Sports

ABU DHABI: Stand-in South African captain Jacques Kallis said Pakistan deserved the credit for drawing the two-Test series on Wednesday. "We put Pakistan under pressure in both the Tests, but Pakistan performed well and their cricket is looking positive," said Kallis after the second Test ended in a draw, leaving the two-match series at 0-0.
The first Test also ended in stalemate in Dubai last week. Set a daunting 354-run target in 82 overs, Pakistan were pegged back by South

LAHORE: The Punjab Olympics Association has decided to boycott the 31st National Games due to be held in Peshawar next month due to a lack of training of its players The announcement came after the POA cancelled the organisation of the 71st Punjab Games which were postponed for the fourth successive time. According to a POA official, the Punjab athletes are not in a position to take part in the country's major sporting event due to a lack of competitive training.
"We were forced

BRISBANE: Skipper Andrew Strauss said Wednesday he was confident his players could pull off 'something pretty special' and win England's first Ashes series in Australia in a generation.
The five-Test series gets underway on Thursday with England chasing their first victory at the Brisbane Gabba fortress since Mike Gatting's team last prevailed on their way to the tourists' last Australian series victory in 1986/87. Strauss said his team was well prepared from three tour leadup

BRISBANE: Vice-captain Michael Clarke has recovered sufficiently from a back injury to play for Australia in the Ashes opener against England starting Thursday at the Gabba. "Just finished training and the back got through," Clarke wrote on his Twitter feed Wednesday. "Wake up ok tomorrow and I'm in."
The middle-order batsman injured his back playing for New South Wales in Sheffield Shield cricket earlier this month and only returned to training on Tuesday.
But Clarke, who

GUANGZHOU: Pakistan goalkeeper Salman Akbar saved the last shot of a penalty shoot-out against South Korea to steer his team into the Asian Games men's hockey final on Tuesday.
Both teams were locked 1-1 in 70 minutes of regulation time and failed to break the impasse after 15 minutes of extra-time in an absorbing semi-final at the Aoti Hockey Centre.
Waqas Muhammad put Pakistan ahead in the 22nd minute, before Kang Moon-Kyu drew level four minutes into the second

ABU DHABI: Pakistan left-arm spinner Abdul Rehman took three wickets and scored his maiden half-century to foil South Africa's attempts to win the second Test at Abu Dhabi Stadium on Tuesday.
Rehman checked South Africa's quest for quick runs in order to set a target for Pakistan with wickets of Alvior Petersen (35), Hashim Amla (62) and AB de Villiers (25) before South Africa closed the fourth day at 173-4, for an overall lead of 323.
Ashwell Prince was unbeaten on 27 and

GUANGZHOU: Former Pakistan great Javed Miandad has pleaded with foreign teams to tour the troubled Asian nation, saying cricket there is suffering because of the absence of top-level competition.
Pakistan have been forced to play home series overseas because of security fears in the country, where thousands have been killed in suicide attacks and bombings blamed on homegrown Taliban and other Islamist extremist networks.
No foreign side has toured Pakistan since an attack by

LAHORE: Pakistan's suspended Test captain, Salman Butt, has turned to a United Kingdom based lawyer of Indian origin to represent him in the spot-fixing case. Salman Butt's lawyer Aftab Gul confirmed that Barrister Yasin Patel would be representing the player in all matters in the United Kingdom.
"Yasin Patel is a very high profile criminal defence lawyer who also specialises in human rights, money laundering and sports related cases. He will be liasioning with Scotland Yard

GUANGZHOU: World champion Maryam Jamal comfortably defended her 1,500m Asian Games title on Tuesday as Somdev Devvarman and Peng Shuai delivered tennis gold to India and China.
The Ethiopian-born Jamal, running for Bahrain, lived up to her top billing on the track to win a slow-paced race she never looked like losing with Vietnam's Truong Thanh Hang a shock silver medallist.
Jamal said she planned to bid for a golden double, as she did at the last Games in Doha four years

BRISBANE: Australia's pace spearhead Mitchell Johnson said Tuesday he was ready to bowl fast and aggressively to unsettle England's batting in the Ashes series.
Johnson will lead the home attack as Australia set out at the Gabba on Thursday to win back the Ashes urn they lost to England last year. The left-armer tested out his new Ashes game plan on his team-mates in the nets on Tuesday, bowling short-pitched deliveries that had skipper Ricky Ponting using all his evasive skills

GUANGZHOU: India's national coach Harendra Singh resigned on Tuesday soon after his team crashed to a 4-3 defeat to Malaysia in the Asian Games men's field hockey semi-final.
The loss, sparked by a golden goal from penalty corner ace Amin Rahim, meant India will have to go through the qualification rounds to book a berth for the 2012 London Olympics.
Only the winner of Thursday's gold medal clash between Malaysia and Pakistan will be granted a direct entry to the Olympics.

BRISBANE: England opening batsman Alastair Cook said Tuesday he wants to prove his critics wrong in the Ashes series against Australia. The Essex left-hander averages 42.78 in his 60 Tests, but his return drops markedly when he faces Australia.
Cook averages just 26.21 in Ashes contests with a solitary century in 19 Test innings. Scores of 111 not out against South Australia in Adelaide and 60 against Australia A in Hobart may have boosted his confidence but he knows that will

NAGPUR: India rode on some inspired spin bowling to thrash New Zealand by an innings and 198 runs in the third and final Test on Tuesday and claim the series 1-0.
Spinners Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha and Suresh Raina shared seven wickets before paceman Ishant Sharma finished off the tail, bowling out New Zealand for 175 early into the second session on the fourth day of the match.
New Zealand started the day needing 349 runs to avoid an innings defeat after conceding a

LAHORE: It did not seem as if Pakistan would be able to save follow-on after losing Misbah-ul-Haq on the first ball of day four but Abdur Rehman batted determinedly, helped by the lower order especially debutant Tanvir Ahmed, to ensure that South Africa bat again.
After Misbah was removed by Dale Steyn without adding to his overnight score of 77, Pakistan were under threat of being forced to follow on. However Abdur Rehman batted responsibly while Umar Gul and Tanvir gave him

ABU DHABI: Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq and Azhar Ali led Pakistan's fightback with half-centuries apiece to keep South African hopes of enforcing the follow-on at bay on the third day of the second Test on Monday.
Misbah finished with 77 not out to guide his team to 317-6 at the close after Ali (90) and Asad Shafiq (61) also contributed in a fight for survival with Pakistan still needing another 68 to avoid following on. Abdul Rehman was the other unbeaten batsman without scoring.