Ronaldo rallies Real to Supercopa win

August 30, 2012
ronaldReal Madrid secured its first Spanish Supercopa since 2008 on away goals after a narrow win over archrival Barcelona in Wednesday night's second leg at the Bernabeu.

The hosts had failed to win in their last seven home meetings with Barcelona but went about ending that record early on with goals in the first 20 minutes from Gonzalo Higuain and Cristiano Ronaldo.

The visitors were then reduced to 10 men as Adriano was shown a straight red card for denying Ronaldo a clear goalscoring opportunity, but they regained their composure and were brought back into the game by a stunning free-kick from Lionel Messi just before halftime.

"The first half belonged to us and generally the whole game did," Real goalkeeper Iker Casillas said. "We came in on a bad run and the fans were doubting us a bit, but there are days when you have good luck and days when you have bad."

Chances continued to come at both ends after the break but Real failed to make its man advantage count and was nearly made to pay as Messi shot just inches wide deep into stoppage time.

The game provided coach Jose Mourinho with the last piece of silverware missing from his Spanish trophy cabinet. The Portuguese coach's 20th title means he has won every trophy available in the four leagues where he's coached -- Spain, England, Italy and Portugal.

Real had failed to win any of its previous three games this season but did not seem like a team lacking in confidence as it stormed out of the gates early on.

Higuain should have opened the scoring on seven minutes when his low effort across Victor Valdes' net was well-blocked by the keeper, but the Argentinian was gifted his goal only two minutes later by national-team compatriot Javier Mascherano as the Barca defender misjudged a long ball forward from Pepe and allowed Higuain to run through and this time finish low beyond Valdes.

And it was two just nine minutes later as Ronaldo pounced on an error this time by Gerard Pique. The Portuguese brilliantly back-flicked the ball into his path and, despite a poor second touch, his powerful shot rebounded in off Valdes' body.

The chances continued to come for Real as Valdes again denied Higuain from a narrow angle before Pepe had a header controversially ruled out for a push on Mascherano.

Part of Barca's disorganization at the back possibly could be put down to a late change in the starting lineup as the injured Dani Alves had to be replaced by Jordi Alba with Adriano moving to right back, and the Brazilian's torrid evening only lasted 27 minutes as he hauled down Ronaldo when he seemed set to break free on Valdes once more.

"I wouldn't say we started badly," Vilanova said. "Madrid weren't running over us; they played two balls in behind that surprised us, although it is true that Higuain already had another chance. Madrid took their chances but I want to take the positives."

After another unsettling five-minute period for the Catalans, new coach Tito Vilanova eventually introduced Martin Montoya for Alexis Sanchez and a return to four at the back seemed to offer the visitors some comfort as they began to make an impression on the game.

Montoya was inches away from converting a vicious low cross from Andres Iniesta before Messi did eventually halve the deficit moments before the break with an incredible swerving free kick from 30 yards.

Ronaldo nearly responded with a long-range effort himself that flew just past and Angel Di Maria also shot narrowly wide as Madrid ended the half threatening a third.

However, at the start of the second period, it was Barca's tiki-taka that began to dictate play as the pace of the game dropped markedly.

Pedro very nearly scored a carbon copy of his goal in the first leg as Mascherano's perfectly weighted pass saw him through on goal but his prodded finish did not have enough power to get through Casillas' legs and the Spain captain collected at the second attempt.

Sami Khedira then nearly restored Real's two-goal cushion but was denied by another fine Valdes save at the end of a brilliant run.

Barca remained dangerous, though, and another brilliant piece of play from Messi released Alba through on goal, but he just overran the ball as he rounded Casillas and was eventually crowded out.

Higuain should have given Real breathing space with 11 minutes remaining but he hit the outside of the post with only Valdes to beat and that miss nearly cost his side as Barca came desperately close to equalizing in stoppage time.

Firstly, Montoya was denied by a solid save from Casillas before Messi seemed destined to hand Barca the cup as he found space on his favored left side just outside the area but the ball slipped just wide and Real clung on for its Supercopa title in four years.




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News Network
July 18,2020

Johannesburg, Jul 18: Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Saturday mourned the demise of former spinner Ismail 'Baboo' Ebrahim who died in Durban at the age of 73.

"Baboo was one of the outstanding South African spin bowlers of the 1960s and 1970s who would undoubtedly have played as many Test matches for his country as the 48 first-class games to which he was limited," CSA said in a statement.

In those matches, he took 179 wickets at an average of 21.33 with an economy rate of 2.12 including 8 five-wicket hauls and 2 ten-wicket hauls.

The left-arm spinner only had one opportunity on the international stage when he played for a SA Invitation XI against the International Wanderers at Kingsmead in 1976.

"At the age of 29, he was in his prime and took a match-winning 6/66 in the second innings, his victims including international captains, Greg Chappell of Australia and Mike Denness of England. It was a clear indication of what he could have achieved on grounds around the world at the highest level had he been given the opportunity. He was a master of flight and spin and had a good arm ball to back it up," the statement read.

His ability to perform at this level had become apparent much earlier when he went to watch the Australians at practice before their Test match against South Africa in 1970.

He persuaded the Australians to let him bowl to them and made an immediate impression, bowling experienced Test batsman Ian Redpath and impressing the likes of Ian Chappell and Ashley Mallett, the latter being Australia's leading spinner of the 1970s.

He had one season for Radcliffe in the Lancashire Central League when he took 62 wickets at 14.62 apiece.

Baboo finally got his chance to represent his country in Masters events in one of which he dismissed both Sir Vivian Richards and Gordon Greenidge.

"Baboo Ebrahim was one of the countless number of outstanding cricketers who was denied the opportunity to display his talents to the world and live his cricketing dreams," said CSA Acting Chief Executive, Dr Jacques Faul.

"On behalf of the CSA Family I extend our deepest sympathy to his family, friends and cricketing colleagues," he added. 

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News Network
June 6,2020

Mumbai, Jun 6: Reminiscing about his 'special knock' of 208 runs from 153 balls, Indian cricketer Rohit Sharma revealed why his wife Ritika had got emotional after he smashed his third double century in ODIs.

Rohit narrated the incident during his appearance in Episode 2 of the 'Open nets with Mayank'.

The batsman, who was accompanied by Shikhar Dhawan and Mayank on the show, said his wife thought that he had twisted his hand while diving for the 196th run during the innings.

"As you can see my wife got emotional there, this day was special as it was my anniversary. Probably the best gift I could give it to her while I am on the field, it was quite emotional though," said Rohit during the candid chat.

"When I came from the ground, I just asked her why did you (Ritika) cry? So she told me that she thought I (Rohit) twisted my hand when I dived for my 196th run and that was a little worrying factor for her, she got little emotional of because of that I guess," Rohit added.

In the match, the 32-year-old scored 208 runs with 13 fours and 12 sixes against Sri Lanka at Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali.

This enabled India to post a score of 392/4 in the allotted fifty overs.

India then went on to win the match by 141 runs.

"To be honest I was going pretty slow, I never thought I will get to a double hundred but once you cross 125, I feel it gets easier for you because bowlers are under pressure. Unless you make a mistake I don't think you can get out," said Rohit.

Rohit has scored two double hundreds against Sri Lanka and one against Australia in ODIs. The right-handed batsman is the only cricketer to make three double hundreds in ODI history.

Rohit, Shikhar, and Mayank would have been in action for Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, and Kings XI Punjab respectively, had the Indian Premier League (IPL) commenced from March 29. However, the tournament was suspended indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: Batting great Rahul Dravid has attributed Chennai Super Kings' consistent run in the IPL to skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's instincts, game-smarts and the incredible amount of work that goes behind the scenes.

N Srinivasan, the former BCCI president and head of India Cements, which owns the CSK franchise, agreed that Dhoni is a man of instinct who doesn't believe in attending team meetings and going over data.

Both were speaking at a webinar organised by the Great Lakes Institute of Management.

"If you look at the success CSK has had, they've got really good access to data and they've got really good access to people behind the scenes and they've run cricket teams at the junior level," Dravid said at the webinar according to ESPNcricinfo.

The former India captain added, "They understand talent and they've obviously got a good scouting process in place. But, what they also have is a captain who really understands instincts.

"So, I mean, look, I know Dhoni quite well and I hope he hasn't changed, but I know Dhoni is probably not one to look at reams of data and statistics."

The Super Kings have won the lucrative tournament three times -- one less than Mumbai Indians -- and reached the knockouts in each of the 10 seasons they have been a part of.

Srinivasan also spoke about how Dhoni's instinct and judgement contributed to his team's success at a time when a lot of emphases is placed on data.

"We're awash with data just now. To give you an example, there are bowling coaches and in a T20 game, they play videos of every batsman whom they're going to come against and they see how he got out, what's his strength, what's his weakness etc.

"So, MS Dhoni doesn't attend this, he's a pure instinct man. The bowling coach, (head coach Stephen) Fleming will be there and everybody will be there, everyone is giving opinions, (but) he'll get up and go.

"In the context of instinct, he feels that okay he can assess a batsman or player on the field, that's his judgement. On the other hand, there is so much of data that is available to help a person also analyse. It's a very difficult line to draw (between data and instinct)."

Srinivasan also recalled how Dhoni once refused to take "one outstanding player" suggested by the franchise boss as that could have broken the team's cohesion.

"There was one outstanding player that we suggested to MS, he said: 'no sir, he will spoil the team'. The cohesion within the team is important and see in America, franchise-based sport has been there for such a long time," he said.

"In India, we're just starting and we're new to it. But we at India Cements have had a lot of experience running teams at junior levels."

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