KRL clinch PPFL trophy

KARACHI: Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) lifted the eighth Pakistan Premier Football League (PPFL) title at the Jinnah Football Stadium in Islamabad on Thursday.

This was KRL’s second title of 2011, the other being the National Challenge Cup-2011.

In the PPFL, they finished their campaign with 77 points from 30 matches while Afghan FC Chaman and Army finished second and third, respectively, with 57 points each.

Afghan FC Chaman was declared second on a better goal average.

Wapda secured fourth place with 52 points while KESC (51 points) finished fifth, Muslim FC Chaman (51 points) finished sixth, followed by PIA (49 points), NBP (45 points) and HBL (both 40 points) taking the seventh, eighth and ninth places, respectively.

Navy finished 10th as PAF, KPT, Baloch FC Noushki and PMC Athletico FC ended up 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th, respectively.

Ambassador, High Commission of Argentina Rodolfo J. Martin-Saravia, Senator Abdul Rahim Mandokhail and PFF Secretary Col (retd) Ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi were the chief guests at the concluding match.

They presented cash awards and trophies to the teams and players. KRL lifted the winning trophy and gold medals in addition to Rs700,000 while Afghan FC Chaman received silver medals and Rs500,000. Army had to remain content with bronze medals and Rs400,000.

Having scored 22 goals, Afghan FC captain and striker Jadeed Khan got the Golden Boot prize of Rs100, 000, Jafar Khan of Army was declared the best goalkeeper of the league to also pocket Rs100, 000 while KRL’s Samar Ishaq, best player of the league, got Rs150, 000.

PIA lifted the Fair Play trophy along with Rs100,000. Meanwhile, the best referee of the league, Waheed Murad, was also awarded Rs100,000 while the best assistant referee, Adnan Anjum, got Rs50,000 with the best match commissioner of the league, Mohammad Zaman Khan from the Islamabad/Rawalpindi Centre, walking away with Rs100,000.

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Australia crush India in Melbourne Test

MELBOURNE: Australia crushed India by 122 runs in the opening Test on Thursday, destroying their vaunted batting lineup with aggressive pace to claim a decisive victory inside four days in Melbourne.

India, chasing a historically challenging 292 runs for victory, were never in the hunt after they crashed to 81 for six with the loss of Sachin Tendulkar’s wicket late in the middle session.

The tourists, who have yet to win a series in Australia in 64 years, were routed for 169 off 47.5 overs after Australia squeezed another 61 runs from their remaining two wickets earlier in the day.

Man-of-the-match James Pattinson led the way with four for 53 while Peter Siddle claimed the prized scalp of Tendulkar for 32 to again keep the Indian star’s 100th international century on hold.

India were always up against it as they faced up to the highest fourth-innings run chase in almost 60 years at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

South Africa were the last team to achieve a higher fourth-innings target of 297 for four in beating Australia at the MCG in 1953.

It was a bowlers’ Test match with no batsman scoring a century. Australian Mike Hussey came the closest with 89 in the second innings.

Australia’s pace trio Pattinson, Ben Hilfenhaus and Siddle maintained a full line and length and never let up on the Indian batsmen.

India, 24 for one at lunch after losing Virender Sehwag for seven, unravelled in the middle session with five wickets tumbling for 93 runs.

Gautam Gambhir fell to a fired-up Siddle, edging to the safe hands of Ricky Ponting at second slip for 13.

Rahul Dravid was bowled for the second time in the match with a pearler from Pattinson that crashed into his middle-stump for 10.

V.V.S. Laxman was out cheaply again flicking Pattinson to Ed Cowan at square leg for just one after scoring two in the first innings.

Virat Kohli was out first ball, leg before wicket to Hilfenhaus with Tendulkar fast running out of batting partners.

But Tendulkar was next to go, slicing Siddle to Hussey in the gully for 32.

With his departure India’s chances dipped considerably, silencing the “Swarmy Army” India supporters and prompting many to leave the ground.

Tendulkar now takes his quest for his 100th Test and one-day century to next week’s second Test in Sydney.

Ravi Ashwin went shortly after tea to a rearing Siddle delivery which he lobbed to Cowan for 30.

Zaheer Khan blasted a six off Pattinson but when he shaped to do the same on the next ball, he popped a gentle catch to Cowan close-in for 13.

Pattinson bowled skipper M.S. Dhoni for 23 and Umesh Yadav was the last wicket to fall, caught athletically on the boundary off spinner Nathan Lyon for 21, with Ishant Sharma six not out.

India began the day poorly when Australia added 61 runs for their last two wickets off 16.3 overs to exasperate the tourists’ bowlers.

Hussey had a charmed life before he went 11 short of a century, and Pattinson remained unbeaten on 37 not out as he put on 43 runs for the last wicket before Hilfenhaus was the last man out for 14.

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Ponting, Hussey steady Australian innings

MELBOURNE: Senior batsmen Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey were steering Australia out of early trouble against India on the third day of the first Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Wednesday.

At tea, Ponting was unbeaten on 33 with Hussey on 29 to have Australia at 81 for four, after crashing to 27 for four.

That represented an overall lead of 132 runs after Australia led by 51 runs on the first innings.

Paceman Umesh Yadav claimed the first three wickets to have the Australians under threat of missing out on a decent total to defend in the fourth innings.

Yadav struck twice in four balls in his fourth over, removing both openers David Warner (5) and first innings top-scorer Ed Cowan (8).

Warner was bowled playing on from a loose shot, and Cowan was leg before wicket while padding up.

Australia’s woes deepened when Shaun Marsh dragged a wide Yadav delivery onto his stumps for three and skipper Michael Clarke followed in the next over.

Clarke played on and was bowled by Ishant Sharma for one.

Ben Hilfenhaus earlier claimed his best wicket haul in Tests to give Australia a handy innings lead as India were dismissed for 282 at lunch.

The Tasmanian swing bowler, recalled for his first Test match in almost a year, captured five for 75.

India lost seven wickets for 68 off 28.1 overs after they looked in command at 214 for two late on Tuesday.

Australia got off to a flyer when Rahul Dravid was bowled second ball by Hilfenhaus on his overnight score of 68.

Hilfenhaus breached the famed defence of “The Wall” and clipped his off-stump just five balls after Tuesday’s last-over dismissal of Sachin Tendulkar for 73 by Peter Siddle.

Dravid, second only to Tendulkar as Test cricket’s most prolific-scoring batsman, batted for 187 balls with six boundaries.

V.V.S. Laxman took 20 balls to get off the mark and fell for two, caught low down by wicketkeeper Brad Haddin off Siddle.

Although Laxman has a great batting record in Australia with four Test centuries, he has scored just 113 runs in seven innings at 16.14 at the MCG, one of the least productive venues in his 131 Tests.

Virat Kohli, playing in his fifth Test, was next to go, feathering an enticing Hilfenhaus outswinger to Haddin for 11.

Hilfenhaus struck again in his next over when skipper M.S. Dhoni got a thick outside edge to be caught in the gully by Hussey for just six.

Nightwatchman Ishant Sharma became Hilfenhaus’s fifth wicket when he was taken behind by Haddin for 11 off 69 balls.

Ravi Ashwin showed resistance with 31 off 35 balls with three fours and a top-edged six before he was last man out to Siddle.

Yadav remained two not out.

Wicketkeeper Haddin finished with five catches for the innings.

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