DAILY ONLINE WORLD'S SPORTS NEWS

Hyderabad get the better of Mohali

2010-03-20T01:16:00.001+07:00

Hyderabad put up an all-round display to beat Mohali by a narrow margin of six runs in their IPL fixture at Nagpur.

Irfan Pathan hit a quick half-century (60) before Symonds caught him off Jaskaran Singh.

Rohit Sharma claimed Mohali's sixth wicket in Ravi Bopara as Hyderabad bowlers kept dealing the rivals regular blows.

RP Singh took the seventh one as he packed off Piyush Chawla, with Pragyan Ojha taking the catch.

Former Mohali skipper Yuvraj Singh's poor show with the bat continued as Chaminda Vaas dismissed him at a meagre score of four runs. Herschelle Gibbs made no mistake in collecting the ball to get rid of Yuvraj.

Mahela Jayawardene also failed to impress as he contributed 14 runs before losing his stumps to a Symonds delivery.

Pragyan Ojha accounted for the fifth Hyderabad wicket in Adrian Barath.

Mohali started their 171-run chase on a low note as they lost two quick wickets in Manvinder Bisla and Kumar Sangakkara.

While Bisla was run out, Sangakkara departed without even opening his account as Vaas disturbed his timber.

After getting a good start from skipper Adam Gilchrist, Hyderabad kept losing wickets at regular intervals and put up 170/7 on board.

Andrew Symonds became the fifth Hyderabad wicket to fall. Yuvraj struck again as Bipul took the catch.

Irfan Pathan accounted for the sixth one in Chaminda Vaas. T Suman got run out next.

Herschelle Gibbs and Symonds were looking set to lead Hyderabad to a good score when Yuvraj Singh dismissed Gibbs.

Just a couple of deliveries later, Rohit Sharma lost his wicket to a run out. Anirudh Singh also followed soon on his heels as Sangakkara caught him off Bipul Sharma.

Mohali's Shalabh Srivastava accounted for the all-important wicket of Adam Gilchrist as Hyderabad skipper had just started to fire. Mahela Jayawardena took an easy catch at short midwicket to get rid of the danger-man.

VVS Laxman was looking in good stead and was at his score of 10 runs when he had to retire hurt after injuring his fore-arm.

Mohali skipper Kumar Sangakkara had won the toss and elected to field first against Adam Gilchrist-led Hyderabad.

With the absence of some key players, the onus once again will be on Mohali's Mahela Jayawardene and captain Kumar Sangakkara to lead the batting charge against Hyderabad.

With Yuvraj Singh out of form, Brett Lee back in Australia and a few other key Australian players yet to come over for the IPL, Mohali is struggling at the moment.

Despite the good form of Ravi Bopara, the Mohali team will have to improve their batting to take on the strong bowling line up of Hyderabad, which boasts of Chaminda Vaas, R P Singh and Pragyan Ojha.

Playing XI:

Hyderabad: Adam Gilchrist (C) (W), VVS Laxman, Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Symonds, Rohit Sharma, Tirumalsetti Suman, Anirudh Singh, Chaminda Vaas, Jaskaran Singh, RP Singh, Pragyan Ojha

Mohali: Kumar Sangakkara (C) (W), Ravi Bopara, Adrian Barath, Manvinder Bisla, Yuvraj Singh, Mahela Jayawardena, Irfan Pathan, Piyush Chawla, Bipul Sharma, Shalabh Srivastava, Sreesanth

Hayden turns big chase into cakewalk

2010-03-20T01:11:00.002+07:00

Chennai Super Kings 190 for 5 (Hayden 93, Raina 49*) beat Delhi Daredevils 185 for 6 (Sehwag 74, Manhas 32*, Murali 2-25) by five wickets.

Scorecard

India, say hello to the Mongoose, the shorter, thicker bat with the longer handle. You already knew Matthew Hayden, but might have forgotten him momentarily after his ordinary start this year. On Friday, the two combined in a deadly manner. Hayden smacked 93 off 43 balls to almost singlehandedly chase down Delhi Daredevils' imposing target. Delhi's innings featured a similarly dominant effort. If Hayden scored 93 of the 142 while at crease, Virender Sehwag pummelled 74 out of 103.

That Hayden's effort was longer meant Chennai Super Kings prevailed in the battle of superb fielding. Three good catches from Chennai's stand-in captain, Suresh Raina, and a spectacular effort at the boundary from Justin Kemp, a near replica of his ICL catch, kept Delhi under 200. Tillakaratne Dilshan took a blinder charging in from long-on to deny Hayden a century, and Chennai a jitterless finish.

Delhi, and their new captain Dinesh Karthik, will wonder if they brought Dirk Nannes back too late - in the 13th over - and why the bouncer was not tried against the Mongoose. It was not as if Hayden necessarily needed the new bat to cause wreckage.

By the time he called out for the Mongoose, Hayden had already smashed four boundaries off his first nine balls. That may have given him the confidence to call for the newest beast in town. It was not as if Hayden necessarily needed the new bat to hit the five fours and seven sixes that followed in the next 34 deliveries he faced.

His hitting was so clean that it perhaps didn't need the rumoured 20% extra bat power on most of the occasions. Only the second of three sixes in Dilshan's over - the eighth of the innings - was mis-hit, but the ball managed to sail over wide long-on. That six also brought up his fifty, off 24 balls, and by the end of the over, he had reached 61, and Chennai 85.

More down-the-ground carnage followed in the next four overs, and Hayden had reached 87 off 37 with Chennai needing just 57 off 48, when Nannes was called back. A tight over later, Hayden hit Amit Mishra powerfully down the ground, and Dilshan ran in and caught it inches off the ground. Would it have carried had it been hit with a normal bat?

Albie Morkel and Justin Kemp failed to contribute much, and the onus fell on Raina after Chennai lost three wickets for 27 runs. However, he kept picking up boundaries - six of them - whenever the equation started to look tricky, and his unbeaten 49 carried Chennai home with five balls to spare.

With the way Sehwag was going, though, Raina's team was looking at a much bigger target. His 38-ball 74 came as easy as his strolled singles, but Chennai managed to create and latch on to more catching opportunities to slow down Delhi just about enough in the last eight overs.

Sehwag's innings took about as much time as it took David Warner and Dilshan to struggle and get out, managing 21 off 32 between them. Sehwag was in the scoring zone right from the first ball he faced, flicking it neatly to midwicket. He found the middle of the bat and the gaps started appearing from the second ball on. In the first eight overs, he displayed almost the whole array of effective Twenty20 shots: hits down the ground, through extra cover, over wide long-on and midwicket, and the square-cut.

The first over he faced from Muttiah Muralitharan, though, was the highlight. He came down the track first ball, Murali bowled flat, he checked his shot. Anticipated a flat delivery next up, he stayed back and opened the face to beat short third man. The standout shot came later in the over when he waited even more and took the ball from in front of stumps, guiding it to the left of short third this time. By the end of that over, eighth of the innings, Sehwag had scored 61 off 28, out of the team's total of 79.

Just in time, Kemp produced the moment of inspiration, jumping at the right time and taking a left-handed catch behind his body at the long-off boundary. Immediately before and after that, Raina produced two good catches to get rid of Dilshan and AB de Villiers.

With 7.3 overs still to go, there was time enough for either side to win or lose. Although the balance was retained, the 78 that Karthik, Mithun Manhas and Rajat Bhatia added proved to be inadequate when compared to Hayden and his Mongoose.

Mature Clarke seals satisfying century

2010-03-20T01:03:00.002+07:00

Australia 316 for 4 (Clarke 100*, Katich 79, North 52*) v New Zealand.

Scorecard

Michael Clarke has had to display a lot of patience over the past fortnight and he applied an unflappable, measured approach as his century steered Australia into a strong position. Clarke showed no lasting effects from the break-up of his engagement, which forced him home to Sydney last week, as he paced his innings perfectly.

His timing was so good he brought up his hundred in the last over of the day as he swung his side to 316 for 4. Clarke entered with Australia at a sticky 115 for 3 and locked down with Simon Katich, whose responsible 79 was also crucial against a disciplined local attack.

Only 70 runs came in 28 overs between lunch and tea as the tourists were restricted and Clarke needed 32 deliveries for his first two singles. However, once Marcus North, who helped confirm his spot at No.6 with 52, was set in the final session, Clarke started to accelerate and quickly undid the excellent work of the hosts.

The speed at which Clarke improved the situation from delicate to in control was impressive. For a couple of hours he had defended and clipped, playing a nice cut for four off Daryl Tuffey, but also being struck in the helmet attempting a pull off Chris Martin. His first sign of intent came when he charged at Daniel Vettori and lifted him for six to long-on, part of his collection of 91 in the last session.

Four overs later, having added three fours and launched Vettori over the sightscreen, he was 68 and Australia were suddenly purring. The second new ball came and Clarke continued to find the boundary, with two fours off Brent Arnel taking him to 98 with a dozen balls remaining.

The century came with a tight single from the first ball of the last over and he ran with his bat in the air as he accepted the applause. At stumps he was 100, with 10 fours and two sixes from his 142 balls, and had proved his ability to cope under an extreme spotlight.

The upbeat partnership with North of 140 at almost five an over sent the day Australia's way. After a few worrying early moments, North gained confidence and was also batting more freely than at any time this year.

His place is under pressure from Steven Smith, the batsman-legspinner, but if he goes on the spot will be his until he has to negotiate his next elongated slump. A straight drive for four from Arnel steadied him and he felt more comfortable after swiping Vettori for six over midwicket. The contribution allowed all of the tourists to relax.

Australia knew life against New Zealand was going to be harder than their home summer of success and they were forced to battle for much of the day. Life was tough before lunch when the pitch was offering more help, but Arnel's first wicket, which came from his fifth ball on debut, was the only break though. However, when Australia lost Ricky Ponting to a run-out on 41 and Michael Hussey (4) to a sharp catch from BJ Watling there was some concern.

Katich, Australia's ideal man for the difficult situation, was less inclined to chase boundaries than his team-mates, although he eventually forced himself to become more adventurous to Vettori. A hook behind square off Arnel brought up his half-century and he slog-swept Vettori for an awkward six, but mostly he nudged, chipped and glanced.

His reward was a 191-ball stay that gave him more batting time but not a century. While New Zealand missed him twice in the lead-up to tea, Katich did not last long after the break and was lbw shuffling across the crease to Arnel, who was operating around the wicket.

Arnel, a 31-year-old right armer, was brought in for his debut in a four-man seam attack and he delivered a tricky opening spell of seven overs. He picked up a slashing Phillip Hughes (20), who did not take advantage of Shane Watson's hip injury, and showed his pace and movement was worthy of a promotion. Arnel's first Test day ended in figures of 2 for 70 but he and his team-mates were disappointed to have let Australia off.

The ball swung throughout to disrupt the batsmen's rhythm and Martin was a problem when he curled it into the right-handers and away from the lefties. It was a delivery across Hussey that resulted in his fatal edge and he returned 1 for 63.

New Zealand's major problem was they couldn't sustain the effort until the end. Vettori was attacked before the second new ball was taken but Tuffey, who gave up 13 runs from his first 11 overs, regained some control to finish with 0 for 35 from 15. Despite their commitment, Clarke's brilliant burst left them with ground to recover.

Fulham 4 Juventus 1; agg 5-4

2010-03-19T13:31:00.001+07:00

The Europa League game between Fulham and Juventus at Craven Cottage on Thursday March 18 2010.

He had talked the talk and, on Thursday night, gloriously, irrepressibly, he walked the walk. Bobby Zamora led Fulham to an exhilarating, improbable, fabulous victory in the Europa League, trouncing and traumatising a shell-shocked Juventus. At Craven Cottage the Old Lady had an attack of the vapours.

Zamora had spoken of how he was going to give Fabio Cannavaro a hard time.

It wasn’t an empty threat. He did just that. Except then the veteran Italian international got himself sent off, a straight red card, perhaps harshly, perhaps a moment when his cynical play finally caught up on him, for bundling over Zoltan Gera with an hour to go. That lit the touch-paper on an already raucous response from Fulham.

At the final whistle, having over-hauled a deficit that, at one stage stood 4-1 in favour of the Italians after their first-leg 3-1 victory, and who were eventually reduced to nine-men, with Jonathan Zebina’s injury-time dismissal for kicking out at Damien Duff, the disbelieving Fulham players went on an exhausted lap of honour. Alessandro Del Piero tried to escape but Simon Davies caught him to swap shirts — and who could blame him?

This was, probably, surely, the greatest night in Fulham’s history and everyone who was here, except for the shell-shocked, silenced Juve supporters, will recall it time and time again.

They will recall the way in which Zamora, the much-maligned, much-criticised, and, at times, lumbering striker out-muscled the canny Cannavaro — using some of the defender’s own dark arts to create space — to chest down and volley past 39-year-old, third-choice goalkeeper Antonio Chimenti who went on to have an horrific evening.

They will recall two goals from Zoltan Gera and they will recall, above all, the way in which Clint Dempsey shimmied along the edge of the penalty area to drift the most exquisite of right-foot chips up and over Chimenti and into the top corner of the net.

As the ball arced through the air, it was unerring. It was almost as if time stood still for the breathless Fulham supporters and how their team deserved such a brilliant goal to win a brilliant match and cap a brilliant performance, a brilliant comeback.

They march on into the quarter-finals of this competition, with the draw on Friday, but it’s almost immaterial. An adventure that started last July in Lithuania and appeared to have died last week in Turin goes on and on.

Exhausted limbs are being dragged from match to match and this will be a season to remember. Juventus may be a pale-shadow of the side which once dominated Europe, twice winning the European Cup, but they are still studded with big names.

This was a big scalp with Fulham having already knocked out the holders, Shakhtar Donetsk and they did it without a dozen or so injured or suspended players.

None of the clubs left in the competition will want to play them such is the spirit, the organisation, the belief, instilled by manager Roy Hodgson whose reputation grows and grows. He was exuberant, disbelieving himself but when he looks back over what just happened he will know it was a match in which he out-coached Alberto Zaccheroni and his team out-played their much-vaunted opponents who simply had no answer, no response.

And to think, Juve had gone ahead after precisely 90 seconds with the kind of goal that crushes spirits. But not for Fulham. When Stephen Kelly and Brede Hangeland made a hash of clearing a routine cross, the ball broke to David Trezeguet and he swept it into the net. Silence.

And then a response. Despite the goal, Fulham sensed a vulnerability. Juve creaked in defence and Chimenti, playing only his second game in two years, having conceded three goals at the weekend, looked shaky. So when Paul Konchesky crossed, Cannavaro went to ground and Zamora, in front of England manager — and former Juve coach — Fabio Capello scored.

The striker then spun in the centre-circle to slide a pass to Gera who, as he collected the ball, and through on goal, was bundled into by Cannavaro.

Red card number one from referee Bjorn Kuipers. It looked harsh and the Italians were furious while Chimenti clawed away Zamora’s free-kick. Fulham won another. This time Simon Davies lofted it against the cross-bar and the rebound struck Zamora and was scrambled away. From the corner, Dickson Etuhu smacked a header against the outside of the post.

But Fulham were relentless and in the move of the match Konchesky played the ball into Zamora who cleverly flicked the ball up to Davies who squared it low for Gera to stab it in at the near post.

Fulham sensed something special and soon after the re-start Gera hared down the right, back-heeling a pass into the path of Duff whose cross struck Diego’s hand. Unintentional but unmistakeably so and Kuipers pointed to the spot. Gera, calmly, side-footed home the penalty. Little wonder the Hungarian pointed to the heavens.

Having levelled up the tie Fulham, inevitably, lost a little momentum. It had taken some effort to get this far but, finally, they went again.

Chimenti beat out a snap-shot from Davies, Dempsey, on as a substitute, had a header pushed away before the goalkeeper repelled Gera’s shot.

As improbable as it seemed at kick-off, extra-time loomed. But not so. There was then Dempsey’s wonderful intervention after Etuhu rolled the ball into his feet and the Juve defenders, suicidally, stood off. What a goal, what a tie, what a night.

Fulham’s greatest moments

1932 Fulham win Division Three South with a club record 111 goals, including a memorable 10-2 win over Torquay, then the club’s record victory.

1949 Fulham finally reach the top flight when, in 1949, they finish top of the old Second Division, finishing just a point ahead of West Bromwich Albion.

2001 A 2-1 win at Huddersfield thanks to a Louis Saha penalty and winner from Luis Boa Morte confirms promotion to the Premiership for the first time, with five games remaining.

1975 Fulham reach their first – and only – FA Cup final by beating Birmingham in the semi-final replay, thanks to a John Mitchell goal in extra time. But a side including Bobby Moore and Alan Mullery lose 2-0 in the final to West Ham.

2002 Fulham win the InterToto Cup, beating another Italian side, Bologna over two legs. After a 2-2 draw in Italy, Jean Tigana’s side win 3-1 at Loftus Road to qualify for the Uefa Cup and reach the third round.

Liverpool 3 Lille 0, agg 3-1

2010-03-19T13:29:00.001+07:00

The Europa League game between Liverpool and Lille at Anfield on Thursday March 18 2010.

Far from a sinking ship, the ferry across the Mersey showed no sign of being holed below the waterline whatever Albert “Dock’’ Riera might think. It was never plain sailing but goals from Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres allowed Liverpool to steam into the quarter-finals of the Europa League on Thursday night.

Following his intemperate outburst on life under Rafa Benitez, Riera might not have a future at Liverpool, barring a Kopite keelhauling, but Liverpool certainly have a future in the Europa League. They are deservedly in Friday’s draw courtesy of well-taken goals by their usual powerhouses and a dynamic midfield display from a slightly unlikely source, Lucas. The Brazilian excelled, proving a far more adventurous force than normal, embodying Liverpool’s hunger to stay in this competition.

News of momentous events at the Cottage had been announced over the Tannoy before kick-off, drawing an ovation from the Kop, and generating further belief in overturning a first-leg deficit.

The faith of Liverpool’s fans was reflected in the players’ brisk movement during the warm-up; there was a real intensity to their practice that was maintained with a high-tempo start, which brought Gerrard’s ninth-minute penalty and continued with Torres’s fine finish shortly into the second half.

For Liverpool’s first, Lucas won the kick, showing skill and pace to drag the ball away from Yohan Cabaye and racing into the Lille area. As Adil Rami unfurled a leg, Lucas accepted the invitation, ensured contact was made and went crashing to the floor.

After consulting his additional assistant referee, Nicola Rizzoli pointed to the spot. Gerrard made no mistake, sending Mickael Landreau the wrong way, much to the Kop’s delight.

An early goal was exactly what Benítez had ordered to settle any nerves. Anfield was quick to show its appreciation for Benítez, whose pre-match preparations had been complicated by Riera’s ill-timed outburst. No dissent could be found in the body language of Benítez’s players, who looked utterly focused on turning their manager’s game-plan into reality.

Benítez’s captain, Gerrard, was certainly in the mood, storming into a challenge on Aurelien Chedjou that was 60-40 against the Englishman. The spinning ball was swiftly seized on by Torres, who almost conjured up a magnificent second. Running at Emerson Conceicao, Torres nutmegged Lille’s left-back in a wonderful movement missing only a large shout of “Ole’’. As Chedjou then dived in, Torres let fly, his shot angling just wide.

Liverpool were now playing with all the confidence they have lacked for long spells this season, moving the ball with the accuracy and assertiveness that characterised Monday’s pummelling of Portsmouth, giving hope for Sunday’s trip to Old Trafford.

Even with assorted absentees, Maxi Rodriguez (ineligible), Alberto Aquilani (under the weather) and Riera (out in the cold), Liverpool were fluid and forceful.

Benítez’s players had known how much this meant, how the Europa League was their one shot at glory. They had also known that footballing royalty was in the house, Diego Maradona causing a wave of excitement as he took his seat in the directors’ box. In front of the Hand of God, Liverpool had the upper hand, almost adding a second on the half-hour. After the live wire Torres won a corner, Gerrard swerved the ball over. Daniel Agger, timing his arrival and rising well, flicked a header goalwards which Landreau eventually claimed. Dirk Kuyt then invited Lucas to run at Lille’s defence again. The Brazilian, a positive influence throughout, forced Landreau into a low save.

Yet there is class in this Lille side, a greater confidence patently evident in French teams this season. Rudi Garcia’s side soon began responding to the exhortations of their 2,500 supporters. Florent Balmont, short of hair but long on ambition, started dribbling and passing from the deep, often switching play. Eden Hazard, who so troubled Liverpool in northern France, almost struck a valuable away goal shortly before the break, darting through the middle, his shot hitting Pepe Reina and diverting over. Anfield sighed in relief.

Resisting this flurry of threat from Lille, Liverpool urgently sought a second. One strong Gerrard charge was ended by Rio Mavubu, whose father played for Zaire in the 1974 World Cup against the watching Kenny Dalglish. Mavubu’s usual anchoring shift had the additional responsibility of shadowing Gerrard, an onerous assignment as the England midfielder kept raiding forward in support of Torres.

Kuyt was also in constructive mood, lifting over a cross from the right. Leaping high above a sea of white shirts was Torres, who seemed to hang in the air as the ball came over. The Spaniard met the ball well enough, sending it back across Landreau in textbook fashion but it glided just over.

Torres’s disappointment was not to last long. Three minutes after the restart, Ryan Babel drilled a long ball forward and it should have been meat, drink and petit fours for Rami. Lille’s centre-half made a dog’s dinner of it, letting the ball bounce over him, gifting Torres possession.

Liverpool’s No 9 accelerated towards goal, checking momentarily to deceive Chedjou, and then beating Landreau with the most confident of finishes, the ball placed expertly past the Lille goalkeeper.

There were some nervous moments still to negotiate. Lille’s substitute, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, wasted a good opportunity after 73 minutes. The Kop grew anxious, chanting “attack, attack, attack’’. Torres needed little encouraging, and was soon embarking on a lengthy run that climaxed with Insua chipping the ball over Landreau’s goal.

Yet still the atmosphere creaked with anxiety. Seeking to shake up his attacking options, Benitez withdrew Babel and sent on Yossi Benayoun. Liverpool made it 3-0 on the night when Gerrard’s shot was saved and Torres played the poacher. The sinking ship is still going places and Maradona joined in the standing ovation for Torres.

Sporting Lisbon 2-2 Atletico Madrid

2010-03-19T13:28:00.001+07:00

Sergio Aguero struck twice as Atletico Madrid progressed to the quarter-finals of the Europa League with an away-goals triumph over Sporting Lisbon.

All four goals in the second leg at the Estadio Jose Alvalade came in the first half, with Aguero twice putting Atletico ahead and Sporting hitting back through efforts from Liedson and Anderson Polga.

Neither side could force a winner in the second half, leaving Atletico as the victors and still on course for a cup double having also reached the final of the Spanish Copa del Rey.

In the goalless first leg Atletico failed to break down a Sporting side reduced to nine men following the dismissals of Leandro Grimi after 31 minutes and Tonel (89), but it took them less than three minutes to breach a full-strength Lisbon outfit here.

Sporting failed to clear their lines sufficiently from one attack, and when Antonio Lopez regained possession and drove in a low cross, the unmarked Aguero stole in at the near post to side-foot past Rui Patricio.

Atletico could not have asked for a better start, but they enjoyed their advantage for just 15 minutes before Sporting drew level through Liedson.

The Brazil-born forward came the closest to a goal during the first leg when he hit the crossbar from 25 yards out, but there was no denying him from four yards tonight as he powerfully headed in Miguel Carlos Saleiro's dinked cross.

Atletico went back in front in the 32nd minute.

A good move resulted in Jose Antonio Reyes playing in Aguero inside the area, and the stocky Argentinian turned inside Anderson before coolly slotting a shot inside the far post with the outside of his foot.

Reyes then came within inches of putting Atletico 3-1 up with a superb 25-yard free-kick, but there was to be another setback for the Spanish side on the stroke of half-time as Sporting drew level for a second time.

Miguel Veloso fired a free-kick into the area and Anderson got the faintest of touches to help the ball on its way past David De Gea.

That was just the breakthrough Sporting would have been hoping for prior to the interval, but ultimately it would not be enough to save them.

Sporting almost got a perfect start to the second half when De Gea was called onto make a brilliant one-handed save from Saleiro, while Liedson put an opportunity wide at the far post soon after.

The home side would not create many better openings after that, however, and it was Atletico who were celebrating at the end.

Marseille 1-2 Benfica

2010-03-19T13:26:00.002+07:00

Alan Kardec came off the bench to inflict last-minute heartbreak on Marseille as his late goal sent Benfica through to the Europa League quarter-finals.

The game seemed destined for penalties after Maxi Pereira swiftly levelled following Mamadou Niang's 70th-minute opener.

However, Kardec's last-gasp goal, just three minutes after coming on and his first for Benfica, put the Portuguese team through.

There was further misery for Marseille when Hatem Ben Arfa was dismissed in stoppage time, seconds after coming on, for lashing out at the Benfica goalscorer.

The game started cautiously but Benfica should have taken the lead in the 23rd minute when Oscar Cardozo's 25-yard thunderbolt smashed off the right upright.

That seemed to spark the hosts into life and they came close to going in front five minutes later as Benoit Cheyrou evaded two Benfica defenders before releasing Fabrice Abriel who served Brandao but he headed over.

Angel Di Maria could have put the visitors in front in the 35th minute but Marseille goalkeeper Steve Mandanda did well to collect his low rasping shot.

As half-time approached Marseille began to step up a gear and Julio Cesar pulled off a good save to deny Brandao before former Porto player Lucho Gonzalez sent his effort inches wide.

Benfica came close to breaking the deadlock shortly after the hour mark when Fabio Coentrao took advantage of space on the left flank before putting in a delightful cross which evaded Mandanda and which an ideally-placed Javier Saviola should have done better with.

The visitors were completely dominating the tie and it seemed a matter of time before they took the lead but they continued to waste a plethora of chances and it was Marseille who took the lead against the run of play.

Niang flicked on Cheyrou's free-kick towards Brandao who returned the favour and the Senegal international tapped the ball home.

But their lead lasted only four minutes before Pereira's 35-yard free-kick took a slight deflection off Cheyrou before flying into the back of the net.

And worse was to come for Marseille as in the final minute Pablo Aimar's free-kick found its way through to Kardec, who lashed it past Mandanda to send the travelling fans into raptures.

There was still time for Ben Arfa, Marseille's last-minute hero in the first leg, to be handed a straight red card moments after coming off the bench, for kicking out at Kardec.

Standard Liege 1-0 Panathinaikos

2010-03-19T13:24:00.001+07:00

Dieudonne Mbokani scored the only goal of the game as Standard Liege completed a comfortable passage into the last eight of the Europa League with a home win over Panathinaikos.

The Belgian champions had done most of the hard work in the first leg in Greece when they won 3-1 and dominated the return to deservedly progress.

Mbokani claimed his goal in first-half injury time when goalkeeper Sinan Bolat's long clearance was allowed to run through to the Congo striker to slide home from 12 yards.

In the build up to the match Pana coach Nikos Nioplias claimed his side were better than Standard and that they could overcome the two-goal deficit to progress.

But the Greek side rarely threatened in the opening half as Standard stamped their authority on the game.

Pana goalkeeper Alexandros Tzorvas was kept busy in the early stages, making his first save after three minutes when he tipped a Mehdi Carcela-Gonzalez shot from the centre of the area past the post.

Tzorvas then pushed a header from Mbokani wide five minutes later before clearing the ensuing corner to safety.

The visitors' first shot on target arrived after 12 minutes when Kostas Katsouranis headed into the arms of Bolat.

Standard replied with a string of chances with Mbokani firing wide before Tzorvas saved long-range efforts from Igor De Camargo and Wilfried Dalmat.

Despite Standard controlling possession, they almost fell behind three minutes before half-time.

France striker Djibril Cisse won a free-kick just outside the area and Giorgos Karagounis' pin-point delivery picked out Dimitris Salpingidis.

His header came back off the post before Karagounis saw his follow-up strike tipped wide by Bolat.

Standard deservedly led at the break following some slack defending from the visitors.

There was little danger when Bolat cleared from his own half, but the ball was allowed to run through to Mbokani, who made full use of the defence's hesitation to fire his side ahead from 12 yards.

It took the sting out of Pana heading into the second half and Standard sat back and comfortably defended their advantage.

Gilberto Silva and Sebastian Leto both forced saves from Bolat, but the home side were never in any danger of failing to secure their place in the quarter-finals.

Werder Bremen 4-4 Valencia

2010-03-19T13:22:00.001+07:00

David Villa scored a hat-trick as Valencia advanced to the Europa League quarter-finals on away goals after a thrilling draw against Werder Bremen tonight.

Valencia grabbed the lead after two minutes through Villa and Juan Manuel Mata made it 2-0 with just quarter of an hour gone.

Hugo Almeida pulled a goal back for the hosts in the 26th minute before Villa grabbed his second just before the interval.

Torsten Frings scored from the penalty spot in the 57th minute and Marko Marin made it 3-3 just five minutes later, but Villa completed his hat-trick in the 65th minute and Claudio Pizarro's strike six minutes from time was not enough for the home side.

Valencia jumped ahead just two minutes into the game after a poor headed clearance which landed right at the feet of David Silva. The Spain international found Villa in space on the left and he beat Bremen goalkeeper Tim Wiese with a shot into the far corner.

Bremen had two fine chances through Aaron Hunt and Claudio Pizarro but it was Valencia who scored again on 15 minutes as Silva was the provider once more, finding Mata who fired past Wiese.

That prompted Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf to bring on another striker, Miguel Almeida, in place of midfielder Tim Borowski after just 21 minutes.

And Almeida cut the deficit just five minutes after coming on, slotting home Pizarro's fine cross.

The German side continued to push forward and Hunt and Almeida both failed to take advantage of chances nine minutes from the break.

And Villa silenced the Bremen crowd just before half-time, firing home from eight yards after Silva's pass from the touchline.

The gap was back to one after 57 minutes as Bremen captain Frings converted a penalty after Jordi Alba brought down Marin in the area.

Frings' shot was hit directly at Valencia goalkeeper Cesar Sanchez but he could only punch the ball into his own goal.

Marin equalised five minutes later with Mesut Ozil setting up the young German international to beat Sanchez.

However, Valencia held their nerve and Villa collected a long diagonal pass from Mata before beating Wiese and completing his hat-trick after 65 minutes.

Bremen refused to give up and Pizarro equalised with a header in the 84th minute for his ninth goal of the competition, but the home side could not score the vital winner in five minutes of stoppage time.

Wolfsburg 2-1 Rubin Kazan AET

2010-03-19T13:20:00.000+07:00

Christian Gentner scored in the 119th minute as Wolfsburg advanced to the quarter-finals of the Europa League with a home victory over 10-man Rubin Kazan in the last 16.

After a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Russia, Alan Kasaev gave Rubin the lead after 21 minutes. Obafemi Martins equalised for the German champions Wolfsburg in the 58th minute.

Rubin went a man down after 109 minutes as Cesar Navas was shown a second yellow card, and Gentner scored the match-winner a minute before the end of extra-time.

The first good chance of the game came after 15 minutes for the hosts. Edin Dzeko fought his way through the left side and crossed into the box where Ashkan Dejagah could not beat Rubin goalkeeper Sergey Ryzhikov from five yards.

The Russian champions grabbed the lead six minutes later on a counter-attack. The ball went to Aleksandr Bukharov, whose pass picked out the run of Kasaev for a blast past Wolfsburg goalkeeper Marwin Hitz from six yards.

Rubin nearly doubled the lead with a counter-attack in first-half stoppage time but Wolfsburg defender Alexander Madlung twice got in the way of shots - first by Bukharov from 14 yards and Hasan Kabze from 16 yards.

Wolfsburg pushed forward after the break with Dzeko heading over the crossbar from 12 yards and Dejagah's attempt from seven yards sailed over the goal after 55 minutes.

Wolfsburg finally equalised three minutes later. Jan Simunek headed a free-kick at the right post across the face of goal to an unmarked Martins, who headed in from two yards out to make it 1-1.

Gokdeniz Karadeniz pulled a shot wide just after the hour mark for Rubin while Martins' header was too centrally placed and Ryzhikov held after 66 minutes.

Ryzhikov was forced to make an excellent save on Martins two minutes into stoppage time. The Rubin goalkeeper produced a stunning save just seconds later, blocking away Zvjezdan Misimovic's shot from seven yards. But the ball went to Dzeko, who slotted home but was ruled offside.

Wolfsburg again were close after 101 minutes but Macbeth Sibaya was in the way of Marcel Schafer's blast. Cesar Navas' header went just wide left two minutes later for the Russians.

But the Spaniard was sent off in the 109th minute for his second warning.

Martins set up the winner, streaking down the right side before crossing to the left edge of the area, where Gentner blasted a shot into the lower right-hand corner from 16 yards.

Anderlecht 4-3 Hamburg

2010-03-19T13:12:00.001+07:00

A goal 15 minutes from time from Mladen Petric sealed Hamburg's place in the last eight of the Europa League after a thrilling clash with Anderlecht.

The Germans had appeared to be cruising through with the game goalless approaching half-time, before it sprang to life with three goals in as many minutes.

Jerome Boateng put Hamburg 4-1 ahead in the tie in the 42nd minute but Romelu Lukaku headed home to pull one back and Matias Suarez then converted an injury-time penalty.

Marcell Jansen restored Hamburg's two-goal aggregate lead but Anderlecht responded through Lucas Biglia before Mbark Boussoufa, back from a knee injury, made it 5-5 on aggregate.

However, Petric struck on 75 minutes to break the home side's resistance.

Early on the game offered little in terms of clear-cut chances, with Frank Rost untested in the Hamburg goal until the 34th minute when he dealt with Ondrej Mazuch's shot from the right.

Anderlecht were putting Bruno Labbadia's side under little pressure and the match was devoid of creative spark until just before the break.

Hamburg appeared to put the tie beyond doubt when Boateng sent a right-footed shot into the top corner three minutes before the break.

However, the hosts pulled one back two minutes later when Boussoufa's cross from the right was headed home from close range by Lukaku.

Ariel Jacobs' side then rounded off a remarkable spell when Suarez coolly converted a penalty after he was fouled by Boateng.

Such a breathless end to the first half was followed by a tentative start to the second period until Hamburg restored their two-goal aggregate lead.

Ruud van Nistelrooy sent in a cross from the right for Marcell Jansen to convert but again the Germans could not hold onto their lead and Anderlecht restored their lead on the night five minutes later when Biglia scored from the centre of the penalty area.

Just seven minutes later and the hosts were back in it, Boussoufa slotting home Lukaku's left-wing cross from the six-yard box to put Anderlecht 4-2 ahead on the night and making it 5-5 on aggregate.

Hamburg were not to be denied though, and nine minutes later Petric restored their lead in the tie and booked a place in the quarter-finals.

Jankovic through to final eight

2010-03-19T13:09:00.001+07:00

Jelena Jankovic took an hour and 42 minutes to defeat Alisa Kleybanova 6-4 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Open.

The Serbian was rarely troubled and was broken only once as she saw off the plucky challenge of the 20-year-old, seeded 23rd.

Jankovic had won their previous meeting this season, in her country's Fed Cup tie against Russia, but Kleybanova went into the clash able to draw on the confidence of two victories over her more illustrious opponent last year.

The youngster had a first-serve percentage of 83% in the first set and forced four break points, but she paid for her failure to convert any of them as Jankovic took her only opportunity - and with it the set.

Jankovic was dominant on her own serve throughout both sets, and two breaks to Kleybanova's one earned her the second and a place in the last eight.

Ljubicic thunders past Monaco

2010-03-19T13:01:00.003+07:00

Ivan Ljubicic faced only one break point in three sets as he beat Juan Monaco to reach the semi-finals of the BNP Paribas Open.

The Argentinian, seeded 21st, made a bright start and, despite winning just eight points on the Ljubicic serve in the first set, managed to string enough together to earn a break of serve and take the set 6-4.

But Ljubicic came back in style, winning 16 of 19 service points in the second set to prevail 6-2 and level the match.

And the 20th seed was just as dominant in the third, breaking twice more to complete a 4-6 6-2 6-1 triumph in one hour and 47 minutes.

He will face the winner of tonight's clash between third seed Rafael Nadal and Czech Tomas Berdych, seeded 19th.

Cheltenham Festival 2010: Big Buck's and Ruby Walsh canter to World Hurdle win

2010-03-19T01:59:00.000+07:00

Big Buck's won back-to-back renewals of the Ladbrokes World Hurdle with an effortless victory under Ruby Walsh.

Walsh's mount was hard on the bridle throughout and try as Time For Rupert might, he could never put the 5-6 favourite under enough pressure.

War Of Attrition made most of the running but Time For Rupert took over turning into the straight, although Walsh could be seen travelling ominously well.

The Cheltenham Festival's winning-most jockey had a leisurely look around for dangers but they were non existent and after a slightly scrappy jump at the last. Big Buck's was pushed out with hands and heels for a three-and-a-quarter-length win.

Powerstation was back in third, the same position he filled 12 months ago.

Walsh said: "He's a special horse. He's absolutely bolted in.

"He's a horse that doesn't want to be in front too long. I knew the ones I fancied, like Karabak, would follow me though.

"He's got a terrific engine and that was a good round of jumping, he jumped better today than he ever has done."

Winning trainer Paul Nicholls said: "He's a hugely talented horse. It's unbelievable. I worked the horses on Saturday morning - Poquelin, Master Minded, Kauto Star, the lot. They all worked well but he worked like a hairy goat.

"That's just him and I lost confidence a bit and I was sweating beforehand.

"He never hit a flat spot today. We were keen to get him fresh and you have to get into his head a bit more than anything. He's very good."

Dominant Bangalore crush Rajasthan

2010-03-19T01:37:00.001+07:00

Royal Challengers Bangalore 93 for 0 (Kallis 44*, Pandey 42*) beat Rajasthan Royals 92 (Kumble 3-9, Praveen 3-18) by 10 wickets .

Scorecard

A superlative bowling performance by Royal Challengers Bangalore, including a hat-trick by Praveen Kumar, decimated Rajasthan Royals to a paltry 92 and set up a huge win. The match lasted just 30.3 overs as Bangalore strolled home by 10 wickets to call it an early night, and also seal the second-most comprehensive victory in terms of ball to spare.

The bowlers stuck to a plan of bowling quick, short deliveries, which contributed to an abject batting performance by a weakened Rajasthan. The batsmen struggled to find a weak link to exploit. Although Praveen hogged the limelight with the first hat-trick of IPL 2010, it was the combined bowling performance that set the platform for back-to-back wins at home.

The Bangalore bowlers focused on bowling as straight as possible and tucking the batsmen up. The batsmen looked out of depth from the beginning, playing and missing and failing to find gaps. The first five overs produced only two fours and 27 runs, quite an antithesis to the Twenty20 brand of cricket.

The pressure began to tell on Rajasthan, and the urgency to push on cost them three early wickets. Jacques Kallis struck with his first delivery when he had Naman Ojha splicing to cover-point. Michael Lumb, the Hampshire left-hand batsman, had a testing IPL debut, particularly against Dale Steyn, who got the ball to skid through and fizz past the outside edge on a few occasions. He tried his luck against Anil Kumble by chipping down the track to a slow flighted delivery, but failed the read the googly and was stumped by yards.

Even the experienced Damien Martyn looked out of sorts. The rustiness of not having played too much competitive cricket since retirement began to show against some sharp bouncers from Kallis. The dismissal of Abhishek Jhunjhunwala - chopping Kallis onto the stumps - heralded the arrival of Yusuf Pathan, the best man to get them out of jail.

There wasn't to be an instant manic revival. Yusuf struggled to put bat on ball early on. Realising his weakness against the short ball, Bangalore persisted with back-of-a-length deliveries, and Yusuf kept swishing at thin air. Between the seventh and 11th over, the run-rate did not cross four and even their most attacking batsman was in inertia.

However, the bowlers were made to pay when they bowled fuller, as Yusuf demonstrated with consecutive thumps over deep midwicket off Vinay Kumar. He was dropped twice - on 19 and 24 - off thick top edges, but it didn't cost Bangalore much as he was sent packing with an athletic direct hit by Virat Kohli, diving forward.

Praveen used three different deliveries to get his hat-trick, the seventh in the tournament's history. A sluggish Martyn struggled to break free and lost his middle stump when Praveen returned for a new spell. Praveen followed the yorker with a short delivery to Sumit Narwal, who top-edged it down fine leg's throat. Paras Dogra faced the hat-trick ball, but had his middle stump pegged back to a length delivery, trying to swipe him across the line. The procession of wickets stamped Bangalore's authority on the game, which was all but sealed at that point.

Going by the way Manish Pandey and Kallis closed out the game, only a double hat-trick could have saved Rajasthan. Kallis was at his elegant best, clipping the ball off his pads, tearing into his countryman Morne Morkel for 20 in his first over. Pandey showed scant respect to his countryman, Munaf Patel, muscling the ball down the ground. He also planted one over deep midwicket off Sumit Narwal. The only time Rajasthan looked like taking a wicket was when Pandey sliced the ball to mid-off, and replays couldn't confirm if Morkel took it cleanly.

Rajasthan looked deflated and lost for ideas as Kallis and Pandey threatened to finish the game within 10 overs. Bangalore went to second place in the points table, behind Mumbai Indians.

Newcastle 3 Scunthorpe 0

2010-03-18T09:35:00.001+07:00

The Championship game between Newcastle United and Scunthorpe United at St James's Park on Wednesday March 17 2010.

Andy Carroll demonstrated why he would be foolish to turn his back on England on Wednesday night as his two cracking finishes eased Newcastle towards the finishing line in the race for the Premier League.

The towering England Under-21 targetman is at the centre of a proverbial international tug-of-war thanks to his Scottish roots and while he might not be the finished article his endeavours for the Championship leaders again underlined his immense potential.

A rapidly improving Carroll, 21, and Peter Lovenkrands took their goal-scoring tallies this term to 14 apiece leaving Chris Hughton's Championship leaders needing a maximum of five more wins to guarantee a return to top-flight football after they overwhelmed Scunthorpe United.

Scunthorpe had never won at St James' Park and the prospect of Nigel Adkins' team re-writing the record books on their first visit to the Tyneside since 1963-64 quickly faded Lovenkrands tested Joe Murphy with a low left-footed shot before Carroll put a team undefeated at home all season on course for victory when he rose above the Scunthorpe defence to powerfully nod in Danny Guthrie's corner in the 10th minute.

Nolan had header disallowed for offside following Guthrie's clever dinked free-kick and Lovenkrands struck the crossbar from close range after Murphy spilled Jose Enrique's cross as Newcastle dominated.

Murphy, whose team beat Newcastle 2-1 at Glanford Park last October, then denied Carroll with a fine save as Scunthorpe fought to stay in the contest.

The Iron had no answer, though, to Lovenkrands' slick movement and the Dane scored for the sixth consecutive game when he confidently beat Murphy following Wayne Routledge's incisive pass in the 22nd minute.

It was a case of deja vu four minutes later following Routledge's pull-back but Murphy was equal to Lovenkrands first-time shot as Hughton's side threaten to humiliate opponents for whom goal-difference could prove to be vital to their fortunes this term.

Adkins was said to have rested key players such as striker Gary Hooper with crunch games looming and it meant Newcastle were able to cruise to their sixth consecutive home victory.

The highlight of a one-sided second half that at times drifted was Carroll's second goal of the evening as he latched on to the increasing influential Guthrie's pass before delicately lifting the ball over Murphy from an acute angle to show there is plenty of brain as well as brawn for this Geordie.

The standing ovation the former St James' Park ball-boy received when substituted by Hughton said it all.

Barcelona 4 Stuttgart 0; agg 5-1

2010-03-18T09:31:00.001+07:00

The Champions League game between Barcelona and Stuttgart at Estadio Camp Nou on Wednesday March 17 2010.

Barcelona advanced with celestial ease into the last eight of the Champions League on Wednesday night via the sort of victory that will set alarm bells ringing in the offices of the managers of those seven other remaining sides. Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger will have had an uneasy night’s sleep fretting over the possibility of confronting Lionel Messi, who as ever performed prodigies as his side ground Stuttgart into the Nou Camp dust.

My, didn’t the defending champions make it look easy; they didn’t even need Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who was confined to the bench until mid-way through the second half, or Xavi, who was injured, to win 4-0. Arsenal, Manchester United, Inter Milan, CSKA Moscow, Lyon, Bayern Munich, and Bordeaux will have taken note; it will be a miserable manager who draws Pep Guardiola’s side from the bag on Friday.

Everyone knows Barcelona can play divine football. That was what this was, but it was also more than that. It was a demonstration of their determination. An away goal from Ibrahimovic in the first leg meant all they need do was prevent Stuttgart from scoring, but even at 2-0 up, Barcelona had the look of a side who wanted a rout.

Naturally it was Messi who set the wrecking ball swinging. He was at the heart of Pedro’s goal, his second was serene, but it was his first that really set the eyes on stalks. He dribbled from near his own half to the edge of the Stuttgart area and, as four white shirts surrounded him, sent his left-footed shot lancing into the top corner. Words fail.

If their next opponents can seek solace from anything, it is that this was the first time Barcelona have scored more than two goals in Europe this season. Meagre crumbs of comfort, admittedly.

Bordeaux 2 Olympiakos 1; agg 3-1

2010-03-18T09:26:00.001+07:00

The Champions League game between Bordeaux and Olympiakos at Stade Chaban Delmas on Wednesday March 17 2010.

Bordeaux survived an unlikely Olympiakos fightback to book their place in the Champions League quarter-finals at the Stade Chaban Delmas on Wednesday night.

Yoann Gourcuff's superb free kick gave Bordeaux an early lead and the France midfielder saw another set-piece come back off the frame of the goal as visiting goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis struggled to cope with his delivery.

There looked no way back for Olympiakos when Matt Derbyshire was sent off in the 60th minute for two yellow cards in the space of seven minutes.

But substitute Kostas Mitroglou made an instant impression, crashing home a 64th minute equaliser, and they received a second boost when the hosts' captain Alou Diarra also saw red.

Bordeaux, though, sealed their progression in the 88th minute, Nikopolidis again caught as Marouane Chamakh headed in at the far post.

The Ligue 1 side started the match firmly in control of the tie following their 1-0 win in Greece two weeks ago.

And Gourcuff tightened their grip with a fine opener in the fifth minute.

Nikopolidis may have been expecting a cross from a position out beyond the left edge of the area, but instead Gourcuff whipped a fierce right-footed effort over his head and into the far top corner.

The visitors threatened as former Blackburn striker Derbyshire got free down the left but failed to pick out Lomana LuaLua with his low ball in and from the counter-attack Chamakh was unable to find Gourcuff breaking through the middle.

Gourcuff was becoming a major influence and he was denied in the 39th minute by a brave block from Nikopolidis.

At the other end Jaouad Zairi poked a volley wide of the post before Gourcuff almost caught out the Olympiakos keeper with another free kick in the 44th minute.

This time it was delivered from a much deeper position out on the left, Nikopolidis misjudging the flight of the ball horribly as it again went over his head before hitting the crossbar, post and then bouncing off his chest.

The Greeks had a goal ruled out for a marginal offside a minute later when Derbyshire turned in a left-wing cross.

Derbyshire's evening got even worse on the hour mark when he received a second booking for a late challenge on Jaroslav Plasil.

But out of nowhere Olympiakos seized a lifeline.

Mitroglou had only been on the pitch for two minutes when he let Raul Bravo's throw-in from the left run across his body, turned and as the ball was bouncing lashed a venomous right-footed effort past Cedric free kick from outside the area.

The visitors received another boost in the 69th minute when Bordeaux were also reduced to 10 men, captain Alou Diarra harshly picking up a second yellow for a tackle on Ieroklis Stoltidis in which he appeared to win the ball.

They almost found a second when Bravo turned the ball back across goal and Michael Ciani narrowly avoided turning it into his own net.

Chamakh then had a great chance to settle Bordeaux nerves when he burst through on goal but a heavy touch allowed Nikopolidis to rush out and claim the ball at the striker's feet.

But the he made amends two minutes from time when the keeper failed to cut out Benoît Tremoulinas' left-wing cross and Chamakh rose well to power home a header at the far post.

AFC Cup Wednesday Review

2010-03-18T09:24:00.001+07:00

Uzbekistan's Nasaf maintained a 100% AFC Cup record with a 2-1 comeback win over Syria's Al Jaish at Central Stadium.

Al Jaish had taken the lead inside the opening 20 minutes through Abdulrazzak Al Husain's free-kick only for Kamoliddin Murzoev to pull the home side level from the penalty spot 11 minutes after half-time.

And Ilhom Shamuradov sealed the comeback just five minutes later to see Nasaf top Group C alongside Kuwait's Kazma, who edged out Lebanon's Al Ahed 1-0.

Tareq Al Shemeri's ninth-minute penalty proved the difference at the Peace and Friendship Stadium in Kuwait City.

In Group H, Vietnam's Da Nang recorded a second consecutive 3-2 win as substitute Doan Hung Son capitalised on a last-minute goalmouth scramble to down Singapore's Geylang United.

With Thai Port bouncing back from their home defeat by Da Nang as Pitipong Kuldilok's deft chip just after half-time secured a 1-0 win over Tai Po in Hong Kong, Da Nang top the table three points clear of the Thai Premier League outfit.

With the other Group G meeting between Muang Thong and Indonesia's Persiwa postponed due to due to the political unrest in Thailand, VB maintained their 100% start with a 1-0 win over last year's beaten semi-finalists South China in Male.

Ali Afshaq took advantage of a goalkeeping error from South China's Ho Kwok Cheun midway through the first half to settle the contest at the National Stadium to leave the Hong Kong side winless after two games and VB five points clear.

Finally in Group D, Lebanon's Al Nejmeh recorded a first win with a 3-0 home triumph over India's East Bengal, who suffered a second straight defeat.

Senegalese striker Makhete Diop opened the scoring for the Lebanon League champions after 19 minutes before Abbas Atwi doubled the lead four minutes later.

And Bilal El Najjarine's 48th-minute penalty sealed a comfortable win for Al Nejmeh.

With Al Ittihad and Al Qadsia playing out a goalless draw at Aleppo International Stadium in Syria, Al Nejmeh joined Al Ittihad at the top of the table with four points two clear of Al Qadsia.

Ben Ainslie and Team Origin one race off place in Louis Vuitton Trophy semi-finals

2010-03-18T01:17:00.003+07:00

Ben Ainslie revelled in the simmering pressure of competition this morning when Team Origin secured a critical victory to qualify for the next stage of the Louis Vuitton Trophy in Auckland.

In a must-win match against the Franco-German syndicate All4One following back to back defeats on Tuesday, Ainslie put in a flawless performance as skipper and helm to clinch his team’s win after making a shrewd early gain and doggedly maintaining control.

By the first mark, Team Origin were 20 seconds ahead and the lead stretched to five boat lengths by the second weather mark. Despite having problems with a spinnaker sheet which resulted in a tear in the kite during the final downwind leg, that advantage grew to an impressive 27 seconds by the finish.

“Ben gave us an excellent start,” said Iain Percy, Team Origin tactician.

“He really is the best in the business on that front. From there I was confident to head right though we had to keep it tight over such a short race course and from there on in it was a pretty classic match race.”

Team Origin’s performances in the Louis Vuitton Trophy have been patchy, reflecting the relative inexperience of Ainslie’s 17 strong match racing team, which features nine British crew, compared to their opponents. In seven races, they had three wins and four defeats with penalties and collisions proving costly.

But Percy defended their form claiming the Team Origin campaign at this stage in their development was more performance rather than results driven.

“A couple of things could have gone the other way yesterday and we might have had two wins,” he said.

“The most important thing is to ‘up’ our game after a bad day and move forward. We have to keep the playing field level – whether a good or bad day, the key is never to make the same mistake twice.

“We are still pretty new to this game so we need to keep moving forward. The racing is so close here with some real quality competition on the course, and for sure no team here is ever going to hand you a race win!”

Eight teams have now been whittled down to six with Emirates Team New Zealand and Mascalzone Latino from Italy already qualified for the semi-finals. Azzurra and All4One remain in contention while Russian Team Synergy and Aleph of France were eliminated.

Team Origin will now battle against Swedish team Artemis in a best of three fight for a place in the semis.

HRH Princess Royal will visit the team tomorrow night during her visit to New Zealand. She was present at the launch of Team Origin in September in 2007 and has been a supporter ever since.

Young Lions win first S-League game

2010-03-18T01:11:00.001+07:00

Young Lions picked up their first win of the new S-League season as they eased past Balestier Khalsa 3-0 at the Jalan Besar Stadium.

Safuwan Baharudin put the hosts in front with just one minute on the clock and Seo Su Jong doubled their advantage from the spot in the 20th minute.

Izzdin Shafiq then made the points safe when he found the back of the net with 14 minutes to go.

Mumbai trounce hapless Delhi

2010-03-18T01:06:00.001+07:00

Fifties by Sachin Tendulkar and Saurabh Tiwary set up a 98-run win for Mumbai against Delhi at the Ferozshah Kotla on Wednesday.

Click here for Scorecard

Delhi all out for 120 (Gambhir did not bat after being injured): Mumbai win by 98 runs

First breakthrough for Mumbai. Lasith Malinga deceived his Sri Lankan team-mate Tillakaratne Dilshan with a slower one, uprooting the Delhi opener's off-stump.

Dwayne Bravo picked up Virender Sehwag and AB de Villiers in the same over to put Delhi under immense pressure, chasing 219 against Mumbai.

Sehwag had begun to look dangerous in the course of his 16-ball 26 and holed out to Rayudu at long-off. deVilliers chopped in on to his stumps three balls later to leave a packed Kotla in stunned silence.

Dinesh Karthik stepped down the wicket to Harbhajan Singh, who pushed it down the leg-side and a brilliant Aditya Tare did the rest.

Jayasuriya picked up Mithun Manhas off his first delivery of the match to put Mumbai in a commanding position against Delhi.

Sanath Jayasuriya snapped up his second wicket when he had Farveez Maharoof stumped by Tare. The Delhi all-rounder had started to turn on the screws.

Delhi lost their eighth wicket when Pradeep Sangwan departed with the score on 116 in the 14th over, failing to beat a dircect throw from Bravo.

Kieron Pollard picked up his first wicket for Mumbai to send back Amit Mishra to the Delhi dug-out.

Mumbai are 218 for seven

Skipper Sachin Tendulkar and Saurabh Tiwary smashed rapid fifties to help Mumbai set up a daunting total against Delhi at the Ferozshah Kotla.

That's a sensational catch by substitute fielder Nagar. Sanath Jayasuriya has departed and his Sri Lankan colleague Ferveez Mahroof gets him.

Pradeep Sangwan struck for Delhi and Aditya Tare's stumps are all over the place. However, Mumbai are still ticking along fine.

Tendulkar blasted his way to a quickfire fifty as Mumbai continued to hit Delhi hard despite losing two wickets.

Sachin Tendulkar smashed 63 off 32 balls to leave Delhi in a maze before substitute Yogesh Nagar held on to another smart catch to help Delhi pick up their third wicket.

That's the end of Ambatti Rayudu. Tillekaratne Dilshan pouched it safely to give Farveez Maharoof his second wicket.

Tiwary blazed away to 61 before failing to beat a Dinesh Karthik throw at the striker's end.

Leg-spinner Sarabjit Ladda snapped up Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard in the last over of the innings.

The Toss

Delhi have won the toss and elected to bowl in their IPL tie against Mumbai on Wednesday.

Brief Preview

Fireworks are on cards when Delhi host Mumbai at Ferozshah Kotla in their IPL fixture on Wednesday.

The stakes just went up for the Delhi boys. With Chennai stopping Kolkata and the points table suddenly reflecting a disturbing familiarity, a claustrophobic crowding at the top of the list, handing Mumbai a win in their contest on Wednesday would really make it distressingly disturbing.

Not that it seems to ever bother Virender Sehwag. He will do his thing, irrespective of what the situation is. But the same does not apply to Gautam Gambhir. The two players' desire to win may be identical, but somehow the new skipper seems to be so much more obvious about it.

On the other end of the spectrum is Sachin Tendulkar. The perfectionist that he is, he would be smarting under the fact that, despite scoring over 200 runs, his side barely managed to beat the Jaipur outfit. In fact, he was quick to point that he didn't have the services of Harbhajan Singh when his side struggled to hold back a rampant Yusuf Pathan.

Teams

Delhi: G Gambhir (Captain), V Sehwag, TM Dilshan, AB de Villiers, KD Karthik(WK), M Manhas, MF Maharoof, A Mishra, S Ladda, PJ Sangwan, DP Nannes

Mumbai: ST Jayasuriya, SR Tendulkar (Captain), DJ Bravo, KA Pollard, AP Tare (WK), SS Tiwary, AT Rayudu, R Sathish, Harbhajan Singh, Z Khan, SL Malinga

Roger Federer knocked out of Indian Wells by Marcos Baghdatis

2010-03-18T01:02:00.001+07:00

Roger Federer squandered three match points before suffering a shock 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 defeat at the hands of Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis at the Indian Wells ATP tournament.

The Swiss world No 1, who had beaten the Cypriot in all six of their previous meetings, lost the tiebreak 7-4 and the third-round match when he failed to return his opponent's powerful first serve.

Roger Federer, a three-time champion at Indian Wells, held two match points late in the second set and another in the 12th game of the third but wasted all of them through unforced errors.

"Seven is my lucky number," a jubilant Baghdatis said in a courtside interview after claiming victory in two hours, 22 minutes. "I don't know what to say. I'm very happy. It's an amazing win for me."

The 27th-ranked Baghdatis will next meet Spaniard Tommy Robredo, who beat Israel's Dudi Sela 6-3, 6-0 earlier in the day.

"I used up too many chances," Federer told reporters, having lost when holding at least one match point for the first time since his defeat by Rafael Nadal in the 2006 Rome final.

"Comes back and haunts you. But he hung in there, obviously, otherwise he wouldn't be there. That was the result."

Federer appeared to have the match under control when he broke Baghdatis in the 12th game to take the opening set in 45 minutes.

The second went with serve until Federer, leading 5-4, wasted two match points after going 15-40 up on his opponent's serve.

The 16-times grand slam champion hit a forehand long and then watched as a backhand floated beyond the baseline for Baghdatis to get to deuce before holding for 5-5.

The Cypriot, who reached his first grand slam final at the 2006 Australian Open where his run was ended by Federer, broke the Swiss in the next game and then held again to level the match.

Fededer regained control when he broke Baghdatis in the fourth game of the final set but the Cypriot broke back in the seventh when the Swiss netted a forehand.

Although Federer earned a third match point in the 12th after Baghdatis dumped a forehand volley into the net, he failed to convert when going for a backhand winner down the line.

The Cypriot, who entertained the stadium court crowd all night with his deft mix of intelligent lobs and bold drop shots, held serve when a mistimed Federer backhand sailed wide and went on to dominate the tiebreak.

"It wasn't the worst match, you know," Federer said. "Conditions are quick, it's tough to return, but I did many good things tonight but also many bad things.

"It's just a question of not letting that happen too often. I could be sitting here an hour earlier and saying how comfortably I won the match in straight sets not playing great, but moving forward.

"It's always a very fine line. That's not why I don't like to now beat myself up too much after a loss like this."

Caroline Wozniacki beats Nadia Petrova to book quarter-final spot at Indian Wells

2010-03-18T00:48:00.002+07:00

Second seed Caroline Wozniacki has conceded she needs to bring a better performance to the table after booking her place in the quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

Wozniacki steamrollered Nadia Petrova in the third set of their fourth-round tie to reach the last eight but the Dane was called on to recover from a blip in the second as Petrova forced a decider.

Petrova won just two points on second serve as she fell apart in the third set, and Wozniacki showed her class to come through and win 6-3 3-6 6-0.

"It was a match where it just went up and down quite a bit, and you didn't really know what to expect," said Wozniacki.

"It was not really a great rhythm there. I didn't feel the ball as well. But I'm just happy that I fought through and I won the match. That's the most important thing.

"I just think that I will be more ready for the next match."

That next match will be against Zheng Jie, a 6-3 4-6 7-6 (7/1) winner over Alicia Molik of Austria.

Zheng needed two hours and 25 minutes to get past her unseeded opponent.

"Last time I played against Zheng I lost to her," Wozniacki added on http://www.bnpparibasopen.org.

"It was a tough match. She's a great player. She had a good start of the year, playing aggressively, taking the balls early. I need to be ready and focused."

There were routine straight-sets wins for the fourth and fifth seeds, Elena Dementieva and Agnieszka Radwanska, who will meet in the last eight.

Dementieva beat 19th seed Aravane Rezai 6-3 6-3, while Poland's Radwanska beat another Frenchwoman, Marion Bartoli, 6-3 6-2.

Sixth seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia is through after she crushed the 17th-seeded Shahar Peer 6-2 6-2, while eighth seed Samantha Stosur beat Vera Zvonareva 6-2 7-5.

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, the 28th seed, defeated 13th-seeded Belgian Yanina Wickmayer 6-4 6-4.

Dhoni masterminds facile win for Chennai

2010-03-17T11:07:00.000+07:00

Chennai Super Kings 164 for 3 (Dhoni 66*, Badrinath 43*) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 109 (Kemp 3-12) by 55 runs.

Scorecard

MS Dhoni and S Badrinath added an unbroken 109-run stand from 65 deliveries to push Chennai Super Kings to a competitive total before their bowlers turned in an inspired performance to bowl them to a surprisingly facile win at the Eden Gardens. It was Chennai who had ended Kolkata's winning streak after the first two games in 2008 and history played out yet again.

Chennai were wobbling at 55 for 3 in the 10th over when Dhoni joined Badrinath to slowly change things around on a track with slightly variable bounce. It wasn't the traditional hit-everything-in-sight Twenty20 innings from them as they first strived to settle in with dabs and nudges before freeing their arms at the end.

It was off the final delivery of the 15th over that Dhoni managed his first big hit - a six over long-on. And it wasn't till the 18th over that he really went berserk, hitting Laxmi Ratan Shukla for two fours and another six over long-on as he started to work his bottom hand over time.

In the next over, bowled by Shane Bond, he looted three boundaries that included a scorching flatly-pulled six. Badrinath too got in the act, pulling Ishant Sharma for a six in the final over.

Until the final assault from the Chennai duo, nearly everything went according to Plan A for Kolkata. Bond got to swing it at pace, Ishant probed with his seam movement, Murali Kartik was at his canny best, Angelo Matthews was at his nagging self and Shukla kept it really tight as well. But Dhoni's knock proved the difference between a below-par total and a defendable one.

Kolkata needed a similar partnership but with wickets falling at regular intervals, the chase lacked any momentum and fizzled out very quickly. Within nine deliveries, their heroes from last game, Brad Hodge and Manoj Tiwary, were dismissed - Hodge pulled Albie Morkel to square-leg and Tiwary was bowled, going for an expansive on-the-up drive against Manpreet Gony. And when L Balaji produced the delivery of the game - it kicked up from short of length even as it straightened outside off stump - to catch the edge of Owais Shah, Kolkata were struggling at 46 for 4.

It required someone to seize the game but there weren't any inspired bursts lower down. Sourav Ganguly dawdled along for a while, unable to break free against a relentless attack of short deliveries into his rib cage, and he fell, swinging Justin Kemp to deep mid-wicket. Much depended on Matthews if Kolkata were to effect a jail break, but he was trapped in front trying to paddle sweep a straight delivery from Kemp. The tail couldn't produce any miracle and Chennai wrapped up the win with five balls to spare.

Blazing Kallis gets Bangalore off the mark

2010-03-17T11:02:00.003+07:00

Bangalore Royal Challengers 204 for 2 (Kallis 89*, Uthappa 51) beat Kings XI Punjab 203 for 3 (Bopara 77, Bisla 73) by eight wickets.

Scorecard

At the halfway mark it seemed as if Kings XI Punjab had scored enough to record their first victory of the tournament, but Royal Challengers Bangalore went after the target with such vengeance that Punjab were punished for trespassing on private property. At the forefront of the chase was the reborn Twenty20 basher Jacques Kallis, who smashed an unbeaten 89, and playing valuable and entertaining supporting roles were Manish Pandey and Robin Uthappa.

One of Bangalore's adopted sons, Ross Taylor, wasn't around to send the ball soaring like he's done many times, but the power hitting from Kallis, Uthappa and Pandey more than made up for his absence. The batsmen with strong forearms thumped the ball with amazing velocity to fetch massive sixes, particularly over the on side, to deflate the bowling side and cut the target down to size.

Although Punjab were overpowered by a better batting side on the day, they could have restricted Bangalore had they bowled better lengths. The spinners in particular were guilty for dropping the ball on a length which sat up nicely for the batsmen to rock back and swing their arms. The fuller lengths didn't work and that was illustrated by one particular over from Sreesanth, which went for 25. The only way to restrict them was to either bowl yorkers or hurry them up with pace and bounce but Punjab didn't possess the bowlers to do either.

Kallis' biffing made the crowd delirious as Bangalore neared the target but the early entertainer was Pandey. The Ranji season's highest run-scorer earned a promotion and made it count by the sheer power of his strokes and using the crease. The ball was coming on nicely on to the bat and they had the freedom to hit across the line at will. A lightning quick straight drive nearly cleaned up the umpire and the bowler, Irfan Pathan, was smoked for two huge sixes over his head in his next over. Pathan was smacked for bowling it too full and when Yuvraj Singh held the length back, Pandey shoveled him over midwicket for a six.

Piyush Chawla sent him back for 38, trapping him with a quicker delivery and inducing a top edge. There was no respite for Punjab as Uthappa walked in and recorded the second-fastest fifty of the IPL. He rocked back and smacked Chawla with a powerful forehand, following it up with a delicate late cut. Abdulla was spanked over the second tier at deep midwicket but the more experienced Sreesanth suffered the worst treatment of the night. Uthappa cleared the front leg to smash three sixes and a four in five balls. Sangakkara was running out of options and at that stage he must have wondered of his team should have scored 250 instead.

Uthappa cut Bipul Sharma to bring up his fifty off 19 balls and tried to clear long-off in the same over but was safely caught by Mohammad Kaif. Bangalore still needed 61 off 36 balls at that stage but they had the safety net of Kallis. He matched Pandey and Uthappa for style and power, particularly those shots over midwicket. The ball was dumped over that region with such regular frequency that the crowd ought to have worn helmets.

Bangalore still needed 34 off the last three overs but didn't look like messing it up. Punjab were dazed and had virtually thrown in the towel. Sharma's first IPL experience was a nightmare as Kallis ripped him apart for 23 in the 18th over. It included three sixes and a feisty cut for four. Bangalore finished it with an over to spare and the Punjab dugout had nothing else to do but look on helplessly.

Such was the impact from Bangalore's batsmen that the seventies by Manvinder Bisla and Ravi Bopara were lost in memory. The fact that Bisla was an unknown quantity worked in his favour because the Bangalore bowlers didn't know what to expect. After an edgy start, Bisla quickly proved his doubters wrong. He looked far more comfortable against the slower pace of Kallis and R Vinay Kumar, regularly making room to slap the ball over backward point and third man. Following a sequence of off-side thumping, he showed his prowess on the on side, playing short-arm pulls off Kallis and a cheeky scoop over the wicketkeeper's head off Virat Kohli's gentle leg cutter.

When the pair brought up the fifty stand, Bopara's contribution was only 8. Even the experienced Kumble couldn't halt the momentum and the captain took a couple of blows to the body when he intercepted two full-blooded straight drives off Bopara. Bisla moved to 75 and looked to dump Kallis over deep midwicket but couldn't get the distance.

Bisla's innings was the best thing Bopara could have hoped for because it released the pressure off him. He survived a run-out early on 7 when Steyn's underarm flick missed the stumps while attempting a quick single. Bopara really opened up after the halfway mark of the innings, flat-batting Steyn to wide long-off and paddling Praveen to fine leg to bring up his fifty off 42 balls. The bowler went on to claim his wicket with a slower ball but by then, the total was headed towards 200. Audacious shots from Mahela Jayawardene ensured the flow wasn't disturbed. What Punjab didn't know at that stage was that it was only the curtain raiser for what was to come.

Swann takes 10 to break Bangladesh resistance

2010-03-17T01:11:00.003+07:00

England 599 for 6 dec and 209 for 7 dec beat Bangladesh 296 and 331 (Siddique 106, Rahim 95, Swann 5-127) by 181 runs.

Scorecard

Graeme Swann bagged his first 10-wicket match haul as England finally broke through Bangladesh's resistance to secure a 181-run victory at Chittagong, but not before Junaid Siddique and Mushfiqur Rahim had made them toil through another wicketless session. Siddique scored his first Test century as the sixth-wicket pair survived the morning, taking their stand to 167, before Swann ended the resistance.

The victory margin was convincing from England - and Alastair Cook will be satisfied with his first Test in charge - but Bangladesh's fight during the second half of the game made them dig deeper than they would have imagined. The efforts of Siddique and Rahim should give the home side great heart and England were getting increasingly flustered before Siddique's marathon 292-ball effort was ended in the second over after lunch.

It was an unforgiving pitch for the quick bowlers, and England's trio looked dead to the world by the end, so Swann's contribution can't be understated as he sent down 78.3 overs in the game. When he had Naeem Islam caught at deep midwicket he became the first English offspinner to take 10 in the subcontinent and the first take such a haul anywhere since Jim Laker, with his famous 19-wicket bag, against Australia in 1956. That's some wait and Swann fully deserves his place in the list.

England had hoped for a swift conclusion on the final morning with the second new ball available after five overs, but it was negotiated with aplomb by Siddique and Rahim. However, some of Cook's tactics were strange and he paid the price for not having a third slip when Siddique got a thick edge off Stuart Broad which would have flown at shin height. Admittedly plenty of edges didn't carry, but the new ball was the time to attack.

However, Siddique repelled everything the England attack threw at him and managed to retain his composure despite the pressure of a looming major milestone. He reached his hundred with two boundaries in an over off Steven Finn, the second a perfect straight drive from his 262nd delivery. The moment Siddique hit it he turned to the dressing room, removed his helmet and raised his arms. The pressure was telling on England's bowlers and Finn had a few words with Siddique at the end of the over.

Siddique was the fourth Bangladesh batsman to register a maiden ton in recent months, following Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah in New Zealand and Rahim against India in January. They are signs of improvement everyone wants. Not surprisingly his concentration wavered a touch as the significance of the moment sunk in and he was given a life on 106 when Matt Prior couldn't gather a difficult bottom edge off Swann.

Rahim's innings was equally impressive as he continued his match-long resistance. He was troubled on occasion by the extra bounce of Finn - and survived a close lbw shout against Broad - but played Swann with ease and twice dispatched him through the leg side in rare moments of aggression.

As the pair entered lunch having batted unbeaten through their second session England looked tired and frustrated. However, for the umpteenth time in his short Test career Swann was the man to lift the side when he found the edge of Siddique's bat and the catch carried low to slip. England's anxiety was clear as Swann gave the batsman a slightly undignified send off; Siddique deserved better after such resilience.

Rahim was nearing his second Test century until he made one of the few misjudgements in his innings when he charged Swann and yorked himself. He looked skywards and admonished himself, but he has had an outstanding match with the bat .

With the two main obstacles out of the way England relaxed a little as the lower order went down playing their shots. Broad and Tim Bresnan collected rewards for their toil, but Swann wouldn't be denied his tenth wicket as Michael Carberry gave another example of his panther-like fielding with a swoop and dive at deep midwicket.

It was a tired huddle that celebrated victory and Swann deserved every slap on the back he received. The match had gone to form, but England knew they have been in a game and the bowlers have just three days to recover. If Bangladesh can take this fight to Dhaka, England will need all their energy.

Djokovic survives Kohlschreiber test

2010-03-16T09:52:00.002+07:00

Novak Djokovic was forced to battle through a final-set tie-break to reach the last 16 of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.

All seemed to be going to plan for the Serbian as he took the opening set 6-3 against Philipp Kohlschreiber with a solitary break, but Kohlschreiber upped his first-serve percentage to 73% in the second and broke three times to take the set 6-2 and level the match.

Two breaks apiece saw a topsy-turvy third set go the distance, but Djokovic prevailed 7/3 in the tie-break to clinch victory in two hours and 35 minutes.

Top seed Rafael Nadal had no such trouble in routing Croatian Mario Ancic 6-2 6-2 as he continued his comeback from a knee injury.

The Spaniard was not required to deal with a break point and prevailed four times on Ancic's normally formidable serve.

He will next face the winner of the all-American clash between Sam Querrey and John Isner.

"Coming back from an injury you have to start slowly," he told Sky Sports 2. "But I am pleased with the way I am playing, and I am in the next round so that is the important thing."

Eleventh seed Juan Carlos Ferrero crashed out in three sets to Juan Monaco.

The Argentinian, seeded 21st, took the opener on a tie break and, after Ferrero levelled courtesy of his only break, he responded to win 7-6 (7/2) 3-6 6-3.

Pennetta crashes out of Indian Wells

2010-03-16T09:50:00.001+07:00

Flavia Pennetta lost in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open as Shahar Peer completed a three-set victory in Indian Wells.

Italian Pennetta had battled back from a set down to win the second on a tie-break and take the match into a decider.

But her 17th-seeded Israeli opponent broke four times in a dominant third-set display to complete a 6-4 6-7 (4/7) 6-1 triumph and set up a last-16 clash against either sixth seed Jelena Jankovic or a second successive Italian opponent, Sara Errani.

There were no such problems for eighth seed Sam Stosur, who dropped just three games in disposing of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in 72 minutes.

The Australian was on top in the first set, a first-serve ratio of 63% helping her to a 6-3 success.

And she stepped up a gear in the second, winning 27 points out of 40 and converting all three of her break points to conclude a 6-3 6-0 win.

Russian 12th seed Vera Zvonareva eased past Latvian teenager Anastasija Sevastova 6-2 6-3 in 68 minutes despite wasting 11 of her 14 break points.

Second seed Caroline Wozniacki rounded out the day's action with an impressive 6-0 6-3 victory over Russia's Maria Kirilenko.

Liverpool 4 Portsmouth 1

2010-03-16T09:45:00.001+07:00

The Premier League match between Liverpool and Portsmouth at Anfield on Monday March 15 2010.

After six months of famine, Liverpool, at long, long last, have rediscovered their appetite for destruction. Relentless, ruthless, aggressive and offensive, Rafael Benitez’s side put Portsmouth to the sword with the sort of display which Anfield, in the depths of its bleak midwinter, must have feared had been consigned to history.

Fernando Torres scored twice, Ryan Babel and Alberto Aquilani once, the Italian’s first goal since his much-criticised £17 million summer move from Roma, but the details were almost incidental. The opposition may be the Premier League’s basement dwellers, their doom already definite, but there was an air of authority about their hosts.

Only the possibility of action against Steven Gerrard for an apparent off-the-ball swipe on Michael Brown provides a cloud from an evening in which Liverpool, reinvigorated, revitalised their challenge to Tottenham, Manchester City and Aston Villa for the fourth Champions League slot.

It is typical of Avram Grant’s side luck that Liverpool chose their visit to rectify that. It is equally predictable that they committed an act of dismal seppuku after emerging unscathed from an opening spell in which their hosts might have earned a penalty, Ricardo Rocha seeming to handle Torres’s goalbound shot, and enjoyed a flurry of set-pieces, the ball fizzing around a nervous Jamie Ashdown, standing in for the injured David James.

Just as Liverpool’s momentum was fading, just as Portsmouth were starting to settle, they imploded. One poor Ashdown clearance was charged down by Gerrard, only for the goalkeeper to be granted a reprieve. Gerrard again blocked, only this time did so in the box. Maxi Rodriguez, lively all evening, rolled the ball to Torres to open the scoring.

Scarcely 90 seconds later, it was two, Babel poking home after Torres teed the Dutchman, on one of those evenings where he was mercurial, rather than erratic, up on the edge of the box.

But where the opening pair were functional, the third was forged in fantasy. Gerrard, emerging from the sullen cocoon in which he has passed much of the winter, clipped a reverse pass to Torres, seemingly meandering down a blind alley to the left of Ashdown’s goal. His backheel, spinning the ball back into Gerrard’s path, flummoxed all but his favoured partner-in-crime.

The Liverpool captain, equally astute, feigned and dummied and Aquilani, to the delight of the Kop, swept home. Three in six minutes - an achievement Liverpool are familiar with - but, more pertinently, three goals in the Premier League for the first time since September.

There could, perhaps should, have been more. Torres, cutting in from the left, sent one fierce shot cracking against Ashdown’s far post, before Gerrard flashed wide from yet another Rodriguez cut-back.

Liverpool poured forward inexorably, unveiling a repertoire of flicks and tricks that suggested a confidence so evidently absent for so long. Glen Johnson and Emiliano Insua took up station as out and out wingers. This was a catharsis, a bloodlust, a bloodletting. For the first time in months, Liverpool were enjoying themselves. Even Jamie Carragher had a go.

Anfield knows not to get too excited, of course. After all, dismantling the league’s makeweights and, in this case, lightweights is what is expected in these parts. But as the onslaught continued, albeit with less urgency, after the break, even the most cynical fan would have been forgiven for a sliver of hope.

Twice Gerrard went close, Babel drove on to the bar from the edge of the box and Rodriguez, arguably the best player on the pitch, fizzed wide, Ashdown saved from Torres. A further three penalty claims were waved away by referee Stuart Attwell, though Benitez will no doubt find the generosity of spirit to forgive him in the circumstances.

Far more important than bemoaning officiating standards was the statement of intent his side had given.

Liverpool, on this evidence, are not yet finished in the race for the fourth Champions League slot. They restricted their guests to just two chances of note, the otherwise underemployed Pepe Reina producing a fine reaction save to deny Michael Brown but powerless to stop Nadir Belhadj notching a consolation from Frederic Piquionne’s cross, and in attack they brimmed and broiled with menace. The first is not yet out. The race is not yet run.

Atletico Madrid 1-0 Osasuna

2010-03-16T09:38:00.001+07:00

Jose Manuel Jurado's brilliant late winner earned 10-man Atletico Madrid a narrow victory over mid-table rivals Osasuna.

Atletico looked in danger of yet another disappointing result at the hands of Osasuna when they lost Simao Sabrosa to a red card in the 57th minute.

However, Osasuna, who had taken 10 points out of 12 in their last four meetings with the capital club, failed to make their numerical advantage count and ended up with nothing thanks to Jurado's 79th-minute strike.

Jurado's effort was undoubtedly the highlight of a match short on thrills as he curled a superb 25-yard over Osasuna goalkeeper Ricardo and into the far top corner of the net.

The result helped Atletico climb back up to 10th in the standings, three points clear of 13th-placed Osasuna, while it will also boost their morale ahead of Thursday's Europa League last-16 second leg at Sporting Lisbon.

Atletico coach Quique Sanchez Flores had been expected to leave out Sergio Aguero with that trip to Sporting in mind - where the two teams are locked at 0-0 following the first leg - but he started the Argentinian up front alongside Diego Forlan.

However, neither of Atletico's two star strikers could make any in-roads during a low-key first half, although Forlan did at least test Ricardo with two long-range efforts.

Playmaker Jurado also brought a fine low save out of Ricardo, but it was left-back Antonio Lopez who had the best chance in the first half.

The Atletico captain looked certain to score as he charged in to meet Simao's outswinging corner at the near post, but his glancing header flew wide of the far post.

Osasuna created a couple of scares of their own, and Shojaei Massoud went close with a low effort that home goalkeeper David De Gea deflected for a corner with his legs.

Atletico fans would have been hoping for better in the second half, but the Rojiblancos' chances of picking up three points suffered a major setback in the 56th minute when Simao was sent-off.

The Portugal international, having been booked in the first half, was shown a second yellow for his challenge on Cesar Azpilicueta.

That gave Osasuna a big boost but, like Atletico on Thursday when they failed to break down a Sporting side that had two players sent off, the visitors did not find it easy to make the most of their extra man.

Former Real Madrid youngster Juanfran Torres brought a save out of De Gea, who also produced a brilliant one-handed stop to claw away Krisztian Vadocz's 30-yard drive.

Aside from those efforts though, Osasuna created little to worry the Atletico defence.

Atletico were not causing much danger going forwards either though, and the match looked destined to finish goalless.

However, Jurado's moment of magic 12 minutes from time broke the deadlock and put Atletico on course for the victory.

It needed another superb save from De Gea three minutes from time to ensure the points would be staying in Madrid though, with the teenager parrying away Josetxo's thunderous drive.

King James lead Cavs over Celtics

2010-03-16T02:01:00.001+07:00

The Eastern Conference-leading Cleveland Cavaliers confirmed their superiority with a 104-93 victory over the Boston Celtics.

LeBron James scored 30 points and Antawn Jamison, back from injury, had 15 points and 12 rebounds as the Cavaliers scored another impressive win over an Eastern rival.

The battle for home-court advantage in the Western Conference remains as tight as ever, with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Phoenix Suns, and Portland Trail Blazers - who are fifth, sixth and eighth in the standings respectively - all winning.

Kevin Durant got 35 points and Russell Westbrook added 30 and 11 assists as the Thunder beat the fourth-placed Jazz 119-111, cutting Utah's advantage to one game.

The Suns are one game back on Oklahoma City after beating the New Orleans Hornets 120-106.

Amare Stoudemire had 36 points and 12 rebounds, while Steve Nash collected 13 points and 12 assists in his 1,000th NBA game.

Nicolas Batum got 22 points to help the Trail Blazers beat the Toronto Raptors 109-98.

The seventh-placed San Antonio Spurs were not in action.

The Charlotte Bobcats keep on rolling as Stephen Jackson had 28 points and Raymonds Felton 16 in a 96-89 victory over the Orlando Magic.

The win keeps Charlotte firmly on track for their first playoff appearance.

Dwyane Wade exploded for 38 points as the Miami Heat beat the Philadelphia 76ers to keep their playoff push on track.

It was a third straight win for Miami, who have a four game cushion over ninth place in the Eastern Conference.

Jerry Stackhouse scored 20 points and Andrew Bogut added 17 and 12 rebounds as the Milwaukee Bucks edged out the struggling Indiana Pacers 98-94.

Rookie Tyreke Evans had 29 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds as the Sacramento Kings beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 114-100.

Capitals rally to stun Blackhawks

2010-03-16T01:59:00.001+07:00

Nicklas Backstrom's overtime goal saw the Washington Capitals come all the way back from 3-0 down to beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3.

The Capitals looked to be in trouble as star Alex Ovechkin was ejected in the first period, and they then fell 3-0 down by the second period.

But they levelled it in the final period before Backstrom capped it.

Quick goals from Pascal Dupuis and Sergei Gonchar helped the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Tampa Bay had led through Vincent Lecavalier's goal, but Dupuis and Gonchar both registered inside three minutes to turn the game around.

The Sedin twins combined to beat the Calgary Flames as brothers Henrik and Daniel set each other up for goals in a 3-1 victory.

Ryan Kesler was also on the scoresheet as Vancouver made it back-to-back wins at home.

The Anaheim Ducks registered their first win in six attempts as they beat the Western Conference-leading San Jose Sharks 4-2.

Teemu Selanne scored his 599th goal in the win, but his night ended early after scary collision with the boards.

Sean Avery returned to grab two goals and lift the New York Rangers to a 3-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.

New York trailed until Avery levelled in the second period. Michal Rozsival put them ahead before Avery capped it, moving the Rangers to within a point of Boston in the Eastern Conference play-off race.

Craig Anderson made 48 saves as the Colorado Avalanche topped the Dallas Stars 5-3.

Paul Stastny scored twice to put another dent in the Stars' play-off hopes.

Patric Hornqvist scored the winner 3:31 from time as the Nashville Predators topped the Los Angeles Kings 3-2.

Steve Sullivan and Colin Wilson also scored for Nashville as they recorded their seventh straight win over the Kings.

Martin Biron made 26 saves to frustrate the Toronto Maple Leafs and help the New York Islanders to a 4-1 win.

Adrian Aucoin got the winner in the shootout as the Phoenix Coyotes topped the Atlanta Thrashers to make it five wins out of five.

Lee Stempniak has been a key catalyst in that run, and scored his sixth goal in the last five games in the win.

Mikko Koivu, Andrew Brunette and Guillaume Latendresse all scored in the opening period to tee up the Minnesota Wild for a 4-2 win over the St Louis Blues.

Koivu added two assists and Josh Harding made 36 saves as the Wild maintained their charge towards the play-off places.

Akhil loses as Jai, Amandeep advance

2010-03-16T01:53:00.001+07:00

It was a day of mixed results for India in the fifth Commonwealth Boxing Championship’s third day.

Many a times the things you are chasing the most keep eluding you the most. Akhil Kumar would have not yearned for anything else than a victory on Sunday - to taste the triumph after a long span, to prove his critics wrong and to justify his bluntness.

But, he and India supporters, who had turned up in a decent number as compared to the previous days, were in for a rude shock when the iconic boxer bowed out to a much younger Ian Weaver of England in the pre-quarterfinal round of the bantam weight (56kg) category of the fifth Commonwealth Boxing Championship at Talkatora Stadium.

Akhil's last major recognition had come in the shape of 2006 Commonwealth Games gold. He had last hogged limelight in 2008 when he prevailed over world champion Sergey Vodopyanov in the Beijing Olympics' round of 16. And, Akhil was looking forward to end that draught in front of home crowd, in a tournament where he won a gold in 2005. Well, it wasn't meant to be.

The 28-year-old Indian had started well. Pleasing the spectators with his familiar open-guard style, Akhil had taken a 3-0 lead in the first round. But in the dying moments of the round, 20-year-old Weaver stunned Akhil and snatched two points. The following round was a complete mayhem as both the boxers used every trick of the trade to get hold of the lead. Weaver succeeded and entered the final round with score of 7-6 in his favour.

Akhil completely lost the script in the third round and as his desperation led to frustration; he went on a wild goose chase for points. Weaver, competing in his first major senior international tournament since graduating from the youth level last year, however, proved too serene for his age. He kept his calm throughout and put the lid on the tie 12-6 in his favour.

"I don't understand why my uppercuts didn't get counted. As per the rules, every blow above the belt gets you points, but I am perplexed why I didn't get any," a dejected and agitated Akhil pointed out after the bout.

Meanwhile, Jai Bhagwan, who secured another medal for India by beating Josh Taylor of Scotland 7-1 to enter the semifinals of the light weight (60kg) category, also echoed Akhil's sentiments. "I felt that I should have been given a few points for my uppercuts," Jai said.

Akhil also complained that Weaver was not warned by the referee despite his gum-shield falling off during the bout. And, though national coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu first agreed with Akhil, he later clarified that a warning is not given when the gum-shield falls off for the first time. That clearly highlighted the lack of complete understanding of international rules among the coaching staff.

Weaver, meanwhile, said his homework stood him in good stead in the bout. "I expected him (Akhil) to play a better game. He is a very good boxer. But the two points that I got in the end of the first round changed it for me. This is certainly one of the biggest wins of my career," he said.

Also, Amandeep secured a sixth medal for the hosts as he outpunched Tanzania's Rajabu O Mbwana 9-1 in a lop-sided encounter in light-fly weight (49kg) category. There was another disappointment in store for India as Manpreet Singh lost to Scotland's Stephen Simmons 1-6 in the last bout of the day.

Results, Day 3: Light-fly weight (49kg): Bathusi Mogajane, Botswana, beat T.M.C. Thennakoon, Sri Lanka, 14-1; Iain Butcher, Scotland, lost to Peter Mungai, Kenya, 0-4; Rajabu O Mbwana, Tanzania, lost to Amandeep Singh, India, 1-9; M F B M Redzuan, Malaysia, beat Afzal Hossen, Mauritius, 7-2. Bantam weight (56kg): Bruno Julie, Mauritius, beat Muhammad Solihin, Singapore, 8-1; Akhil Kumar, India, lost to Ian Weaver, England, 6-12; Tirafalo Seoko, Botswana, beat Martin Oduor, Kenyak, 2-1; Michael Robens, Scotland, lost to MDK Wanniarachchi, Sri Lanka , 4-8. Light weight (60kg): Nort Beauchamp, New Zealand, lost to Joseph Njogh, Kenya 1-3; Valention Knowles, Bahamas, beat R.M.A.B Gunathilaka, Sri Lanka, 8-2; Josh Taylor, Scotland, lost to Jai Bhagwan, India, 7-1; Darren Edwalbs, Wales, lost to Daniel Phillips, England, 2-10. Light welter (64kg): Gomotsang Gaasite, Botswana, lost to Chirs Jenkins, Wales, 1-7; Hashim Petro, Tanzania, beat Leong Jun Hao, Singapore, 10-1; Anthony Taylor, New Zealand, lost to Scott Cardle, England, 3-5; Blackmoses Mathenge, Kenya, beat Richarno Colin, Mauritius. Heavy weight (91kg): Manpreet Singh, India, lost to Stephen Simmons, Scotland, 1-6.

Latest Men's World Golf Rankings

2010-03-16T01:51:00.001+07:00

Rory McIlroy has been knocked out of the world's top 10 following his dismal showing at the WGC-CA Championship.

The 20-year-old Northern Irishman, ninth on the rankings entering the event, finished joint 65th of the 68 players.

He drops to 11th on the new list after being overtaken by Doral winner Ernie Els and Padraig Harrington, who came joint third.

Paul Casey was in a tie for sixth and so moves just above Ian Poulter at fifth.

Latest leading positions:

1 Tiger Woods 11.91pts, 2 Steve Stricker 7.78, 3 Phil Mickelson 7.30, 4 Lee Westwood 6.79, 5 Paul Casey 6.33, 6 Ian Poulter 6.19, 7 Martin Kaymer 5.43, 8 Ernie Els 5.12, 9 Jim Furyk 5.11, 10 Padraig Harrington 5.00

11 Rory McIlroy 4.81, 12 Camilo Villegas 4.73, 13 Geoff Ogilvy 4.63, 14 Henrik Stenson 4.58, 15 Robert Allenby 4.26, 16 Kenny Perry 4.22, 17 Sergio Garcia 4.15, 18 Sean O'Hair 3.97, 19 Retief Goosen 3.94, 20 Stewart Cink 3.83

Other leading Europeans:

22 Robert Karlsson, 23 Luke Donald, 24 Ross Fisher, 33 Alvaro Quiros, 36 Oliver Wilson, 37 Miguel Angel Jimenez, 41 Graeme McDowell, 45 Francesco Molinari, 46 Soren Hansen, 48 Edoardo Molinari, 49 Anders Hansen, 51 Soren Kjeldsen, 55 Simon Dyson, 58 Peter Hanson, 59 Justin Rose, 63 Alexander Noren, 66 Ross McGowan, 70 Chris Wood, 74 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, 84 Gregory Bourdy, 92 Shane Lowry, 95 Martin Laird

Sharapova goes out at Indian Wells

2010-03-16T01:47:00.001+07:00

An elbow injury has cost Maria Sharapova her shot at reclaiming the BNP Paribas Open title she won in 2006 after she lost 6-3 2-6 6-3 to Zheng Jie.

The 10th-seeded Russian was leading the final set 3-2 in Indian Wells when her right elbow flared up, and she lost the remaining four games to crash out.

Fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva had no such trouble dispatching Belgian Kirsten Flipkens 6-4 6-2, while fifth-seed Agnieszka Radwanska also advanced with a straightforward 6-1 6-0 victory over Gisela Dulko.

Marion Bartoli, seeded 11th, saw off Jill Craybas 6-2 6-0, while 19th seed Aravane Rezai saw off 15th seed Francesca Schiavone 6-7 (4-6) 7-6 (4-2) 6-4.

Nadia Petrova beat Shuai Peng 6-1 7-5, while British qualifier Elena Baltacha was soundly beaten by Alicia Molik 6-0 6-2.

Second seed Caroline Wozniacki rounded out the day's action with an impressive 6-0 6-3 victory over Russia's Maria Kirilenko.

Federer and Murray through

2010-03-16T01:40:00.002+07:00

Roger Federer made hard work of beating Victor Hanescu at the BNP Paribas Open, but eventually made it through to the third round.

Federer, who has won the title at Indian Wells twice in the past, committed 39 unforced errors before emerging a 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 winner.

Andy Murray's final score of 6-4 6-4 against Andreas Seppi looked much more satisfactory, but that was not the case for the Scot, who admitted he would need to play much better to go any further in the tournament.

However, the men's field did suffer one major loss, as fifth seed Nikolay Davydenko has withdrawn after being diagnosed with a fracture in his left week. He could miss up to a month.

Davydenko had been due to face Viktor Troicki in the third round.

Sixth seed Robin Soderling beat Evgeny Korolev 6-2 6-4 to advance, while seventh-seeded Andy Roddick is also through, having beaten qualifier Yen-Hsun Lu 6-4 6-4.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, the ninth seed, is also through having beaten Marinko Matosevic 6-1 6-3.

Twelfth seed Gael Monfils is out, losing 1-6 6-2 6-3 to Simon Gruel, while James Blake knocked out 13th seed David Ferrer 6-1 6-4.

Jurgen Melzer knocked out David Nalbandian 6-4 6-1 while there were also wins for Mario Baghdatis, Tommy Robredo, Dudi Sela, Thiemo De Bakker, Michael Russell, Nicolas Almagro, Albert Montanes and Feliciano Lopez.

Sehwag powers Delhi to convincing victory

2010-03-16T01:37:00.001+07:00

Delhi Daredevils 142 for 4 (Sehwag 75) beat Rajasthan Royals 141 for 6 (Jhunjhunwala 53*) by six wickets.

Scorecard

A disciplined performance by the Delhi Daredevils bowlers and a blistering innings from Virender Sehwag inflicted a dispiriting defeat on Rajasthan Royals, their second in as many games, in Ahmedabad. The only highlight for Rajasthan was a battling half-century from Abhishek Jhunjhunwala which took them to a respectable total, but it was rendered woefully inadequate in the wake of an unforgiving onslaught from Sehwag.

Rajasthan were made to regret their batting fairly early in the chase, as Sehwag blazed away in the first over, swinging Dimitri Mascarehnas over square leg and mid-on for two boundaries. The seamers bowled either too full or offered him the desired width to break free. Shaun Tait, who was cut fiercely through point, and Munaf Patel, who was dispatched over long-off for a six and past mid-on for a boundary the next over, were the next in line.

There were a couple moments of hope for Rajasthan. Mascarenhas returned in the fourth over to snare Gautam Gambhir, who mistimed a slower one to mid-on, and got one to move away to produce an outside edge from Tillakaratne Dilshan the next ball. That the wickets made no difference to Sehwag's approach could have worked to Rajasthan's advantage, as he skied Mascarenhas when on 41 only to be dropped by Tait while running back from short fine - another low on what's so far been a miserable IPL for the South Australian.

Having smote Mascarenhas the previous two deliveries for 10 runs, Sehwag proceeded to target Amit Uniyal's medium-pacers, walloping him for six over long-off, upper-cutting him wide of third man to reach his half-century and striking through the line of a length delivery to dismiss it over long-on. The parting shot before being caught brilliantly by Graeme Smith at mid-on was a thunderous six over long-on; Delhi were 99 for 3 when he fell in the 10th over, and Dinesh Karthik, with the luxury of a set platform, saw his team through.

Rajasthan, who wore black arm-bands in memory of the victims of a bus accident in Sawai Madhopur district, had begun positively after Gambhir had put them in. But they were dented by a testing first spell from Dirk Nannes and the early introduction of Amit Mishra, leaving an inexperienced middle order to contend with a determined display from the rest of Delhi's bowlers who gave little opportunity to open up.

The conditions in Ahmedabad were hardly favourable with the dust from the parking lots surrounding the stadium kicking in, and adding to the haze from the floodlights. The surge of moths, flying across the pitch as well as the outfield, proved another irritant.

Swapnil Asnodkar and Smith, cashing in on some overpitched bowling from Farveez Maharoof, dispatched two boundaries off the first three balls of the match. Nannes, however, continued to trouble the batsmen with his ability go generate bounce, even from bowling on a good length. He got rid of Asnodkar with his second delivery, which was sliced towards Dilshan who took a good low catch, and followed up with two snorters to Naman Ojha, one striking him on the shoulder.

Ojha, who had some success while opening the batting for Rajasthan in the previous IPL, resumed the attack after a momentary lull, thrashing Maharoof over mid-on and edging him over the slips. He reserved special treatment for Mishra, brought on in the fourth over, cutting and sweeping him for two boundaries and launching him into the stands over long-on. But Mishra undid him with his first variation of the over, slipping in the googly to bowl him through the gate as he tried to loft him over the covers.

With Yusuf Pathan lasting just five deliveries, failing to pick a slower delivery and holing out to long-on, and the experienced Smith following soon after to make it 54 for 4, Rajasthan were starting at a bleak prospect.

Paras Dogra, who partnered Yusuf during his ruthless ton, and Jhunjhunwala, returning from the ICL, saw off a quiet phase during a nagging couple of overs from Pradeep Sangwan and Sarabjit Ladda; Rajasthan, at one stage, had played out 38 deliveries without a boundary. Replacing Yo Mahesh, Ladda varied his pace well, often surprising the batsmen with the quicker delivery but had his figures disturbed when the pair had stepped up, both smashing him for two sixes in a 17-run over.

Delhi saw to it they didn't give too much away with the two run-outs of Dogra and Mascarenhas in successive overs. Jhunjhunwala, though, struck two boundaries off Nannes in the final over, reaching his fifty, to give his bowler's more than an outside chance. Sehwag, however, ensured it was washed away.

Siddique and Rahim hold up England

2010-03-16T01:32:00.002+07:00

Bangladesh 296 and 191 for 5 (Siddique 68*, Rahim 47*) need 322 more runs to beat England 599 for 6 dec and 209 for 7 dec (Shakib 4-62).

Scorecard

Bangladesh are not going down without a fight as backs-to-the-wall resistance from Junaid Siddique and Mushfiqur Rahim ensured England will have to come back for a fifth day. When the home side were reduced to 110 for 5 shortly before tea the hard work had seemingly been done, but the sixth-wicket pair remained undefeated throughout the final session.

There has been a sense of inevitability about this whole match, but Bangladesh's periods of resistance have made England dig deep in hot conditions. Siddique showed great determination after being worked over in the first innings and, barring the occasion lapse in judgement, was impressively solid during a four-and-a-half hour stay. He proved that Bangladesh batsmen are capable of occupying the crease without regularly finding the boundary and each time his concentration appeared to be wavering he refocused.

Rahim followed his first-innings 79 with another composed, mature innings and he was rarely troubled by pace or spin, except from the occasional top-edged sweep. He passed 1000 runs in his 20th Test and again struck the ball cleanly when boundary opportunities were offered. England will look forward to the new ball in the morning, but creating chances when conditions go flat remains a challenge.

The pace bowlers certainly felt the heat as they operated in short bursts, while Graeme Swann continued his notable match by booking in for a 25-over spell before being given a break - and that was only for a change of ends. Tim Bresnan was the most impressive paceman, particularly with a six-over spell in the afternoon session where he extracted Aftab Ahmed and Mahmudullah with reverse swing, but Stuart Broad appeared laboured and couldn't match the menace of the first innings.

England batted on for 50 minutes to leave Bangladesh a hypothetical target of 513 with the decision based more on time that it was runs. Alastair Cook is following the conservative route of Andrew Strauss when he comes to declarations. After the way Broad bombed the top order in the first innings it wasn't a surprise when the same tactics were used again. Tamim Iqbal was again the more confident of the openers, but Imrul Kayes offered greater determination after a limp first-innings dismissal as he survived the short ball.

Both Broad and Bresnan were rested after four-over spells - while Broad regularly got his head swathed in a cold towel at fine leg - with Swann given a successful early bowl and Steven Finn offered a chance with the ball still reasonably hard. In his second over, Swann produced another lovely piece of bowling when he spun one past Tamim's outside edge to take off stump.

Finn immediately hit a testing line and made Siddique inside edge close to the stumps and Kayes couldn't build on his gutsy start as Finn showed the value of height to make one climb outside off and graze the edge through to Matt Prior. The more Finn bowls the more exciting a prospect he appears and his two wickets doesn't reflect his endeavours.

England were frustrated during the afternoon session as Aftab and Siddique played with impressive restraint. There was very little help off the pitch for either the quicks or Swann, but at around the 30-over mark the ball began to reverse. Bresnan has been more of a threat with the older ball in this game than with the new one and caused problems from the start of his second spell.

In his second over he found Aftab's edge with a full delivery as the batsman drove without much footwork to undo his hard work. Mahmudullah found life tough against the late movement, getting off the mark with a streaky edge to third man, and soon played all round a full delivery. It was a loose shot for a talented batsman but Bresnan deserved his success.

Shakib Al Hasan completed a poor match with the bat, although can feel aggrieved with his decision after replays showed he gloved a sweep that Tony Hill ruled had come off the pad. Shakib has felt his team hasn't had much luck with umpiring decisions and his anger was clear. However, the fact he fell to Swann wasn't a surprise. The offspinner has had the Bangladesh's captain number throughout the tour and had almost bowled him first ball.

That loss appeared to open the door for a swift conclusion and an extra day off for England's weary attack, but there is more bottle in this Bangladesh side than some people give them credit for. England will still win, but Test victories are meant to be earned and the home side have ensured it hasn't been handed to them on a plate.

Deccan big guns overwhelm Chennai

2010-03-15T10:13:00.004+07:00

Deccan Chargers 190 for 4 (Symonds 50, Gibbs 45) beat Chennai Super Kings 159 for 9 (Dhoni 42, Morkel 42*, Vaas 3-21) by 31 runs.

Scorecard

Each apparently content in their post-international careers, Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds and Chaminda Vaas still have the ability and sheer presence to turn a team's mood upside down in one evening, proving that the IPL is as much about cool heads and years of experience as it is about youthful exuberance. Gilchrist began by winning the toss and larruping 38 from 17 balls, becoming the first batsman in the IPL to reach 1000 runs, Symonds overcame a sluggish start to slam the game's only half-century, and Vaas snuffed out Chennai Super Kings' chase with three wickets in his opening burst. The result was that the defending champions Deccan Chargers smoothed over their opening-day loss to Kolkata Knight Riders with a professional win.

This win was set up by Deccan's batsmen, namely their three big overseas imports. A frenetic burst at the start, powered by Gilchrist, was followed by a sedate period when Deccan were tied down by Chennai's assortment of spinners and medium-pacers, but the decisive spell that followed went the visitors' way. Herschelle Gibbs' innings was nowhere near as manic as his captain's but it proved far more valuable, because he saw out a tough period on a surface with variable bounce and then accelerated at the end.

Symonds proved a good ally, initially playing second fiddle to Gibbs - at one stage he was 3 off 17 balls and then soared to 50. Gibbs and Symonds fell in succession, after getting Deccan past 150, and a 22-run final over, bowled by two men due to Sudeep Tyagi's full-toss barrage, left Chennai needing 191 to win. Chennai conceded 63 in the last five overs and that proved to be the decisive period of the match.

Gilchrist, who at the toss said matter-of-factly that he wasn't too concerned at his team's first loss, set the tone by smashing Sudeep Tyagi's first over for 18 runs. Albie Morkel was also tonked for fun runs and after three overs the score was 41 for 0. A double-wicket over from R Ashwin, called on to bowl the fifth over, changed the mood in the stadium and forced Deccan to consolidate. Ashwin was taken off after that big over and from 55 for 2 Deccan added just 12 runs in the next four overs.

Upon resumption after the strategic time-out, Gibbs created a few risk-free shots to keep the runs flowing. Justin Kemp, on his IPL debut, was taken for two calculated fours, wrists rolled on both occasions, and Muttiah Muralitharan was reverse-paddled to third man. Murali didn't offer the batsmen any room and that meant they had to try different scoring options to make runs. Symonds had been especially bogged down after failing to score off Murali, Ashwin and Kemp, who in 16 balls allowed him just three singles, but in L Balaji's second over he carved a six and four off consecutive deliveries to move to 14 from 20 balls.

A 95-run stand off 75 balls was ended when Morkel fielded and hit the stumps off his own bowling to send back Gibbs at the start of the 18th over, and five balls later Symonds was caught a frame short of his crease for 50 off 43 balls. Chennai had a good chance to keep Deccan down, but Tyagi's horror evening culminated with Rohit Sharma and T Suman flogging three fours and a six before a second beamer ruled him out after five deliveries. Kemp bowled the final ball and allowed just one, but Deccan went into the interval all charged up.

That drive was clearly channeled into their effort in the field. Before this tournament few outside the Deccan camp would have backed Vaas to feature heavily for the defending champions, given that he had played just seven games in the past two seasons for indifferent returns. But for the second game running, he jolted the opposition top order with a double-wicket over, and by the time he took his third wicket, that of the bulwark Matthew Hayden, Chennai were hemorrhaging at 31 for 3. It was simple stuff; pitch straight, get some cut, let the batsmen cope with the rest. As he had in Mumbai, Vaas even snuck in a maiden over. It was top stuff.

Vaas began his second over by cleaning up M Vijay with an inside edge, had Suresh Raina pull him for six, but when he pitched fuller Raina was lured into a fatal prod to Gilchrist. Much was made of Hayden's expected use of the Mongoose bat, but he came out with a normal piece of willow and fell for just 17, paddling Vaas to RP Singh at short fine leg. Pragyan Ojha struck with his third ball to get S Badrinath miscuing an attempted inside-out drive to long-off and at the end of the Powerplay, Chennai were 37 for 4.

Even a 16-run Jaskaran Singh over, during which Dhoni and Kemp plundered boundaries, didn't deter Deccan. Symonds came on to bowl some seam-up stuff and cleaned up Dhoni (42 from 29), and in the next over Rohit struck to leave Chennai at 115 for 7. Symonds capped a good evening with a second wicket and Chennai finished on 159, a total that owed much to Morkel's belligerent 42.

Jenny Meadows wins silver and sets new British record

2010-03-15T02:08:00.001+07:00

Jenny Meadows ran the fastest indoor 800 metres of her life to smash her own British record at the World Indoor Championships but it was still not enough to take the gold medal.

Instead, the title went to Russian Mariya Savinova, the reigning European champion, who overtook the Wigan athlete in the final straight to triumph in a world-leading time of 1min 58.26sec.

Meadows crossed the line in 1min 58.43sec, slicing a huge chunk off her previous British record of 1min 59.11 which she had set only last month at the Birmingham Grand Prix.

The 28-year-old, who was named captain of the GB team as a reward for her plucky 800m bronze medal at the outdoor World Championships last summer, had used her pre-championship speech to urge her team-mates to perform with confidence and not be cowed by the occasion in Doha.

Buoyed by the sound of ‘God Save The Queen’ booming around the Aspire Dome just seconds before the race as Dwain Chambers received his 60m gold medal, Meadows followed her own advice by tucking in behind the early leader, American Alysia Johnson, before surging to the front 300 metres from home.

But as a gap quickly opened up, Savinova responded to Meadows’ attack, clawing her way back on to her shoulder by the final bend before sprinting past her with 20 metres to go.

“With 100 metres to go I was thinking, ‘I’m going to win it, I’m going to win it’,” said Meadows.

“I looked up at the screen and I saw who was behind me and I kept thinking, ‘keep going, keep driving’.

“But Maria has run 52.05 for 400 metres this year so I knew I was up against it. When she passed I just kept on driving.

“But the time says it all. Hopefully, there are big things in me to keep building on, but I will have to be content with silver this time.”

Meadows will have a chance to avenge her defeat at this summer’s European Championships, and she has already set herself a target of 1min 57.50sec outdoors. Yesterday’s performance suggests she is well on course.

Her rapid improvement within the last year was more psychological than physical she said, having overcome the inferiority complex that used to plague her in the big races.

“I have been in this short of shape previously and it is like I have been too scared to go out and execute it,” she said.

Great Britain & NI take bronze in men's relay

2010-03-15T02:06:00.001+07:00

An excellent weekend for Team Aviva GB & NI ended on a high note when the men's 4x400m relay team picked up bronze in an event that was dominated by the winning team from the USA.

Richard Buck, Chris Clarke, Nigel Levine, and Conrad Williams combined to register a time of 3:07.52, that although enough for a bronze was considerably behind the USA team's time of 3:03.40.

Belgium's Cedric van Branteghem; Kevin Borlee; Antoine Gillet and Jonathan Borlee saw off Team GB by clocking up a combined effort of 3:06.94, which further illustrates the dominance of the Americans in this event.

Jamaal Torrance and Greg Nixon did the hard work which meant that, in reality, Tavaris Tate and Bershawn Jackson had to do little to ensure that their nation would bag the gold.

Cuban Dayton Robles added the men's 60m hurdles world indoor crown to his growing list of honours on Sunday.

Robles' crucial dip at the line saw him time a championship record of 7.34 seconds, 0.02sec ahead of veteran American Terrence Trammell.

Trammell's compatriot David Oliver claimed bronze in 7.44sec but China's defending champion Liu Xiang was seventh, having struggled with his nagging achilles tendon problem.

"I wanted to break the world record here," said Robles, the Olympic 110m hurdles champion and world record holder.

"Many people at home were expecting this gold. I did it here with the world's best hurdlers so I am very happy."

Kenyan-born American Bernard Lagat rolled back the years to win the men's world indoor 3000m crown on Sunday, six years after his last gold when he was running for the country of his birth.

The 35-year-old Lagat, a double gold medallist at the 2007 outdoor world championships and a three-time Olympian - for Kenya in 2000 and 2004 and the United States in 2008 - produced a final-lap kick to time 7min 37.97sec.

Spain's Sergio Sanchez took silver in 7:39.55 with Kenyan Sammy Mutahi claiming bronze at 0.35sec.

Defending champion Tariku Bekele slipped to fourth having been in the fight for most of the race.

"My kids woke up at 7am in the morning to watch their daddy, so I needed to show them something," said Lagat.

"I was the first Kenyan to win in this event and now the first American. I wanted to make history."

Belarus' Nadzeya Ostapchuk trumped New Zealand's reigning champion Valerie Vili to win the women's shot put at the World Indoor Championships on Sunday.

Ostapchuk found the energy to produce a sixth and final effort of 20.85 metres, beating Vili's best of 20.49.

Vili, the reigning Olympic and world outdoor champion, claimed silver with another Belarus putter, Natallia Mikhnevich, taking bronze with 20.42m.

France's Teddy Tamgho set a new world indoor record of 17.90 metres for the men's triple jump.

Fernando Alonso leads one-two for dominant Ferrari

2010-03-15T02:03:00.000+07:00

Report of Formula One's Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday March 14 2010.

With any luck Fernando Alonso better at racing cars than he is at making predictions. If not we are all in a whole lot of trouble. After blazing his way to an emotional victory in yesterday’s curtain raiser in Bahrain, the Ferrari debutant made everyone wince by providing the most damning insight of the weekend.

“After qualifying and the first corner, more or less the positions will be settled,” he replied when asked how he thought the rest of the season might pan out.

It was the answer we were all dreading. After months spent building up the Most Exciting Season in the History of Formula One we had, whisper it quietly, just witnessed the cure for insomnia.

The new rules – the much-publicised ban on in-race refuelling, the change to the points system designed to encourage overtaking – had patently failed to improve the racing.

As one cynic observed in the paddock afterwards, the headlines tomorrow would no doubt ask: “Is this shaping up to be the most boring season in the history of Formula One?”

Of course it isn’t. There is no need to push the panic button just yet. The return of Michael Schumacher, sixth yesterday for Mercedes in his first race since Brazil 2006; the fascinating intra-team battle at McLaren, where Lewis Hamilton drew first blood by claiming third place to Jenson Button’s seventh; and the unprecedented competitiveness of the grid, with four teams and eight drivers all capable of race wins, cannot fail but generate drama.

It just didn’t do so yesterday. First of all, there was the start. It had been flagged up as potentially explosive. With the 35C heat on, and 170kgs of fuel on board each and every car, the drivers would be wilting in machines that would “handle like pregnant elephants” according to Sir Jackie Stewart. We held our collective breath.

A plume of smoke from the back of Mark Webber’s Red Bull apart, the top drivers all negotiated the first few bends unscathed. Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel sped away from pole position to reach the turn one in the lead, Alonso held his nerve and the inside line to beat his team mate Felipe Massa into turn two, and Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg got the jump on Lewis Hamilton to claim fourth position.

Okay, we thought, they got lucky this time and settled back to watch the show. Fifteen laps later we were still waiting. Then Hamilton pitted. Aha, we thought, here surely was the cue for fireworks. The teams had spent all winter practising tyre changes which, with the ban on refuelling, would last just three turbo-charged seconds.

Another snag: the screens would not tell us how long each wheel change took, only how long each car had spent in the pit lane. A potential area of interest for the television viewer at home spurned by the powers-that-be. This needs addressing for Melbourne.

Before you knew it everyone had pitted, Hamilton, first on to the fresh rubber, managed to leap-frog Nico Rosberg and Button did likewise to Mark Webber. Other than that, it was as you were. Only Vettel’s engine gremlins added spice to the drama late on; the German slipping backwards through the field as Alonso, Massa and Hamilton all passed him to assume the podium positions. And that was that. Game over.

“It’s a pity. We should have won today,” Vettel lamented. “We had control of the race and were on top of the strategy.”

Alonso, who looked ominously quick throughout and may well have caught the Red Bull anyway, begged to differ. “I was waiting the time to attack him, maybe the last 10 or 12 laps,” claimed the two-time champion, whose last win was back in Japan in 2008. “But suddenly he had a car problem and he was dropping and we had the chance to overtake him a little bit earlier than expected. There is no better way to start my relationship with Ferrari. This is so special.”

Massa’s second place, after the life-threatening accident in Hungary last year that obliged him to miss the rest of the season, was also a nice moment and well received by all. “It is really thanks to God that I am here,” he said. “It feels amazing to be back.”

The final word, though, went to Button, whose analysis in the heat of the moment is usually spot on. Asked to sum up it all up he delivered the scathing assessment: “All the cars stop at the same time and don't overtake each other.”

That is a problem that needs addressing, starting in Melbourne next week.

Bahrain Grand Prix 2010

1. Fernando Alonso (ESP) Ferrari 1hr 39min 20.396sec
2. Felipe Massa (BRA) Ferrari at 16.099s
3. Lewis Hamilton (GBR) McLaren 23.182
4. Sebastian Vettel (GER) Red Bull 38.799
5. Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes GP 40.213
6. Michael Schumacher (GER) Mercedes GP 44.163
7. Jenson Button (GBR) McLaren 45.280
8. Mark Webber (AUS) Red Bull 46.360
9. Vitantonio Liuzzi (ITA) Force India 53.008
10. Rubens Barrichello (BRA) Williams F1 1:02.489
11. Robert Kubica (POL) Renault 1:09.093
12. Adrian Sutil (GER) Force India 1:22.958
13. Jaime Alguersuari (ESP) Toro Rosso 1:32.656
14. Nico Hulkenberg (GER) Williams F1 1 lap
15. Heikki Kovalainen (FIN) Lotus 2 laps
16. Jarno Trulli (ITA) Lotus 3 laps
17. Sebastien Buemi (SUI) Toro Rosso 4 laps

Nadal eases through at Indian Wells

2010-03-15T02:00:00.001+07:00

Rafael Nadal cruised into the third round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells with a 6-4 6-4 victory over Rainer Schuettler.

The third-seeded Spaniard will now meet Mario Ancic in the next round, with the unseeded Croatian having struggled past Frenchman Julien Benneteau 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-3.

Elsewhere, Novak Djokovic survived a disastrous second set to defeat Mardy Fish 6-1 0-6 6-2.

The World number two had five double faults before triumphing over the American - who is ranked 104 places below him - just as he did in the final two years ago.

Also going through was fifth seed Russian Nikolay Davydenko, who beat Ernests Gulbis 6-4 6-4.

Fernando Verdasco, seeded 10th, cruised past Ramon Delgado 6-4 6-1, and will now face Tomas Berdych, who beat Florent Serra.

The highest-profile loser of the day was Croatian Marin Cilic, the eighth seed who went down 7-6 (3-1) 6-0 to Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

There were also victories for John Isner, Sam Querrey, Juan Monaco, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Brian Dabul, Ivan Ljubicic and Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Viktor Troicki advanced when Pablo Cuevas retired after just one game.

Kuznetsova crashes out of Indian Wells

2010-03-15T01:59:00.002+07:00

Top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova crashed out of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells as she lost to Carla Suarez Navarro.

The Russian committed 69 unforced errors and had seven double-faults as she went down 6-4 4-6 6-1 to the Spaniard, who advances to play Hungary's Agnes Szavay.

Third-seeded Victoria Azarenka made much easier work of dispatching Austria's Sybille Bammer 6-1 7-5, while eighth seed Sam Stosur dispatched Julie Coin of France 6-1 7-6 (6-4).

She will now face 25th seed Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who beat Karolina Sprem 6-3 6-1.

Two-time champion Kim Clijsters, seeded 14th here, beat Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-2 6-1.

Italian Flavia Pennetta, seeded ninth, beat Petra Kvitova 6-3 6-3 to set up a meeting with Shahar Peer, the 17th seed who beat Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-2 6-3.

There were also victories for Anges Szazay, Alisa Kleybanova, Sara Errani, Jelena Jankovic, Victoria Azarenka, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, Roberta Vinci, Yanina Wickmayer, and Anastasija Sevastova.

Red Wings soar to victory

2010-03-15T01:11:00.001+07:00

Brian Rafalski's powerplay goal 31 seconds into overtime lifted the Detroit Red Wings to a 3-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres.

Detroit had squandered a 2-0 lead in regulation, but got the win they needed to stay on track for the playoffs.

Two quick goals from Jon Sim and Mark Streit lifted the New York Islanders to a 4-2 win over the New Jersey Devils.

Sim and Streit scored 50 seconds apart in the second period as the Islanders won their first game in five.

Bryan Allen's overtime goal saw the Florida Panthers complete a comeback from 2-0 down to beat the Western Conference-leading San Jose Sharks 3-2.

Allen's goal gave the Panthers a fourth win in five as they keep alive their slim hopes of making the play-offs.

Ilya Bryzgalov made 29 saves as he recorded his NHL-leading eighth shutout of the season in a 4-0 Phoenix Coyotes win over the Carolina Hurricanes.

It was a fourth straight win for the Coyotes.

The St Louis Blues used a three-goal second period to blow away the Columbus Blue Jackets in a 5-1 win.

Andy McDonald had a goal and two assists as the Blues registered their seventh win in eight games.

Mikael Samuelsson had two goals and an assist as the Vancouver Canucks topped the Ottawa Senators 5-1.

Celebrating their return home after a mammoth 14-game road trip, the Canucks broke open a 1-1 tie early in the second period and never looked back.

The Montreal Canadiens won their fifth game in a row as they downed the Boston Bruins 3-2 thanks to two goals from Sergei Kostitsyn.

Phil Kessel got two goals and an assist as the Toronto Maple Leafs topped the Edmonton Oilers 6-4 in a battle of the bottom team from each conference.

Chris Pronger scored with just 2.1 seconds left as the Philadelphia Flyers topped the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2.

Mavericks go down to the Knicks

2010-03-15T01:04:00.001+07:00

It proved unlucky 13 for the Dallas Mavericks as their long winning streak ended in a 128-94 defeat to the New York Knicks.

Bill Walker's career-high 23 points and 22 more from Wilson Chandler did much of the damage.

Luis Scola exploded for a career-high 44 points and 12 rebounds as the Houston Rockets beat the woeful New Jersey Nets 116-108.

Scola took advantage of dreadful defence from the Nets to make 20 of his 25 shots in a win that keeps the Rockets' slim playoff hopes alive.

The Golden State Warriors dealt another big blow to the playoff hopes of the Toronto Raptors as Stephen Curry scored 35 points and added 10 assists in a 124-112 victory.

The Raptors have now lost four straight as they cling to the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Atlanta Hawks watched a 28-point lead whittled down to single figures but still held off the Detroit Pistons to win 112-99.

Joe Johnson had 26 points on a night when the Hawks shot a season high 63%.

The San Antonio Spurs did what they always do against the Los Angeles Clippers - win - with George Hill collecting 14 points and a career-high 11 assists in a 118-88 victory.

It was the Spurs' 16th straight victory over the Clippers.

The Denver Nuggets racked up their sixth straight victory as they beat the Memphis Grizzlies 125-108.

JR Smith scored 19 of his 30 points in the second half, while Carmelo Anthony had 24 points and Chauncey Billups 22.

Dwight Howard had 28 points and 15 rebounds as the Orlando Magic made it eight wins out of eight, beating the Washington Wizards 109-95.

Kolkata hand Bangalore a pasting

2010-03-15T00:57:00.004+07:00

Kolkata Knight Riders 136 for 3 (Tiwary 50, Hodge 50) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 135 for 7 (Kallis 65*, Mathews 4-19) by seven wickets/

Scorecard

It wasn't as resounding a thrashing as that delivered by Brendon McCullum's ruthless innings against the same opponents in the tournament opener two years ago but it was still a massive win for Kolkata Knight Riders in front of a heaving Eden Gardens crowd. Angelo Mathews followed up his fire-fighting with the bat on Friday by starring with the ball to pin down Royal Challengers Bangalore, before fireworks from Kolkata's openers ensured their team began their campaign with victories over both of last year's finalists.

Kolkata were in control right from the start when Bangalore's young batting talent failed, and the visitors were left to thank the experienced Jacques Kallis, who made a mad dash from South Africa after playing the Pro20 final on Friday evening, for holding the innings together. However, even his battling, an unbeaten 65 on a slowish track, couldn't spare Bangalore the eventual hammering.

Their troubles began when the surprise move to open with Sreevats Goswami didn't work out. The pint-sized Goswami was hemmed in by a series of Charl Langeveldt bouncers, and his ploy of backing away to heave the ball to the leg side didn't come off. Nor could Manish Pandey replicate the wonderful form of his domestic season, looking tentative in his short stay before his attempt to flat-bat Mathews down the ground ended in a bottom-edge on to the stumps.

Next in Bangalore's youth brigade was Virat Kolhi, talked up by coach Ray Jennings as a future Indian captain, who lasted four deliveries before striking a dipping delivery from Murali Kartik to deep midwicket. With two deliveries left in the Powerplay, Bangalore were down to 20 for 3.

Kolkata's new-ball bowlers had done their job, and they were backed up by some intelligent bowling from Mathews and Kartik to put Bangalore on the mat. Mathews sent down several slower bouncers which the batsmen struggled to pick, and Kartik varied his pace and effectively used the assistance provided by the track.

It was Kartik who provided the fervent crowd their next chance to scream. Bangalore's new signing, Eoin Morgan, had started his IPL career confidently with a sensationally-timed off-drive for six off the second delivery he faced, but he was bowled by a short, slow ball, through with his reverse-sweep before the ball arrived.

All the while Kallis was starved of the strike, though he had shown glimpses of form, including a ferocious lofted cover drive. He set about rebuilding with the help of another veteran, Rahul Dravid, putting on 38 with some old-school textbook batting. Dravid was looking in fine touch before he contrived to drag a full, wide ball from Mathews on to the stumps.

There was more sedate run-gathering with Robin Uthappa after that, and it wasn't until the 15th over that Kallis opened up, clouting Rohan Gavaskar to the extra-cover boundary. Uthappa got his first boundary in the same region, before Mathews struck twice in four balls. Kallis then started to get innovative, walking across the stumps to paddle-sweep a ball for four to bring up his fifty, and repeating the stroke in the final over. There was a sweet, straight hit for six as well, and the 14 runs in the 20th over lifted Bangalore to 135.

It was an underwhelming total on a benign track, but not as tiny a target as the Kolkata batsmen made it seem. Manoj Tiwary may not have much of a reputation as a Twenty20 player, but it was his early onslaught that made the match such a one-sided encounter.

After three steady overs, Tiwary blasted Kallis for 14 in the space of four balls in the fourth, including a powerful swipe over midwicket for six. Much of Bangalore's chances now depended on how effective their spearhead Dale Steyn was, but Tiwary crashed his second delivery over long-off for six more, before a couple of driven boundaries from Brad Hodge made it 17 off the over.

The last major threat was Anil Kumble, who also failed to make an impact, with Tiwary picking him for two fours in his first three balls to take Kolkata 60 for 0 after 5.3 overs, effectively ending the contest.

Things were less frenetic after that, and though both openers fell the delivery after they reached their half-centuries, Kolkata eased to a victory that will reinforce the belief in the side and among their fans after the abysmal shows of last season.

England build huge lead after Rahim's resistance

2010-03-15T00:54:00.001+07:00

England 599 for 6 dec and 131 for 5 (Bell 0*, Prior 0*) lead Bangladesh 296 (Tamim 86, Rahim 79, Mahmudullah 51, Swann 5-90) by 434 runs/

Scorecard

If Bangladesh's cricket is about minor victories, then keeping England in the field long enough that they decided to bat again instead of enforcing the follow-on can be classed as one. Mushfiqur Rahim's battling 79, and a Bangladesh record eighth-wicket stand of 113 with Naeem Islam, meant the visitors had to work harder than expected. The extra exertions persuaded Alastair Cook to give his bowling attack a rest and by the close the lead was 434.

England's pre-day game plan would have revolved around putting Bangladesh straight back in and that looked firmly on the cards when Tim Bresnan produced a beauty to remove Tamim Iqbal in the third over of the day. But the longer they were kept in the heat the more batting again became the likely option especially with just a four-man attack, although it did raise questions about the balance of the side. Neither did the way they batted suggest that ruthlessness was at the forefront of England's mind.

However, it was to Bangladesh's credit that they forced a change of tactics and Rahim's innings was a lesson to the more impetuous of his team-mates, while Naeem belied his position in the lower-reaches of the order as the pair defied England for 39 energy-sapping overs. Although neither Rahim or Tamim could convert to deserved hundreds, it is innings like these that others must follow for Bangladesh to improve.

Rahim's innings was a huge boost for Bangladesh and his 152-ball defiance suggested he should be batting further up the order. He has had a solid technique since making his debut as a 17-year-old at Lord's in 2005 and after a first-ball flash at Bresnan coped impressively with pace and spin.

He skipped down at Swann and lofted him straight down the ground, flicked him sweetly through midwicket and then brought his fifty from 90 balls with a powerful sweep. After lunch more of the scoring came from Naeem who expanded his strokeplay. He was given a life on 13 when Swann couldn't hang on to a stinging return catch and had to withstand a testing spell of reverse swing from the lively Steven Finn.

After his nervous start on the second day, Finn gave a proper indication as to his talent after settling himself with the scalp of nightwatchman Shahadat Hossain. He maintained a tight line around off stump and showed great control of the swing, twice inducing Rahim to edge past leg stump and also troubled Naeem with the old ball.

Both Finn and Bresnan managed to swing the old ball, but England couldn't break through and took the new ball as soon as it became available. Rahim was reprieved on 61 when Paul Collingwoood spilled a low edge at second slip off Stuart Broad and the extra hardness meant boundaries started to flow again.

It took two outstanding pieces of work in the field for England to finally wrap up the innings. Firstly Naeem was run out by Michael Carberry's athletic chase, slide and throw which left the batsmen confused, then James Tredwell - briefly on as a substitute after Cook sprinted off (probably to discuss the follow on) - pulled off a blinding one-handed catch at midwicket as Rahim went for a slog sweep.

Quite where Tredwell's appearance fits into the new ruling of only using substitutes for an injury is unclear, but it meant a moment to savour in a game where he should have been playing. As it is, Swann is England's lone frontline spinner and again starred when he collected his fifth five-wicket haul with an arm ball that beat Rubel Hossain second ball.

With a lead of 303, England's second innings was virtually pressure free but attempts to accelerate before the close weren't particularly effective. Cook top-edged to deep square-leg, Jonathan Trott fell to a long hop and Kevin Pietersen, having sped to 32 with a succession of effortless blows against the spinners, missed a sweep to Shakib Al Hasan. It was a marginal decision, but this time his dismissal to a left-armer shouldn't cause many alarms.

Carberry also fell lbw, moving too far across at Abdur Razzak, having again become stuck against the spin and Razzak also claimed Collingwood who drove lazily to mid off. However, they were all fairly inconsequential wickets in the bigger picture. England already have enough runs, but Cook will probably want 500 before letting his revived bowling attack loose again.

Hull City 1 Arsenal 2

2010-03-14T03:50:00.001+07:00

The Premier League game between Hull City and Arsenal at the KC Stadium on Saturday, March 13 2010.

The Women’s Institute, it would seem, were not the only witnesses this week to a futile show of fight from Hull City.

On Monday, team-mates Nicky Barmby and Jimmy Bullard were involved in a bust-up on the Humber Bridge in front of a delegation of around 80 pensioners that prompted a very public apology from manager Phil Brown.

Last night, the Hull players produced a stirring show of solidarity before eventually succumbing to an injury-time winner against Arsenal after playing more than half the match with 10 men.

Bullard was also again at the centre of events, answering Andrei Arshavin’s goal with a penalty before Nicklas Bendtner pounced to score a winner that lifts Arsenal above Manchester United and level on points with Chelsea at the top of the Premier League table.

The match, however, was partially overshadowed by a reckless tackle by George Boateng on Bacary Sagna. Brown had described the incident on the Humber Bridge as “unsavoury” and that was also an appropriate adjective for a challenge that connected just below Sagna's knee and could easily have inflicted far more serious damage.

With dangerous tackles still a particularly sensitive issue at Arsenal following Aaron Ramsey’s broken leg two weeks ago, it was understandable that Arsene Wenger looked so unhappy with the incident.

He will have been delighted, though, at the way Arsenal battled their way to a fifth straight victory; providing further evidence for his belief that this young team are ready to deliver this season.

Brown had reacted to the 5-1 humbling against Everton by making six changes to his Hull team; the most eye-catching of which was the demotion to the bench of Barmby. Against considerable competition, the former England midfielder had been among the least effective Hull players in the Everton match but it was still difficult not to wonder if his omission was linked to the Bullard incident.

With Cesc Fabregas hoping to return from his hamstring injury in next week’s match against West Ham, Samir Nasri was again asked to pull the strings from central midfield and was quickly involved as Arsenal took a 14th minute lead. Nasri fed Nicklas Bendter, who instantly played the ball into the mesmerisingly quick feet of Arshavin.

The Russian had been central to Tuesday’s 5-0 destruction of and, with a combination of skill – plus a little luck – he eluded challenges from both Bernand Mendy and George Boating before shooting beyond Boaz Myhill. It was the 100th time Arsenal had scored this season in just 45 matches.

The goal seemed to further pacify Hull and they were fortunate not to fall further behind before carving out an unlikely – and controversial – equaliser.

Dean Marney had flicked a Bullard cross into the path of Jan Vennegor of Hesselink and, although the Dutchman was certainly offside, he was also bundled to the floor by Sol Campbell. Having chosen to punish only Campbell by awarding a penalty, referee Andre Marriner was then lenient in simply booking the former England defender. Even so, Bullard’s penalty was emphatic and Hull were unexpectedly level again.

Arsenal then had two penalty appeals of their own waved away when Bendtner claimed that he had been impeded by Mendy and Gael Clichy went to ground under pressure from Boateng.

The last two matches between these teams had ended with FA disciplinary charges and the temperature rose again following a flurry of incidents shortly before half-time. Denilson was floored following a fierce challenge from Andy Dawson, while Bendtner and Boateng were both booked after squaring up to one another off the ball.

Boateng had appeared to raise his arm at Bendtner and then left Marriner with no choice but to brandish a second yellow card by almost immediately flying into Sagna with his horrible studs-up tackle. Replays suggested it should really have been a straight red.

With only four points away from the KC Stadium all season, Hull’s main survival hope is their home form and, despite being down to 10-men, they made a dogged start to the second-half. Bullard, in particular, was rising to the occasion without his usual partner in central midfield. Brown had clearly re-organsied them intelligently, although he was soon without Kamil Zayatte following a forceful – but fair – challenge from Campbell.

Arsenal appeared out of ideas until Theo Walcott replaced Emmanuel Eboue with 25 minutes remaining to provide an immediate injection of pace and urgency. His cross was deflected into the path of Arshavin but, with the goal at his mercy, he shot wastefully high and wide. Bendtner, who had scored a mid-week hat-trick against Porto, was also profligate, missing two glorious late chances before punishing a mistake from Boaz in injury time.

Chelsea 4 West Ham United 1

2010-03-14T03:48:00.001+07:00

The Premier League game between Chelsea and West Ham United at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, March 13 2010.

They are welcoming back their old heroes to Stamford Bridge this week, although welcoming might not be the right word. Gianfranco Zola left the stadium he used to thrill with his side ruthless humbled by a Chelsea team that returned to the top of the league.

Next, Jose Mourinho and his Internazionale team: that will prove a more rigorous examination than this, surely.

Chelsea were inspired by a superb Florent Malouda, who made the first two goals and scored the third. The France international was back playing in his favoured role on the left wing, having deputised for the suspended Michael Ballack in midfield against Stoke City last weekend. He destroyed Jonathan Spector, the West Ham United right back, and Zola was even forced to switch Valon Behrami from the left to the right to try and help deal with him. It didn’t work.

The initial mistake for the opening goal came when Spector’s loose pass was intercepted by Paulo Ferreira, who put Malouda clear down the left. Spector recovered to tackle but conceded the corner. Malouda took it and West Ham could only half-clear, Frank Lampard working the ball back out to the left so Malouda could have a second bite at the cross. This time he picked out Alex, who, despite being 6”3 and built like a heavyweight, had managed to completely elude West Ham’s somnolent markers to place his header past Rob Green.

With Malouda rampant it looked like Chelsea would ease away from West Ham before the excellent Scott Parker intervened. Kieran Dyer hurled the ball in from the left – it was comical foul throw – and got it just over the head of John Obi Mikel. Parker took it on his chest, let it bounce and lashed a shot with fade and power into the top corner. Ross Turnbull, making his first league start in the Chelsea goal, had barely got his hands on the ball and there he was picking it out of the net.

Aside from that, West Ham struggled to build coherent attacking moves. Zola had ill-advisedly chosen to change his whole front line, playing Dyer on the left, Ilan on the right and Mido up front. Dyer is a shadow of his former self, Mido still looks like he could lose more weight and Ilan might politely be described as enigmatic – the enigma being how he ever managed to win three caps for Brazil. Ilan’s only real contribution was swiping a complete sitter of the bar with the game still scoreless.

“The reason I changed my strikers is that I wanted to play a more counter-attacking game and needed quick players,” Zola said of the inclusion of Dyer and Ilan. The exclusion of Carlton Cole, no doubt to his great frustration with Fabio Capello watching, was explained by Zola as being down to a knee injury that had allowed him to train just twice last week.

His namesake, Joe, was also left on the bench and then tried too hard when he finally did get on the pitch. Joe Cole needs unhurried game time if he is to get back to his best and at his rate he is not going to get it. Game by game his World Cup hopes grow fainter.

He certainly won’t be getting in the side ahead of Malouda, not on this form. The crucial second goal, which Zola conceded ended West Ham’s resistance, was again made by the Frenchman, 10 minutes into the second half. John Terry came surging forward from the back and drew in Spector and Behrami, which allowed Drogba to work the ball to the free Malouda. Drogba then peeled off the back of Matthew Upson to find the space to head in Malouda’s fine cross.

Pumped up by the goal, Drogba was in full histrionic mode, exchanging words with the Chelsea bench and nagging incessantly at referee Mark Clattenburg. Annoying as he is in this mood, it is often when he plays his best stuff and Upson was struggling to deal with him. For Chelsea’s third he chested the ball down to Malouda, who cut inside Danny Gabbidon – far too easily – and shot low past Green from outside the box.

Malouda was withdrawn late on, to allow the crowd the chance to give him a standing ovation. “It was his best performance for us,” Ancelotti said. “I hope he will play on Tuesday like he played today.” Chelsea still had time to prove they could score without him.

Frank Lampard sprinted at the West Ham defence and was allowed a sight of goal by Upson’s unfortunate stumble – flashback to Egypt’s goal 10 days ago – and while his shot lacked menace, Green contrived to spill it at Drogba’s feet. The Ivorian slammed the ball into the empty net for his 27th goal of another productive season. Not exactly convincing from the England goalkeeper and first reserve centre back, though.

For Chelsea this was an important appetiser ahead of Tuesday’s main course. It helped them flush that 4-2 defeat against Manchester City out of their system and, with Internazionale contriving to lose 3-1 against Catania in Sicily on Friday night, they will welcome Mourinho back to Stamford Bridge with confidence.

Tottenham Hotspur 3 Blackburn Rovers 1

2010-03-14T03:46:00.001+07:00

The Premier League game between Tottenham Hotspur and Blackburn Rovers at White Hart Lane on Saturday, March 13 2010.

Roman Pavlyuchenko maintained his impressive goalscoring record, and moved Tottenham Hotspur a step closer to securing a place in next season’s Champions League, with two goals in an easy victory.

Harry Redknapp claimed on Friday that Spurs needed 19 points - six wins and a draw - to finish in the coveted fourth place and they edged closer to that target with an ultimately easy lunchtime win.

Jermain Defoe gave Spurs the lead before Pavlyuchenko scored goals either side of a response from Christopher Samba, taking his recent tally to seven goals in six games.

Spurs dominated the first half, benefiting from the injury to their former goalkeeper, Paul Robinson.

But it took until the first minute of added time before Spurs could take advantage, with Defoe claiming his 23rd goal of the season.

Earlier, Pavlyuchenko had squandered three good chances, though Blackburn Rovers also had a legitimate appeal for a penalty rejected before Robinson limped off gingerly in the 38th minute.

Before then, Pavlyuchenko was offered a chance from Benoit Assou-Ekotto, who crossed from the left, but the Russian jabbed the ball into the turf and it bounced over Robinson’s goal.

In the 20th minute, Vedran Corluka appeared to bundle the returning David Dunn off the ball, but referee Howard Web turned down penalty claims.

Spurs responded when Bale, outstanding on the left, set-up Pavlyuchenko but the Russian sent the attempt wide.

Bale, himself, was then unlucky after he outstripped Michel Salgado only to role the ball wide.

Robinson had been troubled for a while, after kicking a clearance, and was forced off in the 25th minute, hopping on his right leg.

Jason Brown, his replacement, made two saves in quick succession, from his own defender, Gael Givet, and Defoe.

But in added time, Niko Kranjcar’s corner was headed on by Corluka and Defoe bundled the ball beyond Brown.

And, in the 10th minute of the second half, Spurs increased their lead. Luka Modric’s ball found Defoe, who fed Pavlyuchenko and Brown allowed the striker’s shot to slip under his body.

Blackburn replaced Brett Emerton with Keith Andrews but still Spurs pressed, with Modric close to a third.

In the 68th minute, Spurs thought they had won a penalty when Bale fell under a challenge from Salgado. But Webb, England’s World Cup referee, failed to award the kick or book Bale.

Webb angered Spurs again soon afterwards when Morten Gamst Pedersen forced Bale down, but again Blackburn survived.

And Blackburn sent the alarm bells ringing when, in the 80th minute, they replied when, from Pedersen’s corner, Samba rose high above Michael Dawson to head beyond Heurelho Gomes.

Spurs, however, confirmed the win in the 88th minute when Pavlyuchenko, having miss-hit the original chance, was allowed a second attempt, from Bale’s high cross.

Blackburn had the ball in the net in the final minute but Nikola Kalinic was harshly adjudged to have pushed Dawson before scoring.

Stoke City 0 Aston Villa 0

2010-03-14T03:43:00.001+07:00

The Premier League game between Stoke City and Aston Villa at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday, March 13 2010.

With half an hour of this match remaining the tannoy crackled into life and one spectator was given the merry news that his wife had gone into labour.

The announcement was met with an enormous cheer, but hang on – couldn’t a hint of resentment be detected among the throng that this man had been given a decent excuse to leave early?

In fairness, this match was in part ruined by the windy conditions in which it was played, the ball often appearing to have been bestowed with a life of its own. But it was also punctuated by long balls and the usual reliance on long throws which the Britannia has come to know and love. However, that most of them came from the hands of Carlos Cuellar gives some indication as to sort of stuff on show.

This time last season, a 2-2 draw with Stoke City at Villa Park did serious damage to Aston Villa’s Champions League chances. There are a different set of circumstances this time around – Villa have a game in hand on Tottenham and Liverpool, for starters – so it would be foolish to suggest the same could happen again, but it was the manner of the performance was disappointing.

A juicy quarrel sprung up between Martin O’Neill and Arsene Wenger back in January when the Arsenal manager observed that Villa favour a “direct” style of football. Steam came out of O’Neill’s ears partly because he dislikes Wenger anyway, but mostly because he considers his side are playing the most creative football Villa fans have seen is some time. There was scant sign of it here.

An interesting comparison can be drawn between how Wenger’s Arsenal approached their match against Stoke at the Britannia at the end of February, and Villa yesterday. Arsenal stuck to their principles and won 3-1, Villa fell into the trap of playing Stoke at their own game, and were poor because of it. Only a last-minute tackle from James Collins on Ricardo Fuller prevented Stoke from winning.

Villa rely on pace, but with Gabby Agbonlahor huddled in a hoodie and enormous overcoat on the bench until he was deployed in the 77th minute for John Carew, the away side lacked direction. Carew is undeniably a gifted player, but he doesn’t do urgency. Emile Heskey likewise. When Agbonlahor did arrive, he was off the pace – clearly his recent stomach complaint is yet to fully subside.

It was approaching 20 minutes before the first proper attempt on goal, Collins heading just wide. The wind swirling around the Britannia made life difficult, but with every chance the ball would misbehave why did the players not attempt a shot from range? Stiliyan Petrov had the right idea, forcing Thomas Sorensen into a uncertain save from 30 yards, but inexplicably it was not followed up on.

Ashley Young can usually be relied upon to produce a moment of inspiration, but the winger was subdued. Instead it was from Richard Dunne that Villa’s best chance arose, but Heskey was too slow to react when the defender stayed onside and placed a perfect side-footed pass across the face of goal.

Stoke came close with an effort from Fuller in the 59th minute, and Robert Huth headed a fraction over at the death, but this was destined to be 0-0 from the start. Villa remain the only unbeaten Premier League side in 2010, but O’Neill has still not won a top-flight league match in March for ten years. Playing like this it is hard to see when that particular hoodoo will end.

Bolton Wanderers 4 Wigan Athletic 0

2010-03-14T03:40:00.002+07:00

The Premier League game between Bolton Wanderers and Wigan Athletic at the Reebok Stadium on Saturday, March 13 2010.

Reality was restored for outplayed Wigan Athletic as they were resoundingly brought back to earth following their first ever victory over Liverpool earlier in the week.

Bolton Wanderers proved overwhelmingly superior at the Reebok Stadium where their most comprehensive league win of the season secured a third victory in the last four encounters to strengthen the home side's resolve in their fight to climb clear of the relegation positions.

An early goal from Johan Elmander with Kevin Davies doubling the advantage from the penalty spot shortly into the second half provided the foundation for Bolton's ultimate success as they convincingly bounced the back from a 4-0 mid-week trouncing of their own at Sunderland.

Further goals from Fabrice Muamba and substitute Matt Taylor merely confirmed home superiority with Wigan left to fight their own battle for Premier League survival. Yet the game had started tamely with little to choose between two poor sides in a tedious first half highlighted only by Elmander's 10th-minute goal after Davies had exposed poor Wigan defending.

A Davies shot over the bar in the 24th minute closely followed by a Chung-Yong Lee corner on the left that caused further consternation in the visiting defence were the only other worthwhile contributions as Bolton defended their lead.

Wigan's response was two headers from Paul Sharner, both following crosses on the left by Victor Moses and then a Charles N'Zogbia attempt was driven straight at the home goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen.

The second half was only two minutes old when Lee was fouled by Gary Caldwell and Davies despatched the penalty. And there was further anguish for Caldwell as Muamba turned him inside out before clinically delivering a 53rd-minute third.

Shortly after replacing Jack Wilshire, Taylor was on the mark to further humiliate Wigan with a 69th-minute fourth.

Burnley 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers 2

2010-03-14T03:37:00.001+07:00

The Premier League game between Burnley and Wolverhampton Wanderers at Turf Moor on Saturday, March 13 2010.

The Premier League's worst defence came up against the division's poorest attack and, unfortunately for Burnley, it was they who more than lived up to their unwanted tag as Wolverhampton Wanderers took a significant step towards safety.

Burnley supporters claim they can count the number of 'good' goals they have conceded this season on the fingers of one hand, but having seen 63 fly into their net, it might be easy to have forgotten one or two.

Against Wolves, who had failed to score in seven of their previous 10 league games, there were two more to try to erase from their memories, with Tyrone Mears' poor header back allowing Matt Jarvis to open the scoring, before the misfortune of Adlene Guedioura's shot, which was going about 15 yards wide, glancing off Clarke Carlisle and into his own net.

Steven Thompson halved the deficit to set up a predictable late rally but Burnley have now won just once in 19 Premier League matches.

The importance of the fixture was clear from the very start, perhaps thanks to both teams huddling together to no doubt remind each other once again of what was at stake and the fact it was a big opportunity before the kick off.

Burnley began strongly, with Chris Eagles, who helpfully revealed before the game that he will be off if the Clarets are relegated, running the show.

Kevin Foley's cross picked out Dave Jones but the midfielder's header was kept out by a low save from Brian Jensen, who, shortly after, tore out of his area and headed Kevin Doyle's hip, earning himself a caution, as the Wolves striker tried to break on to Ronald Zubar's throw.

Danny Fox had a free-kick tipped over by Hahnemann but the visitors took the lead thanks to the kind of defending that has undermined Burnley all season.

When Doyle clipped over the top for Jarvis, Mears had plenty of time to knock back to Jensen and even had a strong wind behind him. But the right back did not head with anything like enough power and Jarvis guided the ball around the goalkeeper and took another touch before rolling into an empty net from half a yard.

Fox looked like he was given oxygen on the Burnley bench after he had to be replaced by Stephen Jordan and the full-back was eventually taken down the tunnel on a stretcher as the worries continued to mount for the hosts.

Just before the interval, a Mears free-kick was flicked on by Carlisle and, in one movement, David Nugent somehow managed to hold off Christophe Berra, control the ball with his head and prod at goal, only to see the ball bounce away off the bar.

A minute after the restart there was more of the same at the back for Burnley. Brian Laws' side failed to clear a Jarvis corner and after Zubar squared for Guedioura, the Frenchman hit a shot that was flying well wide, only to glance off the heel of Calirlse and past the helpless Jensen.

Burnley attempted to respond with an Elliott shot that flew wide before Laws' decision to replace Eagles with Steven Thompson was roundly jeered.

Robbie Blake's low effort bounced away off the bottom of the post and with just under 20 minutes left, Wolves failed to clear Mears' cross and Graham Alexander's bobbling shot was diverted in by Thompson.

Burnley piled forward in the closing stages, with Jensen coming forward for a corner in injury time, as Turf Moor took on a manic feel, but they could not find a second goal.

Birmingham City 2 Everton 2

2010-03-14T03:35:00.001+07:00

The Premier League game between Birmingham City and Everton at St Andrews on Saturday, March 13 2010.

In the race to secure the Premier League's equivalent of a consolation prize, a place in the Europa League next season, no significant progress to report from St Andrew's yesterday.

In the race to emerge from the shadows of their more feted neighbours, again no news of an advance from the second city to cheer the terrace fans of either Birmingham City or Everton.

A match that rarely failed to entertain amid fluctuating fortunes demonstrated why both these teams, though standing on the brink of the division's elite, are unlikely to aspire beyond their present station.

David Moyes opines that this is the best Everton squad he has worked with during his eight years' tenure and for the first quarter of this match, he appeared vindicated in his judgment before Birmingham rallied to claim a point that rarely seemed a realistic target as the visitors cantered into a two-goal lead.

Joe Hart had already saved well from the outstanding Steven Pienaar as Everton dictated when Victor Anichebe turned Liam Ridgewell in the 18-yard-area and powered a left foot shot in to the roof of the net for his first goal of the season. Three minutes later, Pienaar's clever centre from the byline created a routine headed finish for Ayegbeni Yakubu, 2-0 easy as you like.

"They could have blown us away at that stage but this was so typical of what we have done this season," said Birmingham manager Alex McLeish.

The revival, however, required a touch of Lady Luck as Cameron Jerome's faintest of touches diverted Keith Fahey's aimless centre through the legs of Phil Jagielka and beyond Tim Howard to reduce arrears. The Bluenoses' recovery was complete in the 52nd minute as Jerome once more was involved, this time flicking on Hart's long punt into the path of Craig Gardner.

The ball sat up nicely for the former Aston Villa midfield player yet even so, his left foot volley was crisp and precise. Shortly after, the leg-weary scorer was substituted, a legacy of an overnight illness that made him a doubtful starter.

Everton remained the more composed and three reasonable penalty appeals for hand ball proved fruitless. Yet Birmingham's resilience was deserving of a result that extended an unbeaten sequence of home matches that began in September to 12.

Middlesbrough 2 Newcastle United 2

2010-03-14T03:28:00.001+07:00

The Championship game between Middlesbrough and Newcastle United at the Riverside on Saturday, March 13 2010.

England Under-21 striker Andy Carroll salvaged a point for Newcastle United with a late equaliser to keep the Tyneside club on course for automatic promotion at the Riverside.

The Championship leaders may have allowed second-placed West Bromwich Albion to narrow the gap at the top but Carroll's late intervention ensured the all-important advantage over Nottingham Forest and the chasing pack was strengthened.

Carroll denied Boro victory in the Tyne-Tees derby for the first time since October 2006 just as Middlesbrough were ready to claim the local bragging rights as the home side outplayed Newcastle and overcame Peter

Lovenkrands's early opener to take the lead through the excellent Barry Robson and Scott McDonald before Newcastle had the final say.

Boro, who remain on the fringe of the four play-off positions, produced their best display this season and dominated from the word go with Newcastle manager Chris Hughton left fretting early on when Scott McDonald tumbled in the penalty area under Fabricio Coloccini's challenge but Lee Mason waved away legitimate appeals for the spot-kick.

Fitz Hall, in for Mike Williamson who could be out for a month after breaking a hand in a domestic accident, then blocked a goal-bound shot from as Boro thrived on the local derby atmosphere.

Despite Boro's promising start, Newcastle owner Mike Ashley was able to chortle at the ironic rendition of 'There's only one Mike Ashley' from the Boro supporters.

Ashley had plenty more to smile about in the 16th minute as Newcastle took a stranglehold on the contest.

The Boro defence disintegrated as Jonas Gutierrez skillfully made space for himself before he threaded a pass through to Lovenkrands who beat Danny Coyne with a low left-footed shot after leaving David Wheater in his wake to notch his 13th goal this season.

Boro bounced back impressively after that lapse and would have equalised in the 28th minute but for a smart save by Steve Harper who pushed away Barry Robson's 20-yard free-kick after Danny Simpson had felled Rhys Williams.

Robson was not to be thwarted when he set his sights on goal in the 36th minute as he equalised brilliantly and deservedly, playing a one-two with McDonald before curling a left-footed shot beyond the motionless Harper from 25 yards.

Coloccini limped off five minutes into the second half which forced Hughton to re-jig his back-four with Tamas Kadar switching from left-back to link up with Hall in central defence.

Boro almost made the most of Newcastle's misfortune and Julio Arca should have put the hosts ahead on the hour when he was sent clear by Gary O'Neil but Harper won the battle of wits and saved with a leg.

Back came Newcastle and Kadar almost restored his team's lead when he met Danny Guthrie's in-swinging corner but he nodded the ball straight at Danny Coyne from close range.

Gordon Strachan's team made the most of that let-off thanks to McDonald who struck from close range when Neil Killen nodded Robson's free-kick across the goalmouth in the 74th minute.

Boro looked set for a morale-boosting win until Ryan Taylor's cross eluded Stephen McManus and was slammed past Coyne by Carroll in the 82nd minute, the final notable incident of an intriguing derby.

Russian Premier Liga Review

2010-03-14T03:22:00.001+07:00

Sergey Kornilenko's brace got Tomsk's Premier Liga season off to a winning start at Rostov.

The forward struck twice in the second half to leave his side top of the nascent league table on goal difference after a 2-0 win.

Danny scored the only goal as Zenit St Petersburg won 1-0 at Krylya Sovetov, who finished with 10 men after the late dismissal of Ivan Taranov. Anzhi Makhachkala and Spartak Nalchik drew 0-0 in the day's other game.

Getafe 3-0 Real Mallorca

2010-03-14T03:11:00.001+07:00

Real Mallorca's poor away form returned to haunt them as they slumped to defeat at Getafe.

Mallorca started the weekend level with fourth-placed Sevilla on 43 points, but they missed the chance to further strengthen their push after going down to goals from Daniel Parejo, Miku and Manu Del Moral.

Parejo headed home the opener in the 32nd minute, substitute Miku made it 2-0 10 minutes from time before his fellow replacement Manu wrapped up the scoring soon after from the penalty spot.

In that same incident Mallorca captain Nunes was sent off after handling the ball on the line.

The result leaves the Balearic Island outfit with just two wins and eight defeats from their 14 away games this season, and that is badly hampering their chances of claiming an unexpected top-four finish.

Getafe, on the other hand, will have renewed hope of finishing in the top six after ending a six-match streak without a win in La Liga.

The beaten Copa del Rey semi-finalists began the game in ninth spot, eight points behind Deportivo La Coruna in the final Europa League place.

The opening half-hour of the match produced little to worry either goalkeeper, although Ayoze Diaz's thunderous strike that smashed one of the seats behind the goal might have concerned Getafe goalkeeper Oscar Ustari if it had been on target.

The first decent chance fell to Getafe midfielder Pedro Leon, who was denied by a good block by Dudu Aouate after being put through by Roberto Soldado.

The home side need not have worried about that miss though as within two minutes they were ahead.

Jaime Gavilan's cross from the left was met by Parejo and his close-range header flew into the roof of the net, leaving Aouate no chance to repeat his heroics of moments before.

The second half followed a similar script, with Getafe making most of the running and looking the more likely scorers.

Javier Casquero and Pedro Leon both had efforts saved by Aouate while Parejo fluffed a good opening at the far post.

In a rare Mallorca attack, Gonzalo Castro fired in a cross-shot that Ustari did well to hold, and that gave warning to the home side that their lead was a precarious one.

Getafe changed all that in the closing stages though as they scored twice in five minutes through two of their replacements.

Miku had only been on the pitch a couple of minutes when he picked up a pass from Parejo and squeezed a low shot past Aouate.

Michel's men then wrapped up the scoring soon after from the penalty spot.

Aouate did superbly to deny two Getafe players in quick succession but in the ensuing goalmouth scramble the ball looked set to roll over the line, only to be seemingly stopped by Nunes' hand.

The referee immediately pointed to the spot and, after consulting his assistant and ignoring the protests of the Mallorca players, he sent off Nunes.

From the resulting penalty Manu fired into the corner to seal a deserved return to winning ways for Getafe.

FC Schalke 2-1 VfB Stuttgart

2010-03-14T03:08:00.001+07:00

Schalke moved to the top of the Bundesliga table for at least 24 hours with a home victory over Stuttgart.

Former Germany striker Kevin Kuranyi struck the winning goal after 56 minutes following a frantic 10-minute period when all three goals in the game were scored.

Edu Goncalves opened the scoring for the hosts less than a minute after his introduction as a half-time substitute before Serdar Tasci equalised after 50 minutes.

Kuranyi had the final say, however, to move Schalke a point ahead of Bayern Munich, who can regain top place when they host relegation-haunted Freiburg on Saturday.

Schalke had the first chance on goal after 14 minutes when Jefferson Farfan collided with defender Georg Niedermeier and the ball broke to Kuranyi who curled a shot that skidded past the right-hand post.

Despite the early chance, Stuttgart controlled the majority of the first-half possession and almost went ahead on 35 minutes when Pavel Pogrebnyak was sent through one-on-one with goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

The Russian picked his spot but Neuer was up to the task, making a superb reaction save to keep the scores level.

The second half began with a flurry of goals and Edu claimed the opener with his first touch after coming on for Farfan at half-time.

A quick passing move between Peer Kluge and Kuranyi set up Edu to roll his shot past an exposed Jens Lehmann.

The lead lasted just four minutes as Timo Gebhart's pin-point cross found defender Tasci at the far post to head home from inside the six-yard box.

Schalke then reclaimed their lead in the 56th minute thanks to the Bundesliga's leading goalscorer Kuranyi.

A well-worked free-kick and an ill-advised attempt from the away defence to play Kuranyi offside allowed the 28-year-old striker the easiest of finishes for his 14th league goal of the season.

Schalke should have made the points safe 10 minutes later when Kuranyi burst clear and rolled a pass across the six-yard box only for Edu to blast his shot over the crossbar.

Stuttgart poured forward to find an equaliser and almost got it when Molinaro's 89th-minute shot was blocked on the line.

Hannover 2-1 Frankfurt

2010-03-14T03:06:00.001+07:00

Hannover collected their second straight victory by holding on at home against nine-man Eintracht Frankfurt.

Leon Andreasen gave Hannover the lead after 14 minutes and Halil Altintop equalised in first-half stoppage time for the visitors.

Frankfurt were reduced to 10 men in the 54th minute as Selim Teber was sent off for a second yellow card offence.

Sergio Pinto restored Hannover's lead in the 57th minute and Frankfurt lost another player as Maik Franz received his second yellow card a minute into stoppage time.

Hannover's second win in a row - and their first against Frankfurt since 1987 - comes on the heels of a nine-game losing streak. Mirko Slomka's team improved to 23 points for 16th place.

Frankfurt have now suffered three straight losses and dropped to 10th with 35 points.

In the sixth minute, Frankfurt's Patrick Ochs cleared Christian Schulz's shot from seven yards just in front of the goal line.

The hosts grabbed the lead in the 14th minute. Manuel Schmiedebach sent a high ball into the area which Didier Ya Konan chested down and Andreasen charged forward and blasted home the first score.

The visitors equalised two minutes into first-half stoppage time with Pirmin Schwegler's cross into the area volleyed home from five yards by Altintop despite being surrounded by three Hannover defenders.

Frankfurt went a man down nine minutes after the break as Teber received his second warning for purposely handling a ball in the midfield.

Hannover grabbed the lead just three minutes later with a determined attack. Ya Konan played a fine through-ball and Frankfurt goalkeeper Oka Nikolov made a strong save on Elson's attempt, but Pinto collected the rebound, waited and looped the ball over the goalkeeper.

Frankfurt could not find the means to beat Hannover goalkeeper Florian Fromlowitz again and they were reduced to nine men a minute into stoppage time as Franz was shown his second warning.

Mainz 1-0 Cologne

2010-03-14T03:04:00.001+07:00

Mainz boosted their hopes of European qualification with a victory over Cologne, despite playing with 10 men.

The hosts were facing an uphill struggle when Aristide Bance was sent off in the 27th minute, but Andre Schurrle netted shortly before the hour mark to hand them all three points.

Mainz move up two places into seventh in the Bundesliga, while Cologne remain 13th.

Bance had scored in Mainz's two previous games but his chances of being the hero again today evaporated with less than half an hour gone when he was sent off for elbowing Pedro Geromel in the face as he tried to evade the Cologne defender's attentions.

The hosts could nevertheless have taken the lead nine minutes later when Filip Trojan raced into the area and rounded two defenders before forcing Farid Mondragon into a good save with a close-range effort.

Cologne's best chance came a minute before the break when Milivoje Novakovic's fiercely-struck free-kick from just outside the area was well placed but caused no problems for Mainz goalkeeper Christian Wetklo.

Mainz took the lead in the 57th minute when substitute Chadli Amri, who had just come off the bench, forced his way into the area before crossing the ball to Schurrle for a low unstoppable drive past Mondragon.

The visitors had few chances to level although Lukas Podolski should have done better in the 78th minute when his effort scraped over the crossbar from the edge of the area.

They wasted an even better opportunity two minutes from time when Wetklo parried Kevin McKenna's corner but only as far as Fabrice Ehret who headed over the crossbar from close range.

Hertha Berlin 1-2 Nurnberg

2010-03-14T03:02:00.000+07:00

Hertha Berlin suffered a huge blow to their hopes of avoiding relegation as they went down to a stoppage-time defeat.

Theofanis Gekas gave Hertha the lead in the 36th minute but the Europa League side could not take advantage of their chances and Albert Bunjaku equalised after 61 minutes.

And Nurnberg shocked Berlin in the final minutes as Angelos Charisteas struck the winner a minute into injury time.

Berlin have not won at home in 12 matches and remain stranded in last place in the Bundesliga with just 15 points - nine adrift of safety.

Nurnberg collected their first victory in Berlin since the 1990-91 season to improve to 24 points and 15th place.

Berlin had the first chance after 11 minutes with Raffael getting around Nurnberg keeper Raphael Schäfer, but Dominik Maroh got back to clear his goalbound shot.

The hosts continued to push forward and Gekas stuck the left post five minutes later.

The ball hit the woodwork again after 21 minutes as Schäfer deflected Raffael's shot against the crossbar, and the keeper made another great save from Gekas six minutes later.

But the Greek international finally put Berlin on the scoreboard in the 36th minute. Schäfer blocked Cicero's shot from seven yards but the rebound fell to Gekas, who was able to steer it under the keeper and in.

Hertha continued their push forward but could not beat Schäfer and Nurnberg took advantage of Berlin's missed chances to equalise after 61 minutes. Marcel Risse sent a corner from the left side into the area where Bunjaku headed into the far corner.

Nurnberg were close to taking the lead with 14 minutes to play but Bunjaku blasted a 14-yard shot against the right post.

The visitors remained determined to score again and finally did so a minute into stoppage time. Andreas Ottl sent a through ball to Ilkay Gündogan, who crossed for Charisteas to net the crucial goal from eight yards out.

M'gladbach 0-4 Wolfsburg

2010-03-14T03:00:00.001+07:00

Edin Dzeko inspired Wolfsburg to their fourth straight Bundesliga win with a brace at Borussia Monchengladbach.

Zvjezdan Misimovic put the Wolves ahead in the 41st minute before Dzeko scored his first from the penalty spot in the 49th minute.

Christian Gentner guaranteed Wolfsburg all three points 10 minutes later before Dzeko's 14th goal of the season ensured an even more convincing win for the defending German champions 10 minutes from time.

Wolfsburg have been oozing self-confidence recently with the return to form of Dzeko coinciding with their rise away from relegation danger.

But a 1-1 draw at Rubin Kazan in the Europa League on Thursday had left them moaning the fact they only had 30 hours to recover after a 2,000-mile flight.

Nevertheless, there was no signs of tiredness as Dzeko had two chances to put them ahead in the first half.

Both shots came from similar positions inside the penalty area and both were saved by Monchengladbach goalkeeper Logan Bailly at his near post.

The Wolves took a deserved lead in the 41st minute when Misimovic received the ball 25 yards from goal and threaded it low through the Gladbach defence into the bottom corner of Bailly's goal.

Seconds later, Dzeko missed his third chance of the match with another effort too close to Bailly.

But he notched his 13th of the season early in the second half when Michael Bradley handled the ball inside the penalty area, allowing the Bosnian to double Wolfsburg's lead from the spot.

Juan Arango made it clear that it was not going to be his or Gladbach's day as he blazed his shot over an open goal from an angle.

And Gentner's unstoppable volley from the corner of the penalty area sealed the points for the away team in the 59th minute.

Dzeko added a fourth 10 minutes from time to seal Wolfsburg's fourth win in a row and take them to within six points of fifth-placed Hamburg.

Gladbach will have to start looking over their shoulder again as they slipped to within just eight points of the bottom three.

Scotland 15 England 15

2010-03-14T02:53:00.001+07:00

The Six Nations game between Scotland and England at Murrayfield, Edinburgh, on Saturday, March 13 2010.

The closest of games. If you like your sport taut and tense, if you like passion and commitment and the intense physical brutality which is international rugby these days, then Murrayfield was the place for you.

It was a no-holds barred, compelling contest. But when the bruises begin to subside, both teams will reflect on a missed opportunity.

England, whose title aspirations were all but extinguished by the draw, yet again had real difficulty finishing promising overtures and Scotland still have to win a game in this Six Nations.

The final seconds were almost too tight to watch as Toby Flood, on for an injured Jonny Wilkinson, fired and missed at a long-range shot at goal with the scores level, and it was Flood again whose drop-kick failed to clear rushing Scotland defenders in the final play of the game.

Who knows what would have happened if Wilkinson had been on the pitch in those dying minutes, but I fancy it is highly unlikely that he would have let slip two separate chances for victory.

Scotland would have been entirely justified to cry foul if England had snatched a result. Dan Parks twice hit the posts with penalty shots and referee Marius Jonker was incredibly lenient with England players who killed a lot of ball at the breakdown.

Jonker warned England captain Steve Borthwick three times but declined to send any miscreant to the sin bin. Compared to what has happened elsewhere in this absorbing Six Nations, where players have been binned in a blink of an eye, England were very, very luck indeed.

As for progress? Not much. Neither side can feel content with the result. Murrayfield is traditionally one of the unkindest venues for visiting England teams but that does not excuse their failure to disrupt Scotland.

Towards the end when an avalanche of replacements had entered the fray, England opened up but they were often second best at the primary collisions, their penalty count was too high and the error rate is still not acceptable.

That said, Mark Cueto had a fine match and Ben Foden showed once more that he should be starting England matches, not coming on midway through the contest.

Scotland, too, are no further forward in terms of honing an attacking edge. Their commitment was laudable and their back row grows in stature almost by the minute, but breaks that Chris Cusiter made in the second half have to be finished off.

It was clear from the start that the enmity that has disfigured this fixture over the years was still very much in evidence. The England replacements were subjected to a fusillade of jeers as they tried to keep warm in the in-goal areas and Wilkinson had to take his penalty shots accompanied by a chorus of booing, although there was scattered applause when he went off injured four minutes into the second half.

On the pitch, too, there was the odd skirmish. On the half hour Dylan Hartley was ticked off by referee Jonker after the England hooker had taken exception to a spot of face-pushing by his opposite number, and we were treated to the extraordinary sight of England skipper Steve Borthwick pointing his finger and dissing Scotland captain Chris Cusiter in a break in play. It was all very unedifying.

And all this during a first half which was funereally slow for long passages. England were twice asked to hurry up at the lineout and Delon Armitage, amongst others, seemed to take an age before executing simple clearance kicks from penalties.

Perversely, the dynamic of the match created a curious excitement because when the action switched to fast forward, largely it has to be said when Scotland were attacking, it seemed more frenetic because of the contrast to what had gone on before.

Scotland ended the half 9-6 in front, which was a fair reflection of their effort. Both centres made occasional incursions behind England’s first line of defence, when Mathew Tait and Riki Flutey slipped off tackles, and there was huge industry across Scotland’s back row which clattered into the bigger, bulkier England forwards as they tried to put pace on the game.

However, Scotland’s main tactic early in the match, the wide, hanging kick from Parks, designed to bewitch England’s back three, was a conspicuous failure. England dealt with that well and there were moments when Wilkinson tried to find Ugo Monye, and, later, Armitage, when England looked dangerous.

Their concern, though, was the number of penalties they were forced to concede to protect their try line and the odd handling error, with Louis Deacon at fault on one occasion, which disrupted their rhythm.

England were better at the start of the second period. Mark Cueto, James Haskell, Joe Worsley and Dan Cole combined well in a raid which took England deep into Scotland’s 22 and created the pressure which led to Wilkinson banging over his third penalty to tie the scores at 9-9, but they were never dominant enough or controlled enough to shake off Scotland.

And that was the context of the final quarter as both sides strove to secure the decisive opening. Flood missed and landed penalties, as did Parks, both men serving only to ratchet up the tension by keeping the scores close.

There was also drama of a more unsavoury nature when Kelly Brown clashed heads with Monye, which resulted in the England winger leaving the field on a stretcher, head clamped in a neck brace.

That particular episode caused England to bring on Ben Youngs, a scrum-half by trade, and station him on the wing, but by this time the battle was so brutal, the carnage so complete, that both sides had all but emptied their replacements’ bench.

And maybe that is the final memory to take away from the contest. In the end neither side had the wherewithal to outwit the other. All they could do was hurl bodies into battle.

Ireland 27 Wales 12

2010-03-14T02:50:00.001+07:00

The Six Nations game between Ireland and Wales at Croke Park, Dublin, on Saturday, March 13 2010.

Not the cracker anticipated, instead a comfortable, simple and efficient victory for Ireland in a low-octane match. They did not play particularly well and still won easily: that is never a satisfying spectacle for anyone, especially when a southern hemisphere referee, Craig Joubert, is also making a series of befuddling decisions. So if this was something of a disappointment to the expectant hordes gathered for Brian O'Driscoll's 100th Ireland cap, it was much more than that for Wales.

It was, quite simply, horrible for them. They are now in serious trouble. They are a side that has gone precisely nowhere in this championship. They were extremely fortunate to beat Scotland and a victory over Italy at home next weekend will prove nothing. They did not even especially entertain yesterday: no tries tells a story. The self-publicised `Welsh Way' meant only meandering imprecision and, ultimately, defeat.

Some familiar failings resurfaced: a misfiring, unreliable line-out, a lack of physicality at the breakdown and, most damagingly, poor discipline, a yellow card for Lee Byrne meaning two tries were scored in his absence. Wales were fortunate actually that Jonathan Sexton had a shocker with the boot. The scoreboard might have got very messy otherwise.

Surprisingly, Wales, through Bradley Davies, Jamie Roberts and, occasionally, Gareth Delve, probably crossed the gain-line more often they had all season. The problem was that they could not then do anything with such positions. Support was lacking, quick ball a rarity.

Wales's only hint at a true positive was another excellent performance from young Davies. He is rapidly growing into a lock of some stature. But even he departed injured before the end. So did skipper-for-the-day Martyn Williams. But he was substituted after another below-par effort. His standards are, of course, very high, but you fear for him now. Father Time does not spare even the greats.

As he won't O'Driscoll. Not yet, though, even if he was quiet yesterday; his hands full in defence against Roberts and with rarely an opportunity to attack. He even fluffed a kick badly late on. It was still a day to remember for him, though, and not just because he made one massive late hit on his Lions mate Roberts. He had entered the arena to a rousing, spine-tingling reception. He was not alone- two lucky young mascots accompanied him- but all eyes were on him. It is to his immense credit that there was so little fuss from the man himself. He is just not that type. He simply swung his arms around and waited for his team-mates to arrive. As simple as that.

Ireland's heroes lay elsewhere yesterday. Not Gordon D'Arcy, who departed early to a painful leg injury, but instead scrum-half Tomas O'Leary who had a quite superb match, capped by a first-half opportunist try but typified by an energy and spark that Wales could not match. Lock Paul O'Connell gave a towering performance in both the tight and the loose, Stephen Ferris provided further evidence of a well-earned world-class reputation and Keith Earls, emphasising Ireland's clinical edge in taking limited scoring opportunities, took his two adroitly. Sexton, however, went no further in deciding his personal duel with Ronan O'Gara. He made far too many mistakes, aside from his errant place-kicking. The jury remains out.

Not on Byrne, though. He was guilty, and Wales, as they have done so many times this season, paid dearly. Indeed his first-half sin-binning after a professional foul- slapping the ball out of O'Leary's hands from an offside position- saw 10 points conceded, as Ireland scored two neat tries. First was a snappy effort from Earls after O'Leary had taken a quick tap penalty and O'Driscoll had popped him through a gap with a lovely short pass. Then came an unexpected score for O'Leary after Wales had appeared to have snuffed out an Ireland driving line-out. But suddenly the Irish forwards wheeled open and O'Connell slipped a dextrous pass to O'Leary who screamed through the gaping hole. Leigh Halfpenny could not stop him.

From nip and tuck at 6-3 to the hosts, there was now the daylight of a 16-3 lead. Wales rallied valiantly upon Byrne's return, and Roberts might easily have crossed save for some excellent defence from O'Leary after good approach work from Delve, Davies and Matthew Rees. But they had to content themselves with a penalty. It was 16-6 at the break.

Wales began the second period promisingly. They pounded the Irish line and fancied their scrummage as a threat, as most sides do against Ireland. They even opted for it at a penalty award, but Ireland surprised everyone- prompting the biggest cheer of the afternoon- by pushing Wales off the ball and clearing their lines. It was a crucial moment. Wales never threatened seriously thereafter.

Byrne conceded another silly penalty- throwing the ball into the crowd to prevent a quick Irish throw and Sexton extended the lead. And then, after a Stephen Jones riposte- Wales' only source of points all afternoon- Earls scored his second try after a pre-planned back move appeared to falter but O'Leary looped around and sped through the gap. Desperate defence from Shane Williams was not enough as Earls rolled over and remained in control.

Jones kicked another penalty and Sexton dropped a goal but, in truth, the game could not end soon enough. Ireland's victory, but nobody's glory.

Dwain Chambers wins the men's 60m gold medal

2010-03-14T02:48:00.001+07:00

Dwain Chambers described it as the hardest six seconds of his life though the Londoner made it look easy as he scorched to the gold medal at the World Indoor Championships.

The 31-year-old made it a day of double celebration for Britain after Jessica Ennis’s gold medal 90 minutes earlier, powering to victory in 6.48sec – the fastest time in the world this year.

American Mike Rodgers was second in 6.53sec while Antigua’s Daniel Bailey took the bronze in 6.57sec.

It was Chambers’ first senior global title and vindication for his hard work and perseverance in the face extreme pressure from officialdom following his return to athletics two years ago.

UK Athletics tried to prevent him from taking part in the 2008 World Indoor trials on the grounds that he had not been on the anti-doping register for long enough after his flirtation with American football and it took the threat of legal action from the sprinter to force the governing body to back down.

He went on to win a share of the silver at the World Indoors in Valencia before claiming the European indoor crown, and the European indoor record, in Turin last year.

Now back in the favour with the UK Athletics hierarchy, though still subject to a lifetime Olympic ban, he said his biggest emotion was relief at having confirmed his status as the pre-race favourite.

“I’m just glad it’s over,” he said. “That was the hardest six seconds of my life, but I’m glad I stuck at it and did the best I could.

“I’m pleased to be here. The crowd and other athletes have been very supportive so that helps me to go out there and do my job. I’ve had great support from the UK staff and everybody and I’m just grateful.”

Excluded from most of the world’s big-money invitation meets following his two-year drug ban, Chambers now has to rely on international championships to test himself against the world’s best sprinters. They also offer an opportunity to make a living from his sport.

His first prize in Doha of $40,000 will go some way to ease his financial problems, though 25 per cent will go straight into the coffers of the International Association of Athletics Federations to reduce the debt he owes for prize money earned while on banned drugs.

“Winning was more important but obviously the prize money is going to be a great bonus,” he said. “I’m earning a living now so I’m able to relax a bit more and get on with the summer.”

He admitted that he could not have imagined being hailed as a world sprint champion during his time as would-be American football wide receiver just a few years ago.

“A lot can change you know, and it has, for the better,” he said.

“I was even throwing the bottle up in the air trying to get my football skills but it wasn’t working, so I this is where I’m at. I’m just a happy man. Really happy.”

Jessica Ennis wins gold medal in pentathlon

2010-03-14T02:45:00.002+07:00

Now there is no doubt. After beating two Olympic medallists on her way to her heptathlon world title last summer, Jessica Ennis defeated all three to claim the pentathlon crown at the World Indoor Championships.

What is more, she did so with the third highest pentathlon score of all time, surpassing Kelly Sotherton’s British mark and cementing her reputation as queen of the multi-events.

“It’s mad,” she said. “I can’t believe it. It was hard because having a good year last year meant that everyone was expecting me to win this year so I’m just glad that I’ve delivered and brought home a gold again.”

As in Berlin last year, the Sheffield athlete led from the very first event and was never overtaken, achieving two lifetime bests on her way to a final score of 4,937.

Once again, Ukraine’s Olympic champion, Nataliya Dobrynska, had no answer to the Briton’s all-round running, jumping and throwing ability, finishing in the silver-medal position a distant 86 points behind.

Third was Russian Tatyana Chernova, the bronze medallist in Beijing, while American Hyleas Fountain, the Olympic silver medallist, was fourth.

It is a measure of Ennis’s brilliance that her victory was even tinged with a sense of anti-climax as she missed out on the world record of 4,991 points set 18 years ago by Irina Belova though tainted a year later by the Russian’s four-year ban for drugs.

To achieve the mark, Ennis needed to run 2min 8.78sec or faster in the final event, the 800 metres – more than a second inside her previous best set on an outdoor track.

But after staying on pace for the opening two laps, the weariness set in and she crossed the line in 2min 12.55sec.

The gold medal had been all but guaranteed in the preceding event when a long jump of 6.44m – a distance she has never achieved before inside or outside – left her on top of the standings with one of her strongest events remaining.

With Dobrynska, Chernova and Fountain all weaker on paper, Ennis needed only to avoid falling over to claim her second world crown.

After setting a sizzling 8.04sec in the 60m hurdles, the second fastest in her career, she suffered a scare in the high jump when she rattled the bar with her third and final attempt at 1.90m – a height she normally clears without alarm.

But somehow the bar stayed on its supports and refused to drop, giving Ennis a crucial extra advantage over Fountain, who had set a personal best of 1.87m.

Her first lifetime best of the day came in the shot put, where her 14.01m effort prevented the powerful Dobyrnska from eroding her advantage, before her brilliant performance in the long jump removed any doubt that the crown would be hers.

“The long jump’s been an event I’ve struggled with so much in the past and that’s the best jump I’ve done in a championship heptathlon or pentathlon,” she said.

Next stop will be the European Championships in Barcelona in July, where Ennis will have the chance to extend her dominance over Dobrynska and Chernova.

But for now she is the new queen of Doha. Or make that, Jessica, queen of the desert.

Relieved Yelena Isinbayeva looks forward to pole vault final

2010-03-14T02:41:00.002+07:00

Yelena Isinbayeva qualified for the pole vault final at the World Indoor Championships on her last attempt.

Only months after she was eliminated from the World Outdoor Championships for failing to clear a height, the Olympic champion from Russia was facing the same situation when she prepared for her third and final attempt at 4.55 metres. This time, she made it to Saturday's final.

"Now I am looking forward to the final with the aim to win and break the world record," Isinbayeva said.

It would be her 28th world record overall if she goes beyond five metres on Saturday.

Isinbayeva lost her world championship title in the German capital last August when she failed to clear a height, despite being the overwhelming favorite as the two-time defending champion.

Indoors, she is a three-time defending champion, world record holder and unbeaten this season. But still, she needed all her mental resilience to make it to the final.

In Berlin, she put the bar too high on her opening attempt and paid the price. Despite repeating time and again she had learned her lesson, she again started jumping when everybody else had already finished.

Usually she thrives when all eyes are on her only. This time, she said she was troubled by equipment problems with the bar which forced her to interrupt her preparations two times before her first attempt.

"So I had to wait 30 more minutes," Isinbayeva said. "So of course it's difficult to wait, wait all the time."

Badminton All England 2010: Malaysian Lee Chong Wei reaches final and aims for history

2010-03-14T02:39:00.002+07:00

Lee Chong Wei's dream of becoming only the second Malaysian in 44 years to win the men's singles title at the All England Open moved impressively closer with a brilliantly taken semi-final win.

The top-seeded Olympic silver medallist beat Denmark's Peter Gade, the former All England Badminton champion in 1999, 21-17, 21-14, to earn his second successive final at Britain's national indoor arena.

In the final, Lee will play unheralded Japanese contender Kenichi Tago who confounded the odds to beat Bao Chunlai 18-21 22-20 21-18. Tago became the first Japanese to make the semi-finals in 40 years on Saturday and held off Lin Dan's conqueror to earn his place against the great Malaysian.

Even more impressive was that Lee was dominant from the moments when he turned an early 7-10 deficit into a small lead, gradually edging further away and taking control of more and more of the rallies.

The light-footed Lee did that by keeping the pace uncomfortably high for Gade, who had done superbly well to get past Taufik Hidayat, the former Olympic champion, in three very long games the night before.

That may have cost the brave Dane. Lee, light-footed, energetic, and superbly fit, hustled his 33-year-old opponent without relenting, and apparently without any distress.

"I had a better recovery than Peter," said Lee, referring to his own three-game quarter-final match, against Shon Wan Ho of Korea. "I always felt I had the extra edge."

Though the stats suggest Lee won a high percentage of his points with smashes, the damage was done with his punchy clears, sharp flicks from the front court, and well balanced tumblers at the net, all of which set up openings into which to hit the shuttle to the floor.

"I needed to make things happen on the court," said Gade. "Lee could do that and I can't at the moment."

Gade did, however, try to hang in hard, as he had so superbly against the odds against Hidayat, but the best he could do was haul a 8-13 second deficit back to 13-15. After that Lee accelerated away again.

The finish was brilliant. Lee got to match point with an edgy rally in which both men found net cords with tight little net shots, and closed it out with the shot of the match.

He got Gade in trouble in the forecourt, delayed his shot as though he were somehow slowing down time, and as his opponent placed his weight forward, flicked the shuttle diagonally over Gade's into the back forehand corner.

It made the large Malaysian contingent, which had almost made this feel like a home match for Lee, go wild.

It also gave the match a great finish, and the winner some great impetus to take into a final in which he hopes to make a bit of history.

Without his most frequent obstacle on big occasions, Lin Dan, the Olympic and World champion, the route to a big title for Lee seems much less hazardous.

"It's very important for Malaysia," said Lee, apparently unafraid to admit to the pressure. "I really want to win this title."

All England semi-finals

Men's singles

Kenichi Tago (JPN) bt Bai Chunlai (CHN x6) 18-21, 22-20, 21-18
Lee Chong Wei (MAS x1) bt Peter Gade (DEN x5) 21-17, 21-14

Women's singles

Wang Yihan (CHN x1) bt Wang Xin (CHN x5) 21-17, 26-24
Tine Rasmussen (DEN) bt Saina Nehwal (IND x7) 21-19, 21-17

Women's doubles

Du Jing/Yu Yang (CHN x1) bt Pan Pan/Tian Qing (CHN) 24-22, 21-10

Men's doubles

Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen (DEN x4) bt Guo Zhendong/Xu Chen (CHN x7) 21-16, 21-16
Lars Paaske/Jonas Rasmussen (DEN) bt Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan (INA x3) 14-21, 21-13, 23-21

Australia 2 Germany 1

2010-03-14T02:36:00.002+07:00

Australia have won the Hockey World Cup for the first time in 24 years with a 2-1 victory over defending champions Germany in New Delhi.

Luke Doerner scored the winning penalty corner 11 minutes from the end after Edward Ockenden had put Australia ahead in the sixth minute and Moritz Furste drew level for Germany in the 48th.

Doerner's eighth goal in the tournament made him the joint leading scorer with another penalty corner specialist Taeke Taekema of Holland.

Australia, whose previous Hockey World Cup title came way back in 1986, had lost the last two finals against Germany in 2002 and 2006.

The Germans, hoping to become the first team in history to bag a hat-trick of titles to add to the Beijing Olympic gold medal two years ago, were outpaced by the speedy Australians.

Australia's legendary coach Ric Charlesworth watched the final from the stands behind the goal, rather than on the bench, just as he had done in the semi-final against the Netherlands.

Charlesworth, who was part of Australia's Cup winning squad in 1986, became only the second man after Dutchman Hans Jorritsma to win the World Cup both as a player and coach.

Holland 4 England 3

2010-03-14T02:33:00.001+07:00

Holland fought back from a 3-1 half-time deficit to end England's hopes of a bronze-medal finish in the third and fourth place classification game at the Hockey World Cup in Delhi.

Rogier Hofman scored the winning goal three minutes before the final whistle to give teammate and veteran goalkeeper Guus Vogels the perfect retirement present.

Vogels, who turns 35 later this month, was named the Dutch captain instead of Teun de Nooijer for the bronze medal match, his last international game after earning 259 caps for his country.

European champions England, hoping for a podium finish for the first time since winning the silver medal at the Hockey World Cup in 1986, were swept aside in the second half by a determined Dutch side.

European champions England, hoping for a podium finish for the first time since winning the silver medal in 1986, were swept aside in the second half by a determined Dutch side.

"It is absolutely devastating," said England captain Barry Middleton. "All the hard work we have done in the tournament has come to nothing because we failed to win a medal.

"We just did not do the little things well in the match. It was our worst game in the tournament."

De Nooijer put the Netherlands ahead in the 22nd minute, before two goals from penalty-corner specialist Ashley Jackson and one from Alastair Brogdon helped England snatch a comfortable lead.

Dutch penalty-corner expert Taeke Taekema scored his eighth goal in the tournament to make it 2-3 in the 48th minute, before Klaas Vermeulen equalised six minutes later.

Hofman, who had a goal disallowed by the video umpire in the 13th minute, scored in the 67th minute to seal his team's emphatic win.

The Dutch will take the World Cup podium for the first time since 2002 when they won the bronze medal in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.

Defending champions Germany are due to meet strong challengers Australia in the final later today.

Elena Baltacha reaches third round at Indian Wells

2010-03-14T02:26:00.001+07:00

Elena Baltacha is through to the third round of the BNP Paribas Open with an impressive but hard-fought victory over seventh-seed Na Li of China.

Baltacha triumphed 7-6 (10-8), 2-6, 7-6 (9-7) in a marathon match that lasted almost three hours in Indian Wells.

Baltacha, a qualifier, now advances to play Australian wildcard Alicia Molik, who beat Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (5-3).

On her victory, Baltacha said: "It's an unbelievable feeling.

"I knew that the start of the third set that I'd have to be at another level definitely, because I couldn't carry on how I did in the second set. Basically I just thought, right, this is your opportunity. This is it."

Baltacha admitted to feeling fatigued, but showed battling qualities to take the win.

She added: "You've got to rise above it, even if you're a bit tired. You've just got to go for it.

"I don't think she was playing 100 per cent, and I thought, you've got a big shot here. You've really got to up it."

Despite being behind in the final set tie-breaker Baltacha showed reserves of strength to come through.

"At 1-5 down in the tiebreaker, I just went into the zone and I felt really strong and I just fought my heart out," she said.

"I was stunned on match point. I think it kind of took me like 10 seconds to actually realize that she hit that backhand wide."

Justine Henin will not be repeating her heroics of the Australian Open in Indian Wells after crashing out in the second round.

The Belgian, who completed a remarkable comeback from a 19-month retirement by making it to the final in Australia last month, went out 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 to Argentinian Gisela Dulko.

American Vania King went close to upsetting second-seeded Carolina Wozniacki - taking a 4-1 lead in the third set - but eventually lost 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 to the Dane.

Fourth seed Elena Dementieva was also tested before beating Olga Govortsova of Belarus 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 to go through.

Fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska had a much easier time of it, however, going through when Russia's Anna Chakvetadze retired hurt while trailing 6-2, 5-3.

Tenth seed Maria Sharapova fought back to beat fellow Russian Vera Dushevina 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.

Also going through were Jill Craybas, Marion Bartoli, Francesca Schiavone, Aravane Rezai, Kirsten Flipkens, Zheng Jie, Nadia Petrova, Shuai Peng and Maria Kirilenko.

Henin crashes out at Indian Wells

2010-03-14T02:24:00.001+07:00

Justine Henin will not be repeating her heroics of the Australian Open at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells after crashing out in the second round.

The Belgian, who completed a remarkable comeback from a 19-month retirement by making it to the final in Australia last month, went out 6-2 1-6 6-4 to Argentinian Gisela Dulko.

American Vania King went close to upsetting second-seeded Carolina Wozniacki - taking a 4-1 lead in the third set - but eventually lost 5-7 6-2 6-4 to the Dane.

Fourth seed Elena Dementieva was also tested before beating Olga Govortsova of Belarus 6-4 4-6 6-0 to go through.

Fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska had a much easier time of it, however, going through when Russia's Anna Chakvetadze retired hurt while trailing 6-2 5-3.

Tenth seed Maria Sharapova fought back to beat fellow Russian Vera Dushevina 4-6 7-5 6-2.

Also going through were Jill Craybas, Marion Bartoli, Francesca Schiavone, Aravane Rezai, Kirsten Flipkens, Elena Baltacha, Alicia Molik, Zheng Jie, Nadia Petrova, Shuai Peng and Maria Kirilenko.

Nalbandian and Blake through

2010-03-14T02:16:00.001+07:00

David Nalbandian and James Blake both safely negotiated their way through the first round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

The Argentinian wild-card saw off qualifier Stefan Koubek of Austria 6-2 7-6 (7/2) while the American Blake blew past Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-3 6-2.

However, France's Richard Gasquet lost a tough battle against Simon Greul of Germany, going down 7-6 (10/8) 7-6 (9/7).

Two wild-cards made swift exits as American Jesse Levine lost to Israeli Dudi Sela 6-2 6-2 while fellow American Robby Ginepri lost 2-6 7-5 (7/5) 6-3 to Italian Andreas Seppi.

Also going through were Victor Hanescu, Arnaud Clement, Sergiy Stakhovsky, Thiemo De Bakker, Yen-Hsun Lu, Michael Russell, Nicolas Almagro, Marinko Matosevic, Ricardo Mello, Paul-Henri Mathieu and Evgeny Korolev.

Gautam Gambhir stars in tense Delhi win

2010-03-14T01:53:00.002+07:00

Delhi Daredevils 146 for 5 (Gambhir 72, Manhas 30*, Sreesanth 2-24) beat Kings XI Punjab 142 for 9 (Bopara 56, Nannes 2-12, Maharoof 2-37) by five wickets.

Scorecard

In his first match as IPL captain, Gautam Gambhir followed up inspired moves in the field with an old-fashioned innings full of sensible strokeplay and saved a glittering batting line-up the blushes in a straightforward chase of 143 on a flat pitch. It was thanks to disconcerting bowling from Dirk Nannes and timely big wickets for Farveez Maharoof that Delhi were chasing a paltry total, but Gambhir had to counter the regularly falling wickets and rising required rate to take his team home.

Sreesanth, who somehow nudged and edged nine runs in the final over to give himself something to bowl at, made the most of the extra few runs at Kings XI Punjab's disposal. He swung the ball beautifully, taking out Virender Sehwag and Tillakaratne Dilshan in his first over, and gave away just 15 in his first spell of three overs.

While sizeable contributions from the other end didn't arrive, Gambhir was not going to contribute to Punjab's cause. He ran hard, hit only one shot in the air before the six in the 19th over, never let the required rate reach unmanageable proportions, and got out with only three runs required. The main feature of the innings was the cut shot: the bat face opened at just the right time, at just the right angle, playing around with the point and third-man fieldsmen.

From 10 for 2 he took Delhi to 45 for 3 with AB de Villiers for company, and to 79 for 4 with Dinesh Karthik. By the time Karthik fell, Gambhir had paced himself to 37 off 34, but 64 required off 46 was just about entering the tricky territory. In the next over, though, Gambhir took 15 runs off five Ramesh Powar deliveries to turn the game Delhi's way. Nine of those came off shots either side of deep point.

A two-run 17th over by Yuvraj Singh gave Punjab an outside chance, with 26 required off the last three, but when Irfan Pathan dropped Mithun Manhas in the 19th over, it was all over for Punjab. That Gambhir batted through the innings meant he ran up and down the pitch 71 times. A cramping Gambhir towards the end wasn't what Delhi would have envisaged after a commendable fielding effort.

Nannes was too quick, Maharoof too opportunistic, and Delhi's fielders too alert for Ravi Bopara's 48-ball 56. Regular wickets punctuated Punjab's innings. Nannes went for just 12 runs in his four overs, and Maharoof claimed the big scalps of Kumar Sangakkara and Yuvraj Singh.

Bopara got support from Irfan - out of India's preliminary squad for World Twenty20 but fit enough to start for Punjab - during a 60-run fifth-wicket partnership, but they would have always felt it not enough.

Sharp fielding, Nannes' awkward bounce, and Maharoof's capitalising on the pressure left the lower middle order with too much to do. Manhas started Punjab's slide with a direct hit to remove Manvinder Bisla. Sangakkara, Punjab's new captain, came out counterattacking, but Gambhir persisted with Maharoof despite his 18-run fourth over.

Maharoof repaid the faith by removing Sangakkara and Yuvraj in his next over, both to softish dismissals. Sangakkara flicked him straight to short fine leg, and Gambhir himself took a back-pedalling catch at mid-off to get rid of Yuvraj.

That it was the last delivery of the Powerplay could have had something to do with Yuvraj's shot selection. Mahela Jayawardene, though, edged the first delivery after the Powerplay, a straight angling delivery from Pradeep Sangwan.

Bopara and Irfan applied themselves, also enjoyed some good fortune through edged boundaries to the third-man area, but another inspired move from Gambhir started the second collapse for Punjab. Tillakaratne Dilshan was given the ball in the 14th over, and Irfan - responsible until then - jumped out of the crease and missed a straight delivery.

Mohammad Kaif was stumped to a wide flighted delivery from Amit Mishra, and Bopara hit a low full toss straight to deep square leg. At 113 for 7 in the 16th over, Nannes and Maharoof against the tail was always going to be an unfair contest.

Mumbai survive special Yusuf ton

2010-03-14T01:47:00.002+07:00

Mumbai Indians 212 for 6 (Rayudu 55, Tiwary 53, Mascarenhas 2-34) beat Rajasthan Royals 208 for 7 (Yusuf 100, Dogra 41, Malinga 2-22) by 4 runs.

Scorecard

The second-fastest Twenty20 hundred, a 37-ball assault from Yusuf Pathan, as delicate as it was brutal, wasn't enough on a day in which precious little was contributed by the other Rajasthan Royals players. Despite Mumbai Indians piling on their biggest score in the IPL, it required special death bowling from Zaheer Khan and Lasith Malinga to deny Rajasthan 19 runs in the last two overs.

Yusuf's onslaught came after Mumbai's youngsters Ambati Rayudu, considered unlucky to have not played for India yet, and Saurabh Tiwary powered the home side to what seemed a massive total, but it turned out to be one that just about dodged the Yusuf-shaped bullet.

The it's-good-to-be-back ad campaign of the IPL could well have been meant exclusively for Yusuf. In his first innings back in India, he shook a dying match up and gave Mumbai a right scare. The Yusuf show began when Rajasthan needed 143 off 57. He scored 54 off the next 11 balls he faced, 26 other deliveries got him 46, and when he finally got out he left Rajasthan 40 to get off 17 deliveries.

Of the nine fours and eight sixes he hit in a frenetic period of play, three shots stood out - and they were not sixes. The length deliveries and full tosses were all murdered, but in the 13th over - he was 57 off 22 by then - Ryan McLaren bowled a decent enough yorker to him. Yusuf opened the face late, beautifully late, and guided it for four. The next ball was not more than a couple of inches short of being a yorker, but on the stumps, and he managed to get under it, and still hit it to long-off for four. The third yorker of the over was neither wide nor straight, in between, and he leaned back to make space and steered it even later than the one before. More brutal hits preceded a moment of inspiration for Mumbai.

Arguably the best fielder in India, R Satish, returning from ICL, followed up his direct-hit run-out and a terrific caught-and-bowled with Yusuf's dismissal. He bowled full and straight to Paras Dogra, the other batsman, then dived in his follow through to field the ball, and reverse-flicked - blind to the stumps - to catch a backing-up Yusuf short.

Dogra, who had scored 18 off 20 in the 107-run stand until then, opened up in the same over, and hit two fours and two sixes to bring down the target to 19 off 12.

Zaheer and Malinga, though, with Harbhajan Singh injured and not available to bowl, performed like champs. Eleven near-yorkers from the duo in the last two overs meant even the two wides they bowled were not enough for Rajasthan.

It was fitting for Mumbai that Indian cricketers helped them come back at crucial times: they had become the first team in the three seasons of IPL to play with only three overseas players. Kapil Dev and friends could afford a wee smile too. Rayudu, Sathish and Ali Murtaza - who took a wicket with his first ball - are all returning from the ICL.

Rayudu and Tiwary added 110 runs in 63 balls to help Mumbai Indians recover from a triple-strike in the first third of the innings. Shane Warne didn't have to wait too long to find out if Tendulkar "will open and face [Shaun] Tait", with Tendulkar walking out to open with Sanath Jayasuriya.

Jayasuriya took apart Dimitri Mascarenhas, and Tendulkar did the honours for Tait, taking 10 runs from the four balls that Tait bowled to him. Mascarenhas hit back with two wickets in one over, and at 70 for 3 in 6.3 overs, the onus was on the Indian batsmen.

Rayudu immediately showed glimpses of what made observers talk of him as a potential international. He wristily flicked the first ball he faced for four, lest anybody forget he's from Hyderabad.

It was just as well that Tendulkar didn't survive long enough to give the viewers the much-awaited contest against Warne: the latter was off colour, going for 29 runs in three overs. There was no turn for Warne, and he bowled too many half-volleys. Tiwary took full toll, and hit him down the ground for two fours and a six. By the time Warne took himself off, Mumbai had reached 121 in 12 overs. Tiwary had reached 26, and Rayudu 23, off 17 balls each.

Part-time offbreaks from Abhishek Jhunjhunwala and Yusuf went for full-time hitting. Rayudu hit three successive Jhunjhunwala deliveries for a huge six and fours either side of long-on. When he next smacked a six off Yusuf, he had reached 53 off just 30 deliveries, and Mumbai had rocketed to 166 in 16.3.

Tiwary reached his fifty by hitting Amit Uniyal, whose change-up delivery was the quicker one, to the long-on boundary. In fact it was all clean hitting down the ground from the two: out of the 108 they scored between them, only 16 came behind square.

Rayudu and Tiwary didn't see the innings to the close, but Harbhajan Singh and Ryan McLaren contributed to Tait's horror day, taking 22 off his last two overs. Each one of those runs mattered in the end.

Swann and Broad cement England's control

2010-03-14T01:40:00.002+07:00

Bangladesh 154 for 5 (Tamim 81*, Shahadat 0*, Swann 3-40) trail England 599 for 6 (Cook 173, Collingwood 145, Pietersen 99, Bell 84) by 445 runs.

Scorecard

Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad shared five wickets as England built on a commanding batting display by reducing Bangladesh to 154 for 5 at Chittagong, but Tamim Iqbal at least provided some resistance with a combative, unbeaten 81. Paul Collingwood's 10th Test hundred, and a stand of 184 in 35 overs with Ian Bell, propelled the visitors' total to 599 for 6 and despite a counterattack by Tamim and Mahmudullah Bangladesh have a huge task to even take the game five days.

The match was crying out for an element of competitiveness from Bangladesh after an insipid performance in the field and Tamim's performance at least ensured the England attack weren't given as easy a ride as the batsmen. However, Swann's removal of Mahmudallah and Shakib Al Hasan before the close were huge blows for the home side who still need 246 to save the follow on

Tamim's 125 in the one-day series displayed the talent he holds, but if Bangladesh are to develop as a Test nation those innings have to be played over the longer format and Tamim's contest with the England attack became the most compelling part of the match. He impressively restrained his attacking instincts as the close approached and also had the technique to withstand the quicks.

That couldn't be said of his first two partners as Broad exploited a glaring weakness against the short ball to remove Imrul Kayes and Junaid Siddique in the 30-minute passage before tea following Alastair Cook's positive declaration. Both batsmen had no idea how to handle the short deliveries as Broad proved comfortably the quickest bowler of the match and extracted disconcerting lift.

When Swann continued his extraordinary knack of striking in his first over, removing Aftab Ahmed courtesy of alert anticipation at short leg by Bell and a dubious decision, Bangladesh were tottering on 51 for 3 and it was threatening to become a walkover. But Tamim was joined by Mahmudullah, who scored a maiden Test century on the recent tour of New Zealand to follow impressive contributions against India, and together the pair revived the innings with a stand of 94. The stand served as a reminder that once the Kookaburra ball loses its hardness wicket-taking proves hard work.

Tamim became the quickest Bangladesh player to pass 1000 Test runs - in 29 innings - as he reached a half century from 53 balls. The knock included a hooked six off Broad and he latched onto Steven Finn's first spell in Tests as a three-over burst cost 25.

Mahmudullah offered stylish support and justified his elevation up the order following the hasty reshuffle of the line-up after Raqibul Hasan's 'retirement'. He drove confidently through the off side, but the pick of his shots was a six straight against Swann. However, shortly after reaching fifty Swann had revenge when Mahmudullah gloved a sweep and a skilled set-up by the bowler did for Shakib who tried to drive inside-out.

England paced their innings perfectly with Collingwood and Bell stepping on the gas to plunder the bowling in the afternoon. Collingwood struck a single boundary between his fifty and his hundred - and that appeared to deflect of pad rather than bat - but after reaching three figures off 157 balls he began to pepper the boundary in one-day style. Midwicket, both along the ground and in the air, is Collingwood's area and he toyed with the Bangladesh spinners.

So, too, did Bell although he has not made such easy runs since the 162 he plundered off Bangladesh during his third Test in 2005. The bowling was barely first-class standard, let alone Test quality. In contrast to Collingwood's rustic thumping, Bell was elegance personified as he regularly skipped down the pitch to counter the leg-stump line of the spinners and fed the ball through the off side with inside-out drives. He was given the chance to become the third century-maker of the innings but fell to a well-judged boundary catch which signalled the declaration.

That smart piece of work from Rubel Hossain at long off was the exception rather than the rule as the fielding disintegrated, while Mushfiqur Rahim continued to be a liability behind the stumps. Bangladesh had long-since given up the pretence of trying to bowl England out and it was clear from the start of play, when Shakib removed all the slips, that they were just waiting for the visitors to score as many as they wanted.

Cook ticked past his previous career-best of 160 against West Indies, at Chester-le-Street, last year but continued England's lack of double hundreds when he pulled a long hop back to the bowler. England's last was by Kevin Pietersen in 2007 and there have only been seven since Graham Gooch, Cook's mentor, hit 333 against India in 1990. But while the double eluded the new captain, a Test victory is well within his grasp.

Catania 3-1 Inter Milan

2010-03-13T09:38:00.001+07:00

Catania threw the Serie A title race open and took a giant step towards securing their own future in the top flight by beating 10-man Inter Milan.

Diego Milito put the Nerazzurri in front in the 54th minute, but Catania refused to accept defeat and Maxi Lopez equalised 20 minutes later.

Sulley Muntari was sent off after only two minutes on the field as he gave away a penalty which was converted by Giuseppe Mascara in the 81st minute.

And Jorge Martinez sealed a deserved and important win for the Rosazzurri in the last minute as Inter showed weaknesses ahead of their trip to Chelsea in the Champions League next week.

Their lead at the top of the table could be cut to just one point if AC Milan beat Chievo on Sunday night while Catania move eight points clear of the bottom three.

Catania started brightly, taking the game to their guests with a great degree of confidence.

They had an excellent chance to go ahead in the 12th minute when Adrian Ricchiuti found himself alone in front of Julio Cesar, but his shot was saved.

Marco Materazzi got in the way of his goalkeeper as he tried to pounce on the loose ball and a goalmouth scramble ensued in which Catania had several more chances to score before Ciro Capuano's shot from outside the penalty area was blazed over.

Catania failed to make their early dominance count and Inter slowed the play down to suit their own style of play and frustrate the home team.

They had to wait until the 34th minute for their first shot on goal, though, but it was an easy save for Andujar from Wesley Sneijder's angled effort.

Ricchiuti then had another chance with just Julio Cesar to beat, but Lucio threw himself desperately at the ball and managed to do enough to put the Catania midfielder off and even deflect his shot wide.

Inter emerged for the second half with a lot more conviction and they were ahead in the 54th minute when a long ball from Dejan Stankovic cut through the Catania defence and picked out Samuel Eto'o.

He looked up and saw Milito alongside him and gave the Argentinian a simple tap-in to put the Nerazzurri ahead.

Catania responded well, though, and Mascara sent a low free-kick just wide of Julio Cesar's goal in the 58th minute.

They seemed to be tiring and in need of a moment of inspiration, and they got it in the 75th minute with Lopez netting his third goal in Italian football.

He beat Lucio to Martinez's low cross and lifted the ball into the roof of the net from six yards.

The Sicilians suddenly found themselves in the ascendancy and Muntari gifted them the chance to go ahead with probably one of the quickest red cards in Serie A history.

He had been on the field only a few seconds when he was shown a yellow card for a foul on the edge of the penalty area and he deliberately handled the resulting free-kick inside the box to earn a second booking and give Catania a penalty.

Mascara cheekily chipped his spot-kick straight down the middle to send the Stadio Massimino wild.

And they were ripped from their seats again in the final minute when Martinez dribbled past Lucio from the left and slotted the ball past Julio Cesar to seal a remarkable victory for Catania.

Schalke 2-1 Stuttgart

2010-03-13T09:37:00.002+07:00