Murray blunts Raonic for title

July 11, 2016

London, Jul 11: Britain's Andy Murray clinched a second Wimbledon title and third Grand Slam crown Sunday when he downed misfiring Milos Raonic of Canada 6-4, 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/2).

amThe 29-year-old world number two added the 2016 trophy to his 2013 triumph at the All England Club and his 2012 US Open breakthrough.

Appearing in his 11th final at the majors, but his first against an opponent other than Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, the Scot put on a Centre Court masterclass. Murray buried his head in his towel and wept in the moments after victory.

Murray faced just two break points in the two hour 48 minute encounter while 25-year-old Raonic, who had clobbered 137 aces going into the final, managed just eight on Sunday.

It also illustrated the master-stroke he pulled off in tempting Ivan Lendl back into his coaching corner.

In the final analysis, his 29 unforced errors compared to Murray's miserly 12 proved fatal in a match where serve was broken just once.

Victory preserved the iron-grip on the majors of the sport's 'Big Four' with Lleyton Hewitt the last man outside of Murray, Djokovic, Federer and Rafael Nadal to win Wimbledon back in 2002.

Fittingly for such an occasion, the Centre Court Royal Box was packed with sporting and celebrity star power.

Murray had won all four of the pair's meetings in 2016, including the Australian Open semi-finals and in the final at Queen's Club.

The second seed was unable to convert his first break point in the seventh game but deservedly edged ahead at 4-3.

In a rush of blood to the head, Raonic came to the net off a weak approach and Murray gleefully fired back the ball to induce the crucial error.

It was only the sixth time the 25-year-old Canadian, who had stunned Federer in a five-set semi-final, had dropped serve in the tournament.

Murray backed up the break for 5-3 before Raonic took the ninth game in which he fired his first ace of the final.

He had gone into the match having hit 137 aces in the previous six rounds. A straightforward volley allowed Murray to claim the opener 6-4 with Raonic having hit just nine winners.

Raonic remained under siege, saving another break point in the first game of the second set, one more in the seventh and two more in the ninth as he clung on although his escape was aided by two Murray backhand errors. Raonic unleashed a serve of 147mph in that game but his opponent still won the point -- a dispiriting snapshot of his afternoon.

Murray remained in cruise control, breezing through the tie-break for a two sets lead. He still hadn't faced a break point in the final while Murray's unforced error count was just six.

Raonic did carve out his first break points in the fifth game of the third set but Murray saved both. Another tiebreak was required and again Murray dominated, stretching out to five match points.

Raonic saved one but Murray claimed victory was assured when the Canadian netted a return.

Other results (all finals, mixed doubles): Henri Kontinen/Heather Watson (Bri) bt 24-Robert Farah/Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Col/Ger) 7-6(5), 6-4.

Women’s doubles: Serena Williams/Venus Williams (US) bt 5-Timea Babos/ Yaroslava Shvedova (Hun/Kaz) 6-3, 6-4. Men’s doubles: 1-Pierre-Hugues Herbert/ Nicolas Mahut bt Julien Benneteau/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-4, 7-6(1), 6-3.

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Agencies
August 1,2020

Colombo, Aug 1: Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has expressed his interest in playing the inaugural edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL), scheduled to start from August 28.

Pathan is among 70 foreign players to have shown interest in playing the LPL, ESPNcricinfo reported.

It is believed that Pathan has taken permission from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to take part in the competition. 

BCCI doesn't allow active players to participate in other T20 leagues but Pathan announced his retirement in January this year.

Former swashbuckling all-rounder Yuvraj Singh also played in a foreign league last year. He played for Maratha Arabians in the T10 League in Abu Dhabi.

According to ESPNcricinfo, Pathan will now be put in a player draft unless one of the five franchises choose him to be a marquee player. The details of the draft, and the franchise owners, are yet to be finalised and announced. 

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is also waiting on some government clearances even as it decides on franchise owners. The five franchises will represent Colombo, Kandy, Galle, Dambulla and Jaffna.

On Monday, SLC Executive Committee granted approval for the tournament.

"The 23 match League will be played on the four international venues of R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium, Rangiri Dambulu International Cricket Stadium, Pallekele International Cricket Stadium and Suriyawewa Mahinda Rajapakse International Cricket Stadium. Five teams named after the cities of Colombo, Kandy, Galle, Dambulla and Jaffna will participate in the League," SLC said in a statement on Monday.

Sri Lanka has controlled the spread of COVID-19 better than many other cricket-playing nations.

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News Network
July 24,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 24: Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, who was earlier banned by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for breaching the Anti-Corruption Code, on Friday, said that people are bound to make mistakes and the important thing is that how well they make a comeback.

Shakib was banned from all forms of cricket on October 29 last year after he accepted the charges of breaching the ICC's Anti-Corruption Code. He will be able to resume international cricket from October 29, 2020.

"You have to be honest. You just can't lie to the people and pretend different things. Whatever happened has happened. People are bound to make mistakes. You are not 100%. The important thing is how well you can comeback from those mistakes. You can tell other people not to make those mistakes. Tell them the path so that they never take those paths," Shakib told Deep Dasgupta in a videocast hosted by ESPNcricinfo.

The 33-year-old all-rounder said he has seen many controversies ever since he was first made captain in 2009. He had trouble with the board chief, selectors and the media, mainly about selectorial decisions and not being made permanent captain between 2009 and 2010.
He believes those experiences have changed him as a person over time.

"I think [it's] combination of both [controversy following him, and vice versa]. I got the responsibility so early in my career, I was bound to make mistakes. I was captain when I was 21. I made a lot of mistakes, and there are so many things that people think about me. Now I realise that it was my fault in some areas, and in some I was misunderstood. But I get it completely. It is part and parcel in the subcontinent," Hasan said.

"Of course I will try to minimise [my mistakes] as much as I can, but by the time I got married, and now I have two kids, I understand the game and life better. It has made me a calmer person than I was in my twenties. I have changed quite a lot. People won't see me doing a lot of mistakes now. My two daughters changed my life completely," he added.

Shakib is likely return to international cricket during Bangladesh's proposed Test series against Sri Lanka in October. 

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News Network
May 25,2020

Karachi, May 25: Pakistan head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq believes Babar Azam is destined to be a world-class player and is very close to being in the same league as India skipper Virat Kohli and Australia's Steve Smith.

"I don't like comparisons but Babar is currently very close to being in the same class as Virat Kohli, Steve Smith or Joe Root," Misbah said in an interview to Youtube channel, Cricket Baaz.

"He believes in the work ethic that if you want to better Kohli you have to work harder than him at your skills, fitness and game awareness."

The 25-year-old, who was named captain of the Pakistan T20 team ahead of the Australia series in October last year, was recently handed the reins of ODI team as well.

"Making him the T20 captain was a tester. We wanted to see how he will respond to this challenge. All of us agree that he has done a very good job and his biggest plus is that being among the worlds top players he leads by example," Misbah said.

"If you are a performer like Babar then it becomes easier for you to motivate the rest of the team and get things done.

"Even when I was made captain in 2010 my performances were here and there and I was in and out. But captaincy changed my game and mindset and I became a more hard-working and motivated cricketer."

Misbah said Babar always challenges himself and would get better as a captain with experience.

"He is in a zone of his own. He just doesn't want to be in the team. He just doesn't want to play for money. He wants to be the top performer for Pakistan. He is always pitting himself against other top batsmen like Kohli or Smith," he said.

"He loves challenges in the nets and on the field. He has really matured as a player and in time he will get better as a captain with experience."

Babar was the leading run-scorer of the T20I series against Australia last year. He also scored 210 runs, which included a hundred, at 52.50 in the Test series against the same opponents.

In the two-Test home series against Sri Lanka, Babar ended the series with 262 runs with an average of exactly 262.

Misbah feels Babar had changed as a batsman when he got runs in the Tests in Australia.

"Before that he was getting runs in tests but not consistently. In Australia and in the following tests against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh he changed," he said.

Talking about his experience as a head coach, Misbah said: "Having captained, it has helped me a lot. As captain I had to manage everything and also having played under top coaches ... I have seen closely their work ethics and how they managed things.

"It is a learning process. Having remained captain it is a big advantage for coaching because you know the players and their mood swings. You know which player will respond in a given situation,which player is feeling pressure in a scenario.

Misbah said it is not easy juggling between different roles.

"Most important thing as a coach is mentally and psychologically how you handle a group of players," the former skipper said.

"Sometimes captain and coach is different as you have to take tough decisions. Being chief selector makes it it a bit difficult but I had experience of creating and managing teams, I have been building teams since 2003. Till now it is going well."

Misbah feels in Pakistan cricket there were different parameters for judging foreign and local coaches.

"I don't know why it is like this why do we have different eye for locals and foreigners. Maybe we feel they have something special. It looks like every decision by a foreign coach is right. In contrast we tend to be very critical of local coaches no matter what decision they take," he said.

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