Mueller hat-trick helps Germany thrash Portugal 4-0

June 17, 2014

Salvador (Brazil), Jun 17: Germany celebrated their record 100th World Cup match in style by steamrolling Portugal 4-0 with Thomas Mueller scoring this edition's first hat-trick in a one-sided match here today.

Germany thrash PortugalIn the Group G match which marked a century of World Cup matches for Germany, the most for any country, the three-time champions destroyed Cristiano Ronaldo-led Portugal with Mueller leading a brilliant attacking brand of football with goals in the eighth, 45+1 and 78th minutes.

Defender Mats Hummels made his presence felt with a 32nd minute headed goal in an afternoon kick-off match which saw Portugal centre back Pepe being sent off in the 37th minute after an ill-tempered tangle with Mueller.

The match at Arena Fonte Nova, however, did not live up to the billing of a marquee clash with Germany toying with their opponents and then made worse for Portugal after Pepe's sending off.

Ballon d'Or winner Ronaldo, who made it to the Portugal playing eleven after being bothered by a left-knee injury in the build-up, made little impact in the game. He threatened early in the match, including a shot from a break that Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer could only block. His other significant involvement was a fine free kick late into the match but Neuer was upto the task.

Germany now placed themselves in a strong position to advance to the round of 16 from the so-called Group of Death which also has Ghana and United States.

Pepe, who has a history of ill-tempered misconduct, will now miss Portugal's next two matches which will surely hurt the Iberian country in their chances for a knock-out round berth.

Germany coach Joachim Loew deployed three attacking midfielders without a classical striker and used captain Philip Lahm as defensive midfielder instead of his favourite right back position where Jerome Boateng was tasked to try and stop Ronaldo.

The ploy worked with Germany running over their opponents and keeping Ronaldo more or less quite. Playing in his 50th for Germany, 24-year-old Mueller opened the scoring after Mario Goetze was pulled down by Joao Pereira in the box, coolly slotting the resultant penalty kick into the right corner of Rui Patricio's goal.

Mueller received applause from Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel who stood up and clapped in appreciation.

Hummels then rose above Pepe to double Germany's lead with a well-timed header from a corner.

Pepe was sent off in the 37th minute for charging on and apparently head-butting Mueller who went down theatrically after being hit on the face by his rival.

Mueller scored again just before the break, stripping the ball from Bruno Alves and drilling in a low shot. He completed his hat-trick in the 78th minute in a goal-mouth scramble after Portugal goalie Patricio had parried a shot.

In the process, Mueller, who scored five goals in the 2010 finals in South Africa to claim both the Golden Boot and best young player award, scored his 20th international goal and eighth World Cup goal over two editions.

With today's win, Germany continued their domination of Portugal by adding Brazil 2014 to their list of recent wins over Ronaldo's side which includes the 2006 World Cup, plus the 2008 and 2012 European championships.

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March 2,2020

Mar 2: Indian captain Virat Kohli was left frustrated and deflated as New Zealand won the second Test inside three days in Christchurch on Monday to sweep the series.

India started the day at 90 for six and were all out for 124, before New Zealand chased down the required 132 to win for the loss of three wickets in 36 overs.

It ended a disappointing tour for India and Kohli as New Zealand, who won the first Test by 10 wickets early on day four, wrapped up the series with ease.

New Zealand are now unbeaten in their last 13 home Tests, winning nine of them, and in the past decade their record as hosts is played 39, won 20, drawn 13 and lost five.

In the latest series, on traditional New Zealand green wickets, India managed scores of 165, 191, 242 and 124, reflecting the low contributions from Kohli of 2, 19, 3 and 14.

Kohli came to New Zealand as the world's top Test batsman and oozing charm as he described New Zealand as the “nice guys” of cricket.

But during the series he lost his top ranking to Australian Steve Smith and when Kane Williamson went for three in the first innings of the second Test the pressure showed when he gave the New Zealand skipper a very animated send-off.

There was further evidence of frustration when he was caught on camera yelling an obscenity at a group of New Zealand supporters on Sunday.

The end came quickly for India on day three as Tim Southee and Trent Boult tormented the batsmen with their variety of inswing and outswing deliveries targeting both sides of the stumps.

Hanuma Vihari was the first to fall, in Southee's second over, when he turned a legside delivery too fine and was caught by BJ Watling diving to his left.

Five balls later and with no addition to the score, India's other overnight batsman Rishabh Pant was caught behind off a Boult delivery that swung away.

Mohammed Shami was caught for five by Tom Blundell at deep mid-wicket and Jasprit Bumrah was run out when trying to give the strike to Ravindra Jadeja, who was unbeaten on 16.

Boult and Southee signed for most of the dismissals with Boult taking four for 28 and Southee three for 36. The swing pair accounted for 25 of the 40 Indian wickets in the series.

There was enough seam and swing available for India to keep the New Zealand batsmen guessing but Bumrah and Umesh Yadav were unable to apply consistent pressure and Mohammed Shami was troubled by a sore shoulder.

New Zealand coasted through a century opening stand by Tom Latham and Blundell before losing three quick wickets.

Latham notched his 18th half-century and second of the Test before he was caught behind off Yadav for 52, Kane Williamson had a short stay for five, and Blundell went for 55.

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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.

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May 2,2020

Melbourne, May 2: After becoming the number one side in Test cricket, Australia's head coach Justin Langer has said that his team has won back the respect of the country.

Australia dethroned India from the top spot in Tests and now the Men in Blue are in the third place.

Langer came in as the coach of Australia after the 2018 ball-tampering scandal and it took him some time to get the side back to winning ways.

Ever since the return of David Warner and Steve Smith, Australia went on to become a commendable side and the results reflect that.

"We have got lots of work to do to become the team we want to be. But over the last couple of years, not only have we performed well on the field, we have performed well off it. We have earned some respect back from other teams around the world but also from Australia," Langer said in an official statement.

"When we started on this journey, there had been a lot of talk about Australia wanting to be No. 1 in the world in all three forms of the game.

We took a different approach. Not once did we talk about being No. 1 ranked in the world. We wanted to be No.1 in our values and process. That is what I am most proud of," he added.

In the latest ICC rankings update, that rates all matches played since May 2019 at 100 per cent and those of the previous two years at 50 per cent, Australia (116) have taken over from India as the top-ranked side in the ICC men's Test team rankings with New Zealand (115) remaining in second place.

India is now third with 114 points. With only two points separating them, this is the second closest the top three teams have been since the Test rankings were launched in 2003.

The closest for the top three teams were in January 2016, when India had led Australia and South Africa by a single point.

Australia has also moved to the top spot in the T20I rankings for the first time in the format.

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