Sialkot Stallions finally get stage to strut their stuff

Two of the teams at this year's Champions League would have made their first appearance in at the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2008.

The Titans have had the opportunity to qualify every year since then but only got it right in 2012. The other, the Sialkot Stallions, did not have that same chance. Relations between India and Pakistan soured after the Mumbai terror attacks of November 2008 and Pakistan players and teams found themselves shut out of the competition.

If a representative from Pakistan had been let into the tournament in the previous three editions, that team would have been Sialkot in two of them. They were Pakistan's domestic winners in 2009 and 2011, and 2012 - Lahore Lions took the crown in 2010. And if the Champions League existed before that, Sialkot would have participated in most of those editions too.

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Samuels, Sammy give WI first world title since 1979

Flair. Calypso. Frontrunners. Millionaires. Gold chains. Chris Gayle. No, no, no, no, no and no. West Indies' first World Twenty20 win was more digging in, refusing to give up, running and fielding like their life depended on this match, stunning the home crowd, and pulling off one of the most amazing turnarounds in Twenty20 history, especially given the stage. The due share of flair came from one of the most eye-pleasing batsmen going around. There's no need to add "one of the" here, because Marlon Samuels played simply the best Twenty20 international innings ever seen when West Indies were down and the count had reached about eight. A feedbacker to ESPNcricinfo's ball-by-ball commentary asked if Samuels' 78 was the 281 of Twenty20 cricket.

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Npower League One 6th October 2012

Brentford V Crawley

15:00

Bury V Swindon

15:00

Coventry V Bournemouth

15:00

Crewe V Hartlepool

15:00

Doncaster V Shrewsbury

15:00

Leyton Orient V Sheff Utd

15:00

MK Dons V Portsmouth

15:00

Notts County V Tranmere

15:00

Oldham V Preston

15:00

Stevenage V Scunthorpe

15:00

Walsall V Carlisle

15:00

Yeovil V Colchester

15:00

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Barclays Premier League oct 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday 6th October 2012

	Man City 3-0 Sunderland	90'
	Chelsea V Norwich	15:00
	Swansea V Reading	15:00
	West Brom V QPR	15:00
	Wigan V Everton	15:00
	West Ham V Arsenal	17:30

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westindies destroy Australian Bating line-up won by 74 runs

 

So lopsided was West Indies' obliteration of Australia in the second semi-final of the World Twenty20, the victors had near enough to 13 overs to bask in their looming progress to the final against Sri Lanka.

Matthew Wade's departure in the eighth over of Australia's reply to 205 for 4 left George Bailey's team at a forlorn 43 for 6, their campaign collapsing in a few fevered minutes. Bailey was left to offer his team's last gesture of defiance, a breathless 63 from 29 balls, but it served only to narrow the margin.

That they were chasing such a tall tally was down to Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard. Gayle was starved of the strike early and later battled an apparent muscle strain, but in between produced an innings of controlled aggression that helped foster a trio of partnerships with Pollard, Marlon Samuels and Dwayne Bravo. Pollard clumped three of four sixes to be brutalised from Xavier Doherty's final over of the innings, a sequence that broke Australian spirits.

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Akmal fined for ignoring umpires

Umar Akmal has been fined 50 percent of his match fee for ignoring both on-field umpires while going for a change in gloves during Pakistan's semi-final against Sri Lanka in Colombo. There was no hearing as Akmal pleaded guilty and accepted the sanction to the charge laid by umpires Simon Taufel and Rod Tucker.

Jeff Crowe, the match referee, said: "In this incident, Umar showed blatant disregard to both the umpires' requests, which was offensive and unacceptable from an international cricketer and contrary to our unique spirit, hence a level two charge was laid."

"Respect for the umpires is integral and is something which we always emphasise and encourage," Crowe said. "Umar, when pleading guilty, apologised and regretted his action."

The incident happened in the 17th over of Pakistan's chase when Akmal was at the non-striker's end. Akmal remained unbeaten on 29 as Pakistan fell short by 16 runs.

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Srilanka beat Pakistan in 1st semi Final by 16 runs.

On a crumbling, turning, brute of a pitch by Twenty20 standards, Mahela Jayawardene responded with a T20-size classic. His 42 off 36, as delightful as it was delicate, proved to be the difference between the two sides in a tight semi-final. It was a bitterly disappointing night for his opposite number: Mohammad Hafeez outmanoeuvred a rampant Kumar Sangakkara in a crucial moment in the first innings, he came back from a horribly slow start to his own innings, but fell on 42 with some way to go for Pakistan.

It was Sangakkara who returned the favour with a superb stumping off a grubber to send Hafeez back with 48 to defend in 35 balls. Hafeez, who had just opened up with an extra-cover drive, a reverse-swept four and a punch through covers, was this close to making this his own night, but it was to be Sri Lanka's, who won their first Twenty20 international at R Premadasa Stadium, in the process successfully adjusting to a third venue in this tournament, the most for any team.

The powdery surface began to explode upon impact by the third over of the first innings. This was no place for average batsmen who stand there and swing from the hip. This would need a quality batsman. On turning tracks, they don't come better than Jayawardene. With the ball turning square at times, he stayed low, swept and reverse-swept often to play with the spinners' rhythm. Tillakaratne Dilshan, his opening partner, seemed to be batting on a different pitch.

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Hell in a Cell

As the coming WWE Hell in a Cell pay-per-view burns its way into the collective minds of the WWE Universe, WWE.com offers the people, places or things that feel like a trip through Dante’s levels of hell to the Superstars and Divas of WWE. Share the dread of some of the toughest competitors in today’s squared circle.

Hell in a Cell, WWE Hell in a Cell 2012, Antonio Cesaro, Sheamus, Tyson Kidd, Vickie Guerrero, Dolph Ziggler, Drew McIntyre, Johnny Curtis

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Sri Lanka v Pakistan, 1st semi-final, World Twenty20, Colombo

 

Pakistan didn't know until late on Tuesday night whether they'd have to keep their hotel reservations in Colombo for a few more days. But when South Africa's Robin Peterson gloved a ball for a single to take the score to 122 against India, a roar went around the Premadasa. It sounded as though Sri Lanka were playing, but the noise was from a legion of Pakistan fans who were celebrating their team's progress to the semi-finals on net run rate, at India's expense. There wasn't much separating the two sides, but Pakistan were better placed because they got their tactics right and won big against Australia earlier in the evening.

Spin has been Pakistan's strength in this tournament and their captain Mohammad Hafeez used his resources astutely. If that meant giving a rookie spinner the new ball and making the most experienced fast bowler wait till the 18th over, then so be it. The plan was to suffocate the Australians with turn on a sluggish pitch and it worked to such an extent that even Shane Watson had a rare, bad outing. The fielders made Australia's qualifying target of 112 seem distant. As a result, Pakistan play their fourth World Twenty20 semi-final tomorrow, but unlike on Tuesday, they will not have the lion's share of the support

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1st Semi Final: Pakistan vs Srilanka

Something about major tournaments stokes Sri Lanka's fire. They have now reached their fifth semi-final in six competitions, second only to Pakistan who have a cleansweep since the 2007 World Cup. In between the major events, they are often underwhelming. Before defeating Pakistan in the home ODIs in June, Sri Lanka had failed to collect silverware in six limited-overs series over 10 months.

Yet they have emerged frontrunners once more. The batting that so often seems fragile against quality bowling has grown a steely backbone. The middle order, abounding in youth, has bared its teeth as well. When England muscled past the top three on Monday, they stumbled into an ambush. The youngsters may not yet have acquired the heavy weaponry their seniors deal in, but they have enough switchblades and brass knuckles between them, and the audacity to dare anyone to a fight. Pakistan's wounds from their last scrap at the Premadasa may not yet have healed.

Sri Lanka's bowling has been their strength, but occasionally it has been made to look brittle by opponents who have cracked its unorthodoxy. With three allrounders now among their ranks, Sri Lanka have stockpiled resources capable of stepping in for ailing front-liners. Thisara Perera has had a career-defining 12 months with the ball, but he has been held in reserve during this tournament in that regard. Others like Akila Dananjaya have emerged to add mettle to an attack that has reclaimed some of the fearsomeness it surrendered since the 2011 World Cup

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India's one-run win not big enough to qualify

 

South Africa have had a few of their parties cruelly crashed by teams world over, but today they spoiled India's when it was only a small gathering. Having been knocked out of the World Twenty20 because Pakistan beat Australia, South Africa won the toss India wanted to win most, kept India down to 152, and passed 121, ensuring India would be eliminated from the tournament on net run rate.

India would have loved to chase and know what they needed to do with the bat to push their net run rate of -0.452 over Pakistan's 0.273, who are now through to the semi-final. However, batting first, all India could hope of doing was set up a huge total and try to win by a margin of around 30. South Africa's bowling, though, was too strong to clobber.

It was not all fun and games for South Africa either. Faf du Plessis laid bare the flaws in their strategy in the games leading up to their final inconsequential match. Watching du Plessis score a fluent 65 off 38, South Africa's think tank would have felt a surge of mixed emotions. After du Plessis got out, all but ensuring India's ouster, that think tank would have watched in horror as the last five wickets fell for 24 runs and South Africa lost by one run. Another heartbreaking loss ended arguably their worst campaign at a World Cup, across formats. It was Gary Kirsten's ninth defeat in nine matches as coach in World Twenty20 Super Eights.

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Australia qualify despite big defeat

 

Pakistan spun a web around Australia's batsmen and a few hours later could celebrate that doing so had secured qualification for the World Twenty20 semi-finals. Though sobered by defeat, the Australians managed to reach the 112 they required to make their qualification for the semis a certainty, while the result also ensured that South Africa were knocked out, regardless of what happened in their final Super Eights match against India.

The 32-run margin to Pakistan meant that India had to win by a wide margin against South Africa in order to elbow their way past Mohammad Hafeez's team into a semi-final spot. Such a scenario would have been undeserved by Raza Hasan and Saeed Ajmal in particular, who tied Australia in the kinds of knots previously unseen at this tournament.

Australia's first loss of the tournament reopened their former doubts when confronted by quality spin on a slow, turning pitch, and also demonstrated the chaos that can ensue if Shane Watson and David Warner do not give the innings a rapid start. Pakistan did not use a paceman until the 18th over of the innings, and other nations can be expected to use similar tactics against Australia for the remainder of the event. In the end it took a half century of considerable composure from Michael Hussey to ensure Australia's qualification.

Their inability to seriously challenge a middling tally will sound a note of warning for Australia's coaches, who also had the odd lapse in the field to ruminate on. Mitchell Starc had pinned Pakistan's captain Mohammad Hafeez lbw with his first ball to push the batsmen onto the defensive, and should also have dismissed Nasir Jamshed for a duck. But Glenn Maxwell dropped the catch at slip, allowing Jamshed to go on to an important 55.

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Spin exposes Australia middle order again

 

When Australia played Sri Lanka at the Premadasa during the 2011 World Cup, the visitors arrived with a very well aired reputation for being poor players of spin. The pitch that was prepared was so dry that Ricky Ponting called it "basically just rolled mud". Sri Lanka played three specialist spinners, but before Australia had a chance to bat the match was rained out. Nineteen months later, at the same venue, Pakistan banked on their phalanx of slow-bowlers and Australia faltered.

This time the pitch was no rolled mud. In fact Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins generated pace and were rewarded with good carry. Xavier Doherty and Brad Hogg managed some turn, but they were hardly unplayable. Still, Pakistan backed their spinners to the extent that if Shoaib Malik had not disappeared for 14 in the 15th over, the Premadasa might have witnessed the first full Twenty20 innings comprised entirely of spin.

Shane Watson and David Warner were forced to exert their own pace on the ball, and though Watson has had success against spin in the past, neither much enjoyed it. Oppositions had wondered what lay beyond the colossal top three, and Pakistan had figured a way to unhinge the vault. Both opener's dismissals hinted at frustration induced by a slower-than-usual scoring rates. At four runs an over Australia were hardly crawling, but the start was a sight more pedestrian than they had been used to in the tournament.

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