West Indies unearth 'next Tendulkar'

ROAD TOWN, British Virgin Islands: If former player Keith Arthurton is to be believed, West Indies have unearthed the next Sachin Tendulkar in a seven-year-old hailing from Hannah Estate in Tortola.

Arthurton conducted a three-day coaching clinic this weekend on the islands of Tortola and Virgin Gorda and he had no doubt whatsoever that he has seen the next Tendulkar in Aidan Gorege.

"While he was batting, I heard someone in the crowd shout out that he looked like Sachin Tendulkar and I thought the same thing because of the way he bats, his stance and his attitude," said Arthurton, who represented West Indies in 33 Tests and 105 ODIs between 1988 and 1999.

"You don't really see that in kids who are that young but he has something special in him and the local coaches should work with him so that he can develop his cricket skills," Arthurton said of Aidan, who is originally from Dominica.

Youngest participant of the camp, Aidan looks older than his age and has a stance which is almost a replica of Tendulkar's, according to a report in the 'Anguilla News'.

Talking about the kid's technique, Arthurton said, "His stance is very good and he moved his feet at the right times and with ease. I certainly would like to work with him in future as I think he has the potential to develop into a very good player," Arthurton said.

Star players Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Dinesh Ramdin also turned up in the camp to share their experience with the kids.

A 20-over match at the H Lavity Stoutt Community College marked the end of the camp.

Can win tri-series even without Zaheer, Sehwag: Harbhajan

NEW DELHI: India will miss Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan in next month's tri-series in Sri Lanka but the presence of match-winners and the balance of the team still make them the tournament favourite, said Harbhajan Singh.

Talking to reporters after unveiling the Compaq Cup 2009, which will be given to the winner of the tri-series also featuring New Zealand, Harbhajan conceded it would not be easy to replace players like Sehwag and Zaheer but felt the team could still pull it off.

"Sehwag is a key player. Any team in the world would miss a player like him. But now that he would not be playing, we would have to do well without him," Harbhajan said.

He said the return of veterans Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid would offset Sehwag's loss.

"We are a strong team and it's a balanced side. Besides, we have a number of match-winning players in the ranks. We have the youngsters and then you have experienced players like Dravid, Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh. If we play to our potential, we would return with this lovely trophy," he said after unveiling world's first digital sports trophy.

Like Sehwag, Zaheer too underwent a shoulder surgery which ruled him out of the tri-series and the subsequent Champions Trophy but Harbhajan seemed to have enough trust on other pacers to pull it off.

"Zaheer is an experienced bowler and it's unfortunate that he would not be playing. We are going to miss him," Harbhajan said.

"However, Ashish Nehra, RP Singh, Praveen Kumar and Ishant Sharma have been doing well and they will have to step up to the plate and deliver," he said.

"Overall, we have got enough talent and we did well against New Zealand at their home and also in Sri Lanka. Over the last two years, we have beaten every side. We just need to play to our potential to win the tri-series.

"It's an important series for us because right after that, we play the ICC Champions Trophy, which is a big event for us," he said.

Both Dravid and Nehra made a comeback to the ODI fold after their One-day career seemed over. Asked if he felt it was retrograde steps to bring back players who are on the wrong side of the 30s, Harbhajan begged to differ.

"For me, age is not the criterion. I don't think you become old at 32. Great players continue to perform at 35-36. Age is not the consideration," he said.

Harbhajan's views were sought on Virender Sehwag's tussle with the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) as well but the spinner said he had no clue about it.

"To be honest, I'm not aware of the details. I have no clue what is happening between Viru and DDCA," he said.

RBS signs Sachin, others for Rs 1600 crore during recession

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has spent Rs 1600 crore on sponsorship deals with top sportsperson including batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar just days before being bailed out by the government, a media report said on Sunday.

According to a report in the Sunday Times, to please its clients, former RBS chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin signed five-year contracts with Tendulkar and other sporting personalities last October, just weeks before his ouster from the company.

"Royal Bank of Scotland, bailed out with billions of pounds of taxpayers money, hired top sports stars on reckless contracts to entertain clients as part of a 200 million pound sponsorship binge," the newspaper reported.

"Sachin Tendulkar, the Indian cricket hero, signed a five-year deal just weeks before Goodwin was ousted," it added.

However, RBS, which announced a loss of 28 billion pound last month, the biggest in British commercial history, said it was obliged to honour the deals.

Reacting to this, a member of the Treasury Select Committee, John Mann said, "They (RBS) have been reckless yet again. This doesn't seem to be a bank that could do anything in moderation. It now needs to realise the golden days are over."

http://cricket.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4133166.cms

Tendulkar played brilliantly in Chennai: Prior

Mohali: Still in awe of Sachin Tendulkar's sublime century in the Chennai Test, England stumper Matt Prior said opposition can do precious little when the Indian gets going.

"He is an awesome player and it was a fantastic knock," an awe-struck Prior said.

"He is one of the best cricketers ever and when he fires like this, there is little you can do," said the England stumper after the team's nets at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium here today.

Tendulkar's magnificent ton, coming in the backdrop of the recent terror attacks in the city he hails from, has already led to an eulogy in the British press and "Little Lord" and "Mother Teresa of Cricket" were some of the sobriquets he earned from the English journalists.

More or less of the same view, Prior said keeping the wicket allows him to witness many a great knocks and Tendulkar's unbeaten 103 in Chennai would rank among the best.

Prior said the Chennai tie saw Test cricket at its best but it was "deflating" to lose the match after playing with so much of intensity.

"The defeat was hard. After five days of intense cricket, ending up on the losing side is really deflating," he said.

"But we have got huge positives from the match and coming so close (to a win) was a huge plus for us," added the stumper.

Prior despite the defeat, his teammates were high on confidence and also played down the rib injury of captain Kevin Pietersen.

"We have come here full of confidence and KP is absolutely fine. I mean I have not seen him squirm a lot. I'm not the doctor but for me, he seems fine and in top form, as always," he added.

Prior admitted Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma troubled them in Chennai with their grasp of reverse swing but felt England would blunt the threat in the second Test starting here on Friday.

"We knew reverse swing would play a crucial role here in India. We did as much we could have. We practised playing reverse swing in Abu Dhabi. Of course they (Zaheer, Ishant) are fantastic bowlers but I think we can really improve on and take huge amount of experience from the previous match," he said.

Only time the otherwise chirpy Prior looked embarrassed when asked about the Stanford Super Series match during which his pregnant wife Emile was seen sitting on the lap of Texan billionaire Allen Stanford.

"See lot of stuff are hugely blown out of proportion. I mean I know this is modern day cricket where every move you make and everything you do is under scrutiny. I think you have to get on with it and ultimately you need to play cricket," he said.

© Copyright 2008 PTI. All rights reserved.

'One for Mumbai,' say English; 'Thank you England,' say Indians

London: Cricket commentators in England praised the historic Chennai Test match that ended Monday as one of the finest hours in English cricket.

In turn, Indian fans praised English cricketers for having the courage to return after the Mumbai terror attacks.

"Shall we rant and rave at the inadequacies of an England side that allowed India to post the highest winning total in the subcontinent? Shall we grill the captain and call for a few heads to roll? Of course, we won't," wrote Vic Marks in The Guardian.

"Before any analysis of a match that, in some small way, must have enabled a nation to recover from the shocks and horrors of Mumbai, we should acknowledge the extraordinary context in which this game was played," Marks wrote.

"It very nearly did not take place," he added.

Marks, a former Test player, said Sachin Tendulkar was on a mission Monday.

"He seemed to be playing his innings specifically for the inhabitants of his home city of Mumbai, such was his iron discipline. This was not a day for any extravagant Tendulkar strokeplay; it was a day to win the game for his country."

Former England captain Nasser Hussein, writing in the Daily Mail, said the Test match has "proved beyond doubt that England were right to go back to India and resume this tour after the horrors of Mumbai."

Writing before India's epic win, Hussein said: "Even if India were to chase down 387 runs...England would know that they had taken part in one of the great Tests; had brought joy to the Indian people in their hour of need by being there and played some outstanding cricket."

Fans posting messages on the website of the Independent were full of praise for England's decision to resume the cricket series against India in spite of worries about security.

"Hats off to the England team for coming to India after the Mumbai attack. They have not just played cricket but they have shown the terrorists that you can not win," said a message in the name of Tushar.

Source: Indo-Asian News Service

Experience comes to the fore! : Cricketer of the Week-Sachin Tendulkar

By Akshay Iyer

England's opening batsman Andrew Strauss, who hit centuries in both innings of the first Test match against India in Chennai, did everything humanly possible a cricketer could to win the match for his country. But, such is the unpredictable nature of cricket, that despite dominating the match for three-and-a-half days, England still lost the match as India went on to complete the fourth highest successful run chase in Test matches.

However, I shall come to the Indian win and in particular Sachin Tendulkar's unbeaten century knock in just a bit. Rarely have I felt as bad for a player from a losing team (be it India or any other team) as I did for Strauss on the afternoon of December 15, 2008. Strauss came in to the series in India knowing that this is a make-or-break outing for him in light of his not so successful 2007. He had started re-discovering his form earlier this year, but Strauss had reason to be concerned before coming to India as he hadn't played international cricket in a while.

But, that didn't stop him from top-scoring for England in both the innings, and he also finished as the highest individual scorer in the first Test with an aggregate of 231 runs -- 123 and 108 -- at an average of 115.50. While Strauss' century in the first innings helped England post a competitive total, his ton and crucial partnership with Paul Collingwood helped England set a competitive target for India. Apart from the number of runs he scored, Strauss for the most part looked like the only English batsman to have mastered Indian conditions and bowlers alike. In any other contest, Strauss's performances would have been match-winning ones, but in Chennai he ended up being a part of the losing team thanks to a terrific run-chase by India's batsmen led by Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar.

India needed a strong and positive start as they chased a total of 387 to take a 1-0 lead in the two-Test series and Sehwag with a blazing half-century stunned Kevin Pietersen's team as he shifted the momentum of the match towards India. While Sehwag was at the crease, it looked like a T20 match and not a Test match was in progress. Though Sehwag was unlucky to miss out on a well-deserved century, he had laid the perfect foundation for India.

The home team started the fifth day's play needing 256 runs to win with nine wickets in hand. Rahul Dravid was out early in the day's play and Sachin Tendulkar strode out to the middle at fall of the former's wicket. And, though Tendulkar saw Gautam Gambhir and VVS Laxman return to the hut, with 163 runs left to win the match, he was unfazed as he set about consolidating India's innings with Yuvraj Singh. Tendulkar played the role of the elder statesman in the partnership to perfection as he spoke to Yuvraj at the end of every over and at times during overs to ensure the southpaw keeps his focus and doesn't let a rush of adrenalin get the better of him.

Tendulkar knew that as long as he's in the middle, a win is ensured for India, and though he played second fiddle to Yuvraj initially, he started going on the attack only when victory was in sight. Pietersen changed his bowlers at frequent intervals and tinkered around with his field placements as he tried everything to get rid of Tendulkar as the England skipper realised that dismissing the master batsman would bring his team right back in the game. However, Tendulkar maintained his concentration and though he didn't score his century at a fast clip, his presence in the middle meant runs would not be hard to come by.

There has often been a complaint against Tendulkar that his centuries haven't contributed to match-winning causes. Tendulkar ensured that this wouldn't be repeated again in Chennai as he and Yuvraj got India home without the loss of further wickets. And, fittingly, it was Tendulkar who hit the boundary that not only won the match for India, but also brought up his 41st century in Test matches.

Sehwag and Strauss both contributed significantly to a magnificent Test match in Chennai, but for his calmness under pressure and winning the match for India as well as his 41st Test ton, Tendulkar is our Cricketer of the Week.

Source: India Syndicate