India in England: Eoin Morgan Glad to Bring Smiles Back After T20 Win

September 8, 2014

Birmingham, Sep 8: Stand-in skipper Eoin Morgan said he hoped England's thrilling three-run Twenty20 win over India in their final home international match of the season would spur the team on to greater heights ahead of the World Cup.

Eoin-MorganMorgan, leading the side in the absence of injured all-rounder Stuart Broad, produced a stunning captain's innings of 71 in just 31 balls, including seven sixes, as England made 180 for seven at Birmingham's Edgbaston on Sunday.

He then saw his 'death' bowlers, put paid to what threatened to be yet another victorious rescue act by India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who narrowly fell short in trying to score the 17 his side needed off the last over, delivered by paceman Chris Woakes on his Warwickshire home ground.

Having lost series in all formats to Sri Lanka earlier in the season, England -- after a poor start -- recovered to beat India 3-1 in a five-Test campaign.

However, doubts about their viability as contenders to win next year's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand resurfaced during a 3-1 one-day international series defeat by reigning champions India.

Morgan, tipped in some quarters as an alternative England ODI skipper to incumbent Alastair Cook, struggled for runs in the one-dayers but found his form on Sunday.

- Lead from the front -

"There's smiles in the changing-room after a very tough summer," Morgan said.

"We've worked really hard and to finish it on such a high against such a very strong T20 team -- is a great achievement.

"It is hugely important. In the one-day series our senior players including myself didn't stand up, which made things really difficult.

"To lead from the front myself was the way it should be done."

After England were again stifled by spin, Morgan's late assault saw 81 runs scored off the final five overs as India's 'death' bowling once more proved fallible.

India regained control with the bat while Virat Kohli was making 66 -- his only international fifty of a disappointing tour.

When he holed out off a bouncer from fast bowler Steven Finn, India needed 46 off the final 30 balls.

It looked a gettable target but when left-arm seamer Harry Gurney bowled Suresh Rains with a yorker, England sensed a chance of victory.

Woakes then held his nerve despite the pressure of bowling to dangerman Dhoni in front of a capacity crowd, most of whom were cheering for India.

"The guys at the end; Woakesy and Harry Gurney and Steven Finn were outstanding," said Morgan.

Dhoni turned down singles late on, including in the final over, but Morgan defended his opposing skipper's approach.

"He's a guy capable of anything. That first ball (of the last over) Woakesy bowled, he probably missed his length but not by much at all -- he inside edged it for six.

"If Woakesy half executes the rest of the deliveries he faces in that over they could have gone for six as well."

One sour note was that England's Moeen Ali, Birmingham-born but of Pakistani descent and a practising Muslim, was repeatedly booed by large sections of the crowd.

The jeers appeared to be aimed at Ali for who he was rather than anything the off-spinning all-rounder had done.

Morgan insisted he was unaware that Ali, who came through Warwickshire's youth system but now plays for Worcestershire, had been targeted specifically: "I didn't know he (Ali) got booed. We all got booed today (Sunday)."

Meanwhile Dhoni, recalling how India's Ravindra Jadeja had been subjected to crowd taunts as a result of his dust-up with England paceman James Anderson during the first Test at Trent Bridge, also refused to be drawn on the issue.

"Did you ever ask about Jadeja getting booed?," Dhoni told a reporter at a post-match news conference.

"The last day of the tour, I don't want to start another controversy."

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
April 12,2020

London, Apr 12: Former Formula 1 legendary driver Stirling Moss died at the age of 90 on Sunday.

"All at F1 send our heartfelt condolences to Lady Susie and Sir Stirling's family and friends," Formula 1 said in a statement.

Often referred to as the greatest driver never to win the world championship, Moss contested 66 Grands Prix from 1951 to 1961, driving for the likes of Vanwall, Maserati and Mercedes, where he famously formed a contented and ruthlessly effective partnership with lead driver Juan Manuel Fangio.

In his 10-year-long stint at the tracks, Moss took 16 wins, some of which rank among the truly iconic drives in the sport's history - his 1961 victories in Monaco and Germany in particular often held up as all-time classics.

Moss won the 1955 Mille Miglia on public roads for Mercedes at an average speed of close to 100mph, while he also competed in rallies and land-speed attempts.

Following an enforced retirement from racing (barring a brief comeback in saloon cars in the 1980s) after a major crash at Goodwood in 1962, Moss maintained a presence in Formula 1 as both a sports correspondent and an interested observer, before retiring from public life in January of 2018.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
June 13,2020

Mumbai, Jun 13: Vasant Raiji, who was India's oldest first-class cricketer at 100, died in Mumbai in the wee hours of Saturday.

Raiji was 100 years old and is survived by his wife and two daughters.

"He (Raiji) passed away at 2.20 am in his sleep at his residence in Walkeshwar in South Mumbai due to old-age," his son-in-law Sudarshan Nanavati told PTI.

Raiji, a right-handed batsman, played nine first-class matches in the 1940s, scoring 277 runs with 68 being his highest score.

He made his debut for a Cricket Club of India team that played Central Provinces and Berar in Nagpur in 1939.

His Mumbai debut happened in 1941 when the team played Western India under the leadership of Vijay Merchant.

Raiji, also a cricket historian and chartered accountant, was 13 when India played its first Test match at the Bombay Gymkhana in South Mumbai.

Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar and former Australian skipper Steve Waugh had paid a courtesy visit to Raiji at his residence in January when he had turned 100.

It has been learnt that the cremation will take place at the Chandanwadi crematorium in South Mumbai on Saturday afternoon.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 13,2020

May 13: With the Olympics postponed due to the coronavirus, top Japanese fencer Ryo Miyake has swapped his metal mask and foil for a bike and backpack as a Tokyo UberEats deliveryman.

The 29-year-old, who won silver in the team foil at the 2012 London Olympics and was itching to compete in a home Games, says the job keeps him in shape physically and mentally -- and brings in much-needed cash.

"I started this for two reasons -- to save money for travelling (to future competitions) and to keep myself in physical shape," he told AFP.

"I see how much I am earning on the phone, but the number is not just money for me. It's a score to keep me going."

Japanese media have depicted Miyake as a poor amateur struggling to make ends meet but he himself asked for his three corporate sponsorships to be put on hold -- even if that means living off savings.

Like most of the world's top athletes, he is in limbo as the virus forces competitions to be cancelled and plays havoc with training schedules.

"I don't know when I can resume training or when the next tournament will take place. I don't even know if I can keep up my mental condition or motivation for another year," he said.

"No one knows how the qualification process will go. Pretending everything is OK for the competition is simply irresponsible."

In the meantime, he is happy criss-crossing the vast Japanese capital with bike and smartphone, joining a growing legion of Uber delivery staff in demand during the pandemic.

"When I get orders in the hilly Akasaka, Roppongi (downtown) district, it becomes good training," he smiles.

The unprecedented postponement of the Olympics hit Miyake hard, as he was enjoying a purple patch in his career.

After missing out on the Rio 2016 Olympics, Miyake came 13th in last year's World Fencing Championships -- the highest-ranked Japanese fencer at the competition.

The International Olympics Committee has set the new date for the Olympics on July 23, 2021.

But with no vaccine available for the coronavirus that has killed nearly 300,000 worldwide, even that hangs in the balance.

Miyake said the Japanese fencing team heard about the postponement the day after arriving in the United States for one of the final Olympic qualifying events.

With his diary suddenly free of training and competition, he said he spent the month of April agonising over what to do before hitting on the Uber idea.

"Sports and culture inevitably come second when people have to survive a crisis," he said.

"Is the Olympics really needed in the first place? Then what do I live for if not for the sport? That is what I kept thinking."

However, the new and temporary career delivering food in Tokyo has given the fencer a new drive to succeed.

"The most immediate objective for me is to be able to start training smoothly" once the emergency is lifted, he said.

"I need to be ready physically and financially for the moment. That is my biggest mission now."

But not all athletes may cope mentally with surviving another "nerve-wracking" pre-Olympic year, he said.

"It's like finally getting to the end of a 42-kilometre marathon and then being told you have to keep going."

As a child, Miyake practised his attacks on every wall of his house -- and he said his passion for the sport was what was driving him now.

"I love fencing. I want to be able to travel for matches and compete in the Olympics. That is the only reason I am doing this."

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.