Hadlee accepts CA invitation
New Zealand bowling great Richard Hadlee has accepted the Cricket Australia invitation to attend the one-day series between New Zealand and Australia bearing his name this month and accepted there had been a misunderstanding. “I’ll be going across and it is good that the family is represented,” he said. Hadlee had earlier said neither he nor brother Dayle had received an invitation.
Sangakkara is top batsman
In-form Kumar Sangakkara toppled Australian skipper Ricky Ponting to become the first Sri Lankan to top the ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen following yet another stellar performance, reports UNI from Dubai.
The 30-year-old scored 92 and 152 in the first Test against England at Kandy this week to displace Ponting from the top.
Sri Lanka boast a player at the top of both the batsman and bowler categories as world record-breaking spinner Muttiah Muralidaran tops the bowling list.
Asif out for two more months
Pakistani fast bowler Mohammad Asif is expected to be out of action for two more months after surgeons in Australia recommended that he needs to have corrective surgery for his nagging elbow problem, reports PTI from Karachi.
The PCB sent Asif last week to Sydney to consult a sports medicine specialist after the pacer failed to recover from a elbow strain to make the Indian tour last month. Asif will have the corrective surgery on Monday.
Hoggard doubtful for second Test
Key England fast bowler Matthew Hoggard is likely to miss the second Test against Sri Lanka starting on Sunday because of a back injury, captain Michael Vaughan said on Thursday, reports AFP from Kandy.
Hoggard, 30, came off the field during Sri Lanka’s second innings on the fourth day of the first Test after the injury that bothered him the whole year flared up again.
“He is looking doubtful at this stage,” Vaughan said of his premier strike bowler.
Indian lifters win five gold
Indian eves won eight medals, including five gold, on the first day of the Commonwealth Powerlifting Championship in Christchurch in New Zealand on Thursday, reports UNI from New Delhi.
Mala Sukhwal and Jennis Joseph won the yellow metal in junior 52kg and 67.5kg weight categories lifting 272.5kg and 340kg respectively, while Pooja Kadam (52kg), Sneha Varute (82.5kg) and Vasudha (+90kg) were the gold winners in sub- junior category.
Kadam, Varute and Vasudha had total lifts of 260kg, 347.5kg and 250kg respectively, according to an Indian Powerlifting Federation release.
Ratna Mani (Master; 75kg), Deepali Kulkarni (Senior; 90kg) and Shuma (Senior; +90kg) were second in their respective weight categories.
Puneeth wins National TT title
Karnataka’s P Puneeth defeated North Bengal’s Ranjib Sarkar 11-7, 9-11, 13-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-4 to win the sub-junior boys title in the all-India National ranking table tennis tournament at Vadodara, Gujarat, recently.
The student of Sri Kumaran’s Children’s Home had beaten Ayona Basak of Bengal 4-1 in the semifinals.
Chowrasia in tied seventh spot
S S P Chowrasia turned in a near-perfect three-under 69 for a share of the seventh spot, while Shiv Kapur and Rahil Gangjee returned identical cards of two-under 70 to be tied 11th after the opening round of the US$ 750,000 Volvo Masters golf tournament, reports PTI from Bangkok.
Leading scores (first round):
65: Scott Strange (Aus); 67: Frankie Minoza (Phi), Prayad Marksaeng (Tha); 68: Simon Griffiths (Eng), Lee Sung (Kor), Scott Hend (Aus); 69: Thammanoon Srirot (Tha), Tony Lascuna (Phi), SSP Chowrasia (Ind), Simon Yates (Sco); 70: Gerald Rosales (Phi), Angelo Que (Phi), Chris Rodgers (Eng), Rahil Gangjee (Ind), Mardan Mamat (Sin), Airil Rizman (Mas), Juvic Pagunsan (Phi), Gavin Flint (Aus), Mark Brown (Nzl), Gary Simpson (Aus), Chinarat Phadungsil (Tha), Iain Steel (Mas), Shiv Kapur (Ind), Thongchai Jaidee (Tha), Prom Meesawat (Tha).
