'Champagne on ice' for Wimbledon, says Murray

June 20, 2016

London, Jun 20: Andy Murray warned Novak Djokovic he has the champagne on ice as the Queen's Club history-maker plots to end the world number one's reign as Wimbledon champion.

Champagne

Murray completed the perfect warm-up for Wimbledon when the world number two defeated Milos Raonic 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-3 on Sunday to retain the Queen's title and lift the trophy for a record fifth time.

With Wimbledon getting underway on June 29, Murray looks well placed to emulate his historic 2013 triumph at the All England Club.

But the 29-year-old knows he is likely to have to defeat Djokovic, who has won Wimbledon for the last two years, to earn the third Grand Slam of his career.

Despite losing to Djokovic in 13 of their past 15 meetings, including this year's Australian and French Open finals, Murray believes the return to his camp of coach Ivan Lendl this week can make the difference in the grass-court Grand Slam.

And, asked what he would do with the large bottle of champagne given to him by Queen's officials, Murray issued a statement of intent to Djokovic.

"I'll take it home, I guess, and hopefully maybe have something to celebrate in a few weeks. Yeah, keep it for after Wimbledon," he said.

While Djokovic has been resting following the long-awaited completion of his career Grand Slam at Roland Garros, Murray has been honing his grass-court game and getting reacquainted with Lendl, who proved an invaluable presence when the Scot defeated Djokovic in the Wimbledon and US Open finals.

Murray is also encouraged by reaching four finals in his last four tournaments, a run that has brought him two titles including his victory over Djokovic on the Rome clay in May.

"I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have done that before," Murray said. "It's a sign things are going the right direction the last few months.

"I'm giving myself chances every week right now and winning a lot of matches. It's been a good three months or so, and I need to try to keep that up between now and the end of the year. That's the goal."

Since claiming his first ever ATP Tour match win at Queen's in 2005, the venue has retained a special place in Murray's heart and he was visibly moved by surpassing four-time champions John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt.

"It's a tournament that obviously means a lot to me. It's been my most successful tournament by far," he said.

"To be the first player to win five times, it's not an easy tournament to win. It always has a great field and the players I have beaten in the finals have been top players."

Murray won't be resting on his laurels however and he will head straight to Wimbledon for a practice session on Monday.

"It's obviously good preparation to win the event right beforehand, but I still have eight days until my first match at Wimbledon, so there's time to make things better and there's also time to mess things up," he said.

"If I have five rubbish days of practice and don't put everything into it and concentrate on what I'm trying to do and get better, then I can go into Wimbledon feeling rubbish.

"It's been great, but I'm aware that I need to stay on it these next seven days. If I do that, then I'll put myself in a good position."

Murray does at least plan to spend a day or two with wife Kim and baby Sophia before the Wimbledon whirlwind.

"I'll take a couple of off-days next week because I need it," he said. "Most of the time it's just being around the family, go for a walk with the dogs, do normal stuff away from the court. I'm looking forward to it."

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News Network
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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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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Agencies
January 11,2020

London, Jan 11: Former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar's famous lap around the Wankhede Stadium after the World Cup 2011 win has been nominated in Laureas's list for the most inspiring sporting event in the last twenty years.

The moment featuring Tendulkar has been described as "Carried on the shoulders by a nation".

On his sixth attempt at the World Cup and with India not having won the competition since 1983, Tendulkar finally became a part of the team that lifted the coveted trophy. Carried on the shoulders of the Indian team, he made a lap of honour, shedding tears of joy after the victory was sealed in his home city.

The 2011 World Cup was also the first time, in which a host nation ended up winning the trophy.

Apart from Tendulkar, England's Andrew Flintoff is the only other cricketer to feature in the list. In 2005, England managed to defeat Australia in an Ashes Test, but Flintoff chose to first shake hands with Brett Lee rather than celebrate with his side.

Matthias Steiner (weightlifting), Natalie du Toit (swimming), Sky Brown (skateboarding), Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee (triathlon), Xia Boyu (mountaineering) have been nominated in the list.

Female tennis stars also feature in the list for coming up with an equal play, equal pay campaign. After pressure from Venus Williams and others, Wimbledon announced that female tennis players would receive prize money equal to the men's.

German international footballer Miroslav Klose was playing for Lazio in Italy's Serie A in 2012 against Napoli when he rose for a ball in the early moments of the game.

The ball came spiraling off his hand and skirted into the back of the net and a goal was awarded. While most players would carry on as if nothing had happened, Klose was honest with the referee and admitted that he handled the ball.

As a result, he also finds a place on the list.

The Laureus Sporting Moment Award celebrates the moments where the sport has unified people in the most extraordinary way.

This campaign has shortlisted 20 sporting stories from the last 20 years that have left their mark on the world.

The winner will be decided on the basis of public voting. It has already started, and the final date to cast the vote is February 16.

Finally, the result will be declared on February 17.
With three knock-out rounds, the top-20 moments will be whittled down to ten then five, with the top-five moments going head-to-head.

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