Wednesday 11th August, 2010

Record mammoth 200-run win in tri-series opener Kiwis peck India into submission ndia suffered a spectacular collapse to While Sharma, Raina and Kumar were lose their tri-series opener with New flummoxed by the considerable lift gener- SCOREBOARD IZealand by a mammoth 200 runs on ated outside the off-stump by Tuffey, who New Zealand Tuesday. bowled unchanged for eight overs on the With the bulk of their top order all too trot, in particular, Yuvraj needs a long, Peter Ingram c Dhoni b Nehra 12 comfortable with the low and slow pitches hard look at his severe lack of footwork c Dhoni b Kumar 11 experienced across their recent three-Test after doing himself a dirty despite an lbw b Nehra 95 series against Sri Lanka, the tourists ugly, wide, half-volley from Andy McKay. b Kumar 0 were found severely wanting on a The Powerplay, from over 10 b Ojha 89 Dambulla deck which offered the faster to 15, for the record, brought India a mere lbw b Nehra 14 bowlers plenty of swing, seam and six runs at the loss of two . st Dhoni b Singh 7 bounce. Mahendra Dhoni had earlier run him- Gareth Hopkins c Karthik b Kumar 10 Chasing a formidable target of 289 in self out for two to break the string of c Ojha b Nehra 19 the wake of Ross Taylor and Scott Styris’ catches to the cordon, but Abhimanyu run out 9 rearguard 190-run partnership earlier in Mithun (four) soon picked up on the trend Andy McKay 0 the day, India fell from 39 without loss to again to oblige Taylor his fourth 67 for seven after 19 overs and then 88 all catch of the match - all of them in the Extras: (1b, 12lb, 9w) 22 out in 29.3 overs as Daryl Tuffey and com- slips - and see the score limp to 82 for TOTAL: (all out) 288 pany made hay. eight. Overs: 48.5. Virender Sehwag and , With the writing all but entirely on Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-27, 3-28, 4-218, 5- playing in the absence of the crocked the wall, debutant all-rounder Kane 236, 6-241, 7-254, 8-277, 9-288, 10-288. Gautam Gambhir, kicked off the Indian Williamson took the opportunity to make Bowling: Praveen Kumar 9-3-43-3 (1w), reply with gay abandon, throwing the bat up for his duck five or so hours earlier. Ashish Nehra 9.5-1-47-4 (3w), Abhimanyu at anything and everything before parting Ravindra Jadeja’s dance down the track Mithun 4-0-24-0 (3w), Pragyan Ojha 10-0- to successive deliveries. in a quest to go big over long-off didn’t 58-1 (1w), Ravindra Jadeja 9-0-63-0, Yuvraj Sehwag, in typical fashion, was intent see him meet the turn at its pitch, and Singh 4-0-23-1, Virender Sehwag 3-0-17-0 on swiping the cover off the ball at every Styris - yes, in the slips - did the rest. (1w). turn, and was unfortunate to glove a poor Ashish Nehra (four), at least, didn’t India from Tuffey, which begged to be oblige the slip cordon, plugging Mills’ clubbed over midwicket, down the leg- return loosener to mid-off to finalise a Dinesh Karthik lbw b Tuffey 14 side to wicketkeeper Gareth Hopkins. quite humiliating defeat for India. Virender Sehwag c Hopkins b Tuffey 19 Karthik, unlucky to be stuck lbw by One could argue, and Dhoni’s men Rohit Sharma c Taylor b Tuffey 4 umpire Taufel for 14 when television probably will, that they were not afforded Yuvraj Singh c Taylor b McKay 5 replays showed Kyle Mills’ errant line to enough time to switch from one-day to Suresh Raina c Styris b Tuffey 6 be ballooning over and well wide of leg- Test mode. Just 48 hours, in fact. But for a Mahendra Singh Dhoni run out (Tuffey) 2 stump, had barely made it back to the team who sits atop the Test rankings and Ravindra Jadeja c Styris b Williamson 20 pavilion when the middle order steadily second in the ICC’s ODI hierarchy to go Praveen Kumar c Taylor b Oram 1 began to lay to waste the work done by down by such a monstrous margin is ulti- Abhimanyu Mithun c Taylor b Oram 4 the openers. mately inexcusable. Ashish Nehra c Oram b Mills 4 One would’ve been forgiven for mis- (www.cricket365.com) Pragyan Ojha not out 0 taking any one of Rohit Sharma Extras: (9w) 9 (four), Suresh TOTAL: (all out) 88 Raina (five), Overs: 29.3 Yuvraj Singh (six) Bowling: Kyle Mills 6.3-2-26-2, Daryl Tuffey Usain Bolt (AP) and later Praveen 8-1-34-3, Andy McKay 6-0-11-1, Jacob Kumar (one) as Oram 6-0-15-2, Kane Williamson 3-1-2-1. New Zealand’s : New Zealand win by 200 runs Usain Bolt taking rest of 2010 fielding coach, as Toss: New Zealand. the quartet pro- Umpires: Ranmore Martinesz, Sri Lanka, ceeded to method- and Simon Taufel, Australia. ically offer easy TV umpire: , Sri Lanka. off because of back catching practice to the Black Caps’ Match referee: Alan Hurst, Australia. “He has a tightness that Monday by a doctor in Munich, slip cordon. restricts his ability to gen- Germany, who found the back problem. “He has a tightness that restricts erate power in his stride his ability to generate power in his and continuing to race in stride and continuing to race in this this condition could risk condition could risk injury to his ham- strings or calf muscles,” Simms wrote. injury to his hamstrings Bolt’s manager said the decision to or calf muscles,” take a break was made “with a view to - Ricky Simms his future career.” Simms also said that an MRI exam (Bolt’s manager) showed that a previous left Achilles’ Usain Bolt is calling it quits for tendon injury is healed. 2010, cutting his season short because of Bolt hadn’t lost an individual race tightness in his lower back less than a in two years until Friday, when Gay week after losing in the 100 meters to beat him at the DN Galan meet in American rival Tyson Gay. Stockholm. Gay ran 9.84 seconds, and Bolt’s manager, Ricky Simms, wrote Bolt finished in 9.97. in an e-mail Tuesday that the world Afterward, even Gay acknowledged record-holder in the 100 and 200 meters he wasn’t racing against a fit Bolt. will have treatment to loosen his back “I’m really happy with the win,” and then rest, skipping IAAF Diamond Gay said at the time, “even though League track and field meets in Zurich Usain Bolt isn’t in the best shape.” on Aug. 19, and Brussels on Aug. 27. When Bolt is at his best, no one “I am very disappointed to miss two comes close to him. of the top meetings on the circuit ... but The Jamaican stole the show on the trust that it is better for me not to take track at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, win- any risks this year,” Bolt said, accord- ning gold medals and breaking the ing to Simms. “2011 and 2012 are very world records in the 100 and 200 sprints, important championship years and I as well as the 4x100 relay. None of the hope to be back fully fit and healthy. I finals in those events was even close, would like to thank everyone for their and Bolt began his celebration in the support and look forward to coming dash before it was done, stretching out New Zealand’s Daryl Tuffey throws a ball at the wickets, attempting to dismiss India’s cricket team captain Mahendra Singh back stronger next year.” his arms with palms up, then slapping Dhoni, left, during their first cricket match in the tri nation series cup in Dambulla, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2010. Host Sri Simms said Bolt was examined his chest. Lanka is the third team in the tournament. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Sachin’,” says Duvindu. And then they Meet the Sachin Tillakaratnes confirm what most want to know: “The name is not a source of pressure. We see As was busy carv- eter,” says their mother Apsari. Duvindu Sachin and Ravindu Sachin it as a boost,” the twins state, almost in ing out another masterpiece at the P. Sara “Even Hashan likes him a lot. When are both all-rounders from S. Thomas unison. Oval, one of the oldest cricket grounds in my sons were born, we thought why not College, Mt. Lavinia and they clearly Aspiring to play for Sri Lanka, both Sri Lanka, his namesakes were quietly name our kids after Sachin. In spite of remember their first brush with the are keen to meet Tendulkar again. But nurturing their cricketing dreams. their first names, I always mention their Indian great during the 2003 World Cup in this time the boys have more than a few Meet Duvindu Sachin Tillakaratne middle name wherever we go. So both are South Africa. “He asked us whether we queries. “I am keen to know how he and Ravindu Sachin Tillakaratne - twin commonly called Sachin Tillakaratne,” play the sport and when we said yes, he scored that ODI double at sons of former Sri Lankan captain, she says. told us to continue doing the same,” Gwalior,” says Duvindu. Hashan Tillakaratne. Recounting the moment when the recalls Ravindu. Ravindu though has more enterpris- Duvindu Sachin and Ravindu Sachin Tillakaratne family introduced the then The Indian legend’s middle name has ing ideas. He wants to dish out his china- are names to reckon with in schools six-month old babies to Tendulkar back made them stars amongst their peers man to Sachin. Interestingly, Duvindu Duvindu Sachin Tillakaratne and cricket, just like Tendulkar was, at 14. in 1997, she said, “It was the first time already. “Just having the name Sachin is and Ravindu’s younger brother has been Ravindu Sachin Tillakaratne, two twin And it’s their middle name that’s drawing Sachin saw them and he got very excited what makes our friends encourage us to named Rajendu Irya Tillakaratne by the sons of former Sri Lanka Test captain all the attention. “Apart from my husband seeing the twins. He even carried them play like him. If we fail, they come up to Sri Lankan skipper Hashan Tillakaratne. Hashan, Sachin is my favourite crick- and took pictures.” us and say, ‘don’t worry, just play like and wife Yeheli, who also have twins.

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