PERTH: Test great Glenn McGrath has hailed Australia's rediscovery of "bit of mongrel" in the Ashes series and said they were starting to resemble the top teams of the past.
Australia are 2-0 up in the five-match series
against England and could take an unbeatable lead if they win the Perth
Test starting Friday after humbling the tourists in Brisbane and
Adelaide.
Since meekly losing the Ashes in England earlier this
year, Australia's performances have been defined by fierce fast
bowling, dogged batting and a more aggressive attitude.
McGrath
said it was good to see. "Australia play best when they've got a bit of
mongrel about them, when they play hard out in the middle, when they
don't give an inch, when they play an aggressive brand of cricket," he
said in a column for a betting website.
"It's something that has been missing for a little while and they're
back there now. They are a team I'd be proud to be a part of."
McGrath, who took 563 Test wickets at 21.64, credited pacer Mitchell Johnson for "injecting Australia's psyche with a bit of confidence".
"What he must do is not get carried away and still execute his plans, but there is no reason that Mitch, alongside Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle, can't keep doing that," said McGrath.
"I've been saying for the last few months that Mitch was going to have a
huge impact on this series, so I'm not surprised by the way he's
played. I'm backing him again to have a big match in Perth.
"He
had the English batsman jumping about on what was supposed to be a
fairly docile track at Adelaide so I can't wait to see him on the speed
gun at the WACA."
Ahead of the series, McGrath predicted a 5-0 whitewash of England and he is standing by his call.
"England continued to look like a rabbit in the headlights at Adelaide and I can't see a way back
DUBAI: Star batsman Virat Kohli lost his top position to AB de Villiers while most of his teammates, barring skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, also slipped in the latest ICC one-day rankings issued after the 0-2 series loss to South Africa.
India, in fact, dropped two ratings points but held on to the top spot
with 120 ratings points despite the 0-2 loss in the three-match series, while South Africa continued to be in fifth place with 110 ratings points, with a gain of three points.
Dhoni remained static at sixth but Shikhar Dhawan was down a rung to 10th, while Rohit Sharma
found himself 18th after losing three spots. Suresh Raina, who was 19th
in the previous list, is now out of top 20 and is currently placed at
23rd.
In the bowling charts, Ravindra Jadeja was pushed to the
7th spot, a loss of four positions, while Ravichandran Ashwin ended up
17th after slipping three rungs.
For South Africa, leading the
way is de Villiers, who had started the series in second spot behind
India's Virat Kohli, trailing by 17 ratings points on the rankings for
ODI batsmen.
But now de Villiers at 872 has not only regained
the number-one rank, he has also opened up a 13 ratings points lead over
Kohli.
De Villiers, who scored 189 runs in three completed
innings during the series, was the second highest run-getter on either
side with a top score of 109 in the final match.
De Villiers, who was named in both the ICC Test
and ODI Teams of the Year in 2013, now heads both the Test and ODI
batting tables. De Villiers had also been shortlisted for the LG
People's Choice Award this year.
De Villiers is the third batsman from South Africa after Jacques Kallis
and Hashim Amla to head the Test and ODI batting tables at the same
time, and the ninth player overall. Amla achieved the distinction in
February this year when he topped the charts after the Johannesburg Test
against Pakistan.
Amla, on the other hand, has moved up a place to third in the batting list.
Meanwhile, South Africa's Quinton de Kock
has made the biggest gain in the latest rankings following his three
successive hundreds in the series, jumping 61 places to a career-best
14th with a best-ever 672 ratings points.
De Kock became only
the fifth batsman in history to score three successive ODI hundreds, to
thereby end as the highest run-getter in the series with 342 runs.
Outside the top 20, the batsmen to move up include JP Duminy in 24th (up by three), David Miller in 45th (up by 12) and Ravindra Jadeja in 71st (up by one).
Meanwhile, South Africa fast bowler Dale Steyn
has continued his upward move in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for
ODI bowlers. Steyn has moved up three positions to second after claiming
six wickets in the two ODIs that he played.
Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal continues to be number-one ranked on the rankings for ODI bowlers.
The other two South Africa bowlers inside the top 10 are Lonwabo Tsotsobe in eighth (up by two) and Morne Morkel in ninth.
Meanwhile, Ryan McLaren has entered the top 20 of the bowling ranking for the first time, as he moved up two places to sit in 20th.
Outside the top 20, the bowlers to advance up the rankings include Mohammed Shami in 43rd (up by seven) and Ishant Sharma in 51st (up by 16).
JALANDHAR: India clinched the women's Kabaddi World Cup championship for the third time in a row, defeating debutant New Zealand 49-21 in the summit clash played at Guru Gobind Singh sports complex on Thursday.
The Indian eves led their New Zealand counterparts for most part of the
match and held out a strong challenge by the visitors in the second
half, on course to a resounding win.
The Indian team took home a first-place prize of Rs one crore.
Anu Rani was adjudged the best stopper while Ram Bateri was declared the best raider. Both received a Maruti Alto car each.
