World Best Sports

England’s footballers failed to live up to their ‘Golden Generation’ tag after their embarrassing exit from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. But their cricket counterparts might still have a chance to live up to that label. While Capello’s men were getting knocked out after losing 4-1 to Germany.

The England cricket team was winning the third one-day international against Australia. Even though it was by one wicket, it gave England an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.

Success is now not only expected from the superstar footballers and anyway, it will now be another 4 years before England will have another shot at football glory at the world stage. In the meantime, however, the cricketers have made dramatic progress. After little more than a month of winning the ICC World Twenty20 in West Indies, they are now eyeing a 5-0 win over Australia.

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"Without a doubt it is better to beat Australia 5-0 than 3-2 or 4-1," said Flower, whose England  team go into Wednesday's NatWest Series match at the Oval with a 3-0 lead. "I think that the fact that we have won three games and that we can win another two, grows our self belief and can dent theirs."

The Germans managed 4-0 against the Aussies in the football World Cup but nobody beats them 5-0 at cricket, do they? Well, actually New Zealand did so at home in 2005. But Flower will not allow his team to entertain thoughts of emulating that until they have secured win number four.

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India swiftly erased a Sri Lankan dream at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium here on Thursday night. Pursuing a title hat-trick, defending champion Sri Lanka crumbled in the chase and India won the Asia Cup.

In a final that was headed just one-way after Sri Lanka was reduced to 51 for five while trailing India's 268 for six in 50 overs.

M.S. Dhoni's men scored steady runs and scythed through the host's top-order to make it a no-contest. India won by 81 runs to claim a title that it won last in 1995. Sri Lanka scored 187 in 44.4 overs.

Sri Lanka never recovered from a steady fall of wickets right from the moment, Tillakaratne Dilshan tamely popped up a catch off Praveen Kumar.

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After a long a break of almost a year cricket lovers will see the two titans clashing once again. World famous enmity between India is loved by all when they come on cricket field. Whether it is ODI, test or T20 their collision is worth watching.

Coming towards the series today’s 4th ODI match of India and Pakistan at Dambulla will draw the route of Asia Cup for one of the teams playing.

Pakistan was impressive in the opening game against Sri Lanka but failed to carry it off. If they failed to win this match as well their innings will end here only.

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Former captain Moin Khan has said that emotional intensity witnessed during the India-Pakistan Asia Cup clash last night was the result of no bilateral cricket being played between the two countries since 2007.

“There is always a lot at stake in an Indo-Pak match no matter how much one tries to say it is just another cricket encounter. The high degree of emotion involved in the match was proof of that,” Moin said.

“When we regularly play bilateral matches the players get used to the tension and pressure situation. People on both sides also get used to accepting that in sports one team has to lose,” he noted.

The match, which India won by three wickets in the final over, saw verbal clashes between Kamran Akmal and Gautam Gambhir and Shoaib Akhtar and Harbhajan Singh.

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“Is Sania accompanying you or will she be joining later?” Shoaib Malik merely smiles on encountering the query from a fan as he enters the team hotel. In between the one-year ban and the subsequent quick pardon, Shoaib got married to India’s tennis diva and that ensured he has been in news of late. But on Saturday, when Pakistan play Sri Lanka in their opening Asia Cup game, the former skipper will get a chance to hit headlines for his show on field.

Along with Malik, there was another man disembarking from the bus, who too was returning to international cricket after a long hiatus. Shoaib Akhtar in a tight T-shirt and jeans looks fitter than he ever was and, like Malik, isn’t keen to look back at past.

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Following coach Waqar Younis' call for resumption of bilateral cricket series between India and Pakistan, skipper Shahid Afridi also wants more encounters with the arch rivals. Afridi said India and Pakistan must play against each other more often, which would help in toning down the heightened tension between the two neighbouring nations.

"I have always enjoyed playing against India and I have been saying we should play more often against each other as it will only help improve relations," The Nation quoted Afridi, as saying. Pakistan and India last played in the ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa in September 2009.

The newly appointed captain added that he was eagerly looking forward to the match against India in the Asia Cup, starting June 15 in Sri Lanka. Afridi, however, pointed out that Pakistan's opening match against Sri Lanka would also hold great importance.

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A listless India received their second mauling in a week at the hands of hosts Zimbabwe, who crushed them by seven wickets in the ongoing cricket tri-series here on Thursday. In a shock repeat of the tournament opener, India dished out yet another pathetic display in all three departments of the game to suffer a crushing defeat with 11.4 overs to spare that seriously jeopardised their chances of reaching the June 9 final.

Put into bat, India’s famed line-up came out with a shoddy display to crawl to a below-par 194 for nine in 50 overs. Things, in fact, could have been worse but for Ravindra Jadeja’s gritty 72-ball 51 down the order. India needed to bowl out of their skin to defend the paltry total but Zimbabwe cashed in on a steady start and cruised to 197 for three in 38.2 overs to humble their opponents. This was also India’s first back-to-back defeat against the minnows.

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The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has kept the door open for former skipper Muhammad Yousuf who has been asked to rethink about his decision to retire in order to become part of the national team.

The PCB has already given relief to five of his teammates it penalized heavily in the aftermath of a disastrous tour of Australia last year and is anxiously waiting for Yousuf’s comeback.

After retracting the indefinite ban on former skippers Shoaib Malik and Younis Khan, Irfan Qadir, an independent arbitrator hearing appeals of the banned players, has asked the board to review Yousuf's ban so that he is "treated at par with the other players in these appeals”.

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The 34-year-old has not played for Pakistan since the limited-overs series against Australia last May, and his recall comes as a surprise after he had been overlooked for a central contract in March.

Former captain Shoaib Malik was also named in the 15-man squad after his successful appeal last Friday against a one-year ban imposed by the Pakistan Cricket Board. Both players were confirmed for the four-nation tournament after passing rigorous medical checks yesterday.

"Akhtar and Malik passed fitness tests and hence were included in the squad and it's a balanced squad," said PCB chairman Ijaz Butt.

"He (Akhtar) was bowling extremely well. I saw him bowling six overs and I am more than satisfied with his fitness."

Three uncapped players were also called up with Shahzaib Hasan, Umar Amin and Asad Shafiq yet to play a one-day international.

Pakistan will play Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh in the one-day international tournament in Dambullah from June 15-24.

The tournament will be the first time Shahid Afridi leads the team since being confirmed as skipper in all formats last month.

Pakistan squad: Shahid Afridi (captain), Imran Farhat, Salman Butt, Shahzaib Hasan, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Umar Amin, Asad Shafiq, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Aamir, Abdul Rehman, Saeed Ajmal.

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