Lot of cricketing action – India completed a 5-0 whitewash much to the joy of Indian fans…. In the final Onedayer at Calcutta, at one point of time, Indians were struggling, losing wickets at regular intervals and Dhoni was scratching around with 21 off 42 balls…. – his heroics ensured Indians finishing at 271 and at another point – after 20 overs England were 129 without loss but folded dramatically to 141-5 and all out for 176 !
In the whole Series Dhoni remained unbeaten. His recent batting right from the finals of WC 2011 is : 91* WC Finals; 33 – 6 – 69 -78* and 50* in England Series in England; 87*; DNB; 35*; 15*; 75* in this present series.
You may not have heard much of Southwark Crown Court earlier – opened in 1983 this is a Court in London located closer to River Thames, contains 15 courtrooms, making it the fourth largest court centre in the country, and is a designated serious fraud centre and Justice Cooke is handling a case, which cricket fans are closely following.
It is the case of ‘match fixing scandal’ involving 3 Pak cricketers – Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer and agent Mazhar Majeed. Former Pakistan test captain Salman Butt and fast bowler Mohammad Asif face charges of conspiracy to cheat, and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments, following a Lord’s test in August last year when they allegedly conspired with Majeed, Amir and other people unknown to bowl pre-planned no-balls. Butt and Asif deny the charges. The Judge is quoted as saying “Don’t let sympathy enter your minds and your verdicts and don’t speculate on what you might have heard outside of this courtroom. You should base your decision on the evidence alone and draw inferences, which I mean by drawing common sense conclusions.” The fixed no-balls that are being spoken about were the first ball of the third over by Amir, the sixth ball of the tenth over by Asif and, next day after a rain curtailment, the third ball of Amir's third full over. The evidences reportedly include 8,849 calls and text messages in the evidence bundle handed to the jury.
Back at home, there was an unusual phenomenon, the Indian crowds which come even for local matches were not just there for the final of the One dayers and there were empty seats in Kolkata and stands were sparsely occupied. The crowds were estimated to be around 28000 as against a capacity of 63000. Of late the tickets have become far too expensive.
There was another interesting match at Bulawayo and an unusual result in the final Onedayer between Zimbabwe and New Zealand. NZ scored a massic 328 for 5 with Taylor and Williamson making centuries but Zimbabwe most unexpectedly could chase it successfully completing a victory at 329/9. The victory was brought about Zimbabwe's two big-hitting all-rounders, Elton Chigumbura and Malcolm Waller, who struck a 112-run sixth-wicket partnership to end a 12-match losing streak across formats. Captain Brendan Taylor set them on the right track with an aggressive 75 off 65 balls before Tatenda Taibu's feisty fifty kept the momentum going. Waller and Chigumbura came together at the start of the 31st over, with 146 runs required to win and crafted a match-winning partnership.
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
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