out after biting off the arm of Taiwanese vet Chang Po-Yu at Shaoshan Zoo in the southern city of Kaohsiung. Miraculously, Mr Po-Yu survived and had his severed limb reattached.

Both Chang and the crocodile were unavailable for comment ...

Saturday, April 07, 2007

Ash turns Boks to dust

The Bangladesh players rejoice in their incredible win over South Africa

Guyana, World Cup, Super Eights: South Africa 184 (48.3 overs) lost to Bangladesh 251/8 (50 overs) by 67 runs

Mohammad Ashraful scored 87 priceless runs as Bangladesh produced one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history to batter the world number one's tonight.

It was only Bangladesh's sixth ever win over elite opposition - all the more remarkable considering their previous two outings culminated in soul destroying nine and ten wicket defeats to New Zealand and Australia respectively - and their second upset of the competition having knocked India out at the group stage.

Skipper Habibul Bashar was delighted with the way his team bounced back from their Antipodean maulings: "We didn't start the Super 8 well, we played poorly against Australia and New Zealand, but we're feeling very good after that display.

A list of Bangladesh's wins over the big eight of Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa and West Indies

"Any international win is a massive win for Bangladesh, but we're still in contention so it was a must-win game. We just needed to put some runs on the board and if we can do that, we know that the bowlers have the capacity to do the job.

"I must thank all the Guyana supporters, too. They helped us all the way and it was just like being at home out there."

Having allowed the 150-1 pre-tournament outsiders to rack up over 250 runs the Proteas found themselves 87 for six before being bundled out for 184, only Herschelle Gibbs (56*) and Jacques Kallis (32) offering any resistance.

What done for the South Africans was the bowling of Bangladesh's left arm spinners, with Saqibul Hasan (2-49), Syed Rasel (2-41) and Abdur Razzaq (3-25) restricting the runs and then taking the wickets.

It was the drying up of runs that also yielded two run-outs, as South Africa's big hitters in the middle order were stifled. Mark Boucher (12 off 26 balls), Justin Kemp (7 off 28) and Ashwell Prince (1 off 7) all way below their usual strike-rates.

Mohammad Ashraful plays an unorthodox sweep during his 83 ball innings of 87    Saqibul Hasan gets in a tangle with Ashwell Prince - on as a runner for Herschelle Gibbs - after catching Shaun Pollock for 17

Ahsraful, however, had no such problems, picking off ten fours in his man-of-the-match performance - two more than the entire South Africa XI - several boundaries coming in outrageous fashion, paddled down to the fine leg boundary in a style more accustomed to French cricket than the cricket World Cup.

Tamim Iqbal (38), Aftab Ahmed (35) and Mashrafe Mortaza (25 off 16 balls) also contributed to the Tigers' mauling of South Africa, with Andre Nel (5-45) alone in fighting back with the ball.

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Thrill-hara in Antigua

Chaminda Vaas and friends celebrate the most remarkable victory of the present World Cup

Ian Bell clatters into Kumar Sangakkara after narrowly making his ground during his innings of 47

• Fernando holds nerve as Lankans leave it late • Bopara & Nixon take game to wire • Eng. on brink of tumbling out

Antigua, World Cup, Super Eights: England 233/8 (50 overs) lost to Sri Lanka 235 (50 overs) by two runs

England came within one blow of pulling off an amazing last ball win last night as the ninth World Cup finally came to life.

After a series of mis-matches and thrashings over the past three weeks this was the kind of game the tournament had been crying out for, only the third match out of 33 to go the full 100 overs and the first in which all three results were possible off the final ball.

For England the equation was simple: two to tie, three to win, one to lose ... and lose they did, Ravi Bopara - who'd played superbly for his maiden international fifty - unable to lead his team across the line, clean bowled by Dilhara Fernando, who kept his cool to send one down full and straight.

Dilhara Fernando bowls Sri Lanka to glory off the last ball of the match    Paul Nixon and Ravi Bopara took England to within touching distance of what would have been an amazing win

Bopara, together with wicketkeeper Paul Nixon, added 87 runs for the seventh wicket and very nearly took England to a victory that had seemed fanciful with seven overs remaining and 66 runs still required.

Then a flurry of fours and sixes from the duo - including a couple of outrageous reverse sweeps by Nixon off Murali which yielded ten runs - took the target down to an eminently gettable 19 runs off the final two overs.

But it wasn't to be as Sri Lanka's seamers took out Nixon and Bopara to inflict on the English one of the narrowest defeats in one-day international history, Fernando finishing with figures of 3-41 and Lasith Malinga 2-50.

Paul Collingwood produced another outstanding performance in the field to help restrict Sri Lanka to 235 off their 50 overs  Kevin Pietersen pulls a ball to the midwicket boundary on his way to fifty  Wily old fox Murali snares Kevin Pietersen with a superb return catch off his own bowling

It was a harsh ending for England, who never should have let Sri Lanka back into the match, cruising at 121 for three after 30 overs of their reply and needing 115 more runs off the last 120 balls.

Murali, however, had other ideas, foxing Kevin Pietersen - once again England's top scorer with 58 - into misreading the doosra and presenting a return catch which the spinner grabbed hold of with glee to signal the beginning of England's descent to defeat.

Earlier in Sri Lanka's innings Upul Tharanga (62) and Mahela Jayawardene (56) helped set what should have been a gettable score of 235, with Sajid Mahmood (4-50) and Andrew Flintoff (3-35) England's best bowlers.

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Prince and Kallis deflate Ireland's dreams

Ashwell Prince makes no mistake to dismiss Eion Morgan for 28 off the bowling of Andrew Hall    Jacques Kallis smashes a four over mid-off, one of eight in his 61st one-day international fifty

Guyana, World Cup, Super Eights: South Africa 165/3 (31.3 overs) beat Ireland 152/8 (35 overs) by 7 wickets (D/L method)

The Proteas produced a professional display to defeat Ireland today and remain on course for the semi-finals.

Ashwell Prince (47* off 44 balls), Jacques Kallis (66* off 86) and captain Graeme Smith (41 off 45) made light work of the Duckworth-Lewis revised target, coasting to victory with 21 balls to spare.

Big hitting from Prince, majestic strokeplay from Kallis and a typically combative innings from Smith enabled the world number one's to recover from the early loss of AB De Villiers for a duck and ensure no slip-ups against the lowliest ranked side left in the competition.

Good bowling by Shaun Pollock (7-2-17-2), Charl Langeveldt (7-0-41-3) and Andrew Hall (7-0-37-2) earlier had restricted Ireland to 152 for 8, Andrew White top-scoring with a run-a-ball 30.

South Africa employ a Test match field to take advantage of the juicy pitch early on

However, it was in the field that the Proteas really stamped their class - Kallis's spectacular catch to dismiss William Porterfield just one example - in contrast to the many misfields suffered by the Irish.

And with South Africa facing the other remaining minnows Bangladesh in their next match, on Saturday, Smith's men will be confident of making it three Super Eight wins out of three.

Monday, April 02, 2007

Bond silences Tigers with lethal early spell

Brendon McCullum, Shane Bond and Jacob Oram celebrate another Bangladeshi wicket

Antigua, World Cup, Super Eights: New Zealand 178/1 (29.2 overs) beat Bangladesh 174 (48.3 overs) by nine wickets

Shane Bond produced another devastating spell of new-ball bowling today to all but guarantee New Zealand a place in the last four.

Bond's figures of 10-4-15-2 earnt him the man of the match award as for the fourth time this tournament New Zealand's premier strike bowler blew away the opposition batsmen with ease.

It's not only the paceman's wickets (8 at an average of 10.5) that impress but his economy rate - which at less than 2.3 runs an over is one of the best in the World Cup - as his captain Stephen Fleming was only too happy to point out.

"When I throw him the ball to get a wicket he delivers most times, and that has been key to keeping teams down to low scores," said Fleming.

"The way he's been doing it is with subtlety, changes of pace and a little reverse swing, and the length that he's hitting is top-class.

"It makes captaincy during that period very easy."

New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming slaps a six high over midwicket on his way to a second World Cup century    Stephen Fleming raises his bat upon reaching three figures

After Bond, Jacob Oram (3-30) and Scott Styris (4-43) had restricted Bangladesh to 174, Fleming (102*) and Hamish Marshall (50*) guided the Black Caps to victory with more than 20 overs to spare.

And as Fleming intimated afterwards, the speed with which the Kiwis chased down their target could yet prove crucial in the final shake up.

He added: "We were just looking at every opportunity to get across the line as quickly as possible because in the long run it could be very important in deciding on fourth and fifth spot.

"At this stage we are not sure how important run rate will be in qualification for the semi-finals.

"But if things don't go well for us in the next couple of weeks, then fourth and fifth place could be determined by that."

Clinical Lankans leave hosts trailing in their wake

Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene picks off an easy single beyond a sprawling Brian Lara    Lasith Malinga celebrates the wicket of danger man Chris Gayle

Guyana, World Cup, Super Eights: West Indies 190 (44.3 overs) lost to Sri Lanka 303/5 (50 overs) by 113 runs

The West Indies were left cursing a hectic schedule last night as they slumped to their third defeat in five days.

By the time the hosts resume hostilities a week tomorrow they could be all but out, knowing not even victory in their last three games will guarantee them progress into the semi-finals.

"It was tough, we've had four games in 10 days and you could feel some of the guys were a bit flat in the outfield," said Windies captain Brian Lara.

"We played on Friday the 23rd, today is the 1st. Australia took two days, New Zealand was the next day, and here we are on Sunday in Guyana.

"It's tough. And I mean if you look at someone like Daren Powell you can see that his pace dropped over a period of time. He seems to have dropped about 10 kilometres in the last few days."

Brian Lara cuts a lonely figure as he ascends the stairs to the Windies dressing room

Lara however insisted that his team would fight on. "I know everyone's disappointed in the dressing room and in the Caribbean but we've still got a job to do," he added.

"We're going to have a couple of days off and re-assess the situation. We have to be sure we are fresh for the last three matches.

"We need a lot of good cricket and a lot of luck.

"Yes, I am an eternal optimist and I still think we can make it. When I watch England play and South Africa play, I'm going to support a certain team.

"It still boils down to us beating South Africa, Bangladesh and England to give us any glimmer of hope and that is a job only we can do.

"No permutation can help if we don't do that job."

Sanath Jayasuriya sways out of the way of a bouncer early in his innings  Sanath Jayasuriya punishes the short ball en route to his century  Sanath Jayasuriya looks to the heavens after another memorable ton

Earlier Sanath Jayasuriya clubbed his 25th one-day international century - hitting 115 off 101 balls - as he and skipper Mahela Jayawardene (82) added 183 runs for the third wicket to help Sri Lanka set a formidable total.

The hosts weren't helped by some sloppy fielding - a four through Jerome Taylor's legs off the penultimate ball of the innings the salt in Windies wounds - and weren't much better with the bat, only local boys Shivnarine Chanderpaul - whose 76 contained five sixes - and Ramnaresh Sarwan (44) offering any resistance.

And the star performer with the ball? None other than a certain Mr S Jayasuriya, who clean bowled last man Daren Powell to finish with figures of 8.3-0-38-3 as the West Indies slumped to their worst ever World Cup defeat and slid inexorably towards the exit door.

Sunday, April 01, 2007

EXCLUSIVE: Blair lined up as England's saviour

England boss Steve McClaren    Prime Minister Tony Blair

• PM to take over in July • McClaren 'outraged' by axing

Tony Blair will be appointed as the new manager of the England football team this summer, as soon as Gordon Brown takes over as Prime Minister.

The news, which has been kept under wraps ever since Mr Blair decided to swap Downing Street for Soho Square last September, leaked out this morning when a series of confidential e-mails were sent in error to this reporter.

The FA's present incumbent Steve McClaren was said to be "bloody well outraged" by the news, which came as a "complete surprise" to the man - the only man - who believes England will comfortably qualify for next summer's European Championships with him at the helm.

It is understood that the FA are desperate for the PM to take over as soon as possible, in time for the crucial qualifier away to Estonia in early June, with England's dismal run of form prompting them to make their move sooner than expected.

However, if Mr Blair remains Prime Minister until his preferred exit date of late summer, the FA will ask McClaren's assistant Terry Venables to take charge for the match in Tallin, but one thing's for sure - McClaren's tenure as England boss looks to be well and truly over.

Neither the Prime Minister nor the Football Association were available for comment today, Sunday, April the first.