North Tartan 9th Grade girls strike again

Lake Buena Vista, FL– North Tartan has struck again, except this time in the AAU Girls Basketball 9th Grade Super Showcase.

The girls from Minnesota took on Central Florida Elite Friday afternoon at the ESPN Wide World of Sports. To get to the championship game, North Tartan had to get through a tough Lady Gauchos team from New York. They squeezed by 47-45.

In the championship game, it was a different story. North Tartan came out with a mission– grabbing every rebound and playing tough defense. They went into the half up by more than 15 points. In the second half, Central Florida Elite would begin to close the game, but the girls of North Tartan were relentless. They went on to win the 9th Grade Super Showcase title 63-46. This was their second title, as they were crowned 9th Grade National Championships a week earlier. Congratulations to the girls of North Tartan, it’s a tough feat to accomplish!

The IPL Of Delhi Vs Chennai Final Match 2012

At the beginning of the IPL season, every Delhi Daredevils press conference seemed to have two major themes  the strength of their newly acquired batting line-up and the seeming weakness of their nice spin bowlers.

The batsmen and the pacers acquitted themselves more often than not through the league phase, taking them to the top of the table, but the spin question returned to haunt them against team Kolkata Knight Riders in the first Qualifier match on a slow pitch in Pune.

Kolkata team packed their XI with three spinners plus the slow-medium pace of player Rajat Bhatia, and the extra pace of Delhi's fast bowlers work out to the advantage of player Gautam Gambhir's side.

Now, in the knockout match against two-time defending champions Chennai Super Kings 2012 looming on Friday, skipper player Virender Sehwag and the Daredevils think tank must be in a quandary whether to stick to their strength or bring a second specialist spinner into the line-up.

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England Ready To Face World Cup Euro 201

The  great player Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is hoping to carry on England's recent tradition of successfully unleashing teenage tyros at major tournaments when he heads to play Euro 2012 next month. From Michael Owen's player electrifying performance against Argentina at the 1998 World Cup to Wayne Rooney's player dazzling displays at Euro 2004, England have been unafraid to give youth players its head at international level games.

While there are risks in picking unproven talent witness player Theo Walcott's inclusion in England's 2006 World Cup squad Oxlade-Chamberlain has done enough in his short career to suggest that his selection might pay off. Used sparingly by Arsenal this game season following his transfer from Southampton, the 18-year-old demonstrated frequent flashes of precociousness in his 16 first team appearances.

A sparkling nice  performance for Arsenal in their 3-0 Champions League win over AC Milan in February persuaded England manager Roy Hodgson that the attacking midfielder deserved a place in his squad.

Hodgson is adamant that player Oxlade-Chamberlain's selection will not be a repeat of Walcott's ill-fated sojourn in Germany six years ago, when the teenager never kicked a ball during England's campaign game.



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The Challenging Postseason Game Of Basketball 2012

The frightening part was not that player LeBron James erupted for 40 points, 18 rebounds and nine assists in year 2012   101-93 victory over the Pacers. It's that that's exactly what some thought he would have to do to get this Eastern Conference semifinal series back to 2-2 heading into basketball  Game 5 in Miami. 

As it turned out, player Dwyane Wade decided show up for game of  basketball  second half, so James didn't have to do it alone after all. But don't kid yourself, there have been times in short recent days when player LeBron felt he was back in Cleveland, back in the do-it-all existence he so wanted to escape form it.

At last times, the frustration showed, and for more than getting nice caught in the middle of player Danny Granger's phony-tough-guy routine or Lance Stephenson's choke task. As you sit court side, the do-something glances to the Erik Spoelstra are undeniable. Not because there is best a player-coach rift, or even unease between the two, but because of what player James had been surrounded with since the first half of the first game of this series, when player Chris Bosh was sidelined with a lower-abdominal strain.

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London 2012 Olympics Of New Generation

The BBC has now moved to a new different generation of mobile phone applications and has embraced all forms of Social Media of world full  for their Olympics coverage as well as investing heavily in their traditional free to air waves coverage.

The great Prime Time broadcasts will be headed by Gary Lineker, who said his research methods had changed dramatically in the past 3 months and he vowed he will continue to use social media of Twitter despite his share public spat with Joey Barton during the Olympics Games.

"Twitter has changed different way I research, it is certainly easier now, I just more pose a question on Twitter and 8,000 people get back to me within 10 minutes," said Lineker, who has garnered 600,000 followers in his 3 months on the world social network.

"These are the Olympics Games with a lot of gizmos, everything is covered, its in high meaningful definition, some of it in 3D, whereas before you would watch one channel. It is so much better for the world viewer." Another BBC broad caster Clare Balding said the recent Boat Race nice drama had shown the immediate value of Social Media Twitter in driving extra viewers to the world television.

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Jayawardene Shines As Delhi Of IPL 2012

Mahela Jayawardene struck an unbeaten half-century in IPL 2012 as the Delhi Daredevils beat Kings XI Punjab by 5 wickets to become the first team to reach the Indian Premier League (IPL) playoffs.

The Sri Lankan batsman hit 84 to score 56 in 49 balls as Delhi to talled 140-5 in 19 overs after pace players bowlers Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron combined to take 5 wickets to help restrict Punjab to 136-8 at Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium.

The player Jayawardene added 48 with Naman Ojha (34), helping Delhi recover from 37-4 in the sixth over. The player Ojha struck three fours and two sixes in a 29-ball knock, both his sixes coming off successive deliveries from legspinner Piyush Chawla. He was dropped on 22 by Chawla at long-on off Azhar Mahmood when Punjab was fighting to get back in the game.

Jayawardene player guided the team to victory along with player Irfan Pathan, who chipped in with 19 not out.“There was some spirits movement for players fast bowlers and Varun and Umesh bowled beautifully,” Sehwag said. “We were expecting that Mahela would play till the end and finish the game. It is difficult to go in and play your shots, but he took his time and ensured the win.”



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Defense Of Blueshirts Offensive-Spark

 The All-Star defense mans  has been as steady as they come while logging workhorse minutes all season, making it surprising to see him getting caught up white ice a few times and committing at least one egregious turnover in the first two periods at  night against the Devils.

Even still, Girardi redeemed himself nicely from his early mishaps, slamming home the first nice goal of the game early in the third period and assisting on the second by player Chris Kreider in a 3-0 win in Game 1.''He is the first one to admit he probably wants some of those plays back that he made, but he is  a heck of a warrior and a competitor,” said defense partner player Ryan McDonagh, who had to most cover for a few of Girardi’s early mistakes.

“He’s going to bounce back. All-Star for us this year, and it’s no coincidence he gets that nicely goal and a big play on the assist and just finishes the nice game hard defensively.”


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Dwayne Bravo Launches A Six Super Kings IPL 2012

The player Dwayne Bravo smashed excellent a last-ball six as Chennai Super Kings pulled off a stunning five-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders in a dramatic Indian Premier League (IPL) match to keep their hopes of a play-off berth alive.

  The winner of Chennai Super Kings occupy fourth spot in the IPL Points Table and are tie with KKR at 17 points. With five runs required from the last ball, Bravo (11 not out off seven balls) smashed player Rajat Bhatia for a six over long on to stun a jam-packed crowd at Eden Gardens. Chasing 159 for a win, players Michael Hussey (39 from 56 balls) and Murali Vijay (36 from 25 balls) set the platform with a 97-run stand from 10.2 overs for the first opening wicket.

The player Sunil Narine's mystery bowling, in which he claimed 2/14, swung the momentum in favour of KKR before Chennai Super Kings captain of skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (28 balls from 21 balls) set up the match beautifully , taking 18 runs from the penultimate over bowled by Marchant de Lange. Nine runs were required from the last over but with player Mahendra Singh Dhoni being dismissed when he was bowled by nice a slower ball by player Bhatia in the second ball, the match went down to the wire.

 The excellent aiming to send the force ball out of the park, player Bravo miscued one delivery in the penultimate ball when his bat slipped out of his hands on to the midwicket to take the match to a last ball finish.With the great win today, Chennai Super Kings climbed to fourth spot in the table to with 17 points from 15 matches, the same as KKR who occupied the third spot with a better best net run rate.The win also avenged Chennai Super Kings first-leg defeat at home against the same opponents.

The next interesting match coming up the great Chennai Super Kings Vs Punjab.

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Welcome Sialkot Team BCCI Decision To Allow Pakistan

 
The great former players, including Sialkot Stallions player captain Shoaib Malik, have welcome  BCCIs decision to allow Pakistan to participate in the Champions League T20 competition to be held in great India in October this year. 

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The Malik-led Sialkot Stallions team has won the national T20 great championship and super eights titles this season. The star-studded Sialkot side that includes young player Imran Nazir, Rana Naved, Shakeel Ansar has been the great  national T20 champions in Pakistan six times.

The BCCI announced that Pakistan would be allowed to send its national T20 team for the great Champions League during its working committee meeting in Tamil Nadu Chennai. The governing board of the Champions League that includes the South African and Australian boards will have to ratify the BCCI recommendation at its meeting later this month of season .

Although the nice spirits Sialkot team was due to take part in the first Champions League in 2008 and some of its players had already reached great India for this purpose, things didn`t work out when in the same month in November that year the Mumbai terror heavy attacks took place. 

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San Francisco Giants' Angel Pagan Forced Out

The player Melky Cabrera singled four times to extend his hitting streak to 11 games, player Gregor Blanco drove in three runs with a pair of top hits and the San Francisco Giants beat Arizona 7-3 on Sunday to take two of three from the Diamondbacks.

The player Brett Pill hit a two-run homer and Barry Zito (2-1) earned his first win since his opening start. Jason Kubel went 3 for 4 with a pair of doubles and drove in two runs for the Diamondbacks, who finished their homestand 1-5.

San Francisco had a season-high 14 top  hits, 10 of them against player  starter Joe Saunders (2-3).

Zito allowed three runs and five hits in six innings. He struck out five, walked three and hit a batter with a pitch. The left-hander entered with a 2.21 ERA but, thanks mostly to a lack of offensive full  support, had not won since a 7-0 shutout at Colorado on April 8. Zito has not given up more than three runs in any of his seven starts runs.

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Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/05/13/3608848/cabrera-blanco-lead-giants-past.html#storylink=cpy

The World Sports Hotbed Of Stars

The Great Player with Lakers, Clippers, Kings in playoffs and Dodgers on top of West, no place has it better in sports than Tinseltown.For 2012 years, Los Angeles has been where the downtrodden of the sports world dwell. Yes, the widespread agony went on hiatus when the Lakers held the top occasional parade. But that hardly made up for the rest of it. 

There were the player Los Angeles Dodgers, owned by a parking lot kingpin and his wife. They brought unease, which evolved into dread. Then scandal ensued over a messy divorce and the beating of most a fan by cretins. When they finally left the scene, the collective sigh swept through the L.A. basin like a Santa Ana wind.

But there was more sorrow. The Clippers had long been mirth makers of the negative kind. USC football game was banned from postseason play. UCLA seemed to ban itself from the relevance. The player Angels had underachieved. And the two NHL teams players in the area might as well have been playing on a pond in Moose Jaw for all the attention they received.


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The Canadian Championship Of 2012 Season

 The football game of 2012 even with a 2-0 victory over the Montreal Impact before a sparse but boisterous crowd at BMO Field on Wednesday night, Toronto FC remains the only one of 19 teams in Major League nice Soccer without a win or a point to show for the 2012 season.

But the Reds’ win in the semifinal of the great Canadian Championship 2012 ends their 11-game win less streak in all competitions (0-9-2). And it sends them to the final of the 2012 championship, beginning next week, where they will look to win a fourth straight title. More importantly, it offered a huge spirits boost of confidence to the local 11 and extended the lifeline to beleaguered main head coach Aron Winter, who undoubtedly would have faced more calls for his firing if the Reds had lost goals again.

But Toronto certainly didn’t make it easy on themselves. After opening the scoring in the second minute, the Reds young's played the final 74 minutes down a man. That was a particularly grave situation given that the Impact only needed a tie to win on away last goals after the two clubs played to a 0-0 draw in Montreal last week.

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The great Boxing Fight Mayweather vs Cotto Coming Soon

This great Boxing fight is no doubt a disappointment to fans across the country and isn't the fight everyone wants to see. As a result, the interest in this fight could be minimal at best and that isn't good for the sport and two of its strong best fighters. But with this new idea of showing a major heavy boxing event in movie theaters is a great idea to help bring in more people to watch.

 Though we are expecting Manny Pacquiao, the pound-for-pound king, to fight against the undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., looks like we need to wait a little bit longer because they have different fights in the first half of the year. Floyd Mayweather Jr. is scheduled to fight the great American boxer Miguel Cotto this upcoming May 5, 2012 while Manny Pacquiao is going to have his own fight may be  this June 2012.

The great champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. announced that his next opponent inside the boxing ring is going to be the WBA junior middleweight king Miguel Cotto. He announced this in front of the members of the Nevada State Athletic Commission and the Mayweather vs Cotto Boxing fight is going to be held at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on May 5. 

The World Record Holder Makau From London Team

The great  first three woman home in Sunday's race; defending world champion Mary Keitany, world champion Edna Kiplagat and world silver medallist Priscah Jeptoo were each selected for the Games.Wilson Kiplagat, who won Sunday's race, and twice world champion Abel Kirui, who finished sixth, will represent Kenya in London along with Moses Mosop who finished third in the Rotterdam marathon this month.

The player Kipsang set the second fastest time ever when he clocked two hours three minutes 42 seconds in Frankfurt last October. Makau set his world record of 2:03:38 in Berlin in the previous month.

Geoffrey Mutai, winner of the New York and Boston marathons last year and Emmamuel Mutai, who won London last year but finished seventh on Sunday, were excluded from the men's team although they had been included on a provisional list released this year.

Samuel Wanjiru, who plunged to his death from the first floor balcony of his home last year after his wife found him in bed with another woman, won Kenya's first men's marathon gold in Beijing four years ago.
Athletics Kenya will name the men's 10,000 team for the Games on June 2 at the Prefontaine Diamond League Meeting in Oregon while the remainder of the team will be named on June 23 after the final trials.

The Contest Between Chennai And Bangalore

The  great Chennai Super Kings' bowling coach, player Andy Bichel, is hoping to witness another high-scoring contest when the defending champions play Royal Challengers Bangalore in their return-leg Indian Premier League fixture at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore on Wednesday, April 25, 2012.

While speaking to the media reporters on the eve of the nice crucial match, Bichel said that going with the nature of Chinnaswamy wicket and the star-studded top order of RCB, which includes likes of Chris Gayle, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Virat Kohli and in-form AB de Villiers, another high-scoring game is on the cards.

 "Let's RCB's batting looks heavy at top of the order fully packed with overseas players, I think it will come down to a nail-biting over,” said the Chennai Super Kings fast bowling coach at the pre-match press conference in Bangalore on Tuesday. The last match played between the two outfits, at Chennai’s backyard, MA Chidambaram Stadium, was also a high scoring game in which the CSK chased down a colossal 206-run target with a last-ball four, plundering 43 runs off the final two overs.

Both sides share points on the table with four wins in seven outings so far, but great player Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings find themselves ahead of RCB on the standings, owing to their better net run-rate. However, donned in red, player Daniel Vettori’s Royal Challengers will go into Wednesday’s the cricket game with three wins on the trot and will be high on confidence

IPL 2012 - Kings XI Punjab vs Mumbai Indians 33rd Match

Most welcome to the clash between Mumbai Indians and Punjab. Mumbai have found themselves in quite an uncomfortable spot after their recent outbursts on the battle of field and the fair play table has reflected that quite precisely, by placing them at the bottom.

The great player Harbhajan's side will have to try and find a way to channel their aggression in a manner that is more productive because as of now they are placed in the bottom half of the points table, with a game in hand. Great King Punjab have bigger headaches at the moment as they have been able to register just three wins out of their seven games.

The last time these two sides met a few days ago, player David Hussey's men came out on top. Punjab will be desperate to keep their winning momentum going while Mumbai will surely treat this as their grudge match. We should be in for a thriller today, so sit back and enjoy the action unfold. The Great Kings XI Punjab have won the toss and elected to bat

Teams: 

Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): James Franklin, Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik(w), Kieron Pollard, Ambati Rayudu, Robin Peterson, Harbhajan Singh(c), Clint McKay, RP Singh, Munaf Patel

Kings XI Punjab (Playing XI): Nitin Saini(w), Mandeep Singh, Shaun Marsh, David Hussey(c), Azhar Mahmood, David Miller, Siddharth Chitnis, Piyush Chawla, Praveen Kumar, Bhargav Bhatt, Parvinder Awana

The Snooker player Ronnie Rockets Past Tearful

Time was when player Ronnie O'Sullivan just couldn't stay out of the limelight. So far in this year's Betfred.com the World Championship, the Rocket has been obscured by excellent perfection, allegations and emotion. Even Tuesday's smooth passage into the second round with a 10-4 smooth victory over Peter Ebdon was overshadowed by controversy and tears  surrounding his opponent.

 An emotional Snooker player Ebdon, who has adopted a vegan lifestyle based largely on organic bananas and organic dates, broke down after a concluding session in which he was banned by World Snooker game  from wearing a patch on his waistcoat advertising an alternative cancer treatment.

Ebdon's father Michael died from the disease last year and his son's attempt to spread the  message about possible cures had received television viewer complaints on Monday. Emotional: Ebdon lost out to The Rocket 'Obviously I've upset somebody somewhere but personally I think it's too important for people not to know,' said a visibly mind upset Ebdon.

The Great Cricket Player Sachin Tendulkar Celebrated His 39th-Birthday

As great cricket player Sachin Tendulkar celebrated his 39th birthday on Tuesday, player Yuvraj Singh paid tribute to the Master Blaster, saying proudly  he was like an elder brother, a friend, a philosopher and a guide to him.

In his column in the Dubai-based daily Gulf News, player Yuvraj has wished  Sachin Tendulkar a happy birthday and "all the happiness and health in life." He writes: "Paji, as I and many other fondly call him, has been the strong pillar of strength for me all through my life. His birthday is a very very special day for every Indian cricket fans. This is the day we all can thank this great spirit man for his massive contribution to Indian cricket."

The cricket Yuvraj recounts that when he was plagued by self-doubt and injuries a year before the World Cup of 2011, Sachin Tendulkar made him believe that he would good perform when it mattered.Yuvraj Singh went from strength to strength in the tournament and was named the best man of the series. He dedicates the trophy to great Sachin. 

As Suns Shine -Young Jazz Players

The great Kevin O'Connor Rebuilding Master Class gave a free seminar to the entire NBA on Tuesday night. "How to Rebuild and Stay Relevant" is the working title and the Phoenix Suns  provided a telling most contrast to prove his thesis.The results of fleecing trade partners, keeping salaries manageable, mixing affordable veterans with promising young spirit players, maintaining a winning culture and building for the future.

On the vet side, Al Jefferson (18 points, 16 rebounds) returns to the playoffs for the first time since his rookie year in Boston. It was big fitting that he scored eight straight points down the stretch to put the game away and couldn't keep the smile off his face to face  when he was finally taken out of the great game to a standing ovation.

The genius of O'Connor is the fuzzy math surrounding the rest of the roster. I'm confident no one could have guessed that castaways Josh Howard  and Jamaal Tinsley would be playing crucial minutes for a playoff-contending Utah Jazz team. 

The Great Baylor Basketball Programs

The great Baylor basketball programs may be in trouble with NCAA the  after an investigation found that coaches made more than 1,200 impermissible calls and text messages to prospects over a 29-month span dating to 2008. Less than a week after its women’s basketball team won the national championship, Baylor said it has been involved in a three-year investigation with the NCAA into what are believed to be hundreds of impermissible phone calls and text messages sent by coaches to prospects.

 The school did not describe any details of the proper investigation, including which sports were involved, but the announcement came a few hours after ESPN.com reported that coaches for both the men’s and women’s basketball programs had made more than 1,200 calls and text messages to prospects over a 29-month span dating to 2008.

The report lists a number of self-imposed penalties, including barring women's coach Kim Mulkey from recruiting off campus in July and fewer scholarships for both programs. The ANCA may dole out harsher penalties.

India Hockey Team Coach Top- At Olympics

The great Indian Hockey Team having "fed the 5,000" and fulfilled his duty of leading the India hockey team to Olympic qualification, Australian coach Michael Nobbs has set the target of a top-six finish in London.

The former Indian hockey powerhouse won the last of their eight gold medals in 1980 but their gradual decline reached its lowest ebb in 2008 when the team failed to qualify for the Beijing, the first time India missed a Games in 80 years. So it was a huge relief for the nation when the team won a qualifying tournament in Delhi in February to seal a London berth.

"I was very relieved. I was quite apprehensive. I knew how Indian hockey had probably declined in the last number of years," Nobbs, who took on the job in July 2011, told Reuters in an interview.

A rumbling administrative row and cricket`s emergence as the most dominant sport in the country have not helped Indian hockey.

The Light-Heavyweight Boxer Nathan Cleverly Left In Limbo

FRANK Warren is in discussion with the WBO after they refused to sanction boxer Nathan Cleverly’s proposed world title defence against Robin Krasniqi.

 It was announced this morning that Cleverly would put his WBO light-heavyweight belt on the line against the Germany-based Serbian at the Royal Albert Hall on 28 April. But the WBO president Francisco Valcarcel reacted swiftly by claiming that, having beaten Tommy Karpency last month, Cleverly must now face a mandatory opponent.

“Francisco Valcarcel commented that the bout between Nathan Cleverly and Robin Krasniqi can’t and won’t be sanctioned,” read a statement. “Nathan Cleverly’s fight with Karpency was sanctioned with the provision that the winner meet his mandatory opponent 120 days from the day of the bout.” A spokesman for Warren confirmed the promoter is in talks with the WBO in the hope of resolving the impasse. Earlier, Cleverly had spoken of the challenge posed by little-known Krasniqi and his delight at the prospect of boxing at the Royal Albert Hall.

The Tied One-Day Match West Indies Vs Australia Tie Thriller

On Tuesday interesting tied one-day cricket match between Australia and the West-Indies in St Vincent, that's exactly what happened to Andre Russell. With the Windies struggling to chase down Australia's 220, Shane Watson roared with delight when he crashed through Russell's defences to bowl the all-rounder.

His joy was short lived though with a replay showing player Watson had overstepped the crease and delivered a no-ball. Compounding Watson's frustrations, he then proceeded to bowl Russell off the next delivery, a free-hit because of his transgression the ball before, meaning again the West Indian again couldn't be given out.

Watson could only chuckle about the moment post-match before admitting it was a preventable situation."It was very disappointing especially at that crucial time as well," Watson said. 

"To bowl a guy out twice in two balls and actually have zero result out of it and giving him a run, very disappointing. "When I checked the footmarks, I knew I stepped over. "That was not a good feeling ... it's not good enough."

 The Captain Darren Sammy and last man Kemar Roach then had a horrible mix-up for Australia to complete a run-out and end the match in a tie - this time with no way back for the great West Indian batsmen.

The Game Of Hockey National League Conference North.

The Moorlands had ambitions of overtaking the third-placed side in the great National League Conference North. But a second hefty defeat in a row has put a dampener on the season's finale. After being beaten 7-0 by Preston a week ago, an injury-hit side offered little in response to strong  a powerful display from their visitors, for whom Daniel Coultas netted a hat-trick.

The Captain Leek will now need to win their final game against bottom club Bar-ford Tigers to stay ahead of Don-caster. "We'd have settled for fourth back in September," said Leek captain Mark Brazier. "We didn't have talent a coach at the start of the season and we have a limited squad. "We are building for next season with younger spirit players and we will give it a real go." "We missed Paul Dawson and Jon Harper on Sunday, but hopefully we'll be back to full strength for our final game," added Brazier.

The North staffs sealed runners-up spot in Midlands One after beating Streetly 5-2 helped by Andy Barker's hat-trick.Staffs appeared well in control after taking the lead midway through the first half when Barker converted a penalty flick. But they later allowed Streetly to hit back. 

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india looking forward to Asia cup:Gautam Gambir

 

NEW DELHI: After a disastrous tour of Australia, India batsman Gautam Gambhir said the team was now looking forward to a better show in the Asia Cup starting Sunday in Bangladesh.

"The Asia Cup is an important tournament for us and the whole team is looking forward to it," Gambhir said.
Gambhir, instead of taking some rest like his team mate and local boy Virat Kohli, opted to play for Delhi to get some match practice in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Gambhir scored a patient 34 not out as Delhi beat Railways by seven wickets in the quarter-finals.

The southpaw spent more than an hour at the crease after the other two left-hand openers Shikhar Dhawan and Mohit Sharma put on 97 runs for the first wicket.

Gambhir had to work hard for his runs against an ordinary attack, consuming 57 balls in the process. Out of his three boundaries, one was the winning stroke, a flick. Gambhir was happy to get some match practice under his belt before leaving for Dhaka. The win made it special for him.

"It was a good win for us and I am glad I played a part in it," said Gambhir.

The Asia Cup, which starts March 11, features India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka besides hosts Bangladesh.

The Most Successfull Captain of India:MS-DHONI

In just 4 years of captaincy, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has emerged as one of India's most successful captain this cricket crazy country has seen. The captain cool has led the team to many first under his captaincy. 

Dhoni led Team India to No. 1 in the ICC Test Rankings for the first time in December 2009 and also closed the gap with Australia in one-dayers after winning the coveted 2011 Cricket World Cup. 

Dhoni started his captaincy career with the shortest format of the game and immediately led an inexperienced India Twenty20 squad to the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 victory in South Africa in September 2007. 

Soon after returning victorious in the World Twenty20, he was made the India's one-day international captain for the seven-match ODI series against Australia in September 2007. 

After serving the team as vice-captain for a while, Dhoni was made full-time Test captain of India during the fourth Test against Australia at Nagpur in November 2008 replacing Anil Kumble, who announced his retirement after the third Test. 

Dhoni made his mark in the international cricket soon after his ODI debut in December 2004 against Bangladesh. He scored a match-winning 148 against Pakistan in Vishakapatnam off 123 balls in his fifth ODI and announced his arrival in the international arena. 

Dhoni made his Test debut against sri Lanka in December 2005. Similar to his one-day career, he slammed his maiden century (148) against Pakistan in 2006. His maiden ton came off 93 balls and is the fastest hundred scored by an Indian wicket-keeper.

The game of Sachien

                                                         

   India's cricket greats have begun talking about a topic that was considered unthinkable a year ago - Sachin Tendulkar's retirement from the sport.Or, at least, the need for the record-breaking batsman to quit one-day cricket to prolong his Test career, like former Australian captain RICKY POINTING did this week.

"Maybe his time has come," former World Cup-winning captain Kapildev said of the "Little Master" on the news channel. 

"Every player has his time. Age is not on his side as it was earlier." Tendulkar, who turns 39 in April, is not only the world's leading batsman in both the Test and one-day formats, but also the longest-serving international cricketer, having made his debut in 1989. Fans have been left on tenterhooks as Tendulkar, who has scored a record 51 Test and 48 one-day centuries, struggles to reach the unprecedented milestone of 100 international hundreds.

Tendulkar, who turns 39 in April, is not only the world's leading batsman in both the Test and one-day formats, but also the longest-serving international cricketer, having made his debut in 1989.

Fans have been left on tenterhooks as Tendulkar, who has scored a record 51 Test and 48 one-day centuries, struggles to reach the unprecedented milestone of 100 international hundreds. 

"Sachin has to ask himself whether it's helping him as a one-day player or if it's helping the Indian team," Ganguly told a new channel.

"If Sachin can't get an answer to these questions, he has to go. "Tendulkar, who has played a record 458 one-day internationals, has turned out in just 18 ODI matches in the past two years, including nine in India's triumphant World Cup campaign in February-April 2011.

He still managed to record the first ever double-century in ODI- 200 not out against South Africa in February 2010 - and was the star performer in India's World Cup win with 482 runs, second only to Sri Lankan Tillakaratne Dilshan's 500.

"It affects everyone's form if Tendulkar keeps coming in and going out of one-day tournaments," Ganguly said. "I said after the World Cup that Sachin needed to look at his one-day career because he had achieved everything in one-day cricket."Ganguly dismissed batting legend Sunil Gavaskar's suggestion that the selectors should talk to Tendulkar about his one-day future.

"I don't see any of the selectors stepping in," Ganguly said. "They are not going to stand in front of Sachien Tendulkar and say 'Listen little champ, you need to go'. That is never going to happen."

The Indian daily urged former players to lay off Tendulkar, saying the decision to quit or not should be left to him.

"A lot has been said - especially by former sportspersons who themselves stayed on well beyond their use-by date - about Tendulkar's ODI career," the paper wrote.

"Whatever the intentions, these gems of seemingly timely advice are clearly uncalled for. Sachin has served the country with exceptional pride and genius for far too long and he deserves the right to choose his own time of departure."A poll published by the Times of India on Thursday revealed that 57 percent of 47,000 respondents wanted Tendulkar to quit one-day cricket and 41 percent urged him to continue.