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Wimbledone and 15
India win series as rain washes
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KP best, no vote for Tendulkar!
England name squad for first Ashes Test
Yousuf’s ton lifts Pak
Indian sports need drive, determination: Gill
Arjun wins Carlsberg golf meet
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Wimbledone and 15 Fittingly, Pete Sampras, the only other man to have previously won 14 slams, was sat in the Royal Box as a match of unrelenting drama stretched into a fifth hour. “Andy I want to say you're going to come back and win one, I’m sure,” Federer said on court as a shattered Roddick contemplated his third defeat to Federer in a Wimbledon final. Few imagined that Federer's seventh consecutive Wimbledon final could come anywhere near close to emulating last year's epic when he lost his crown to Rafael Nadal -- a five-set thriller that ended in near darkness. The Swiss, who claimed his first French Open title last month to complete his career grand slam, dropped just one set in reaching the final and had won 18 of his previous 20 matches against the American who is still waiting for a second career grand slam title after winning the U.S. Open in 2003. Roddick has reinvented his game though in the last 12 months after his career began to slide and after stunning British hope Andy Murray in the semi-final he came agonisingly close to another shock. Federer was stretched to the limit in an unforgettable duel of enery-sapping tension despite firing 107 winners. After losing the first set he was then reeling in the second set tiebreak as Roddick moved 6-2 ahead and seemed set to move two sets clear. Federer then won six consecutive points to level the match, Roddick wasting one golden chance at 6-5 when he sent a backhand volley wide. Federer could make no headway on the Roddick serve but remained solid on his own delivery to win the third set on another tiebreak 7-5. Roddick, beaten twice in previous finals here by Federer, refused to buckle and broke at a crucial moment of the fourth with a great backhand to set up an enthralling decider. With Wimbledon greats Sampras, Bjorn Borg and Rod Laver watching intently from the Royal Box, Federer kept his nose in front in a nerve-racking decider and clinched victory after four hours and 16 minutes when Roddick's resistance finally cracked and the Swiss broke serve for the first time in the match. — Reuters
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India win series as rain washes out last ODI
Gros Islet, July 5 Against some good Indian bowling, the home side reached 27 for one in the eighth over when play was stopped by a downpour. Although the rainfall later ceased, there was too much water in the outfield for play to resume and after over two hours of waiting the game was abandoned. — Reuters Dhoni lauds Ishant He was off-colour during the IPL and Twenty20 World Cup, but Ishant Sharma looked impressive in his short spell today and India skipper MS Dhoni feels a disciplined approach coupled with little assistance from the pitch did the trick for the pacer. Handed with the responsibility of opening the attack in the washed out fourth and final ODI against West Indies here today, Ishant was bang on target from the word go and sent packing hosts’ captain Gayle. He gave away just 17 runs in his four overs. which earned him the accolades of his captain. "He (Ishant) was concentrating more on what he needs to do rather than looking at the batsman. Today he was bowling in the right areas and there was a bit help in the pitch for the fast bowlers.”
— PTI
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KP best, no vote for Tendulkar!
Melbourne, July 5 Tendulkar may have been a thorn in Australia's flesh for 18 long years and possess virtually every other batting record but the current 25 CA-contracted players did not deem him worth of even a single vote. Instead, they picked former England captain Pietersen as the current batsman they feared most, giving him 50 per cent votes in a survey conducted this year, according to 'The Age'. Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara, who has scored 503 runs from six matches at an average of 41.91 against the Australians, was the surprise second best batsman with 34 per cent votes. In comparison, Tendulkar has scored 2748 runs from 29 matches at an average of 56.08 against the Australians. Pietersen, on the other hand, has made 963 runs from 10 matches at 53.50 average against Australia, but the 29-year-old's attitude has attracted just as much admiration as his record. South Africa captain Graeme Smith and teammate Jacques Kallis got seven per cent of votes apiece. Australia captain Ricky Ponting paid glowing tribute to Pietersen and said, “He’s the sort of player that is always taking the game forward. I'm not sure of his strike rate in Test cricket (63.35) but generally when he makes runs he gets them at a pretty good speed. “I think Pietersen is their classiest player. He’s aggressive, he takes the game on, and those sort of players, when they start to get going, they can bring a few more of their teammates along with them,” he added. For Brett Lee too, Pietersen is one of the hardest batsmen in the world to bowl to when he is on song. “I don’t care what anyone says - I’ve bowled against him when he’s playing well and he picks the ball very, very early, he hangs late back in his crease and gives himself that extra time. He plays all the shots and he's an aggressive person. “Whether that’s the South African nature in him; Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff are the two players who are most like Aussie players, the way they’ve got that controlled aggression, the way they don’t want to let an opponent, I suppose, scare them or overpower them. When you’ve got that with a player with his talent, it's a pretty handy mix,” Lee said. Fast bowler Mitchell Johnson, however, feels the pressure on England's star batsman might make him vulnerable. “I still think Ricky Ponting is the best batsman in the world. (But) Pietersen has got so much talent, he can hit your good balls for four or even six,” he said. — PTI
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England name squad for first Ashes Test
London, July 5 Batsman Ian Bell has also been added to the England XI who played Warwickshire last week while left-arm spinner Monty Panesar wins selection for the match starting on Wednesday ahead of Yorkshire leg-spinner Adil Rashid. Harmison displayed genuine pace and disconcerting bounce for the England Lions against Australia in the drawn match that finished on Saturday, dismissing exciting new opener Phillip Hughes cheaply in both innings and taking six wickets overall. However, he paid the price for his frustrating inconsistency in test cricket while Onions has reaped the reward of a fine first series against West Indies this year, including five for 38 figures on debut. “Graham Onions was picked on what he has done in his last two test matches and his consistency in county cricket as well,” chief selector Geoff Miller told Skysports. “It was encouraging to see how Steve Harmison bowled but it’s not a sprint these Ashes, it's a long marathon and there’s a lot of cricket to be played.” Bell has been included as the extra batsman while Panesar’s respectable Test record gives him the edge over the inexperienced Rashid if England decide to play two spinners. Cardiff will be staging a test for the first time and the England team management will examine the pitch closely before making a decision on the final XI. — Reuters
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Galle, July 5 Sri Lanka, trailing by 50 runs, failed to score from the one over bowled by Mohammad Aamer in their second knock before stumps were drawn for the day. Pakistan's lead left the match evenly poised on a wicket that appeared to have eased out after helping the seamers with bounce and movement on the first day. Yousuf, who turns 35 next month, was playing his first Test match since December 2007 after being banned by the Pakistan board for his involvement with the unauthorised Indian Cricket League. But the prolific right-hander was rehabilitated with a call-up for the current tour after breaking links with the rebel body and repaid the selectors’ faith with his 24th Test century. The bearded 80-Test veteran hit 11 boundaries en route to his first Test hundred against Sri Lanka when he was run out in the final session attempting a cheeky single. — AFP Scoreboard Sri Lanka (1st innings): 292 Pakistan (1st innings) Manzoor lbw b Thushara 2 Sri Lanka (2nd innings): Herath batting 0
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Indian sports need drive, determination: Gill
Sonepat, July 5 Gill, who was here to inaugurate the newly laid astroturf at the SAI center at Chauhan Joshi village, said the country needed perfect sports management for which affective measures were being taken. Advocating justice for the players, he said that the union government was going to set up a panel of legal experts headed by a retired judge of Delhi high court, before which the players would be able to put up their grievances and seek justice. He said sports tournaments at village, block, district and state level would be held regularly and a computerised data of the outstanding players would be maintained at the government level. In case a player’s name would figure frequently amongst the winners at different levels, he would be adopted by the ministry and given world class training to ensure his proper development. Discouraging the use of drugs in sports, Gill said rather than winning more medals by using unfair means such as dope, the country would prefer a lesser haul.
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Arjun wins Carlsberg golf meet
Shimla, July 5 An eagle helped Sood him overcome the stiff challenge posed by Prithvi Vikram Sen who ended up as runner up with 28 points. Ashwini Mehta had maximum number of four birdies to his credit. Presiding over the concluding function Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said the state had vast potential for the sport which the government planned to tap by developing a number of golf courses. Nalagarh area would be the first to have a golf course. The involvement of corporate world with such activities would go a long way in boosting the sport. He said such a gesture from the commercial sector would go a long way in preserving the environment in the area. |
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Roger Federer beats Andy Roddick to surpass Pete Sampras’ record of 14 Grand Slams 
London, July 5
“Today I was on the lucky side. It feels funny to have the trophy back. It feels great. It was a crazy match, my head's still spinning. It's an unbelievable moment in my career.”
Double Whammy:
LONDON: