Johannesburg, Dec 24 - After helping his side to the brink of a world record Test victory, Faf du Plessis has said that he is impressed with the guts shown by his team-mates, according to reports.   According to Sport24, South Africa ended 450 for seven, eight runs short of the 458 target set by India in the first Test match at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Sunday.   He said that he is very satisfied that his team pulled it through, adding that a lot of people had written them off at the start of the day but the character and pride of the South African team pulled them through again.   Du Plessis (134) and AB de Villiers (103) shared in the highest ever fifth wi

London, Dec 20 - David Beckham fans recently camped throughout the night in high winds and pouring rain so they could spend a few seconds with their idol, according to reports.   According to the Daily Star, a security guard at the event said that it is fair to say that they were in a bit of a state when they eventually got to see him.   Becksmania hit Waterstones book store in central London when the ex-England captain signed copies of his book, the report said.   Only the first 500 got to meet the ex-Manchester United and Real Madrid star, and hardcore fans were taking no chances, the report added.   Despite gale force winds and torrential downpours, the

When die-hard football fans find themselves in a new city, priority No. 1 is locating the place in town where the like-minded go to watch the game, drink beer and cheer. Now those displaced supporters can tap the Fanatic app to connect with others who bleed their team's colors.   "Fanatic gives them a chance to go out and find a great game-day experience, which is always more memorable than watching alone from home," says Babak Poushanchi, the New York-based company's founder and CEO, and a Chicago sports nut.   Poushanchi's idea for Fanatic grew from years of watching his Northwestern University Wildcats amid the raucous atmosphere at Blondies Sports

Johannesburg, Dec 14 - Rafael Nadal showed he was not tired of dethroning world number one players when he saw off Daniel Negreanu to win a charity poker tournament in Prague on Thursday, according to reports.

According to Sport24, the 100,000-euro tournament was the first-ever live poker event for the 27-year-old Spaniard, who had stripped Serbia's Novak Djokovic of the world's top spot in tennis this year.

Nadal has been a fervent poker player since a knee injury sidelined him from his day job last year, but had so far only played in online poker tournaments, the report said.

Besides Negreanu, the world number one poker player, Nadal bea

The rain had been pelting down since the wee hours of Tuesday morning across Johannesburg and even in neighbouring Pretoria. In fact, it hadn't really stopped for good since the time Nelson Mandela breathed his last five days ago. There were traffic-jams across both the financial and administrative capitals of South Africa with most roads leading to the FNB Stadium in Soweto for the official Mandela Memorial. By mid-afternoon the roads, including the N1 route, had begun flooding. But for once, nobody was complaining. "This is Madiba rain," they said. "In South African tradition, when a great man dies, the heavens open up and it will keep raining till the time he's

ICC Test Batsman Rankings Rank Name Country Rating 1 A.B. de Villiers SA 909 2 H.M. Amla SA 898 3 S. Chanderpaul WI 875 4 M.J. Clarke AUS 870 5 K.C. Sangakkara SL 866 6 C.A. Pujara IND 801 7 Misbah-ul-Haq PAK 783 8 G.C. Smith SA 771 9 Younus Khan PAK 769 10 A.N. C

ICC Test Rankings Rank Team Matches Points Rating 1   South Africa 27 3531 131 2   India 33 3920 119 3   England 38 4407 116 4   Pakistan 25 2538 102 5   Australia 33 3318 101 6   West Indies 25 2366 95 7   Sri Lanka 26 2295 88

NEW DELHI: Aiming a comeback in the Indian team, leg-spinner Piyush Chawla still cheers the dismissal of Sachin Tendulkar, eight years ago, that changed the fortunes of his cricket career. In an exclusive interview to Wisden, Chawla said, "It is my most memorable wicket as a professional cricketer."   Chawla drew the attention of the selectors with that Tendulkar's wicket and, at 17, he made his Test debut versus England at Mohali in 2006.   "I was a 16-year-old kid playing against someone who had ripped apart almost all of the great bowlers. I went into the match with the mindset that I had nothing to lose. I thought if he hits me around, so what, he'

Karachi: Pakistan`s wicketkeeper-batsman Umar Akmal has arrived here accompanied by a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) doctor to have another check up with a leading neurologist, even as mystery continued regarding the intensity of his illness that forced him out of the Caribbean Premier League and the tour to Zimbabwe.   "Umar has got an appointment with the neurologist on Wednesday and is accompanied by Dr Sohail Saleem," a source in the board said.   "We are hopeful that once this check up is completed, a clear picture will emerge about Umar`s medical condition as he has already undergone MRI scans and was examined by a Lahore based neurologist," the sour

Just under a month after its previous sitting in Delhi had to be adjourned on a technicality, the Cricket Board's working committee is to meet in Kolkata on Sunday.   "The Working Committee is to meet in Kolkata on September 1. This is the last meeting of the committee before the AGM," The Board Of Control For Cricket In India sources told PTI on Tuesday.   The Board's annual report and balance sheet would be tabled at the meeting, but a decision to distribute the surplus of Rs 350 crore earned by BCCI in the previous fiscal to its affiliated units would have to be made by the general body, the sources said.   The date and venue of the AGM, also s

Brushing aside speculations about his availability for the upcoming World Championship trials, star Indian boxer Vijender Singh on Monday returned to Patiala from a short leave and would be taking the ring on Tuesday to fight it out for a place in the team.   "I had taken a short leave and my coaches and seniors knew of it. I had informed all the concerned authorities before leaving. There were some personal issues that I had to attend to and I am back in Patiala now," Vijender told PTI over phone.   "I don't understand how this speculation started but I would certainly be giving the trials and hopefully manage a place in the side," quipped the forme

After a fraud land deal dealt a huge blow to Indian cricket board's plan to set up the National Cricket Academy on a bigger scale, the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) has come to its rescue.   The BCCI lost a whopping Rs. 50 crore on a dubious 49-acre land deal that they    bought from the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board at a place called Kurki, near the Bangalore airport. While the BCCI is mulling to move court after the Karnataka High Court ruled the deal as illegal, the board's search for an alternative venue to house the academy may end soon.   In the NCA committee meeting held in Bangalore last week, two of the special inv

South African tour before the young players involved in finding a good news for the Indian team. He's got a great fast bowler, the African batsmen could become a headache for the same land. Indian pacer Ishwar Pandey emerging young players such name, who has consistently attracted the best-performing selectors. God just India - A team of South African trip. On Tuesday, four days before he was killed, Non - official test match against South Africa's bowling. He took four for 46 runs in the first innings and 25 runs in the second innings, giving up three vital wickets of snapping the team's winning ways. Cheteshwar Pujara led India - A won the match by an innings and 13 runs. 24-ye

If Yuvraj Singh is to be believed, the man who can replace him in future is Sachin Tendulkar’s son, Arjun. Yuvraj is known for his replies that sometimes border on mischief. During this one, however, he looked serious. “Sachin told me that Arjun’s style of batting is similar to    mine. When I saw Arjun, it looked like I was batting when I was a youngster in Chandigarh,” said Yuvraj during a private event in New Delhi. Words a balm Yuvi’s words may come as a balm for the Tendulkars and put the Mumbai junior team’s selectors in a fix.   Arjun’s selection to the junior team was shrouded in controversy and rubbed many in Mumba

Rahul Dravid's eloquent plea for test cricket, his words have the same grace as his shots, needs to be taken seriously, as does his thesis that T20 needs test cricket. And he makes an old-fashioned plea for not putting profits through television rights above the greater need to develop sport. It is interesting too that it comes at a time when the game's parents have been obsessing over whether a mark on a bat is good for the game.   You would expect Dravid to say what he does and to be fair to him, the manner in which he thought about and played cricket is consistent with what he advocates. But I can see those that run the game tut-tutting about romantics not making good bus

A broken thumb and injured shoulder kept Rajasthan batsman Robin Bist on the sidelines in the last domestic season.   Multiple injuries during a space of only five matches not only denied Bist hits in the middle, but took away some crucial opportunities of making his case strong in front of the selectors.   After entering the elite 1000-run club in the 2011/12 season, Bist was emerging to be a fine Indian prospect before a thumb injury crashed his hopes. The injury denied him a spot in India's A tour to New Zealand in 2012, and kept him out of action for three months.   On return, he notched up a century in the first innings of the Irani Trophy (2012) match aga

NEW DELHI: Indian cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been ranked 16th in the latest Forbes list of highest-paid athletes with an earning of $31.5 million (around Rs.180 crore), placing him above the likes of Rafael Nadal and Usain Bolt.   As per the latest Forbes list of highest-paid athletes in the world, the 31-year-old captain of the Indian cricket team earned $31.5 million between June 2012 and June 2013.   The list places Dhoni above F1 racer Fernando Alonso, who is ranked 19th, Lewis Hamilton at 26th place, Novak Djokovic at 28th place, Rafael Nadal at 30th spot and Usain Bolt at 40th rank.   The calculation is based upon the earnings estimates whi

LUCKNOW: It's not very often that one hears one captaincy candidate praising another. India's vice-captain Virat Kohli named Mumbai batsman Rohit Sharma as captaincy material and one of those in line to replace present skipper MS Dhoni when relinquishes captaincy.   "Rohit has a tremendous cricketing brain. I often take his advice during matches. He has shown his capability while leading Mumbai Indians in the IPL," Kohli said when asked who apart from him and Dhoni had the ability to lead the Indian team.   Kohli, who led India to a 5-0 series whitewash in Zimbabwe, feels captaincy is all about taking on the responsibility and he enjoys every bit of it. &q

DHAKA: Cracking down on corruption in the Bangladesh Premier League, the ICC on Tuesday provisionally suspended seven unnamed individuals for match-fixing-related offences while two others were charged for failing to report "corrupt approaches" that were made to them.   Refusing to divulge the names of the nine individuals, the ICC said disciplinary proceedings have been instituted against them and their identities would be revealed only after the conclusion of the entire process.   "The International Cricket Council and the Bangladesh Cricket Board today announced that following a comprehensive investigation carried out by the ICC's Anti-Corruption and S

When Graeme Pollock was asked to reflect on his record-breaking 222 not out for Eastern Province against Border in a List A game almost 40 years ago, South Africa's greatest ever batsman was quick to attribute some of the credit to the opposition's captain.   By Tristan Holme   Pollock only came in at No. 4 in that 60-over game in East London, but because Border skipper Gerald Nelson bowled his best bowlers out early, Pollock was able to savage 78 from the last four overs. The unfortunate part-timer Peter Haxton went for 62 in four overs and never played another List A game.   Pollock's genius has gone down in folklore, so comparisons between South Afri