India beat Sri Lanka by 50 runs

India defeated Sri Lanka by 50 runs in the Asia Cup one-day tournament in Dhaka on Tuesday. Virat Kohli (108) and left-handed opener Gautam Gambhir (100) scored centuries as India posted a challenging 304-3 before bowling Sri Lanka out for 254 in the day-night match. Skipper Mahela Jayawardene (78) and Kumar Sangakkara (65) were the main scorers for Sri Lanka, while seamer Irfan Pathan bagged four wickets for India. Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and paceman Vinay Kumar each took three wickets. Brief scores: India 304-3 in 50 overs; Sri Lanka 254 in 45.1 overs

Cricketers doubt Virtual Eye technology

The International Cricket Council has backed the accuracy of technology used in the Decision Review System after its developer threatened to withdraw it from the current New Zealand-South Africa test because of criticism from players. South Africa allrounder Jacques Kallis and New Zealand fast bowler Doug Bracewell both questioned the accuracy of the Virtual Eye system after decisions reviewed during the first test at Dunedin went against them. Kallis said "99 percent" of international cricketers had doubts about the accuracy of the technology. But ICC general manager of cricket and former South Africa player Dave Richardson said his organization had faith in its reliability. Ian Taylor, head of the New Zealand-based Animation Research company, had threatened to withhold rights to the use the Virtual Eye technology for the second and third tests of the New Zealand-South Africa series because of player criticisms. He withdrew the threat on Monday when the ICC restated its support for the system. "We ve looked at both decisions (involving Kallis and Bracewell) and are 100 percent satisfied that ball tracking provided is as accurate a result as could have been achieved," Richardson said. "As far as we are concerned the majority of players are certainly in favor of using the DRS," he said. "We have 100 percent support for its level of accuracy and reliability. The way we use it is totally fit for purpose and we wanted to reassure Ian we support the technology." Richardson said examination of the system over several years showed "more than 97 percent" reliability. "Bottom line is it s going to be more consistent and accurate than the human eye," he said. "To people who want to not have the DRS, my argument is if we go back to not having it we are going to have a situation that s worse than it is now." Kallis and Bracewell s complaints both concerned lbw decisions. In Bracewell s case, the ball was judged to have pitched outside leg stump, which conflicted with immediate visual evidence that suggested the ball had pitched on the line of the stumps.

Dour preseason frustrates Ferrari's F1 title hopes

And will likely leave a frustrated Fernando Alonso in Red Bull s rearview mirror again. Ferrari s new design lacked competitive edge in testing and appears to have fallen behind McLaren and Lotus in the chase to dethrone Red Bull and two-time defending champion Sebastian Vettel. Pat Fry already said Ferrari has no shot at the podium in the season opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday as the team struggles to stabilize an already radically redesigned car. "I saw in (team principal Stefano) Domenicali and our engineers a great desire to show what they re worth and to react to a winter program that didn t live up to our targets," Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo said. "We will only discover the truth about where we stand compared to the others after Saturday s qualifying session in Melbourne. Today we can only make assumptions." Fry replaced technical director Aldo Costa last season with the Italian team struggling and the decision to take risks on this year s design has left Ferrari looking vulnerable due to its inability to completely understand its car in testing. "The new car has certain characteristics that are difficult to understand and you could say we are not exactly where we want to be," said two-time world champion Alonso, the Spanish driver going into his third season with the team. "But we ve all lived through many Formula One seasons and we all know very well that until we re in Australia we don t really know where we stand regarding to the others." Since Kimi Raikkonen edged Alonso and then McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton for the 2007 title in the season s final race, the Italians have struggled to compete with McLaren and Red Bull, who have swept to three of the four titles since. Alonso, meanwhile, has twice lost championships in season finales, the last to Vettel during his debut season with Ferrari. Alonso won at Silverstone last year but Ferrari never mounted a serious challenge to Vettel, who won 11 of 19 races to become the youngest driver to win back-to-back titles breaking Alonso s record earned with Renault in 2005 and  06.