Rivals are Back! India vs Pakistan Series in December

India and Pakistan will resume bilateral ties with a "short series", comprising three ODIs and two Twenty20 internationals, in December and January. The matches will be held between the Test and one-day legs of England's tour of India and will form the first bilateral series between the two sides since Pakistan toured India in end-2007.The decision was taken by the BCCI at its working committee meeting on Monday. Rajiv Shukla, a senior BCCI official, said the plan was to hold the three ODIs in Chennai, Delhi and Kolkata, and the Twenty20 matches in Ahmedabad and Bangalore."The BCCI was firm that no India-Pakistan series will be held at a neutral venue so it was decided to invite them [Pakistan] after December 22 when the England team leaves after playing the Twenty20 Internationals," Shukla said."This was the slot where the tour could have been accommodated and we did that accordingly. I have spoken to the home minister and he has said his ministry has no objection. The Ministry of External Affairs [India's foreign ministry] has also agreed to this tour."Bilateral cricketing ties were snapped following the Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008, though the two countries have played each other in the World Cup, Champions Trophy and Asia Cup.The decision comes after prolonged, high-level consultations between officials of the two boards and, latterly, of the two governments. BCCI president N Srinivasan and PCB chief Zaka Ashraf have held several discussions this year regarding resumption of ties, with Pakistan hoping to fit in a series at the end of the year, during the Christmas break in England's tour of India."It's a positive move by the BCCI," Ashraf told reporters at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. "It's been six months since I have been discussing with the BCCI about the possible revival of ties and the final breakthrough came during the IPL final. Ultimately, we have received the invite from the BCCI and now we will sit to discuss the modalities of the series."It is Pakistan's turn to host a bilateral series between the two. But there has been no international cricket in the country between Full Members since the March 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka team bus and it is understood that India are not keen to play at a neutral venue, as has been the case with all Pakistan's 'home' series since the attack. Subsequently, Ashraf said India had the prerogative to decide on the dates and host the series, but the PCB would want the BCCI to share revenue because the PCB has apparently not yet recovered from the financial loss suffered when India pulled out of their planned tour in 2009.The news is another step forward in both boards' efforts to improve cricketing relations after the Champions League T20 governing council's approval of the inclusion of the Sialkot Stallions in this year's tournament, to be held in October. Sialkot will be the first domestic team from Pakistan to take part in the event. "The CLT20 is owned by the BCCI, Cricket Australia, and Cricket South Africa, so we will recommend to the governing council that the BCCI has no objection and is prepared to invite a Pakistan team," Srinivasan said at the time.

West Indies win against New Zealand win the series 4-1

The Fifth one-dayer between West Indies and New Zealand had plenty of similarities to Saturday's fourth ODI at Warner Park: West Indies chose to bat, the top order stumbled, one of their Twenty20 stars made the slowest ODI half-century of his career to anchor the innings, and then some pyrotechnics from Andre Russell took the home side towards 250.The echoes of Saturday continued during the chase, so much so that when seven overs were remaining, New Zealand needed exactly the same number of runs and had the same number of wickets in hand - 50 runs and four wickets. And once again, Sunil Narine showed how his temperament is as notable as his variations, spooking the New Zealand batsmen in the closing stages to engineer another West Indies victory.A listless performance in the middle overs, with an abundance of dot balls and an inability to read Narine had seemingly fatally hurt New Zealand's chances of victory midway through the chase. In the 26th over Ross Taylor was unluckily dismissed as the ball bounced off his toe before ricocheting off the wicketkeeper's pad onto the stumps to find him short, and New Zealand slid to 108 for 4. They were in deeper trouble when Daniel Flynn, who has surely played his last limited-overs international for a while, was gone for a duck and Tom Latham's struggle for runs continued.With Kane Williamson was also labouring to 29 off 50, the game looked over at 140 for 6 with 15 overs to play. The match changed, though, towards the end of the batting Powerplay as New Zealand found a pair of batsmen in Williamson and Andrew Ellis who both worked the ball around for singles, without getting bogged down. There had been only five boundaries since the 12th over till the almost the end of the 40th, but once Williamson got his half-century with a boundary to midwicket, and Dwayne Bravo was taken for 13 in the 42nd over, you could feel a momentum shift. That was only heightened when Bravo, normally a terrific fielder, put down an Ellis chance in the next over.Enter Narine. He had three overs to go, and operated with an unusual around-the-wicket line. Chris Gayle has customarily changed matches with his power-hitting but this time he did it with an athletic piece of fielding. With Narine choking the runs, Williamson looked to hit out in the 46th, only for Gayle to dive and pluck a one-handed chance at midwicket. In his next over, Narine confounded Ellis and finished off his spell by knocking back Kyle Mills' offstump, ending with the best figures by a West Indies player against New Zealand, and also ending the match as a contest.Narine had earlier boosted West Indies with the wickets of two set batsmen, Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill, who had kept New Zealand's run-rate hovering around six in the mandatory Powerplay. In the company of Darren Sammy, whose accuracy was highlighted by the fact that he didn't bowl a single ball down the leg side to the right-handers in the final three ODIs, Narine choked the runs to help West Indies claw back after a brisk start to the chase.New Zealand were satisfied halfway through the game, as they lined up with a wafer-thin bowling attack after dropping the specialist spinner Nathan McCullum and the experienced allrounder Jacob Oram. They have had wretched luck with injuries on this tour so far, and they were thankful that the latest casualty, fast bowler Trent Boult, sent down eight overs before picking up a thigh strain. The bowling was so inexperienced that Rob Nicol with an aggregate of ten wickets was the third-highest wicket-taker in the XI.What helped New Zealand's part-time trio of Nicol, Flynn and Williamson to get through some low-pressure overs was the early spell of Tim Southee, who took 2 for 5 in his first three overs. Southee didn't begin the series well, but has been impressive since his new-ball spell to Chris Gayle in the third ODI which was the first time Gayle failed in this series.In a line-up filled with flashy players, the relatively steady Marlon Samuels is expected to shoulder plenty of responsibility. Samuels task was made more difficult as Bravo was struggling to find fluency, especially as he was under-pressure to bat with more restraint after his slapdash innings on Saturday. He did his bit with a bustling 43.There wasn't any exceptional bowling from New Zealand, who relied more on nagging line-and-length stuff. Bravo was far from the flamboyant big-hitter we have come to expect, struggling to 20 off 60 deliveries. He too capitalised on some loose bowling from Nicol, but was still unable to lift his strike-rate too much. Soon after reaching his seventh ODI half-century, he holed out, hitting a low full toss on the pads to midwicket.Kieron Pollard and Sammy failed, before Russell continued to press his case for a promotion from the depths of No. 9. First, Williamson was hammered over square leg for six, and then clubbed down the ground for four. Ellis, so steady through much of his spell, was rattled against Russell, serving up a couple of full tosses that were dismissed over midwicket. When Russell walked in in the 39th over, West Indies would have been happy with a score around 200; Russell's cameo gave them 40 more.Once again, the brightest talents to have emerged from Caribbean over the last year, and two of their best performers in the series, played massive roles in a West Indies victory.

West Indies 241 for 9 (Russell 59*, Bravo 53, Mills 3-40, Southee 3-37) beat

 New Zealand 221 (Williamson 69, Narine 5-27) by 20 runs

Result:West Indies Won

UEFA Best Player In Europe Award 32 Man Short-list for 2011/12

UEFA have announced the 32-man short-list for 2011/12 UEFA Best Player in Europe Award.Players chosen for this prestigious award:

1. Sergio Agüero (ARG) – Manchester City FC
2. Xabi Alonso (ESP) – Real Madrid CF
3. Mario Balotelli (ITA) – Manchester City FC
4. Jakub Błaszczykowski (POL) -Borussia Dortmund
5. Gianluigi Buffon (ITA) – Juventus
6. Iker Casillas (ESP) – Real Madrid CF
7. Petr Čech (CZE) – Chelsea FC
8. Fábio Coentrão (POR) – Real Madrid CF
9. Leslie Davies (WAL) – Bangor City FC
10. Didier Drogba (CIV) – Chelsea FC (now at Shanghai Shenhua FC)
11. Cesc Fàbregas (ESP) – FC Barcelona
12. Falcao (COL) – Atlético Madrid
13. Joe Hart (ENG) – Manchester City FC
14. Zlatan Ibrahimović (SWE) – AC Milan
15. Andrés Iniesta (ESP) – FC Barcelona
16. Shinji Kagawa (JPN) – Borussia Dortmund (now at Manchester United FC)
17. Vincent Kompany (BEL) – Manchester City FC
18. Frank Lampard (ENG) – Chelsea FC
19. Lionel Messi (ARG) – FC Barcelona
20. Luka Modrić (CRO) – Tottenham Hotspur FC
21. Mesut Özil (GER) – Real Madrid CF
22. Pepe (POR) – Real Madrid CF
23. Andrea Pirlo (ITA) – Juventus
24. Sergio Ramos (ESP) – Real Madrid CF
25. Raúl González (ESP) – FC Schalke 04 (now at Al-Sadd Sports Club)
26. Cristiano Ronaldo (POR) – Real Madrid CF
27. Wayne Rooney (ENG) – Manchester United FC
28. David Silva (ESP) – Manchester City FC
29. Fernando Torres (ESP) – Chelsea FC
30. Yaya Touré (CIV) – Manchester City FC
31. Robin van Persie (NED) – Arsenal FC
32. Xavi Hernández (ESP) – FC Barcelona

Tour De France: Pierrick Fédrigo wins The 15TH Stage

Pierrick Fédrigo Crosses The Line Comfortably In the 15TH Stage Of Tour De France.“We are first and second on GC so it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work that out,” was Wiggins’ reply when quizzed about the danger Froome would pose if riding for another team.“He’s my team-mate and we’ll keep it like that. There’s gaps and even if we’re both in a good condition it’s not done yet.”Froome, meanwhile, offered timely assurance of his total support this week and also distanced himself from the interview in L’Equipe at the weekend which suggested, among other things, that he would expect support from Wiggins in next year’s Tour de France in return for his assistance this year.“Relations within the team are fine,” said Froome, who is 2 min 5 sec behind Wiggins. “There were a lot of things taken out of context there. There is no bad blood in the team. We are still here with the same goal. Nothing wrong with that.”The duo’s comments came after a quiet day when the peloton decided, after an hour of flexing its muscles, not to manufacture a sprint finish on a much tougher stage than anticipated. All the general classification contenders arrived safely in Pau with Pierrick Fedrigo, a winner here two years ago, beating Christian Vandevelde, the duo being nearly 12 minutes ahead of the bunch.The riders will rest today before the anticipated fireworks in the Pyrenees tomorrow and Thursday, especially the latter, which features a mountain top finish at the Ski station at Peyragudes.Paris is still a world away, well 458 miles to be precise.Wiggins , having garnered three Olympic gold medals and six World Championship titles on the track and more recently a clutch of top road races by religiously dealing with the present rather than the future, is determined not to get diverted by endless debates on hypothetical scenarios, much as it occupies the world’s media and indeed many cycling fans.To that end he will take a first glance at tomorrow’s massive stage from Pau to Bagnères-de-Luchon, with 4,687 metres of climbing, after dinner today.“I haven’t really looked at the two stages yet but I will,” said Wiggins yesterday after his eighth consecutive day in the yellow jersey. “If you look too far ahead you forget what’s in front of you.“It’s my way of dealing with everything, it never seems so vast that way. I won’t look at Thursday’s stage until Wednesday night. Since the first day in Liege we have treated each day as if it was the last one.“A lot of riders are tired now, mentally more than physically, but we’re in a really good position and we’ll just carry on. It was hard today, there was over 2,000 metres of climbing in 150km and it was very hot. “Meanwhile, there were warm words of encouragement, and thanks from Wiggins for Mark Cavendish, who has taken a back seat on this Tour with just one stage win while the Sky team ride for their leader.The world champion might perhaps have hoped for a burn up yesterday although ultimately the terrain, and the race position, dictated otherwise. As he tweeted himself: “Even a realist can dream.”“Mark has been fantastic these last 2½ weeks,” said Wiggins. “He’s been so committed to my cause – to the yellow jersey – and he’s a great champion and a great friend. Obviously there is still the stage to Paris for him and we are going to lay it down in Paris for him and try and get him the win there.“He’s also got the Olympic road race which he’s been quite open about, that’s his main objective this year, so it’s a shame that he hasn’t had the chance to race for more stage wins but in the end we’ve got a difficult task on our hands to try and win the yellow jersey. So far, he’s played a big part in that.“We’ve seen him going back for bottles and yesterday he tried really hard to get over that first climb with us... he’s also been an absolute gentleman this week.”As well as the sprint stage at the Champs-Elysées on Sunday the run into Brive on Friday could also see the quick men in action and Cavendish would certainly welcome a chance to blow the cobwebs out before that Olympic road race a week on Saturday when it will be his turn to take centre stage.By the sound of it Wiggins will bury himself for Cavendish in London, regardless of his own time-trial ambitions a few days later.

It's a Race For Maicon ... who will win the Race..?? Chelsea Or Real Madrid..??

Maicon The Brazilian Who Is A Inter Milan Defender Has Been Targeted By Chelsea And Real Madrid But Possibility Of Real Madrid Signing Him Is Too High.The Inter Milan defender has been touted as a potential addition to both squads over the transfer window.Chelsea could miss out on Inter Milan full-back Maicon as Real Madrid appear to be on the verge of bringing him to Spain.La Liga champions Real are said to have offered £6million for the Brazilian defender, as Blues boss Roberto Di Matteo prepares his next move. The 30-year-old has less than a year left on his San Siro contract and is reported to have been offered a three-year deal worth £3.5million, according to Sport Mediaset.While not one of the biggest names in world football and indeed the summer transfer window, Maicon would be a huge signing for the Blues, who do still need some additional help at right-back.The European champions have let go of Jose Bosingwa and placed Paulo Ferreira on the transfer list, meaning that while their squad isn't getting thin, it could do with some additions and Maicon would be an excellent signing for that purpose.At 30 years old, Maicon has the experience and strength required to be a solid defender in the English Premier League and has the proven success at Inter Milan to show that he is a worthy transfer target.Chelsea have already seen several right-backs knock back their approaches this summer such as Lukasz Piszczek, Mathieu Debuchy and Rafael da Silva (as reported by the Daily Mail and Metro). Now, they must still beat out Real Madrid if they are to land Maicon over the transfer window.

Fabio Capello Joins Russia As A New Coach

Fabio Capello Has Been Named New Russian Coach After he resigned From England In February.RFU acting president Nikita Simonyan said they had decided to hand the job to Capello, known as a strict disciplinarian, following Russia's disappointing Euro 2012 campaign.''"We have decided to name Fabio Capello as the new manager of our national team. We await him in Moscow over the next few days for the final details and the signing of the contract,'' Simonyan told local media on Monday.The 66-year-old Italian, who quit as England boss in February, said he was happy to work in Russia.''I am happy, if contract negotiations go well as I believe they will, it will be a wonderful adventure, as Russia is a great country,'' he told Italian news agency ANSA.Capello will succeed Dutchman Dick Advocaat, whose contract expired after Russia failed to advance past the group phase At Euro 2012.The Russians had been hoping to reach at least the quarter-finals in Poland and Ukraine following their surprise run to the Euro 2008 semi-finals under Advocaat's compatriot Guus Hiddink.Upon returning home, the players faced heavy criticism from high-ranked politicians, media as well as ordinary fans.''We had a good team but order and discipline was obviously missing,'' Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said last week.Capello, who has had success coaching top clubs such as Real Madrid, AC Milan, AS Roma and Juventus, had already received a glowing endorsement from Russia captain Andrei Arshavin.''Russia's national coach has been appointed - he is Fabio Capello. We wish him success in his new job,'' Capello, who will become Russia's third foreign coach in a row, will be tasked with blooding new players into an ageing team, something his predecessor Advocaat failed to do in his two years at the helm.Capello was regarded as favourite for the job even before coming to Moscow for talks with Simonyan and Mutko last week after the RFU published a list of 13 high-profile candidates, which also included former Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp, ex-Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez and former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola.''Capello would be a good choice,'' Mutko said last week.Russian media reported Capello would earn up to 10 million euros a year after signing a contract through to the 2014 World Cup, with the possibility of extending it for another two years.