Serena wakes up to join Djokovic in Australian Open third round

January 22, 2015

Melbourne, Jan 22: Serena Williams was slow to get going before finding her groove to bulldoze Vera Zvonareva and join rampant fellow world number one Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open third round Thursday.serena williams

With the temperatures again sizzling around 33 Celsius (93 Fahrenheit) at Melbourne Park, the American 18-time Grand Slam champion took time to adjust to the hot and humid conditions against the Russian veteran.

She had to save two set points before exploding into action in the second set to easily win 7-5, 6-0 and keep alive her dream of a sixth Australian title.

Djokovic, gunning to be crowned champion a fifth time, was on fire in his showdown against Andrey Kuznetsov, crushing the hapless Russian 6-0, 6-1, 6-4, while defending champion Stan Wawrinka had to work hard to get past Marius Copil.

The Romanian took the fourth seed to two tiebreakers before the Swiss star triumphed 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/4), 6-3. Japan Kei Nishikori also went through.

Williams said she only started finding her range when she relaxed. "She started out really well, she was really aggressive and I was a little too passive," said Williams, the top seed.

"Once I got down I thought 'Serena, you've done so well here you've got nothing to lose, just have fun and enjoy yourself' -- then I started to play a lot better."

While the old guard of Williams and Maria Sharapova are safely into the third round, the new generation of Eugenie Bouchard and Simona Halep have looked more impressive in the early rounds.

Sixth seed Agnieszka Radwanska is also in ominous form after hiring former great Martina Navratilova as her coach.

The Pole, a semi-finalist last year, took just 44 minutes to brush aside Sweden's Johanna Larsson 6-0, 6-1 and has only lost four games in two matches.

"She's helped me a lot, on and off the court," Radwanska said of Navratilova. "We're working on a couple of things right now. So far so good."

Williams faces a tricky third round match against another of the new young guns in Spanish world number 24 Garbine Muguruza, who beat Daniela Hantuchova 6-1, 0-6, 6-1.

Serena's sister Venus also progressed with the seven-time Grand Slam champion in vintage form to blast past fellow American Lauren Davis 6-2, 6-3.Top seed Djokovic came out of the blocks firing against Kuznetsov, who had no asnwer to his booming serve and powerful groundstrokes.

In contrast Wawrinka, who beat Rafael Nadal in last year's final, was put through his paces by Copil and was glad to get off court after three sets.

"The court was quite fast and he was really aggressive on serve and I was happy to get through in three sets," said Wawrinka.

Fifth seed Nishikori was forced to four sets by Croatia's Ivan Dodig, digging deep to keep his dream of a maiden major title alive.

US Open finalist Nishikori eventually won 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 (7/0) in front of a noisy pro-Japanese crowd in Hisense Arena.

"It was very warm conditions today and he was playing really well, very aggressive, good returns and it was a tough battle," Nishikori said.

"I felt like I was in Japan such was the crowd's support today and I was very happy to be playing on this court," he added.

Other men's seeds to progress included Spanish 12th seed Feliciano Lopez and American 19th seed John Isner.

The blockbuster evening clash will see two-time champion Victoria Azarenka face off with close friend and former world number one Caroline Wozniacki.

Azarenka is ranked just 44 after an injury-marred 2014 while Wozniacki is seeded eight, with whoever wins on course to meet Serena Williams in the quarter-finals.

Wozniacki's best performance in Melbourne came when she reached the 2011 semi-finals, while Azarenka won Australian titles in 2012 and 2013.

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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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Agencies
May 26,2020

Some of the ICC guidelines on resumption of cricket border on the impractical and will need a review when the cricketing world is closer to action, feel former players Aakash Chopra, Irfan Pathan and Monty Panesar.

Last week, the International Cricket Council recommended a host of "back to cricket" guidelines including 14-day pre-match isolation training camps to ensure the teams are free from COVID-19.

The world body issued training as well as playing guidelines which will drastically change the way the game is played.

Among them are regular hand sanitising when in contact with the ball, no loo or shower breaks while training, minimising time spent in the changing room before and after a game, no use of saliva on ball and no handing over of personal items (cap, sunglasses, towels) to fellow teammates or the on-field umpires.

"Social distancing is very doable in individual sport but very tough in a team sport like cricket and football. If you need a slip during the game, would you not employ it?

"If the team is going through a 14-day quarantine and is being tested for COVID-19, I am fine with that process. Now, after that, if we have more guidelines for the players during the game, then you are making things complicated. Then there is no point of a quarantine period," former India pacer Pathan told PTI.

Safety cannot be compromised but regularly sanitising hands during the game will be too much to ask from the players.

"Safety is paramount but we should not make the game complicated. If a bowler or fielder has to sanitise hands every time he touches the ball, then it would be very difficult.

"You can shorten the process of giving the ball to the bowler. Instead of the usual chain (wicket-keeper to cover fielder to bowler), the keeper can straight away give the ball to the bowler but even then the bowler will have to sanitise hands six times in an over," said Pathan seeking more clarity on the guidelines.

Former India opener Chopra said it is still pre-mature to prepare a fixed set of guidelines for resumption of cricket as the situation is evolving "every day".

"That (regular hand sanitisation after contact with ball) is obviously impractical but my big question is when the game happens in a bio secure environment and everyone is quarantined and tested, do these additional measures make a difference?

"On the field, I can still understand but what happens when you go back into the dressing room? How do you practice social distancing there? So it becomes quite complicated.

"To be honest it is all very premature. Once they get closer to resumption, which will take some time, there will be more clarity," said Chopra.

International cricket is likely to resume in July with England hosting West Indies and then Pakistan.

Bundesliga football league has already begun in Germany behind closed doors and by the time cricket resumes, more sporting competitions would have restarted and Chopra feels that will help cricket decide the way forward in post COVID-19 times.

"By the time cricket resumes, more football would have started after Bundesliga. Cricket can take lessons from there, collect data and ideas and see what is practical and what is not."

Former England spinner Panesar foresees the start of the England-West Indies series making things a lot clearer for the entire fraternity than they are at the moment.

"The 14 day quarantine is very much needed and well done to the ICC for including that. I think we will see resumption of international cricket with England hosting West Indies in July. We might have some practical ideas then, the other countries would also be watching keenly and will learn how to go about it.

"But measures like regular hand sanitising is not going to be practical. May be you could sanitise every one hour but it can't be regular during the game," said Panesar.

While Pathan feels the on-field safety measures will make managing over-rate a bigger challenge for teams, Chopra said no loo or shower breaks during training won't be that much of an issue.

"Training is still controllable. You don't have to be there for a long time but you would still have to use the restroom at some stage. You may avoid taking a shower but you will have to use the restroom.

"I think the idea of these guidelines is to make cricketers more aware that you have to take care of yourself and inculcate habits which are in everyone's interest in the current scenario," added Chopra.

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Agencies
January 25,2020

Headingley, Jan 25: England have become the first team in the world to score 500,000 runs in Test cricket. They achieved the feat during the ongoing fourth and final Test against South Africa being played at The Wanderers.

On Friday - the opening day of the Test match -- England captain Joe Root's single through the covers took the Three Lions to a landmark 500,000 run-mark in the longest format of the game. They achieved the feat in their 1022nd Test match.

Australia comes second in the list, with 432,706 runs in 830 Tests. India, meanwhile, are third, with 273,518 runs in 540 Tests, followed by West Indies (270,441 runs in 545 Tests).

In the third Test played at St George's Park in Port Elizabeth, England had become the first team to play 500 Test matches on foreign soil. Australia are the second team to play the most away Test with 404 matches they have played so far.

India have played 268 Tests on foreign soil in which they have won 51, lost 113 and 104 have ended in a draw.

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