Fullsporty

Sunday, 15 September 2013

Sir Alex At Old Trafford

Sir Alex At Old Trafford to watch Premier League match against Crystal Palace at Old Trafford in Manchester.

Czech Republic to a third Davis Cup final in five years

Radek Stepanek and Tomas Berdych led holders Czech Republic to a third Davis Cup final in five years after breezing past Argentina's Carlos Berlocq and Horacio Zeballos in Saturday's doubles.

Stepanek and Berdych won 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in two hours and three minutes to earn an unbeatable 3-0 lead after they had dominated Friday's singles.

The Czechs, who won the 2012 trophy by beating Spain 3-2 in Prague, will travel to either Canada or Serbia for the November 15-17 final.

"It's pure fantasy, the guys played at a hundred percent again," said team captain Jaroslav Navratil.

"They didn't give the Argentinians a chance, they wiped them out, and we're very happy we can fight for the lovely trophy again after a year," he added.

"We would like to keep the trophy because it's beautiful," said Stepanek.

The Czech duo on Saturday won the 13th of their 14 Davis Cup doubles rubbers together since teaming up in 2007, while Berlocq and Zeballos played their debut doubles match together in Prague.

Besides, Stepanek, the world number five in doubles rankings, got a boost from the US Open doubles title with Leander Paes a week ago.

Pushed on by an emotional crowd of more than 11,000 fans around the superfast hardcourt at Prague's O2 Arena, the Czechs benefited from good serving and Stepanek's dominance at the net.

All they needed was four breaks, one apiece in the first two sets and two in the third.

Berlocq was the first to lose his serve in game eight of the first set, handing the Czechs a 6-3 set win.

He failed again late in the second set which the Czechs won 6-4. Each of the Argentinians then lost their serve in the last set which the Czechs took 6-2.

"We played a great game. Everything was in the right place today, we didn't drop a serve," said Berdych.

"As long as you are able to make pressure on them, you make chances, and that's what we've done today," he added, calling the rubber "one of the very good matches together with Radek."

On Friday, Stepanek, the world number 61 in singles and Czech number two, saw off 30th-ranked Argentinian number-one player Juan Monaco 7-6 (7/3), 6-3, 6-2 in the opening rubber.

Fifth-ranked Berdych then beat world number 93 Leonardo Mayer 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Argentina were missing their top star Juan Martin Del Potro, who is taking a break from the competition this year, as well as an injured David Nalbandian.

The 2012 Davis Cup triumph was the first for the Czechs since Czechoslovakia, which split peacefully into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993, won the trophy in 1980 with a team led by then 20-year-old Ivan Lendl.

Argentina, who have played three finals in the last seven years, are still seeking their first Davis Cup trophy.

20 Runs Off 1 Ball - World Record in Cricket History 2013

BCCI to oppose two new balls ODI rule

CHENNAI: The BCCI is set to push for some rule changes in the forthcoming chief executives committee (CEC) meeting of the International Cricket Council (ICC) next week.

On the sidelines of the Asian Cricket Council meeting here on Saturday, it was decided that the sub-continental boards will ask to abolish the two-new-balls rule for One-dayers. As per present playing conditions, two new balls are used from two ends and that is creating major problems for the spinners.

"The teams are spin dependent and when two-new-balls are used, the potency of the spin attack comes down significantly. So it has been decided to oppose the two new ball rule," a BCCI source said.

The umpires' decision to take the players off due to bad light without consulting the batting or bowling teams was criticized during the Ashes and there might be a proposal to change that as well.

"There are options of offering the light to the batting team and there's a possibility that we could revert to that. Other options of extending play at the end of the day with the help of floodlights by an extra hour will also be discussed," the source added.

The cut-off date for the four teams qualifying for the World Test Championship is Dec 31, 2016. There will be some Test series that will be going on during that time and the BCCI will propose to the ICC that the points should be calculated only at the end of those series.

"But no Test series after 2016 will be taken into consideration," the source added. There was no discussion about the rumoured India-Pak-Lanka tri-series in December in India instead of India going to South Africa.

Though there are no legal hurdles for BCCI to break the FTP because they haven't signed it yet, it's understood that the board is ready to go ahead with the proposed curtailed series in SA. It was also decided that the Asia Cup will be played in Bangladesh from Feb 24-March 7.