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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