Clarke: comparisons pointless, Australia is ready

November 20, 2013

Brisbane, Nov 20: Michael Clarke is giving nothing away on the eve of the Ashes. Not his starting XI, not comparisons between this and the previous series, not praise nor predictions, not even observations on England.

clarke

Outwardly, the captaincy style harks back to another era, back in the mid-1980s when Australia was struggling in the international arena.

And with good reason -- England is in Australia with a settled squad and favored to win a fourth consecutive Ashes series for the first time since the 1880s.

Clarke and the Australians will have to be at their grittiest best to stop them.

Australia's squad is more settled than it was during the tumultuous buildup to the last Ashes series in England, which only finished in August with the home team as 3-0 victors.

England has won eight of the last 15 Ashes tests, and won four of the five Ashes series since ending Australia's dominating run with a home triumph in 2005.

In the weeks leading up to the last Ashes series, Cricket Australia fired South African Mickey Arthur as coach -- bringing in former test batsman Darren Lehmann as a late replacement -- and suspended opener David Warner after a night club incident.

The squad never seemed to recover, but is outwardly showing signs of growing confidence ahead of a home series.

"We've played a lot more cricket now as a group. The five tests in England helped us as a group," Clarke told a news conference today at the Gabba, less than 24 hours before the five-test series was due to start.

"It would be silly to compare where we were then compared with where we are now. Different series, different conditions."

Rival players have been trading barbs in the media and on social networks in recent days, with Kevin Pietersen and Stuart Broad having plenty to say for England, and Warner and co. firing salvos from Australia.

It's all hype, Clarke said, and means nothing come Thursday morning. He didn't respond to questions about Broad, Pietersen's 100th test cap or the chances of wicketkeeper Matt Prior recovering from injury to play in the first test for England.

The Australian lineup is more stable than it was five months ago, with Shane Watson recovering from a hamstring strain to take his place at the top of the order and also offering to bowl some overs if he's needed to cover the pace group of Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle and the returning Mitch Johnson.

Clarke said he knows his batting lineup from No. 1-7, but won't reveal it until after the starting XI is announced before the toss.

The only uncertainty seems to be whether Australia will play spinner Nathan Lyon or go for another pace option with allrounder James Faulkner.

Warner returned midway through the last Ashes series but didn't cement his spot in the order, and was one of six batsmen tried at No. 6 as selectors searched for a replacement for the retired Mike Hussey.

He was dropped from a subsequent limited-overs tour to India but has regained form with multiple centuries in domestic cricket and will open the innings.

George Baily earned a shot to bat at No. 6 on the basis of his form while leading Australia in India when Clarke was sidelined with a back problem. That should be the only change at the top of the order from the team Australia fielded in the fifth test at The Oval.

Clarke batted and bowled in the nets on Wednesday, and said he's ready to contribute with bat and ball if required in Brisbane.

Australia hasn't lost a test at the Gabba in 25 years, and the Brisbane venue has become something of a fortress as the start of each test series.

"The belief is there," Clarke said. "Hopefully we'll show that over the next five test matches."

Australia (from): David Warner, Chris Rogers, Shane Watson, Michael Clarke (captain), Steve Smith, George Bailey, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle, Ryan Harris, Nathan Lyon, James Faulkner.

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News Network
February 9,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 9: Defending champions India are overwhelming favourites to win a record fifth U19 World Cup title on Sunday but a tough fight is expected from first-timers Bangladesh in an all-Asian final.

If the India squad for the 2018 edition had the likes of Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill, who have expectedly gone on to play for the senior team, the exploits of opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, spinner Ravi Bishnoi and pacer Kartik Tyagi in the current edition have made them overnight stars.

Irrespective of what happens in the final, India have reinforced the fact that they are undisputed leaders at the under-19 level and the cricketing structure the BCCI has developed is working better than any other board in the world.

India, who walloped arch-rivals Pakistan by 10 wickets in the semifinal Tuesday, will be playing their seventh final since 2000 when they lifted the trophy for the first time.

Having said that, success at the U-19 level doesn’t guarantee success at the highest level as not all players have the ability to go on and play for India. Some also lose their way like Unmukt Chand did after leading India to the title in 2012.

His career promised so much back then but now it has come to a stage where he is struggling to make the eleven in Uttarakhand’s Ranji Trophy team, having shifted base from Delhi last year.

Only the exceptionally talented like Shaw and Gill get to realise their dream as the competition is only getting tougher in the ever-improving Indian cricket.

India probably is the only side which fields a fresh squad in every U-19 World Cup edition and since there is no dearth of talent and a proper structure is in place, the talent keeps coming up.

“The fact that we allow a cricketer to play the U-19 World Cup only once is a big reason behind the team’s success. While most teams have cricketers who have played in the previous edition,” India U-19 fielding coach Abhay Sharma said from Potchefstroom.

“It just goes to show that the system under the visionary leadership of Rahul Dravid (NCA head) is flourishing. Credit to BCCI as well that other teams want to follow our structure.”

Heading to the mega event, India colts played about 30-odd games in different part of the world. To get used to the South African conditions, they played a quadrangular series before they played their World Cup opener against Sri Lanka.

In the final, India run into Bangladesh, a team which too has reaped the benefits of meticulous planning since their quarterfinal loss at the 2018 edition.

Though the Priyam Garg-led Indian side got the better of them in the tri-series in England and Asia Cup last year, Bangladesh has always come up with a fight and fielding coach Sharma expects it would be no different Sunday.

They are a very good side. There is a lot of mutual respect. I can tell you that,” he said.

Considering it is their maiden final, it is a bigger game for Bangladesh. If they win, it will be sweet revenge against the sub-continental giants, who have found a way to tame Bangladesh at the senior level in close finals including the 2018 Nidahas Trophy and 2016 World T20.

“We don’t want to take unwanted pressure. India is a very good side. We have to play our ‘A’ game and do well in all three departments. Our fans are very passionate about their cricket. I would want to tell them, keep supporting us,” said Bangladesh skipper Akbar Ali after their semifinal win over New Zealand.

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Agencies
August 3,2020

Silverstone, Aug 2: Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton on Sunday won his seventh British Grand Prix title after a dramatic last-lap at the Silverstone Circuit.

Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas were at the first and second spot respectively until tyre drama struck.

Second-placed man Bottas was the first to suffer as his tyre deflated on lap 50, resulting in 11th place finish. Hamilton also suffered a similar issue before the final few seconds of the race.

However, with Max Verstappen having opted to pit a few laps from the end to try and claim the fastest lap, Hamilton had enough time in hand to just cross the line first, five seconds ahead of Verstappen and the third-placed Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

McLaren's Carlos Sainz had been set to finish fourth, but his own last lap tyre issue saw him eventually come home P13, allowing Renault's Daniel Ricciardo to claim fourth, following a late pass on the sister McLaren of Lando Norris.

Renault's Esteban Ocon finished sixth, having enjoyed a race-long battle with Lance Stroll's Racing Point, with Pierre Gasly having enjoyed a fine race to finish seventh for AlphaTauri.

Alex Albon finished eighth for Red Bull, having recovered from a lap 1 tussle with the Haas of Kevin Magnussen that saw him fall to last, while Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top 10, Vettel holding off a late charge form the recovering Mercedes of Bottas.

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News Network
January 28,2020

Gibraltar, Jan 28: Young Indian Grand Master R Praggnanandhaa pulled off a huge upset, beating former world champion Veselin Topalov in the sixth round of the 18th Gibraltar chess festival to record his fifth straight win here.

The 14-year-old Chennai lad needed just 33 moves to put it across the Bulgarian. He had started with a loss against compatriot P V Nandhidhaa but since then he has been on a winning spree.

Praggnanandhaa, who recently won the world under-18 title, said: "It was very tough to prepare against him."

He is in second spot on five points with six other players and will take on Chinese GM Wang Hao in the seventh round.

Seventeen-year-old Russian GM Andrey Esipenko jumped to sole lead with 5.5 points with a win over Georgia's Ivan Cheparinov

The Russian player would be unpaired in the seventh round as he decided to take a bye.

A bunch of players including Indians — B Adhiban, K Sasikiran, Shardul Gagare, Karthikeyan Murali, SL Narayanan — are in joint third place with 4.5 points.

Adhiban beat Gabriel Flom, while D Gukesh, the world's second youngest Grand Master ever, defeated Martin Percivaldi to move to four points.

Also winning were Karthikeyan Murali against Qi B Chen and Gagare over France's Maxime Lagarde.

Top-seed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov's moderate run continued as he was held to a draw by GM Aryan Chopra.

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