England fight back with Cook, Compton centuries

March 9, 2013

Cook_Compton_centuries

Dunedin, Mar 9: A double century stand by Alastair Cook and Nick Compton pulled England off the ropes and into a relatively safe position in the first Test against New Zealand today.

Batting on a placid University Oval wicket in Dunedin, the pair put on 231 for the first wicket before Cook was out for 116 while Compton posted his maiden Test century to be not out 102.

At stumps, England were 234 for one, 59 runs short of making New Zealand bat again with only one day remaining in the rain-interrupted Test.

After facing 252 deliveries in more than five-and-a-half hours, Cook was dismissed 14 balls before stumps when he edged Trent Boult to wicketkeeper BJ Watling.

New Zealand had declared their first innings at 460 for nine in the morning session on Saturday, a comprehensive 293 runs ahead of England's first innings 167.

But their bowlers were unable to reproduce their first innings domination as Cook and Compton cruised through most of the day.

Compton had a scare on 16 when New Zealand appealed for a catch down the leg-side but both the appeal and review were turned down, and both Cook and Compton

narrowly made their ground taking cheeky singles late in the day.

But other than that their innings were chanceless -- easily countering what swing Neil Wagner could muster on the same wicket where he bagged four first innings wickets -- until Cook fell just before stumps.

Until then, Cook and Compton's resistance had been formidable and without fanfare with Compton showing no sign of the pressure he was under to retain his place in the side after a four-ball duck in the first innings.

He could not disguise his delight as he jumped in the air and pumped his fists after flicking Tim Southee to midwicket to bring up his hundred knowing he had played a vital role in getting England out of trouble and probably saving his Test career.

England's measured approach was in contrast to the New Zealand onslaught when they resumed the day at 402 for seven and declared at 460 for nine.

In a whirlwind opening session, they cracked 58 runs in less than nine overs as Brendon McCullum raced from 44 to 74 and Bruce Martin advanced from 17 to 41.

McCullum declared after the dismissal of the overnight pair to give his bowlers more than an hour before lunch to attack the England line-up.

But with conditions weighted heavily in favour of the batsmen, the bowlers struggled to make an impact and a draw was looming as the likely outcome.

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Agencies
February 7,2020

Sydney, Feb 7: "I received a message from Brett Lee," said former India cricketer Sachin Tendulkar on Friday when asked as to who recruited him to take part in the Bushfire relief fundraiser match.

Tendulkar will be coaching the Ponting XI in the upcoming Bushfire Bash on Sunday, February 9 at the Junction Oval.

"I received a message from Brett Lee. Brett said that Kevin (Roberts, Cricket Australia's chief executive) would like to be in touch with you. It was a no-brainer. From the moment I was asked, I said, 'yes I'm more than happy to come here," cricket.com.au quoted Tendulkar as saying.

Bushfire Bash was originally slated to be played at Sydney on Saturday but weather forecast prompted Cricket Australia to reschedule the game to ensure the best possible pitch and outfield conditions for the final of Big Bash League.

The match will be played to raise funds and all match profits will go to the Australian Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund.

"This is an alarming situation, it's catastrophic - that's an understatement. You see the number of lives it has affected, not only humans but also wildlife which sometimes people don't talk about. That is equally important. I'm so happy I'm here in whatever way to support the cause, to raise money," Tendulkar said.

Ponting XI: Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Ricky Ponting (c), Elyse Villani, Brian Lara, Phoebe Litchfield, Brad Haddin (wk), Brett Lee, Wasim Akram, Dan Christian, Luke Hodge. Coach: Sachin Tendulkar

Gilchrist XI: Adam Gilchrist (c & wk), Shane Watson, Brad Hodge, Yuvraj Singh, Alex Blackwell, Andrew Symonds, Courtney Walsh, Nick Riewoldt, Peter Siddle, Fawad Ahmed (one more to be announced). Coach: Tim Paine

The Bushfire Bash exhibition match will be a 10-overs-per-side contest, with a five-over Powerplay, no bowling restrictions, and batters unable to get out from the first ball they face.

Bowlers will not have over limits, fielders can sub on and off as it suits, while captains will have the ability to sub batters in and out during an innings.

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News Network
March 31,2020

New Delhi, Mar 31: Australia batsman David Warner on Tuesday decided to shave off his head to show support towards all those people who are working relentlessly on the frontline in the battle against coronavirus.

After shaving off his head, Warner also challenged his Australian team-mate Steve Smith and India skipper Virat Kohli to do the same.

Warner, shared a time-lapse video on Instagram, of him shaving his head, and captioned the post as: "Been nominated to shave my head in support of those working on the frontline #Covid-19 here is a time-lapse. I think my debut was the last time I recall I've done this. Like it or not".

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Australia's death toll stands at 19, as per the Sydney Morning Herald.

As of 8 am today, 4460 people across Australia have tested positive for COVID-19.

The World Health Organisation had termed coronavirus as a 'pandemic' on March 11.

Earlier in the day, Australia Test skipper Tim Paine also confirmed that the side's tour of Bangladesh is unlikely due to the virus spread.
"You don't have to be Einstein to realise (the Bangladesh tour) is probably unlikely to go ahead, particularly in June. Whether it's cancelled or pushed back, we're not quite sure at the moment," cricket.com.au quoted Paine as saying.

Currently, Australia has 296 points in the WTC from 10 matches, while India has 360 points from nine matches.

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News Network
June 2,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 2: Bangladesh opening batsman Tamim Iqbal has said that he was ashamed on seeing the training regime of Indian skipper Virat Kohli.

Iqbal said that the incident happened two-three years back as he thought to himself that why he cannot do the same even when he is the same age as Kohli.

"I must say this, it is not because I am talking to an Indian commentator, India is our neighbour so whatever things they do, it affects Bangladesh as well. We follow what is happening in India, when India changed its approach towards fitness, it impacted Bangladesh the most," Iqbal told Sanjay Manjrekar in a videocast hosted by ESPNCricinfo.

"I have no shame in admitting this, when I saw Virat Kohli running around two-three years ago, I was ashamed of myself, I thought this is a guy who is probably my age, but he is training so much and I have not doing even half of it. We have a great example in our team as well, Mushfiqur Rahim manages himself well regarding fitness," he added.

During his initial days of international cricket, Kohli was fond of chicken which he has admitted several times during media interaction.

But in 2013, the 31-year-old batsman intentionally shifted his focus to fitness, diet, and training.

Now he has become punctual about his diet which has given him a different character on and off the field.

The comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar have also kept on growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar managed to call time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli currently has 70 centuries across all formats.

Currently, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in the second place in Tests rankings.

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