Australia face World Twenty20 dilemma over Lee, Watson

Abu Dhabi, May 04: Australian cricket team coach Tim Nielsen believes that the selectors will be taking a chance on Brett Lee and Shane Watson when it comes to choosing the World Twenty20 squad on Tuesday.

Both Lee and Watson are planning to make their competitive bowling comeback in Australia’s Twenty20 match against Pakistan in Dubai on Friday.

For 32-year-old Lee, it will be his first game since surgery to repair ankle stress fractures after last year’s Boxing Day Test, reports Fox.

Watson has played as a batsman during the five-game one-day series against Pakistan, but he has not bowled since last November as he returns from back stress fractures.

“It’s not ideal obviously,” Nielsen said of the timing.

The good news for Australia is that they should be able to replace the players in the squad - at the discretion of the event’s technical committee - if the pair’s injury comebacks do not progress as planned.

Lee and Watson are not the only comeback players with whom selectors face an interesting decision.

All-rounder Andrew Symonds, who returned for the one-day series against Pakistan after missing much of the previous eight months through suspension and injury, has not entirely convinced in his return.

His only innings of note was a match-winning 58 in game two, with just 24 runs in three other innings for a series average of 20.5.

But his game-changing potential with the bat, as well as handy off-spin and brilliant fielding is likely to see him selected.

The bulk of the squad is expected to come from the 15 one-day squad members in the United Arab Emirates, plus the resting Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey and Mitchell Johnson.

Gambhir, Bhajji in top-10 of ICC Test rankings

Dubai, May 04: Opener Gautam Gambhir is the highest-placed Indian batsman at fourth while Harbhajan Singh is the top Indian bowler at sixth in the latest ICC Test Rankings issued on Monday.

India is third in the Test Championship table just two points behind South Africa.

Sachin Tendulkar (14th), VVS Laxman (16th) and Virender Sehwag (20th) are the other Indian batsmen inside the top-20.

Meanwhile, England, currently placed sixth on the table, will immediately move up one spot if it wins both the matches of its upcoming two-Test series against West Indies.

Victories at Lord`s and again at Durham would earn England three ratings points giving it a total of 101, a single point ahead of Pakistan. A 1-0 series win would leave it on 100 ratings point but behind Younus Khan`s team by a fraction.

However, a 2-0 win for the West Indies would leave just one ratings point separating the two with England dropping three points to 95 and the men from the Caribbean gaining five points to 94.

England`s highest-ranked batsman is Kevin Pietersen in sixth position. The highest-ranked batsman from either side is Shivnarine Chanderpaul who occupies the top spot.

The series starts May 6.

PCB draws criticism for loss against Australia

Karachi, May 04: The one-day series defeat to Australia in Dubai and Abu Dhabi has drawn sharp criticism from former players and officials with debate over team selection, pitches and lavish spending by the Cricket Board on government dignitaries in the time of its financial crunch.

Former Chief Selector Salahuddin Ahmed said he would hold Chief Curator Agha Zahid, team coach Intikhab Alam and assistant coach Aaqib Javed responsible for the preparation of poor quality pitches for the five one-day games that produced low scoring matches and saw Australia clinch the series 3-2.

"Someone should ask these people what thought process went into preparing such poor pitches when they were sent to Dubai and Abu Dhabi to ensure pitches were made according to the team`s strength," Ahmed said.

Former Chief Selector Salahuddin Ahmed said he would hold Chief Curator Agha Zahid, team coach Intikhab Alam and assistant coach Aaqib Javed responsible for the preparation of poor quality pitches for the five one-day games that produced low scoring matches and saw Australia clinch the series 3-2.

"Someone should ask these people what thought process went into preparing such poor pitches when they were sent to Dubai and Abu Dhabi to ensure pitches were made according to the team`s strength," Ahmed said.

Former Test captain Moin Khan said he was surprised at some aspects of the team selection and wondered why pace bowler Umar Gul was dropped for the crucial fourth one-day international.

"I also can`t understand why they didn`t play an in-form player like Fawad Alam in the series when the batting was not clicking."

He said Pakistan team had performed below par and disappointed its fans despite claims before the series that the team could win the series.

Former Test pacer Sarfaraz Nawaz said he was shocked at the repeated statements of captain Younis Khan and coach Intikhab Alam that the team was young and would learn a lot from the series.

"International cricket is not played to learn things from the opposition. And people expect the team to win. People are fed up of these excuses because our team was far more experienced than the Australians who blooded several new players. So what is this excuse of we having a young team," Nawaz said.

The former bowler said no one could say that Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Rao Iftikhar or Sohail Tanvir were inexperienced.

"I think the combined matches played by Shoaib Akhtar, Shoaib Malik, Younis Khan, Akmal is far greater than the combined total of the Australian team," he added.

Nawaz said it was time that Board Chairman Ejaz Butt rose above petty politics and gave former great Javed Miandad more responsibility and authority in the Board.

"Why is a great cricket brain like Miandad being sidelined. He is the right man to lift the performances of this team," he said.

At the same time questions are being asked over why the Board spent over 20 million rupees on just inviting government dignitaries and their families and governing council members to the Emirates for the matches.

Daredevils looking to bounce back against KKR

Durban, May 04: Delhi Daredevils will be hoping to bounce back in the Indian Premier League (IPL) when they face bottom placed Kolkata Knight Riders for the first time at the Kingsmead here Tuesday.

A defeat against Chennai Super Kings in their last match pushed Daredevils from the second place to the third spot in the league while Knight Riders are languishing at the bottom of the table after their fourth straight loss Sunday.

Knight Riders have lost six of the eight matches they have played in the league and things are not going their way. If their batting has come good in one match, their bowling and fielding have let them down.

Against Kings XI Punjab, Knight Riders, with some solid batting, put themselves in a position to win the match but four dropped catches cost them the match.

"The pitch was on the slower side. It was a fine total. (Brad) Hodge batted brilliantly and his innings gave us a chance. We were accurate while bowling and had we fielded well it could have been different. The score was enough and defendable. Unfortunately, we put down some chances," said Knight Riders skipper Brendon McCullum.

Against a formidable Daredevils, Knight Riders will be hoping for some luck besides an all round performance to find a win.

It will also be high time for the skipper to come out with big score. McCullum has failed as a batsman and painstakingly batted against Kings XI for his 19 from 31 balls.

Knight Riders will also be missing their star performer Chris Gayle. But the consistent performance of Brad Hodge will give confidence to his team mates. Hodge has scored consecutive half centuries in the last two matches and will be hoping to continue his form against the Daredevils solid bowling attack.

With some consistent performance, Daredevils have made themselves one of the worthy contenders for the title. Though they will be without their skipper Virender Sehwag, the batting line-up has enough firepower to make a mockery of the Knight Riders bowling.

Jelena Dokic accuses father of abuse

Sydney, May 04: Australian tennis player Jelena Dokic said she left home nine years ago to escape the physical abuse meted out by her father, Damir.

The 26-year-old told reporters she was "pretty lucky to be here" after a tumultuous family life that saw her abandon Australia and then return after splitting with her father, a former boxer and Belgrade taxi driver.

"I've been through a lot worse than anyone on the tour," Dokic said. "When you go through stuff like that, playing a tennis match is a pretty easy thing to do."

Dokic, who is estranged from her father, represented Australia in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. She left her adopted country the following year to return to Serbia with Damir.

Three years ago she was accepted back in Australia, and in January reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open after being granted a wild-card entry.

Dokic, a semi-finalist at Wimbledon in 2000, held the world no 4 ranking two years later.

She was at no 31 in the most recent rankings.

Mansher misses final berth in shoot off

New Delhi, May 04: India's Mansher Singh narrowly missed out on a berth in the finals of the men's trap event in the ISSF World Cup at Cairo, Egypt after he finished the qualification series on a disappointing seventh position.

Mansher started the qualification series with a perfect round of 25 and followed it up with 23,21,23 and 23 to tie with another shooter on the same score of 115.

In the shoot off to decide the sixth and final qualification place for the finals, Mansher lost 8:9. World trap champion Manavjit Sandhu shot 111 (24,19,23,22,23) to finish 19th while Anwer Sultan finished 36th with a score of 105 (22,23,20,19,21) in a field of 71 shooters.

In the MQS section, Zoravar Sandhu shot 108 (22,23,21,20,22) while Birendeep Sodhi shot 103 (19,23,21,23,17).

The gold was won by Ryan Hadden of USA with a score of 139.

In the women's event, India's Shagun Chowdhary finished 10th after shooting a score of 63 (21,22,20), Seema Tomar finished 20th with a score of 58 (20,19,19) while Varsha Tomar shot 50 (15,15,20) to finish 29th.

In the MQS section, Zoya Mehta shot 43 (17,14,12) while Reena Singh shot 39 (15,10,14). The gold was won by Daniela Din Del of San Marino with a score of 89.

O'Hair wins in Quail Hollow by one stroke

Charlotte, May 04: Sean O'Hair used a rock-solid long game to win the USD 6.4 million Quail Hollow Championship by one stroke.

Despite failing to hole a putt from outside 10 feet during the entire tournament, the 26-year-old edged fellow Americans Lucas Glover (71) and Bubba Watson (70) in a battle of attrition.

World number one Tiger Woods finished two shots behind O'Hair alone in fourth place, after parring the final 10 holes.

O'Hair carded 69 to finish at 11-under-par 277, just holding on after bogeying the final two holes in a testing breeze.

"I struck the ball phenomenal this week," said O'Hair, who collected $1,152,000 for his third PGA Tour victory. "Yesterday was probably the best I've struck it ever and today was pretty solid, especially coming down the stretch.”

"This is one of those courses you have to have the whole package."

O'Hair's victory came barely a month after he frittered away a big lead before finishing second to Tiger Woods at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Florida.

"Losing sucked at Bay Hill," O'Hair said.

"Even though it's tough to lose a five-shot lead against Tiger, you still learn a lot from it. I think it's just experience.”

"I talked to my coach and my caddie and we all said that all I have to do is keep putting myself in those situations and at some point I'll learn how to win."

O'Hair seized the advantage on Sunday with birdies at the 15th and 16th holes, but promptly gave them back by bogeying the final two holes, including a three-putt at the last.

That gave Glover a chance to possibly force a playoff but his approach went over the green at the par-four 18th and he missed his chip back for birdie, ending his chances.

I'm the best despite the rankings, says Serena

Rome, May 04: Serena Williams still rates herself as the best player in the world even though she has been toppled from the top spot by Russia's Dinara Safina.

"We all know who the real number one is," Williams told a news conference at the Italian Open on Monday. "Quite frankly, I'm the best in the world."

Second ranked Williams, who will face Swiss Patty Schnyder in her opening match in Rome, felt she could back up her claim because she owns 10 grand slam singles titles while Safina's tally stands at zero.

Asked which opponent she feared most, the American quipped: "Probably myself. I always beat myself."

The 27-year-old, who has already dabbled in fashion designing and action, said she was thinking about expanding her off-court interests.

"I've been writing, but I haven't been writing. In my mind I've been saying I want to write, but I haven't actually physically picked up a pencil and started writing," the US Open and Australian Open champion said.

"So that is my next challenge, to actually to sit down and do it. No (not my life story). A screenplay. Nothing is impossible

Venus makes winning start at Italian Open

Rome, May 04: Venus Williams battled past Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in her opening match Monday at the Italian Open.

Williams appeared in control of the match in the first set, firing eight aces and as many winners in 28 minutes. But as her service levels dropped and Safarova started playing her powerful groundstrokes deeper, Williams was broken in the third game of the second set and was unable to break back. Safarova served out the set for 6-4.

In the deciding set, the fourth-seeded Williams held serve in a crucial third game after saving four break points. She went on to break in the following game, as a forehand by the 22-year-old Czech player went wide, and then again to close out the match after 1 hour and 48 minutes.

It was a second-round match as the top eight seeds have first-round byes in this warm-up for the French Open, which begins in three weeks' time.

Karthikeyan 2nd in sprint, ends championships at 12th spot

Brands Hatch, May 03: Team India's Narain Karthikeyan finished second in the sprint race but had to pull out of the feature race with a crash to finish the A1GP World Cup of Motorsports at the 12th position with 19 points.

It was a bitter sweet day for Karthikeyan in the final race of the championship after the Mexico City leg was cancelled due to swine flu scare.

He registered his first and only podium finish this season with the second place finish in the sprint but was unlucky to be involved in a crash in the feature category.

Karthikeyan bagged eight points for his second place finish in the morning behind championships winner Team Ireland's Adam Carroll, the highest in the 12 of the 14 races he took part this season.

The former Formula One Indian driver could have improved his championships position had he not involved in a three-way crash in the first lap of the feature race in the afternoon with cars of United States and China, which eventually resulted to his retirement from the longer race. Starting at 10th at the 20-team grid in sprint race, Karthikeyan took an early pit stop alongside Lebanon, Germany and Malaysia.

He was driving second behind Carroll by the ninth lap and maintained his speed till the end to finish the sprint event at 22:39.934, 7.230 seconds behind Carroll.

Mexico's Salvador Duran finished third in the sprint race clocking 22: 45.044.

Team Ireland, whose driver Carroll also won the feature race, won the championships with an aggregate of 112 points, followed by Switzerland (95) and Portugal (92).

Karthikeyan was confident of a podium finish in the feature race also but the crash put paid to his hopes.

"It was difficult after a small mistake in qualifying as we should have been further up the grid. The car is working well so I think we are looking good for another podium in the feature," he said after the sprint race.

Rossi reigns in Spain MotoGP

Spain, May 03: Italian Valentino Rossi claimed his first victory of the season in the Moto GP category of the Spanish Grand Prix, the third leg in the world motorcycling championship.

Spaniard Dani Pedrosa, on a Honda, and Australian Casey Stoner on a Ducati finished second and third respectively as Rossi, an eight-time world champion, took the lead of the world championship standings.

Rossi had a consistent and determined performance to thank for his first win of the season, and impressive 98th of his career, that has given him an 11-point overall lead over Stoner.

Rossi now has 65 points, with Stoner, who won the season-opening leg in Qatar, on 54.

However the Italian admitted it should be a fight to the death for this season's crown.

"There's been three winners in three races, so it looks like the championship will be very tight this year. I will have to stay very concentrated at each and every race," said Rossi, who was surprised with his victory.

"It's been a strange weekend. On Friday (free practice) I was very fast then Saturday I had a lot of problems with the bike. We then made a few technical changes before the race and things seemed to work better as of this morning.”

"During the race once I'd overtaken Jorge (Lorenzo) I managed to slowly creep up on Casey - we overtook each other two or three times - then on Pedrosa who, in this position isn't easy to overtake."

Starting fourth on the grid behind Spanish teammate Jorge Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Stoner, Rossi overtook the Australian on the sixth of the race's 27 laps before then trying to chip away at Pedrosa's advantage.