Saturday 17th March, 2012 Tendulkar scores cricket’s Cook hundred takes England first 100th century beyond 300 DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — After Donald Bradman as the best batsman ever. being stranded on 99 not out for a full, Bradman, who retired in 1948 with an frustrating year, Sachin Tendulkar finally Most Cricket average of 99.94 runs, once said that scored his 100th international century to Tendulkar reminded him of his own play- the collective relief of India and its 1 bil- Centuries in ing style. lion-plus population. “Not even Don Bradman carried expec- In a sport dedicated to statistics, Tests-ODIs-T20s tations like this, and Sachin had been nobody can match Tendulkar’s numbers. 100_x-Sachin bearing it since 1989,” former India coach He has scored the most runs and the most Tendulkar, India and Australia captain Greg Chappell wrote centuries in tests and limited-overs cricket (651 matches) in his recent autobiography. — and was really the only batsman likely 71_x-Ricky Tendulkar has taken on the best to hit the magical 100 hundreds mark in Ponting, Australia bowlers over the past 23 years including his lifetime. (554) Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Waqar Alistair Cook looks on after playing a Cricket lovers and critics all over the 59_x-Jacques Younis during his first tour of Pakistan in shot during their warm up game against world knew it was just a matter of time, 1989, and the likes of Allan Donald, Glenn Kallis, South Sri Lanka Board XI in Colombo, Sri even as he struggled in England and Africa (488) McGrath, Shane Warne, Courtney Walsh Australia in the last 12 months. 53_Brian Lara, and Dale Steyn over the rest of his career. Lanka, Friday, March 16, 2012. (AP The “Little Master” relieved himself of West Indies (430) The 38-year-old has restricted his par- Photo/Eranga Jayawardena) the burden of all their expectations in the 48_Rahul Dravid, ticipation in one-day matches since 2010, Asia Cup at Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla India (509) (AP) when he became the first to score a dou- BY REX CLEMENTINE National Stadium on Friday for undoubt- ble-century in the 50-over format with 200 edly the most anticipated of cricket mile- not out against South Africa at the Indian Vice-captain Alastiar Cook contin- stones. grind it out.” the World Cup semifinals at Mohali. venue of Gwalior. ued his impressive run since Reaching triple figures is one of the It wasn’t the most glamorous or tradi- “When I got the 99th century, no (team- But he remains as energetic as anyone England’s tour of UAE with an most prized achievements in cricket — tion-steeped venue, or opposition team for mates) spoke about it. I guess it was the in the field and even while running unbeaten 163 on day two of the three almost up there with a hat trick of taking that matter, but it counts all the same. media which started it. Everywhere I went between the wickets, meaning each specu- day warm up game against SLC three wickets with three consecutive deliv- The best batsman of the modern era people were talking about my 100th hun- lation of an impending retirement is President’s XI at R. Premadasa eries. Hence the attention on 100 hun- scored his last century (111) against South dred,” he said. knocked off with a new achievement. Stadium yesterday as the tourists dreds. Africa at Nagpur during the World Cup on He was finally out for 114 on Friday, Tendulkar’s ability to accumulate runs reached 303 for eight, a lead of 134 With a clipped single to square leg from March 12 last year. caught behind off Mashrafe bin Mortaza, has not diminished and he has adjusted runs after England had bowled out spinner Shakib Al Hassan, Tendulkar The World Cup final at Mumbai and who then ran over to shake his hand. well to changing times by not only perfect- the hosts for 169 runs on day one. reached his 49th ODI hundred to raise his tours of England and Australia all provid- Tendulkar has set a benchmark unlike- ing new strokes like the “upper cut” and Cook, who had scored two cen- combined test and ODI tally to 100. ed him opportunities of getting to the ly to be surpassed in his lifetime, with his “paddle sweep” but also excelling in the turies and a half-century in the Typically, his celebration of the milestone mark at some of the most celebrated ven- closest rival, Ricky Ponting, on 68 interna- slash and bash of the Twenty20 Indian recent ODI series against Pakistan was dignified. ues in cricket but Tendulkar came up tional centuries and approaching the twi- Premier League. impressed, batting for over six hours “I can’t think of anything at this stage, short each time. light of his career at the age of 37. Asked by commentator Ramiz Raja but no other Englishman managed to it has been a tough phase for me,” He was twice out in the 90s in tests last Since his international debut at 16 what message he had for youngsters, score a half-century and Ian Bell and Tendulkar told Neo Cricket channel after year — for 91 against England at The Oval against archrival Pakistan in 1989, Tendulkar advised them to follow their Matt Prior fell for ducks. his innings. “I started off the season well and 94 against West Indies on his home Tendulkar has been compared not only dreams as he felt dreams do come true, as The day started promisingly for but was luckless. It does not matter how ground at Wankhede Stadium. He was also with top batsmen of his era like Brian it did for him when he “had to wait for 22 the tourists as Cook and Strauss pun- many hundreds you score, you still have to dismissed for 85 against Pakistan during Lara, but also with Australian great years to win the World Cup.” ished the misfiring Sri Lankan seam- ers, forcing captain Prasanna Jayawardene to introduce spin. The openers added 89 runs and with five minutes to go for lunch Strauss fell when off-spinner Dilruwan Perera Bangladesh beat India by 5 wickets trapped him leg before wicket. After lunch Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen fell in same style, but to different bowlers and both batsmen, particularly Trott looked unhappy with the decision. Pietersen in crucial Asia Cup match had added 69 runs with Cook before falling to the off-spin of Sachithra Serasinghe. Two balls later, Serasinghe struck again, this time dismissing Ian Bell, as his struggles Sachin Tendulkar’s long-awaited 100th international century wasn’t with off-spin continued. enough to prevent Bangladesh from beating India by five wickets in the England had looked impressive on Asia Cup on Friday. Opener Tamim Iqbal scored 70, and Jahurul Islam 188 for two, but the middle order was and Nasir Hossain made 53 and 54 respectively to spearhead Bangladesh susceptible against spin and col- to 293-5 in 49.2 overs at Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium. lapsed to 247 for eight before James Anderson added 50 runs for the ninth wicket with Cook. Cook England’s ODI captain and SCOREBOARD DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — the Test captain in waiting was com- Sachin Tendulkar’s long-awaited 100th fortable against both spin and pace India international century helped India and was unbeaten on 163 at stumps. Gautam Gambhir b Shafiul 11 reach 289-5 against Bangladesh in the He warmed up for the upcoming Test Sachin Tendulkar c Rahim b Mortaza 114 Asia Cup on Friday. series by facing 293 deliveries of Virat Kohli b Razzak 66 His 49th one-day international hun- which 11 were put away for bound- Suresh Raina c Iqbal b Mortaza 51 dred and first against Bangladesh made aries. Mahendra Singh Dhoni not out 21 him the first cricketer to a hundred It was England’s batting that had Rohit Sharma run out 4 international centuries. been their Achilles heel during the Ravindra Jadeja not out 4 Tendulkar opened the innings and three nil whitewash against Pakistan Extras: (6lb, 10w, 2nb) 18 scored 114 off 147 balls including 12 in the first leg of their winter tour TOTAL: (for 5 wickets) 289 boundaries and one six. and in the warm up game so far Overs: 50. When he brought up the ton in the while the bowlers had done an excel- Fall of wickets: 1-25, 2-173, 3-259, 4-259, 44th over, with a single to square leg, his lent job, the batsmen showed there 5-267. celebration was muted. He waved his bat still remained areas for concern. Did not bat: Irfan Pathan, at his teammates, took off his helmet The England batsmen have been Ravichandran Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, and kissed the India emblem on it. The Ashok Dinda. now in Colombo for two weeks to get Bangladesh fielders were more emphatic used to conditions and will have Bowling: Mashrafe bin Mortaza 10-1- as they congratulated the “Little 44-2 (1nb, 1w), Shafiul Islam 5-0-24-1 another warm up game at SSC before Master” at Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla retuning to Galle for the first Test (1w), Shahadat Hossain 10-0-81-0 (1nb, National Stadium. 2w), Shakib Al Hasan 10-0-63-0 (3w), that gets underway on March 26th. He and Virat Kohli, who came togeth- England have not won a Test Abdur Razzak 10-0-41-1 (3w), er in the 6th over at 25-1 after Gautam Mahmudullah 4-0-24-0, Nasir Hossain 1- series in Sri Lanka since that acri- Gambhir was bowled for 11 by Shafiul monious series in 2001 where they 0-6-0.