Chasing a second successive title, Australia face a tricky task against a resurgent rivals New Zealand in the Champions Trophy final in Centurion on Monday.
Ricky PontingRicky Ponting’s men have been in red-hot form and they have not lost a single match in the eight-nation ICC event.
A rejuvenated New Zealand, however, will not let a rare chance of an ICC event triumph go by so easily as they finally broke the semi-final jinx having made it to the final of the Champions Trophy for the second time.
Though without a major ICC event triumph, except for the 2000-01 edition of the Champions Trophy, New Zealand have always been tough opponents.
The Australians have been in fine form with the bat with skipper Ricky Ponting leading the chart of most prolific batsman in Champions Trophy with 287 runs at an average of nearly 96.
And Shane Watson’s return to form at the top order with a blistering unbeaten 136 against England in the first semi-final will only add to the concerns of Kiwis.
The timely return to form of Michael Hussey has also filled the void left by vice-captain Michael Clarke’s absence in the middle-order.
Australia’s quick bowling department comprising Peter Siddle , Brett Lee [ Images ], Watson and Mitchell Johnson has been among wickets too.
The good form of the pacers has also compensated the few concerns Ponting had in the slow-bowling department with only off-spinner Nathan Hauritz [ Images ] in his armour.
Ponting has already made his intentions clear and said his side will raise their game when it matters the most.
“We are playing at a level which would win us the big games. We look to play best cricket when it matters. We are peaking at the right time for the finals,” Ponting said.
New Zealand, on the other hand, have often been the underdogs in major tournaments, having faltered eight times in the semi-finals of 50-over ICC events.
The Black Caps mainly consists of bits-and-pieces players, mainly all-rounders, who have the capability to turn a match on any day, as was witnessed in Grant Elliot’s 75-run knock against Pakistan.
Skipper Daniel Vettori is determined to see that his side does not lose a chance to win a major tournament.
“There is a real ambition in the side. There’s belief and desire to win tournament instead of just ending up as semi-finalists,” he said.
But with a flat track on offer at Centurion, Vettori will bank on wicket-keeper batsman Brendon McCullum , Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor to give them a good start.
Although Vettori has been multi-tasking with both bat and the ball, the Black Caps cannot afford to leave it to him all the time.
On the bowling front, with support from Kyle Mills and James Franklin at the other end, Shane Bond too is slowly and steadily coming back to his usual hot form sending down fast stuffs.
The charge of middle overs, meanwhile, rests with Vettori, who along with Ian Butler and Elliot, have done a decent job so far in the tournament.
Teams
Australia: Ricky Ponting (Capt), David Hussey , Callum Ferguson, Nathan Hauritz, Ben Hilfenhaus, James Hopes, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Tim Paine, Peter Siddle, Adam Voges, Shane Watson, Cameron White, Brad Haddin, Doug Bollinger.
New Zealand: Daniel Vettori (Capt), Shane Bond, Neil Broom, Ian Butler, Brendon Diamanti, Grant Elliott , Martin Guptill, Gareth Hopkins, Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills, James Franklin, Jeetan Patel, Aaron Raymond, Ross Taylor, Daryl Tuffey.
Johannesburg—New Zealand found the perfect balance between the defensive and the offensive after having lost the toss on a flat pitch surrounded by an outfield as fast as a highway. They bowled tight lines interspersed with odd effort balls, their fielders made every run hard work, and frustrated Pakistan into giving their wickets away at important junctures. As a result, Pakistan were left to defend 233, that too thanks to a 35-run last-wicket stand between Mohammad Aamer and Saeed Ajmal.
Only the 19-year-old Umar Akmal batted with a free mind, scoring a 62-ball 55 in the middle overs, but just before he could open up in the last 10 a rare ordinary call from Simon Taufel accounted for him. The rest of the batsmen, though, were thrown off their game plan by the hustling New Zealanders. Pakistan once again suggested they had forgotten the batting Powerplay, and played as if the good old 15-over restriction rule was in place.
Mohammad Yousuf and Umar did well to bring Pakistan back from 86 for 4, but did little to unsettle the lesser bowlers. Yousuf, too, fell when the time to accelerate came, having scored 45 off 78. James Franklin and Grant Elliot went for 40 in their 10 overs, and gave Ian Butler and Shane Bond enough scope to attack. Butler ended with career-best figures of 4 for 44.
The innings started with a delightful face-off between two men making their comebacks from ICL. Bond was forever accurate, consistently bowling inswingers headed for the top of off stump. The first such delivery to Imran Nazir showed him a slight bat-pad gap. All through his first spell Bond kept working on that gap. He played on the intelligence and ego of a batsman known for his attacking instinct and dashing stroke play – mixing the inswingers with slower legcutters.
On his part, Nazir played one of his more mature knocks. He didn’t try any expansive shots to Bond. He found release by hitting Butler for three boundaries in his first over, and Pakistan suddenly looked healthy at 43 for 0 after nine overs.
That was when Bond produced a special over. Two accurate bouncers, one a no-ball, and the other one, a jaffa, rising from just short of a length and jagging into Nazir and taking the edge, reminded the cricketing world what it had been missing.
It was then Butler’s turn to make a comeback from an ordinary start. He first induced an edge from Shoaib Malik, and then got an under-pressure Kamran Akmal to hole out to sweeper-cover. At 69 for 3 Pakistan needed a renovation job from Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf, but bowling at such times is right up Daniel Vettori’s alley.
In his second over, he got a leading edge from Younis, his third failure in three innings in the tournament. While Yousuf and Umar added 80 runs for the fifth wicket, the intent that their middle order showed against India was missing. It also owed to much smarter bowling and field placements from New Zealand.
When Yousuf fell in the 39th over, with the score on 166, one would have expected Shahid Afridi to call for the Powerplay. He didn’t. But he kept playing risky cricket at the same time, and paid for it. In between those two dismissals, Taufel ruled Umar lbw off Vettori, while replays showed the batsman had hit the ball.
The bowlers were left to give themselves runs to defend, and Aamer and Ajmal did that in uninhibited manner. They managed 233 but will it be too much to do for the most varied and skilled attack of the tournament?
Pakistan: 1 Imran Nazir, 2 Kamran Akmal (wk), 3 Younis Khan (capt), 4 Shoaib Malik, 5 Mohammad Yousuf, 6 Umar Akmal, 7 Shahid Afridi, 8 Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, 9 Mohammad Aamer, 10 Saeed Ajmal, 11 Umar Gul.
New Zealand: 1 Brendon McCullum (wk), 2 Aaron Redmond, 3 Martin Guptill, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Neil Broom, 6 Grant Elliot/Scott Styris, 7 James Franklin, 8 Daniel Vettori (capt), 9 Kyle Mills, 10 Shane Bond, 11 Ian Butler.
Umpire Simon Taufel, five times voted the sport’s best match official, is not permitted to stand in matches featuring Australia because of the International Cricket Council’s neutrality rules.
Taufel’s nationality has prevented him standing in some of cricket’s biggest showpieces, such as the 2007 World Cup final, the Ashes, and last summer’s battle for the number one Test ranking between Ricky Ponting’s side and South Africa.
There have been loud calls from many former players and commentators in recent times to abolish the neutrality rule so the highest-profile matches feature the best umpires.
Taufel was the number one umpire when the 2007 World Cup final descended into farce because five officials did not know how many overs constituted a match, and forced Australia and Sri Lanka to return to the field and play in darkness.
He also could have prevented the Sydney Test of 2008 turning ugly, which nearly resulted in India abandoning their tour.
But ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat is adamant umpires of neutral nationality will stay, as impartiality was the preference over the best.
“You can’t have both sets of issues resolved with the same debate,” he said.
“You’re either going to have neutral umpires or you’re going to have the best irrespective, and the (ICC) cricket committee has supported the view it is better to have neutral umpires.”
Had Pakistan reached the Champions Trophy final instead of New Zealand, the ICC would have had to rule out Aleem Dar, just days after the Pakistani broke Taufel’s five-year stranglehold on the umpire of the year award.
Lorgat said the ICC would retain its position on umpiring neutrality to ward off claims of bias from parochial fans in contentious decisions.
“Simon can make an honest mistake just like any other umpire,” he said.
“But as soon as he’s standing in an Australia game against somebody and he makes that mistake, the majority of spectators will view that not as a mistake.
“That is human nature. The conservative approach is better to keep neutrality.
“It’s worked, it’s not been a failure at all, it’s not been a failure at all, it’s been a success.”
Under ICC rules Test matches must feature two umpires of neutral nationality, while one home umpire is permitted to stand in one-day internationals outside ICC events such as the world cup and Champions Trophy, alongside one official of neutral nationality.
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP)-Marek Zidlicky’s teammates were glued to the television replays of his fluke goal from center ice, teasing the Minnesota defenseman about the serendipitous score that sparked the Wild’s biggest comeback victory in years.
“It’s a trick shot,” said left wing Dan Fritsche, laughing. “He works on it in practice all the time.”
Nobody in the opposite dressing room was joking around with San Jose goalie Brian Boucher, who might not live down this humiliating blunder for a good long while.
After Boucher allowed Zidlicky’s backhand from mid-ice to skitter between his legs for the tying goal and an instant blooper-reel lowlight, Mikko Koivu scored his second goal with 13.3 seconds left in overtime to finish the Wild’s 4-3 victory over the Sharks on Thursday night, snapping Minnesota’s four-game winless streak.
Zidlicky had no idea he was about to complete Minnesota’s comeback from a 3-0 deficit with 7:37 left in regulation when he dumped a backhand into San Jose’s zone from just past the center line. The puck somehow bounced sideways between the legs of Boucher, who whiffed with his glove like a nervous shortstop.
“I just threw the puck there,” said Zidlicky, who was just about to leave the ice when the Shark Tank crowd erupted in groans. “I was ready for a change, and I heard the bench saying we scored. It was a surprise for me.”
Boucher made 32 saves in his fourth straight start in place of Evgeni Nabokov, but the San Jose backup goalie couldn’t stop the night’s easiest shot. His mistake was the biggest factor in the Sharks’ fourth loss in five games, although San Jose still moved back into a tie for the overall NHL lead.
“The third one was a bad bounce, and it kicked to the side and snuck through my legs,” Boucher said. “I’m pretty upset about it. As much as the fans don’t like seeing that, you can bet I don’t want to let one like that in. That’s hockey sometimes, and it’s a bad break.”
Boucher, filling in while Nabokov is sidelined with a minor lower-body injury, got neither his pad nor his stick down to block the small space between his legs.
“That happens once a year, once every two years,” Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. “Tough one for the goalie.”
Joe Pavelski scored two goals, and Ryane Clowe had a goal and an assist for the Sharks, who tied Detroit with 94 points and two games in hand on the Red Wings-although San Jose sure doesn’t feel like the league’s best team.
Milan Michalek had three assists for the Sharks, who ruined the third penalty-free game in franchise history by blowing a three-goal lead at home. San Jose dropped to 26-3-4 at the Shark Tank and was outshot for just the fourth time in 28 games.
“We played very well for the first 38 minutes,” McLellan said. “I thought that’s as well as we’ve played in a long time. We executed, and then we let them back in the game, and right now we’re a little bit of a fragile team. You could see what happened after that.”
Pierre-Marc Bouchard also scored, and Niklas Backstrom made 32 saves for the Wild, who snapped their skid with a gritty comeback in the final 23 minutes of regulation. Minnesota hadn’t rallied from a three-goal deficit to win since Nov. 16, 2006, at Nashville.
“What I get from this is the guys never stop,” Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire said. “They kept working and working. We got a break on that (third) goal, and we felt good about that. We just kept playing hard.”
Until Boucher’s mistake changed the game, San Jose controlled play on the strength of its dominant second line of Pavelski, Clowe and Michalek.
Pavelski, who was thrown out of Tuesday’s loss to Dallas for what a linesman thought was a head-butt on Darryl Sydor, scored the Sharks’ first goal midway through the first period. After stopping a Minnesota clearing attempt at the blue line, he circled back toward the net and expertly tipped home a pass from Clowe for his 19th goal of the season.
Clowe scored about 4 minutes later with a shot that hit the supporting post in the back of Backstrom’s net and ricocheted out so quickly that it fooled the goal judge and officials, who had to review it.
Pavelski then scored his 20th goal of the season on a rebound of Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s shot midway through the second period, but the Wild scored twice in the final 2:08 of the period, with Koivu and Bouchard beating Boucher in quick succession.
Notes
The Sharks welcomed Travis Moen and Kent Huskins to their locker room before the game, but neither newcomer suited up. Both were acquired Wednesday in a trade with Anaheim. “I was pretty excited to come here to a great team,” said Moen, who expects to play Saturday. … Longtime Sharks captain Owen Nolan played his second straight game for Minnesota after sitting out three with a broken toe. … The Sharks play five of their next six games on the road, including a visit to Minnesota on Tuesday night. … Clowe had just one goal and one assist in his previous 10 games.
Scott Speed (82), Casey Mears (07), Jeff Gordon (24), David Ragan (6) …
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Kevin Harvick used a thrilling last-lap pass to steal a Daytona 500 victory. He’s apparently got the move mastered. Harvick powered past Jamie McMurray on the outside of the last lap Saturday night to grab a come-from-nowhere victory in the exhibition Budweiser Shootout.
“That was some wild racing,” he said from Victory Lane. “What a race. That was wild as heck there at the end.”
Wild indeed.
It was Harvick’s first victory in 71 races, dating to the All-Star race in May 2007. The only other event he won that year was the season-opening 500, when he nipped Mark Martin in a photo finish. Harvick was winless in 2008.
Now he’s got the momentum heading into next weekend’s Daytona 500, and NASCAR has the start to the season it desperately needed after an offseason filled with layoffs, sponsorship troubles and constant concern about the economic crisis.
“With the economy the way it is and the amount of layoffs – it’s almost depressing right now to turn the news on,” second-place finisher McMurray said. “I get up at 6 a.m., I turn the news on and headline is how many people are getting laid off from major corporations. I think it will be a tough year for us to sell tickets.”
Harvick started 23rd in the Shootout, spent most of the race in the back dodging wrecks, then slowly worked his way up toward the front. McMurray seemed headed for the win until a late wreck between Greg Biffle and David Stremme set up a two-lap overtime sprint to the finish.
Harvick was in fourth on the restart, and didn’t seem to have anything for McMurray.
But as they closed in on the finish line, he used a huge push from Denny Hamlin to slide past McMurray on the outside.
“It will be a long night,” McMurray said. “I’ll think about what maybe I should have done different.”
Harvick coasted to the win as Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch all crashed behind him.
McMurray knew holding on for the win would be difficult when he restarted in the lead for the final two laps.
“It’s just honestly the leader is kind of a sitting duck,” McMurray said. “It’s cool because you can pass him.”
Tony Stewart was third in his first race as owner of his race team. He left Joe Gibbs Racing at the end of last year to take over Stewart Haas Racing.
“Yeah, I’ll take that for a debut night,” Stewart said. “It wasn’t the prettiest third-place spot, but we were in the right spot at the right time.”
Jeff Gordon was fourth and was followed by AJ Allmendinger, Kasey Kahne and Carl Edwards. Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch and Kyle Busch rounded out the top 10.
The race used to be for the previous year pole winners and past champions of the event, but NASCAR overhauled the format and opened Saturday night’s exhibition to the top six teams from each manufacturer. Then last month, NASCAR passed “The Tony Stewart Rule” and allowed each manufacturer one wild-car entry.
The joke around the garage was the caveat was added so Stewart, a three-time Shootout winner, could get his new team into the race despite switching from Toyota to Chevrolet this season.
In all, a record 28 cars competed in the race, which also was expanded five laps to 75.
Some of the participants were eliminated early: A six-car wreck just four laps into the race knocked out rookies Scott Speed and Joey Logano. For Speed, it was his second wreck in as many days.
“The guys in front of me wrecked and the rest is just history. Kind of a thing that happens around here,” said Speed, a former Formula One driver who wrecked with Paul Menard during Friday’s practice.
Logano finished second in Saturday afternoon’s ARCA race, then sprinted to NASCAR’s driver meeting – only to get there as it was wrapping up. His punishment was being sent to the back of the starting field – right where the accident occurred.
“You start in the back and that’s kind of what happens,” Logano said.
Gordon proved why he’s a four-time series champion during that first accident, deftly weaving through the wrecking cars to escape unscathed.
Defending race winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. contended at times for the victory until his night ended 11 laps from the end in a four-car accident.
BEIJING (AP)-The area around Beijing’s massive Bird’s Nest stadium will be turned into a shopping and entertainment complex in three to five years, a state news agency said Friday.
Officially known as Beijing National Stadium, the showpiece of the Beijing Olympics has fallen into disuse since the end of the games. Paint is already peeling in some areas, and the only visitors these days are tourists who pay about $7 to walk on the stadium floor and browse a pricey souvenir shop.
Plans call for the $450 million stadium to anchor a complex of shops and entertainment outlets in three to five years, Xinhua News Agency reported, citing operator Citic Group. The company will continue to develop tourism as a major draw for the Bird’s Nest, while seeking sports and entertainment events.
The only confirmed event at the 91,000-seat stadium this year is Puccini’s opera “Turandot,” set for Aug. 8-the one-year anniversary of the Olympics’ opening ceremony. The stadium has no permanent tenant after Beijing’s top soccer club, Guo’an, backed out of a deal to play there.
Details about the development plans were not available. A person who answered the phone at Citic Group on Friday said offices were closed for the Chinese New Year holiday.
A symbol of China’s rising power and confidence, the stadium, whose nickname described its lattice of exterior steel beams, may never recoup its hefty construction cost, particularly amid a global economic slump. Maintenance of the structure alone costs about $8.8 million annually, making it difficult to turn a profit, Xinhua said.
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