England stun New Zealand to win first Test

May 26, 2015

London, May 26: England completed a remarkable win to beat New Zealand by 124 runs in the first Test at Lord`s on Monday.

New Zealand, set 345 to win on the fifth and final day, were dismissed for 220 as England won the 100th Test between the two countries to go 1-0 up in this two-match series ahead of the second Test at Headingley on Friday.

England stun

For England, without a permanent head coach following the sacking of Peter Moores and coming off the back of a disappointing 1-1 series draw in the West Indies, this was just the morale boost they needed.

New Zealand, who had earlier collapsed to 12 for three, were again in dire straits at 61 for five after man-of-the-match Ben Stokes had taken two wickets in two balls.

But the gritty BJ Watling, whose 59 was his second fifty of the match, and the dashing Corey Anderson (75), kept England at bay during a sixth-wicket stand of 107.

However, both batsmen fell in quick succession to leave New Zealand 174 for seven.

New Zealand were rocked from the outset of their second innings, losing both openers for ducks without a run on the board in a match where, for the most part, they had been on top.

The second ball saw Martin Guptill become James Anderson`s 399th Test wicket, caught in the slips by Gary Ballance.

New Zealand were still on nought when Stuart Broad`s first ball of the second over had Tom Latham lbw for a golden duck.

For New Zealand, it was all starting to become horribly reminiscent of their last Test at Lord`s, in 2013, when they slumped to 68 all out chasing 239.

The collapse continued when Broad, who took a Test-best seven for 44 against New Zealand at Lord`s two years ago, had Ross Taylor plumb lbw for eight.New Zealand took the score on to 61 before Stokes, who on Sunday scored the fastest Test century at Lord`s, off just 85 balls, struck twice in two balls.

Kane Williamson, who made 132 in the first innings, fell for 27 when he guided Stokes to Joe Root in the gully.

And next ball New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum played on to a Stokes inswinger.

Given a roar by the crowd worthy of Ian Botham or Andrew Flintoff, Stokes, the New Zealand-born son of former Kiwi rugby league international Ged Stokes, who came to England as a 12-year-old, charged in again.

But Corey Anderson survived the hat-trick delivery, allowing the ball to pass his stumps.

Anderson, in Stokes-like fashion, later pulled the Durham all-rounder for six.

Deciding attack was the best form of defence, Anderson completed a 44-ball fifty in which 46 of his runs -- 10 fours and a six -- came in boundaries.

Soon after tea, James Anderson nearly had his 400th Test wicket when Watling, on 40, was given out caught behind down the legside only for the batsman to overturn Indian umpire S Ravi`s decision on review.

But Watling had to go when he gloved debutant fast bowler Mark Wood through to wicket-keeper Jos Buttler.

England then saw the back of dangerman Corey Anderson, lbw to part-time off-spinner Root, with Ravi`s initial decision of `out` seeing the tightest of `umpire`s call` verdicts fall in their favour when the batsman reviewed.

New Zealand lost their next two wickets on 198 but, with the draw now their only realistic goal, last man Trent Boult somehow managed to get out playing an attacking upper-cut off Broad, with Moeen Ali taking a fine catch running back at third man.

Earlier, England were dismissed for 478 after resuming on 429 for six.

England captain Alastair Cook took his overnight 153 not out to 162.

His marathon innings came to an end when he was caught behind off Boult.

Cook batted for more than nine hours, facing 345 balls including 17 fours.

His exit was the start of a Boult burst that saw the left-arm paceman take four wickets for nine runs in 17 balls for final innings figures of five for 85.

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Agencies
July 7,2020

New Delhi, Jul 7: Wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni is known for his finishing heroics and ending the match with a big shot to send a billion people in a frenzy.

For over a decade, Dhoni's swashbuckling batting style, especially the famed helicopter shot, gave international bowlers a headache. As the former Indian skipper celebrates his 39th birthday today, let's relive his first century in international cricket.

It was on April 5, 2005, when Dhoni had registered his first international century. The former skipper registered the feat against Pakistan in the second ODI of the six-match series. The match was played at the Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam.

Dhoni had made his ODI debut against Bangladesh in 2004. However, he did not have a good outing as he scored just 19 runs in the three-match series. But the wicket-keeper truly arrived in the series against Pakistan in 2005, as he scored 148 runs in the second ODI of the six-match series at Visakhapatnam.

In the match, India won the toss and opted to bat first. The side lost Sachin Tendulkar's wicket in the fourth over of the innings and it brought Dhoni to the middle.

Dhoni, along with Sehwag, took on the Pakistan bowlers and the duo formed a 96-run stand, which saw Sehwag going past the 50-run mark. Sehwag (74) was sent back to the pavilion in the 14th over, but Dhoni then found support in Rahul Dravid and the duo stitched a 149-run stand.

Dhoni smashed 15 fours and four sixes in his innings and scored 148 runs from 123 balls, taking India's total to 356/9 in the allotted fifty overs.

India then managed to defend the total as the side bundled out Pakistan for 298 as Ashish Nehra scalped four wickets.

Dhoni has so far played 350 ODIs with his highest score being 183 against Sri Lanka. He also remains the only captain to win all major ICC trophies (50-over World Cup, T20 World Cup, and Champions Trophy).

Also referred to as 'Captain Cool', Dhoni is known for his calmness and exquisite captaincy on the field.

Over the years, he has cemented his place as one of the finest wicket-keepers across the world. His agility behind the stumps has given India many breakthroughs as the Ranchi-based wicket-keeper has done successful stumpings in no time.

He is also known for his knack of opting for reviews and many have jokingly remarked to change the 'Decision-Review System's' name to 'Dhoni-Review System'.

In December 2014, he announced his retirement from Tests and gave a chance to the likes of Wriddhiman Saha. Dhoni called time on his Test career after playing 90 Tests, managing to score 4,876 runs at an average of 38.09.

Then in 2017, he handed over the captaincy to Virat Kohli in the 50-over format. However, the wicket-keeper enjoys a great camaraderie with the latter and the duo have been seen often taking decisions together on the field.

Under Dhoni's leadership, India also managed to attain the number one ranking in Test cricket. His Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK) has also won the tournament thrice under his leadership.

Dhoni was slated to return to the cricket field on March 29 during the IPL's opening match between CSK and Mumbai Indians. However, the tournament has been postponed indefinitely due to COVID-19 pandemic.

The 39-year-old has been currently enjoying some time away from the game. He last played competitive cricket during the 2019 World Cup. 

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Agencies
January 9,2020

Jeddah, Jan 9: Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde criticised the new Supercopa format and said that "football has become a business and as a business it looks for income".

"The bottom line is football has become a business and as a business it looks for income. That's the reason we are all here," Goal.com quoted Valverde as saying ahead of Barca's semi-final against Atletico.

"It's a completely different format to what we're used to. It was always the first title and the opener of the season and to me, that seemed fine," he added.

The Supercopa was traditionally a two-legged affair played between the winners of La Liga and the Copa del Rey at the beginning of the season, but following last term's one-off meeting between Barca and Sevilla in Tangier, Morocco, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) went ahead with a full revamp.

Instead of just two teams being involved, the Supercopa has been expanded to also include the runners-up from La Liga and the Copa - meaning Barca and Valencia are joined by Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. It is also set to be hosted in Saudi Arabia for the next three editions.

"It's been changed and let's see, it will be judged once it has happened. It's interesting, with four good teams, but from a sporting point of view, I'm not sure," Valverde said.

"We must bear in mind that the football we are involved in is an industry, sources of income are sought and in the same way that there are special connotations in this country, there are also in Morocco, where we played last year," he added.

Barcelona will face Atletico Madrid in the semifinal of the Supercopa at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah on January 10.

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News Network
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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