Captain Yuvraj Singh bagged his second hat-trick of the series while Irfan Pathan bowled a brilliant last over to steer Punjab to victory in a thriller at Wanderers in Johannesburg, .

Singh first removed Herschelle Gibbs on 26 from the last ball of the 12th over before returning in the 14th over to get rid of Andrew Symonds for 25 and Venugopal Rao for a duck with his part-time, left-arm spin.

Then needing 11 runs to win from the final over after Punjab had scored 7-134, Pathan bowled Rohit Sharma for 42 with a slower ball as he tried to lead Deccan home.

Pathan then caught Rudra Singh off his own bowling, leaving Deccan needing four runs off the last ball with Ryan Harris on strike. But Harris could only manage two, sparking Punjab celebrations.

Punjab now have 14 points, the same as Deccan, but lie fourth because Deccan’s net run rate is superior.

The Delhi Daredevils secured a semi-final place with a comfortable 14-run victory over the Rajasthan Royals in Bloemfontein.

Kings XI Punjab also stayed in the running for a semi-final spot with a thrilling one-run victory over the Deccan Chargers.

Delhi’s win takes them to the top of the IPL standings with 18 points from 12 matches.

Delhi posted 3-150, led by AB de Villiers who hit an unbeaten 79 and shared a solid 87-run stand for the third wicket with Tillakaratne Dilshan (33 off 41 balls), having lost openers Gautam Gambhir (8) and Virender Sehwag (2) cheaply.

De Villiers, who smashed eight boundaries and a six in 55 balls, contributed 48 runs from 21 balls in an unbeaten fourth wicket stand with Dinesh Karthik (23 off 11 balls).

Pace bowler Munaf Patel suffered in particular, giving up 25 runs in his penultimate over.

In reply, Rajasthan never threatened the Delhi total and were restricted to 9-136 from their 20 overs.

Johan Botha top-scored with 37 and Ravindra Jadeja added 24 to briefly offer Rajasthan some hope, but their dismissals sparked off a late collapse with leg-spinner Amit Mishra taking three wickets in one over, including two in successive balls, to return figures of 3-33.

Mishra was supported by seamers Aavishkar Salvi and Farveez Maharoof, who took 2-19 and 2-27.

Defending champions Rajasthan are in fifth place in the standings on 13 points but still have a chance of making the semi-finals.
Sourced via smh.com.au

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Skipper takes two wickets as Bangalore beats play-off rivals Chennai

Indian Premier League
Durban
Chennai Super Kings 129 (M L Hayden 60) v Bangalore Royal Challengers 132-8
Bangalore Royal Challengers beat Chennai Super Kings by 2 wkts

Anil Kumble produced a captain’s performance with the ball to help take the Bangalore Royal Challengers to a two-wicket win over the Chennai Super Kings on Thursday.

Former India captain Kumble recorded stunning figures of two for 12 from his four overs as the Super Kings were restricted to just 129 all out batting first.

The Super Kings had been going along well, despite the fall of two early wickets to Jacques Kallis (2-18), before Roelof van Der Merwe’s stunning caught and bowled dismissal of opposition skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (18) turned the innings.

Kumble accounted for the ever dangerous Matt Hayden soon after thanks to another fine catch – this time by Vinay Kumar on the boundary at deep mid-wicket – and Bangalore slumped to 101-4.

Wickets fell at regular intervals thereafter with the last seven batsmen collapsing for the addition of just 28 runs and all failing to get into double figures.
Crucial

New Zealander Ross Taylor then hit a crucial 46 in the reply and added 56 runs for the fourth wicket with Virat Kohli (38) to help steer Bangalore to an exciting victory.

Man-of-the-match Taylor fell in the final over, but his team needed just five to win at that stage and Vinay Kumar smashed Jacob Oram for a four to seal the triumph with two balls to spare.

Victory keeps Bangalore’s hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals alive, with Delhi, Chennai and the Deccan Chargers just ahead in the current Indian Premier League (IPL) standings.
Sourced via skysports.com

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Indian Premier League result and standings on Wednesday.

 Delhi Daredevils beat Deccan Chargers by 12 runs

 Standings                   P   W  L  T  NR PTS

 Delhi Daredevils            10  8  2  0  0  16

 Chennai Super Kings         10  6  3  0  1  13

 Deccan Chargers             11  6  5  0  0  12

 Mumbai Indians              11  5  5  0  1  11

 Rajasthan Royals            11  5  5  0  1  11

 Bangalore Royal Challengers 11  5  6  0  0  10

 Kings XI Punjab             11  5  6  0  0  10

 Kolkata Knight Riders       11  1  9  0  1   3

 * T denotes tied, NR no result

 Playing on Thursday

 Bangalore Royal Challengers v Chennai Super Kings, Durban,
(1030 GMT)

 Mumbai Indians v Rajasthan Royals, Durban, (1430)

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Chris Lewis, the former England all-rounder, smuggled £140,000 worth of cocaine into Britain inside his cricket bag, a court heard.

The 41-year-old ex-cricketer was stopped by customs officers at Gatwick airport and found with the drug hidden in liquid form in five tins of fruit and vegetable juice, stashed in his kit bag, jurors were told.

Mr Lewis was on his way back from the Caribbean island of St Lucia in December, where he told officials he had been visiting family.

As well as the tins, border officials discovered a cannabis grinder and a paperback book containing Rizla papers which both tested positive for traces of marijuana, it is alleged.

When questioned at Gatwick, Mr Lewis, who was also carrying a Prada “man bag”, said he had packed the luggage himself and was not carrying anything for anyone else.

But when told his luggage had tested positive for cocaine he asked: “Could there be some mistake?” before answering no questions during interviews, Croydon Crown Court heard.

The cricketer was allegedly smuggling the cocaine alongside associate Chad Kirnon, 27, who was found with three tins of dissolved cocaine in his luggage, it was claimed.

Prosecutors said that the pair knew each other well and alighted the plane at Gatwick just after five in the morning on December 8. Both claimed they had been flying alone even though Mr Lewis’s luggage had some luggage with Mr Kirnon’s name on the label, it was alleged.

Mr Kirnon had been stopped by officials on his way into St Lucia, who discovered £7,000 cash which may have been used to buy the drugs, jurors were told.

Tom Wilkins, prosecuting, said: “They were in a joint enterprise to smuggle into this country a quantity of cocaine – at 100 percent purity it weighed a little over 3.37 kilograms.

“While his luggage had Kirnon’s name on it Lewis confirmed all of the luggage was his.

“Officers went through the bag and they found a number of tins of fruit and vegetable juice which upon closer inspection were revealed to be liquids containing cocaine.

“At 100 per cent purity it is a little over 3.37 kilograms in weight – that is a retail value of something in the region of £100,000. The street value is a little over £140,000 – a very valuable consignment.”

Mr Wilkins added: “When he [Mr Lewis] was questioned rather than offer an explanation or say what he was doing in St Lucia or say what the tins were doing in his luggage he answered no comment to all the questions put to him.”

The court heard both defendants were blaming each other for the smuggling.

Mr Wilkins said: “The one-time accomplices it would seem have fallen out and are each saying their co-defendant set them up.

“There s overwhelming evidence each of them knew they were smuggling cocaine when they came back into Gatwick.”

Lewis, of Brent, north London, and Kirnan, of Islington, both deny one charge of smuggling.

The case continues.

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Rajasthan's Lee Claserdine plays a shot as Australian Adam Gilchrist of the Deccan Chargers looks on. Photo: AFP

Shane Warne’s Rajasthan Royals staged a dramatic fightback to upset Adam Gilchrist’s table-topping Deccan Chargers by three wickets in their Indian Premier League match on Saturday.

Defending a competitive 5-141, Deccan looked set for victory when they reduced Rajasthan to 3-3 in the second over.

But some sloppy efforts in the field saw the defending champions steal a sensational win with two balls to spare.

It was only the second defeat for Deccan from six matches while Rajasthan registered their third win from seven outings to throw open the tournament.

Charismatic all-rounder Yusuf Pathan, tactically brought down to No.8 in the batting order, once again did the trick, hitting 24 from 14 balls with two fours and two sixes.

Pathan, named man of the match, came in with Rajasthan needing 49 from 35 balls but reduced the asking rate to a mere 11 from 12 balls.

Abhishek Raut, who remained unbeaten on a 23-ball 36, and Lee Carseldine (39) were the other contributors with the bat.

Tirumalsetti Suman earlier top-scored for Deccan with an unbeaten 41 after captain Gilchrist gave the side a blazing start, scoring a 41-ball 39 with five fours and two sixes.

Suman paced his 30-ball innings intelligently and also shared a rollicking stand of 59 runs off 49 balls for the fourth wicket with Rohit Sharma (38) to rescue the side from a shaky 3-58.

Sharma’s knock was laced with two fours and two sixes while Suman hit one six and two boundaries.

Australian paceman Shane Harwood, making his IPL debut, took a wicket off his very first ball and also scalped another at the death to finish with impressive figures of 2-25.
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ReutersAustralia's Nathan Hauritz fields

Australian acting captain Michael Clarke says the team will take time to enjoy their stunning comeback win over Pakistan before preparing for the next game in the series.

Clarke starred with bat and ball as Australia pulled off a remarkable turnaround in Abu Dhabi on

Monday night.

Pakistan looked to be cruising towards a comfortable victory at 0-95 after 22 overs, in reply to Australia’s disappointing 7-198.

But off-spinner Nathan Hauritz and then left-arm finger-spinner Clarke each took two wickets in two balls in the space of three overs to spark a Pakistan collapse of 10-77 and notch a 27-run win.

Clarke had earlier top-scored with 66 and followed that with figures of 3-15 on the spin-friendly pitch.

The win gave Australia a 2-1 lead in the five-game series, with the remaining two matches to be played this coming Friday and then two days later.

But Clarke said while Australia still had areas of their game that needed work, they would take time to enjoy the victory first.
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“We definitely have a lot to work on but I can guarantee we won’t be thinking about it tonight,” Clarke said after the match.

“We have a few days off or a few days with no cricket, which will be nice.

“The boys should be very happy, very proud, it was a wonderful performance.

“I thought our bowlers, the way we fielded, was fantastic, they showed plenty of courage and I’m very happy with how we performed.”

Falling short

Clarke said Australia should have made at least 20 runs more than they did.

But on a pitch that had slow bounce and inconsistent turn, particularly with the old ball, he always believed they could make the chase difficult for Pakistan.

“I knew if we bowled and fielded well we would get enough opportunities,” he said.

“Even though they were 0-95 at one stage, I was still confident that on that wicket once the ball got a little bit older we could win the game.”

He introduced himself to the attack in the 26th over, in what proved a masterstroke as he took wickets with his first two balls, then a third in his third over.

“I tried to wait as long as possible before I had to bowl, to be honest,” he said.

“It’s always good to bowl in conditions like that, when the ball’s spinning, obviously it makes it a little bit harder to score.

“For me it was just about trying to put the ball in a half-decent area and hope some spun and some didn’t and fortunately I had a little bit of luck tonight.”

Reckless batting

Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam said too many of the side’s middle order batsmen had thrown their wickets away recklessly.

“I don’t think that Australia got us out, we got ourselves out,” Alam said.

“We made things difficult for ourselves.”

But he said it was a good experience for his team to be put under pressure by the Australians and a situation they needed to learn how to handle.
Sourced via tvnz.co.nz

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Hosting the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament is helping to burnish South Africa’s image abroad and dispel worries about its readiness to host the 2010 soccer World Cup, officials say.

The world’s biggest Twenty20 tournament, which started in Cape Town on Saturday, was moved to South Africa last month due to security concerns in India as it holds general elections.

The second edition of the IPL has brought a much-needed boost to South Africa, where flagging ticket sales for the FIFA Confederations Cup which starts in June had raised concerns over the country’s ability to host a successful soccer World Cup in 2010.

“This was a perfect opportunity to show the world that we can host a major event in 20 days,” Gerald Majola, Cricket South Africa (CSA) chief executive, told Reuters.

“Who can then doubt us, that we can hold a World Cup in 2010, given four years to prepare for it?”

The choice also underlines the stability of South Africa’s political system. South Africans vote in the most hotly contested national election since the end of apartheid on Wednesday but few expect widespread violence to mar the poll or interfere with the tournament.

The IPL, which lasts until May 24, was expected to bring around 1 billion rand ($109.6 million) into Africa’s biggest economy, South African President Kgalema Motlanthe said at the opening ceremony on Saturday.

FOREIGN VISITORS

The chief executives of hotel firms Sun International and City Lodge told Reuters last month they expected the IPL to boost occupancy rates across their hotel portfolios.

Majola said he expected more than 10,000 foreigners to visit the country during the competition.

The 59-match IPL tournament, which features almost all the top international players including England’s Andrew Flintoff and India’s Sachin Tendulkar, has also gained popularity for its entertainment element — Bollywood superstars Shah Rukh Khan and Shilpa Shetty both own IPL teams.

Tickets for the opening weekend’s double-header games in Cape Town were sold out within hours.

In contrast, sales for the Confederations Cup, the test event being held ahead of the 2010 World Cup finals, have been slow, with approximately 200,000 of the 640,000 tickets sold.

The global financial crisis does not seem to have dented overseas demand for World Cup tickets but world football’s governing body FIFA has criticised South Africa for not doing enough to spur local support.

South Africa’s high crime rates and its ability to finish building stadiums and infrastructure have also come under scrutiny but the South African government has pledged to beef up security and has repeatedly said it will be ready for the tournament.

IPL Chief Operating Officer Sunder Raman told Reuters South Africa’s hosting of the IPL would spur enthusiasm for the Confederations Cup and proved the country was capable of putting together international events.
Sourced via uk.reuters.com

Popularity: 4% [?]

The mass transportation across the Indian Ocean Lalit Modi referred to has been reasonably fluent, which reflects well on the ad hoc hosts and the drive and efficiency of Modi himself © AFP

On Tuesday evening, at a press conference that turned into a double act between Lalit Modi and Shah Rukh Khan, the chairman and commissioner of the IPL began an answer by waxing eloquent about a ‘carnival of cricket’ and ended it by referring to the testing conditions that await Indian batsmen in South Africa. The order in which he made his points may have been instructive: this year, as last, the IPL is basing its ruthless business model on entertainment. Now, as then, cricket feels suspiciously like a means to an end. Perhaps the sooner we get used to the idea, the sooner we can all move on.

It may not be easy. An email that landed from the company employed to do the IPL’s public relations cheerily alerted us to the floats which were scheduled to drive around Cape Town as part of Modi’s plan to seduce the locals. They would, it said, contain players and other celebrities. No matter that the IPL has moved to another continent: Shah Rukh and Preity Zinta, interviewed by Mark Nicholas during the mid-innings break in Monday’s one-day international between South Africa and Australia in Port Elizabeth, remain irrepressibly to the fore.

The mass transportation across the Indian Ocean Modi referred to has been reasonably fluent, which reflects well both on the ad hoc hosts and the drive and efficiency of Modi himself. Blockbusters are not supposed to take an unexpected twist as early as the second chapter, so the fact that a 36-day, 59-match tournament is taking place at such short notice is a miracle in itself, even if Modi’s claim that all has been ’smooth sailing’ is stretching the self-congratulation a little.

In reality there are plenty of thorny issues beneath the surface. The small matter of the suiteholders at Newlands, who pay good money every year to watch cricket from the comfort of their own personalised boxes but have now agreed (some of them, at least) to make way for the IPL’s great and good, needed hours of Easter-holiday meetings to resolve. Castle Lager’s parent company, SABMiller, have reluctantly consented to pay for the privilege of serving beer at the grounds which have been their own private drinking dens for years. And now we are going to have time-outs, dreaded by those who fear the Americanisation of the sport but regarded as a no-brainer by the money men who spy extra advertising opportunities.

These, though, are the details, and the bigger picture, for the time being at least, is less finicky. Ticket sales for Cape Town’s back-to-back double-headers (expect more new terminology as the tournament progresses) have been so overwhelming that Newlands was a sell-out within a couple of hours of tickets being made available; this week an extra 5,000 seats were conjured from very nearly thin air. That probably tells us what we already knew: that South Africans love their sport and Cape Townians their cricket, even at the end of a domestic season which might have sated other nations’ appetites. But it’s impressive nonetheless: grey England, with the competing attraction of the County Championship, could not have pulled off a similar stunt.

Modi has made all the right noises, of course. He was gratitude personified on Tuesday evening, cooing over Cape Town’s welcome and even tugging at the heart strings by claiming that the decision to relocate to South Africa was the ‘most difficult of my life’. Shah Rukh, meanwhile, did his bit by pointing out that it was in South Africa in late 2007 that he first fell for short-form cricket. India pushed him in the right direction by lifting the World Twenty20 and even revealed that his house is full of South African furniture. This is a tournament that knows it is a temporary guest, but as the thorny issues indicate it is clearly determined to behave like the man about town.

All of which leaves us with the cricket, for it’s easy to forget that all the celebrities, all the mutual back-slapping, all the professed affinity between two nations, would be nothing without a bat and a ball. Genuine questions await. Will Shane Warne overcome a year of rustiness to rip his legbreaks and rally the Rajasthan Royals? Will Kevin Pietersen slip effortlessly back into the role of captain? Will Sourav Ganguly overcome his irritation at John Buchanan’s multiple-skipper theory? Will Delhi Daredevils live up to their billing as pre-tournament favourites?

Last year the cricket provided its own answer to the hype and hyperbole. If it does the same again, the minor inconveniences of the build-up may even be forgotten.
Sourced via content.cricinfo.com

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With last year’s player of the tournament absent due to national commitments, and two others who’re among the highest-paid stars also missing, Australia’s contingent at the start of the second IPL season will be more notable for who’s not playing than those who make the trip to South Africa.

There’ll still be retired spin bowling great Shane Warne leading the way as captain and coach of the defending champion Rajasthan Royals, but Warne will be missing a key ingredient from last year, player of the inaugural Indian Premier League Twenty20 season Shane Watson.

The 26-year-old Watson, who scored 472 runs at an average of 42 in the IPL last year, has returned from injury and was named in the Australian limited-overs squad for a series against Pakistan in Dubai and Abu Dhabi beginning next Wednesday _ four days after the IPL starts.

Also missing will be troubled allrounder Andrew Symonds, who was been out of the Australian lineup for several months until his recall for the Pakistan series, and fast bowler Brett Lee, who was initially named in squad to play Pakistan but was later ruled out and replaced by Doug Bollinger.

Lee, at least, will continue to train in South Africa with his Indian Premier League franchise, Kings XI Punjab, to further his rehabilitation from ankle and foot operations. But if he’s cleared to play, it’s expected that will be for Australia before he sees any action for his IPL franchise.

Symonds would have been the fourth-highest salary earner at $1.35 million with Deccan Chargers in the IPL this season (behind England’s Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff and India’s Mahendra Singh Dhoni).

Lee was set to make $900,000, which would have put him at No. 10 in the 2009 earnings list.

Salaries are paid on a pro-rata basis for the foreign stars, so the more matches they play, the more they earn. The Australians on national team duties will get a chance to return to the IPL later in the tournament.

Also among the absent Australians is test skipper Ricky Ponting, who is being rested to prepare for the Ashes campaign against England in two months.

Australian Michael Hussey will also not play in this year’s IPL in order to rest for the Ashes. Hussey would have been available for only the final two weeks of the IPL, which ends with the final on May 24 in Johannesburg.

Michael Clarke, who will captain Australia in Ponting’s absence against Pakistan _ that series ends May 7 _ and pace bowler Mitchell Johnson, will also miss this year’s IPL. Clarke and Johnson did not play in the inaugural IPL and did not nominate for the player auction earlier this year.

Ponting is expected back as skipper for Twenty20 World Cup in June and the Ashes.

“Right at the moment I feel like I need to get away and have a bit of a break, so that’s the way it is,” said Ponting, who was given a release for the 2009 season by the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise which is coached by ex-Australia coach John Buchanan.

Lee, a 76-test veteran, is pushing to reclaim his place in the Australian attack for the Ashes series. So IPL’s loss might be Australia’s gain for the crucial series against England. He joined the Kings XI Punjab squad in South Africa to practice because wet whether in Sydney was limiting his time in the nets.

“Now that he’s here in South Africa with his IPL team, when he is ready to bowl again there’ll be no excuses for weather or anything,” Ponting said of Lee. “He should be able to get a lot of bowling done and when he’s fit enough and ready to play, hopefully he’ll be playing for us because that’s what he wants. We need to see him back in Australian colors.”

The eight-team, 59-match IPL tournament, switched to South Africa from India due to security concerns because of clashing dates with the general elections, begins Saturday.

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Glitz and glamour: Cape Town set for IPL opener Photo: GETTY IMAGES

In a bid to glitz the tournament up to the hilt, IPL chairman Lalit Modi has spared no costs to get fans into the stadiums and retain the global TV audiences that made the inaugural Twenty20 tournament a success.

So it was no surprise when Telegraph Sport learnt that Modi has spent lavishly in South Africa as the opening ceremony approaches.

According to one insider, the IPL commissioner asked for more advertising space around Cape Town but was told that he had already taken out every available slot.

Cape Town is no stranger to the rich and famous and the IPL teams will stay at the lavish and recently-opened One and Only, the city’s latest five-star venture.

As soon as you leave the airport, advertising for the new hotel hits you straight in the face. The hotel is constructed on two artificial islands and features restaurants operated by Gordon Ramsey and Nobu Mastsuhisa, the world renowned celebrity chefs.

The IPL franchise owners are also beginning to arrive before the opening ceremony.

“All the franchise owners, Shah Rukh Khan, Shilpa Shetty, Preity Zinta, the Ambanis, will arrive today,” organisers said.

“The only exception is Bangalore owner Vijay Mallya, who will come next week as he first wants to watch his Formula One team, Force India, compete in the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai.”

Khan is one of Bollywood’s biggest stars and owns the Kolkata Knight Riders, while Shetty is co-owner of the Rajasthan Royals and a former winner of Celebrity Big Brother.

Fellow actress Zinta is part-owner of the Kings XI Punjab franchise and will jet in from Port Elizabeth where she has been watching the team train and attending the fourth ODI between South Africa and Australia.

Business tycoon Mukesh Ambani is the head of the fourth-richest family in the world, and owns the Mumbai Indians through his conglomerate Reliance Industries.

Then there are the WAGS. England batsman Kevin Pietersen will return to his homeland with wife Jessica Taylor, a reality TV star who recently competed in TV’s Dancing On Ice.

Bollywood actress Lakshmi Rai is also expected to spend some time in Cape Town watching India’s pin-up captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, with the duo rumoured to be dating.

Cape Town’s fashionistas will also be keeping tabs on Deccan Chargers with Andrew Symonds’ girlfriend Katie Johnson joining the extravagana. Johnson was recently voted Australia’s top WAG in an online poll.

Closer to home, there are also South Africa’s elite WAGS to contend with. Jacques Kallis’ model partner Shamone Jardim and actress Jeanne Kietzmann, girlfriend of Dale Steyn, will represent the host nation over the next month.

IPL opener

April 18: Chennai Super Kings v Mumbai Indians, Cape Town
Sourced via telegraph.co.uk

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