KKR victory over RR

KKR decided to field first and needed 170 runs to win against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their Champions League Twenty20 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.

Chris Gayle blasted the start, KKR bowlers, especially Jacques Kallis and Iqbal Abdulla did well to bring down the scoring rate. They picked up wickets at regular intervals as almost every RCB batsman got out after playing some good looking shots. But in came their skipper Vettori at number 7 and in company of the debutant Bhatkal, boosted Bangalore to a score in excess of 160.

Kolkata looked wayward at the death and were clearly unsettled by Vettori's shuffle across the stumps.

Tilakaratne Dilshan, Saurabh Tiwary and Mayank Agarwal failed to contribute much with the bat after the KKR spinners came into play.

After hitting three towering sixes the Chris Gayle show came to an end as Kallis removed him with a superb inswinging yorker that uprooted the batman's leg stump.

And in the very next over Virat Kohli was done in by Brett Lee. It was a short of length delivery and Kohli looked to flick it on the on side but got a leading edge which went straight to Gambhir at extra cover.

Earlier, Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Gautam Gambhir won the toss and elected to bowl against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

KKR have made three changes to their side as they left out L Balaji, Manvinder Bisla and Shakib Al Hasan to bring in Shami Ahmed, Jaydev Unadkat and Brad Haddin.

Bangalore have included Sri Lankan import Tillakaratane Dilshan in place of injured AB de Villiers.

South Australia win over KKR

South Australia defeated KKR with 19 runs difference in Champions League Twenty20.

Callum Ferguson scored a magnificent victorious half-century to power South Australia Redbacks to a convincing win over Kolkata Knight Riders.Ferguson formed a blazing 40-ball 70-run unbeaten knock and together with Daniel Christian (42) added 84 runs off just 48 deliveries for the fourth wicket to help South Australia post a challenging 188 for five in their 20 overs.

And then the Australian team produced a disciplined bowling and fielding effort to restrict KKR to 169 for nine.

Manoj Tiwary top-scored for KKR with 40 off 31 balls while Ryan ten Doeschate played a useful one towards the end.

Gary Putland and Daniel Harris shone with the ball for South Australia sharing six wickets between them.

For KKR, it's their second consecutive defeat after having lost to Somerset by five wickets in their tournament opener.

On the other hand, the win opened South Australia's account in the tournament following their 50-run loss to Warriors in the opening match.

Chasing the sudden target , KKR were never in the track as they lost wickets at regular intervals.

KKR's chase started on a unsteady note, losing three wickets including captain Gautam Gambhir, inside the 50-run mark.

Opener Manvinder Bisla showed promise hitting Nathan Lyon for three fours in the first over before he was cleaned up by Kane Richardson in the next.

Shakib Al Hasan and Gambhir failed to live upto their reputation and were dismissed cheaply as KKR slumped to 51 for three after seven overs.

Jacques Kallis and Tiwary raised visions of a fightback stitching 35 runs off 25 balls for the fourth wicket before the former was snared caught and bowled by Harris.

Big-hitting Yusuf Pathan and Tiwary then departed in consecutive overs and created

Greater difficulties for KKR to get victorious.

Mumbai Indians beat T&T

This Season’s Champions League witnesses teams scoring lesser runs rather than those scoring more. T&T distorted from 52 for 2 to 98 all out, Mumbai Indians went one better, reducing themselves to 37 for 5 at the central mark of their innings. Both quicks and spinners on either side held control, so basically it was just poor batting from both sides, with the highest partnership being all of 32 runs, between Ambati Rayudu and R Sathish for the sixth wicket. That partnership ultimately decided the winner of the contest.

A six by Lasith Malinga in the last over, when 10 were needed off five deliveries, seemed to have sealed the issue but two run outs, including that of Rayudu, complicated the issue before a desperately run brace off the final ball gave MI another famous win.


As usual it was Malinga who started the wicket-fest. The T&T openers Lendl Simmons and Adrian Barath had raised 18 from the first two overs, including 10 off Malinga's opening over. But as it turned out, it was a illusion. After a slowish Yorker got the better of Barath, Simmons committed the cardinal sin of not grounding his bat and paid the penalty. Three wickets from his four-over spell, including that of the left-handed Bravo, put MI on top. For T&T the final outcome would have been heartbreaking, especially for their pacer Ravi Rampaul who sent down an initial spell of 3-0-13-3 and came back at the loss to concede a mere four runs in the last but one over. Unfortunately he couldn't bowl at both ends.

Kolkata were on track for the first two balls of their innings, They had Gautam Gambhir back in the side after an comprehensive absence due to injury, they had won the toss and Manvinder Bisla had shattered Alfonso Thomas for consecutive fours to start the proceedings. After that, it was pretty much effortless for Kolkata for a large part of their innings. The next 13.1 overs brought only 68 runs for the loss of Bisla, Gautam Gambhir and Manoj Tiwary. Then Yusuf Pathan ignited the innings and gave the Knight Riders a total to defend, but in the final analysis, scoring at just over 5 runs an over for such a large part of the innings hurt Kolkata's chances and ended up costing them the match. That and the fact that Roelof van der Merwe trumped Pathan's show with a more sustained assault that overcome mid-innings jitters for Somerset and put them on course to victory. Somerset's bowlers kept a tight leash on the Kolkata batsmen for more than half the innings, with runs difficult to come by, and boundaries very rare. Bisla had started brightly, but he fell in the third over to Lewis Gregory. In the same over, the returning Gautam Gambhir fell first ball and Kolkata were immediately put on the backfoot. Jacques Kallis has played many Twenty20 knocks where he has taken the bowling by the scruff of the neck, but today was not one of those days. He stayed till the end alright, but until Pathan's entry, he was scoring at less than a run-a-ball and doing that for an extended time-period in Twenty20 cricket spells trouble. Manoj Tiwary too seemed unable to get the runs, with the result that Kolkata's run-rate quickly slipped. When Tiwary got out - off the first ball of the twelfth over - the score read a dismal 71/3.

Brett Lee bowled a superb 18th over, conceding only 5 runs, and Somerset were left with 14 to get off the final 2 overs. Balaji was then entrusted with the responsibility to bowl the 19th over, and for half of it, he did a good job. On the fourth ball though, the match turned once again. First Balaji bowled a wide down the leg side that allowed the batsmen to cross over too, to add 2 runs to the total. And then off the legal delivery, Nick Compton hit a ball bowled on the leg-stump to the boundary. In such a tight situation, a boundary alone would have turned the match, but with the two wides conceded, it was the equivalent of hitting a six off the third ball. That left Somerset with just 5 runs to get from 8 balls, and though Kolkata managed to drag the match into the final over, the last few deliveries were pressure free for the Somerset batsmen and they won by 5 wickets with 2 balls to spare.

That was when Kolkata began to fight back. Somerset had needed just 55 runs off 60 balls with 9 wickets in hand, but for a period the runs dried up. That led to a rush of wickets and suddenly the match was split wide open. It started with Trego being run-out, after Shakib al Hasan dropped him but recovered enough to effect a direct-hit run-out. That ended a second-wicket stand of 105 that had come off 12 overs. Four balls later, Shakib got the key wicket of van der Merwe, who had to depart for a whirlwind innings of 73 off 40 balls when he tamely chipped the ball back to the bowler. Hildreth and Suppiah too fell quickly and Somerset had slipped to 143/5 with just three overs to go. With 19 to win off 18 balls, and two batsmen who had together faced just 7 deliveries at the crease, it was anybody's game

Yusuf Pathan took a sighter of things while settling down, before exploding in a manner only he can. The unfortunate bowler to suffer was Arul Suppiah, who bowled the 15th over. Kallis took a single off the first ball, and Yusuf - who faced 5 balls till then - promptly hit the next four into the stands. A rattled Suppiah conceded five wides off what should have been the final ball, and the over ended up costing Somerset a massive 30 runs. In the space of one over, Yusuf had lifted Kolkata's run-rate from 5.9 to 7.5, and that put the IPL team on course for a good target. Yusuf's hitting seemed to unlock Kallis too, who hit a couple of big shots of his own. 83 runs had come off the first 14 overs for Kolkata, and 78 runs came off the next 6. Yusuf Pathan ended up on 39 not out off just 21 balls with Kolkata having a very healthy 161/3 on board. Kallis, who had been on 34 off 38, scored 40 from his next 23 balls to eventually end up on a respectable 74 not out off 61. Given the slowish nature of the track and the array of spinners Kolkata had, they were favourites to win going into the break.

That was when Kolkata began to fight back. Somerset had needed just 55 runs off 60 balls with 9 wickets in hand, but for a period the runs dried up. That led to a rush of wickets and suddenly the match was split wide open. It started with Trego being run-out, after Shakib al Hasan dropped him but recovered enough to effect a direct-hit run-out. That ended a second-wicket stand of 105 that had come off 12 overs. Four balls later, Shakib got the key wicket of van der Merwe, who had to depart for a whirlwind innings of 73 off 40 balls when he tamely chipped the ball back to the bowler. Hildreth and Suppiah too fell quickly and Somerset had slipped to 143/5 with just three overs to go. With 19 to win off 18 balls, and two batsmen who had together faced just 7 deliveries at the crease, it was anybody's game.

China beats Japan

China overcame Japan 84-58 to stay victorious at 2011 FIBA Asia Men's Basketball Championship on Wednesday and will play against Lebanon in Friday's quarterfinals.

Defending Champions Iran also raised its winning record to 6-0 after beating South Korea 79-62. They will meet Jordan in the quarterfinals.

Yi Li led China with 19 points and five rebounds, while Yi Jianlian had a double-double of 18 points and 13 rebounds. Zhu Fangyu took all his eight points in the first quarter but contributed five assists. Liu Wei had 14 points and five assists. Wang Zhizhi earned 13 points and three steals.

Zhu Fangyu and Wang Zhizhi combined 14 points in the first quarter. Kawamura Takuya led Japan with eight points but Zhang Bo's buzzer-beater three-pointer closed the first quarter as China led 21-16.

Kawamura Takuya continued his dazzling performance in the second quarter as he scored 11 points. Yi Li stood out and answered with 11 points. Yi Jianlian took 11 points before the half time and China enlarged the lead to 14 points by half.

Kawamura Takuya had a match-high 24 points, only five of which came from the second half. Matsui Keijuro became Japan's main attack force in the third quarter as he took all his seven points in that. But China had a 8-0 run in the beginning of that quarter and Wang Zhizhi took seven points in straight to close the third quarter.

Liu Wei's 11 points in the fourth quarter just enlarged China's lead to 21 points. The defeat put Japan in third place in the group and will play against South Korea in the quarterfinals.The other quarterfinal will be played between Chinese Taipei and the Philippines. Chinese Taipei trouncedMalaysia 109-62 and the Philippines beat Syria 75-52. Chang Tsung-Hsien came up with 25 points to help Chinese Taipei occupy the third spot in the group.

Champion’s league twenty20

The Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20) cricket is scheduled to begin in India from September 23 and go till October 9. The tournament proceeds to India this year with matches in Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata, as well as a qualifying event in Hyderabad from September 19-21.

The tournament will have10 competing teams. Some teams have already qualified for the event. A six-team qualifying event will be held for the first time to determine the final three participants.

The teams will be divided into two pools and the top team from each pool qualifies for the group stage, and the third would be the next highest ranked team based on points and then net run rate.

In the group stage, 10 teams have been divided into two groups for a round robin fragment The top two teams from each group would progress to the semifinals.

The group stage matches will be held in Eden Gardens, Kolkata, M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore, and MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai.

Bangalore will host the first semifinal (October 7) while the other semifinal (October 8), and the final (October 9) will be held in Chennai.

Chennai Super Kings, the defending CLT20 Champions, have been drawn in Group A along with Cape Cobras - South Africa's Pro20 Series Champions, 2009 Champions NSW Blues and Mumbai Indians. The fifth team from the group will be the team that finishes top of Pool B in the qualifier.

Group B contains Royal Challengers Bangalore IPL runners-up, Warriors of South Africa 2010 CLT20 runner-up, and South Australian Redbacks - Australia's Twenty20 Big Bash Champions. The remaining two places will come from the Qualifiers - the top of pool A and the next highest qualifier.

The tournament starts in Bangalore with a group B clash between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Warriors at M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Rugby World Cup - Italy’s Victory over Russia

Italy’s Captain Sergio Parisse maneuvered his side and win over Russia 53-17 in

Rugby World Cup Pool C match at Trafalgar Park in Nelson.

Parisse was influential in at least three of Italy's six first-half tries, scoring the first and setting up two others as the experimental Italians dominated the forward exchanges to record 50 points for the first time in a World Cup match. The wing Giulio Toniolatti and the centre Tommaso Benvenuti contributed two tries each, while the scrum-half Edoardo Gori, the wing Luke McLean and Alessandro Zanni also scored for the Italians.

The Italian scrum, which constantly had the Russians on the back foot, was also rewarded when the referee Wayne Barnes gave a penalty try after the Russians had collaped the scrum for the fourth time on their goal line.

The fly-half Riccardo Bocchino converted four of their first-half tries, though he and Benvenuti missed five conversions between them.

The Italy hooker Fabio Ongaro was sin-binned for an illegal tackle on Igor Klyuchnikov when he went into the challenge without wrapping his arms around the Russian.

Russia took full advantage when the replacement scrum-half Alexander Yanyushkin darted over for his side's first try at the World Cup and Konstantin Rachkov converted from wide. Benvenuti secured his second try of the game when he kicked ahead and won the race to the ball to give the Italians a 43-7 lead shortly after the break, before the Russian Vladimir Ostroushko scored his side's second try after a sustained build-up.

The Italy winger McLean, who had been a constant threat, crossed for his side's eighth try before the Russia centre Alexei Makovetsky took a long pass on the left and went over for Russia's third. The replacement loose forward Alessandro Zanni barged over for Italy's ninth and final try.

Fever defeat Liberty in Semi's

Indiana Fever assure their Eastern Conference semifinal series with a 72-62 win over the New York Liberty on Monday. The Fever advanced to host Atlanta on Thursday in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.Katie Douglas dominated her matchup with Cappie Pondexter.Douglas handled Pondexter on both ends of the floor. The Fever guard scored 21 points in Game 3, just under her average of 22 points in the series. She also helped hold Pondexter, one of the league's top scorers, to 11 points on 4-for-14 shooting.Douglas' size and smarts were the Prominent elements that forced the explosive Pondexter into numerous bad shots or prevented her from getting the ball at all.Pondexter had been a thorn in the Fever's side the past two years. She averaged 20.8 points in the 2009 WNBA finals and led Phoenix to a 3-2 win. She went to New York and averaged 27.3 points last year in the East semifinals against Indiana, a 2-1 win for the Liberty.

Pondexter nearly did it again in Game 1, but she missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have won that game for New York.

Douglas got help from her teammates against Pondexter -- five different players guarded her at some point during the game.Erin Phillips had 12 points and five steals for the Fever, who scored 26 points off New York's 20 turnovers.Nicole Powell led New York with 19 points.

Indiana outscored New York 21-7 from the free-throw line.The Fever led 59-54 with 4 minutes to play when Catchings took over. She hit a 3-pointer, then scored on a putback on Indiana's next possession to push the lead to 10.

Indiana led 40-36 at halftime during a chippy affair that saw Powell and Catchings get called for double technicals.The Fever opened the second half with an aggressive driving layup by Catchings and a baseline jumper by Phillips to take a 44-36 lead. New York went scoreless for the first 3 minutes of the second half, allowing Indiana to take a 49-36 lead.

New York closed the third quarter strong and cut Indiana's lead to 54-48. The Liberty got as close as three points in the fourth quarter, but the Fever responded with their traditional shutdown defense.

Rugby World Cup

England Defeated Georgia and placed a complicated week behind them in Dunedin today to beat Georgia and go top of their pool on point difference.
Martin Johnson's team triumphed by six tries to one, with Shontayne Hape (2), Delon Armitage, Manu Tuilagi and Chris Ashton (2) scoring.

They will take the result after the controversy which has enveloped them in the past few days, but this was a scratchy, less than impressive effort.

Indeed, had Georgia possessed a goal kicker with the skill to match the courage of the team, the score line would have looked altogether different.

Predictably, after all the media analysis of recent days, England were fired up to make an immediate statement - and Hape duly obliged.