World Sports Information Thursday

Army promotion for Mendis
Agence France-Presse . Colombo

Sri Lanka’s new spin sensation Ajantha Mendis has been given a double promotion in the army after his exploits in the Asia Cup final, officials said on Wednesday.
Mendis, 23, a gunner, was promoted to 2nd lieutenant by President Mahinda Rajapakse, who is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
Mendis destroyed India with record-breaking figures of 6-13 as Sri Lanka won Sunday’s Asia Cup final in Karachi by 100 runs.
It was the best bowling performance in the continental tournament, surpassing Pakistani Aaqib Javed’s 5-19 against India in Sharjah in 1995.
Mendis, who hails from the Colombo suburb of Moratuwa, finished with 17 wickets in the tournament.
‘I am delighted to have played a part in Sri Lanka’s victory,’ Mendis said after returning from Pakistan.
‘I just want to bowl as best as I can every time I come to the bowling crease. I did that on Sunday.’
The young Mendis uses an unusual grip in which he appears to squeeze the ball out of his fingers, bowling off-spin, leg-spin, googly, the top-spinner and the flipper.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the first to concede that Mendis was simply unplayable.
‘We just could not read him and we knew he was a surprise bowler,’ he said.
‘You need to be there in the middle to understand what he bowls. It was tough to pick his deliveries. It is not that the batsmen played badly, they played expecting something and the ball did something else.’
India will face Mendis again when they tour Sri Lanka from next week for three Tests and five one-day internationals.


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Smith looking for
more landmarks
Agence France-Presse . London
South Africa captain Graeme Smith returns to play Test cricket at Lord’s here Thursday hoping both he and his side can show the same form that they did in their crushing win over England five years ago.
Back in 2003, Smith was a novice, 22-year-old captain. But he struck a double century in the drawn first Test at Edgbaston, where Nasser Hussain resigned as England skipper.
Smith then followed up with 259 at Lord’s, the highest Test score by an overseas player at the ‘home of cricket’ as the Proteas won by an innings and 92 runs in what was Michael Vaughan’s first Test as England captain.
However, left-handed opener Smith comes into this Test with just two hours in the middle, against Middlesex in last weekend’s tour match, since arriving in England following a hamstring injury.
‘There are some special memories for me and the team personally,’ Smith told reporters at Lord’s here Wednesday.
‘It’s fantastic what we did in 2003 and it would be great to repeat that. In 2003, I came here in fantastic form but recently it’s been a battle with injuries so it’s going to be a challenge.’
South Africa, since returning to international cricket after their apartheid-enforced exile, have yet to win a Test series in England with that last trip in 2003 ending in a drawn encounter.
‘England are very tough to beat at home, as are any team, but if we can win a series here it will be a great achievement,’ Smith said.
Early in his captaincy career, Smith was known as an abrasive leader but he insisted he’d become a more relaxed character.
‘I’ve settled into it. I’m hopefully calmer and more experienced tactically.
‘At 22 you are trying to prove to the world and everybody you can handle the job. Being single-minded was one reason why I could handle the job at 22, 23.’
Much has been made of how England will cope with South Africa’s quicks.
But with conditions likely to assist swing bowling, and some members of the Proteas’ top order on their first tour of England, there is also the question of how South Africa will adjust to a typically English environment.
However, Smith said: ‘If conditions are going to be like this, it will be a challenge for both teams.
‘When we went to the sub-continent people questioned our ability to play spin, but we won in Pakistan and Bangladesh and drew in India.’
Another immediate challenge is the eight-and-a-half foot slope at Lord’s which can prove a problem for both bowlers and batsmen alike.
However, five years ago, the slope didn’t prevent Makhaya Ntini taking 10 for 220 as he, together with Smith, got his name on the Lord’s honours board. Amidst all the talk of the pace of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, Ntini has been somewhat overlooked in the build-up to this match.
‘That’s a huge motivation for him,’ said Smith. ‘He’s the senior statesman in our attack and he’s hugely motivated to do well.’
Someone else not lacking motivation is England’s Kevin Pietersen, with the South Africa-born batsman now set to play his first Test against the land of his birth.
Pietersen has had a particularly fiery relationship with Smith, labelling him a ‘muppet’ in his autobiography.
‘Sure he’s hugely motivated but there will be a little pressure too,’ Smith said. He always puts himself in front line and he’s a key player. Hopefully, we can execute our game plans.’
Vaughan announced earlier Wednesday an unchanged side which is now set to take the field for a record sixth successive Test.
But with rain forcing both sides indoors on Wednesday and further showers forecast, Smith said spinner Paul Harris could be omitted and another seamer added to South Africa’s already powerful pace attack.


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Futsal comes to town
Staff Correspondent
Bangladesh Football Federation is all set to roll Futsal, the shortened version of football played indoors from the end of this month. BFF has already formed a committee led by former national player Khorshed Babul and will invite the eight Dhaka based B league clubs in an official meeting on Saturday.
According to the Fifa law Futsal is a five player per team game with a ball smaller than the regular football. The standard spherical Futsal ball is 64 centimeter and not more than 440 grams in weight. The pitch must be made of wood or artificial material and concrete and tarmac is not suitable. The match is played for two twenty minutes halves with 15 minute interval. The goal posts are three meters wide and two meters high.
BFF will try to host the six day tourney in the Mirpur indoor stadium.
FIFA has made a commitment to promote and structure the sport of futsal globally, by means of competitions, courses and other proactive measures, and to encourage its members to do the same.


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Fed Cup preliminary round draw held
Staff Correspondent
Bangladesh Football Federation completed the preliminary round groupings for the Federation Cup football at the BFF House on Wednesday.
Group A – Jatrabari KC, BKSP, Bangladesh Police and Diganta Prasari; Group B – Victoria SC, Bangladesh Navy, Dhaka Wanderers and Air Force; Group C – Sunrise, Customs and Bangladesh Army.
Two teams each from group A and B and one team from group C will join the 11 B league teams in the 16-team final round.


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Open Squash
Staff Correspondent
Swapan of British Club became champion in the C Division of the Delta Life Open Squash Tournament defeating Sadaf of Gulshan Club 3-0 in the final at the Dhaka Club squash court on Wednesday.
In the Premier Division matches, Swapan Parvez of Bashundhara Group beat Dilu of Gulshan Club, Masud Rana of Dhaka Army Club defeated Zain Omar of Dhaka Club and Bishunath of Gulshan Club overpowered Ram Gopal of Chittagong Club.
The finals of the Under-18 Division and B Division and the semi-finals of A Division will take place today.


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A team’s 3-dayer ends in a draw
United News of Bangladesh . Dhaka
The rain-affected first three-day match between visiting Bangladesh A team and hosts England Under-19 team ended in a draw on the third and final day at the Hazelgrave Ground in Loughborough on Tuesday.
More than half of the playing time of the three-day match was lost due to inclement weather with not a single ball played on the first day (Sunday).
Replying to second string Bangladesh team’s first innings total of 195 for 7 declared just before lunch on Tuesday, the England Under-19 side scored 142 for 6 in 45 overs in the first innings when bails were drawn on the final day.
At tea, Bangladesh were in the driving seat dismissing five English batsmen for 94 runs, but two down batsman Dan Redfern pairing with number seven wicket-keeper Ben Brown played sensible cricket to contribute 55 runs in the 6th wicket stand to rescue the home side from an awkward situation.
After the departure of three formidable batsmen—opener Taylor (26), number three Westley (14) and middle order AD Hales (24), Redfern confidently stayed at the crease to score 43 not out off 93 balls with seven fours.
Wicket-keeper Brown contributed 32 runs off 45 balls with six boundaries before he was caught by Suhrawardy Shuvo off an Arafat Sunny delivery.
Pacer Mahbubul Alam Robin grabbed two wickets for 56 runs, while Arafat Sunny, Suhrawardy Shuvo and Nazmul Hossain took one wicket apiece for 12, 19, 27 and 27 runs respectively.
Earlier, Bangladesh resumed the third day with overnight 115 for 4 in 38 overs and declared the innings at 195 for 7 in 63 overs that featured a superb 62-run innings by opener Imrul Kayes.
Middle order batsman Nayeem Islam (40) pairing with wicket keeper Dhiman Ghosh (29) added another useful 63 runs in the 5th wicket stand for the tourists.
BW Sanderson was most successful bowler for the England Under-19 side claiming four wickets for 52 runs in 17 overs, while Harris, Fletcher and Saxelby took one wicket each.


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US Open boosts prize money payout
Agence France-Presse . New York
The US Open base purse will jump one million dollars this year to 20.6 million dollars with up to 2.6 million dollars more in bonus money available, the US Tennis Association announced Tuesday.
US Open men’s and women’s singles champions will each receive 1.5 million dollars, a record, with the chance at up to one million dollars more in bonus money based upon performance in a series of US Open tune-up events.
Swiss world number one Roger Federer claimed the largest payoff in tennis history, 2.4 million dollars, for taking last year’s US Open crown after winning the most points from tuneup events across North America starting next week.
An extra 1.2 million dollars in bonus money was paid last year, bringing the 2007 total payout to players to 20.8 million dollars.


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Hanif: Yuvraj reminds me of Sobers
Agencies . New Delhi
Yuvraj Singh may be disappointed that he has been dropped from the Test squad for the Sri Lanka tour but the left-hander has reasons to smile: Pakistan’s great Hanif Mohammad has compared Yuvraj with none other than the West Indies legend Gary Sobers.
Hanif compared Yuvraj’s style of play with the former West Indies captain and all-rounder.
Cricket’s original little master Hanif said he was a big fan of Sobers. When he saw Yuvraj hit six sixes in an over off England’s Stuart Broad in the Twenty20 World Championship, flashes of the West Indian legend sparked in his mind.
Sobers is among the few cricketers who has hit six sixes in an over in a first class match.
‘I saw him (Yuvraj) hitting those six sixes against England. For a moment, I thought that Sobers was batting,’ Hanif said.
The 71-year-old former Pakistan captain said that he loves to watch Yuvraj bat.
‘He is so talented. His (Yuvraj) approach to a delivery, his adjustment to the ball reminds me of Sobers. I am a great fan of Sobers and Yuvraj’s style is similar to Sobers.’
Known for dour batting, Hanif still holds the record for the longest-ever test innings when he stayed at the crease for 970 minutes for his 337 against the West Indies in Bridgetown in 1957-58.
Hanif appeared in 55 Tests and also recorded the highest first-class innings of 499 until it was surpassed by Brian Lara’s 501 in 1994.
Hanif was recently honoured with the Pakistani Lifetime Achievement award at the Asian Cricket Award ceremony in Karachi July 4. Incidentally, Yuvraj too got a special award, for his six sixers in an over, at the same function.
‘I met Yuvraj and told him that I saw those six sixes,’ Hanif said.
It cannot be more inspiring for Yuvraj, who is struggling to find his feat in Test cricket since his debut against New Zealand in October 2003. The latest jolt came when he was left out from the squad for the three-Test matches in Sri Lanka.
Yuvraj made a brilliant comeback to Test scoring 169 against Pakistan last year but was woefully out-of-form in the four away Tests in Australia and the three Tests against South Africa at home which prompted the selectors to drop him.
The left-handed batsman has been in and out of the team playing just 23 Tests scoring 1,050 runs at an average of around 33.


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SL contract dispute clouds
India tour
Reuters/Bdnews24.com . Colombo
A protracted contract dispute between Sri Lanka Cricket and its players has reached boiling point just weeks before India are due to tour there.
Sri Lanka players, who returned home from Karachi on Wednesday after winning the Asia Cup, have not been paid since February and have requested an emergency board meeting this week.
‘We did not even see a first draft of the new contract until seven weeks after our last contract lapsed,’ an unnamed Sri Lanka player told Reuters.
‘We have waited patiently for weeks, we have even played on despite being unpaid, but we are now fed-up and need this resolved fast.’
Senior cricketers agreed to a freeze in their central contract fees this year, but demanded junior members of the national squad and the A team get substantial wage increases.
Last year, junior players received $15,000 a year as a retainer, the lowest annual contract fees of all Test playing nations.
The board, headed by World Cup winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga, have been accused of dragging their feet during discussions with the Sri Lanka Cricketer’s Association. Ranatunga has refused any increment on match fees—also believed to be the lowest among Test nations—proposing instead that players be fined if they lose a Test match.
Other stumbling blocks include player image rights clauses, a demand that cricketers cancel lucrative media contracts and a proposed changed in contract dates due to negotiation delays.
Sri Lanka Cricket’s Chief Executive Duleep Mendis insisted that there was no cause for alarm with the India Test series due to start on July 23.
‘There are a few differences between the players and the board but we should come to an agreement by next week,’ Mendis told the Daily Mirror newspaper on Tuesday.


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