Tri series: India beat Australia by 4 wickets

Indian captain M.S. Dhoni again proved the man for the occasion as he lifted his side to an extraordinary win over Australia by four wickets in their tri-series one-day international in Adelaide on Sunday. Australia made 269-8 after winning the toss and electing to bat, but India replied with their best ever run chase at the Adelaide Oval to win with two balls to spare. The Indians looked beaten when they needed 13 off the last over and managed just a single from the first two deliveries from paceman Clint McKay, who had been the best of the Australian bowlers. Dhoni turned down the opportunity of a second run from the second ball of the over, wanting to be on strike. He lived up to his confidence when he hit a massive six down the ground from the next ball to suddenly slash the target in half with three balls remaining. Dhoni was caught on the mid-wicket boundary from the next ball, but it was called a no-ball for being a full toss above waist high, the Indian batsmen running two and collecting a third run for the sundry. With three balls still remaining, Dhoni flicked the next ball into the leg side for the winning three runs to cap a remarkable comeback and their best performance of a generally disastrous tour. Dhoni, also the hero with the bat in last year s World Cup final win, had barely taken a risk until the last over as he tried to be the anchor for the late run chase, and finished with 44 not out from 58 balls. While Dhoni got India home, opener Gautam Gambhir -- recalled at the expense of champion Sachin Tendulkar -- laid the foundation with 92 from 111 balls. He was unlucky to miss a century as he looked unfortunate to be adjudged leg before wicket to McKay. Tendulkar was rested under India s rotation policy, denying the 38-year-old another chance to score his long-awaited 100th international century. Australia was left rueing a host of missed run out opportunities during an unusually sloppy fielding performance. The missed run outs included a regulation chance to remove Dhoni in the 48th over squandered by captain Michael Clarke, who appeared to be hampered by a right hamstring injury in the last 10 overs of the Indian innings. Clarke left the field for the 43rd over and regularly clutched at his hamstring when he returned, placing him in doubt for the upcoming matches. In the Australian innings, there were half-centuries for David Hussey (72) and debutant Peter Forrest (66). Young Umesh Yadav was the best of the Indian bowlers, picking up two wickets at a cost of 49 runs from his 10 overs.

Athletics: Lagat regains indoor record

Bernard Lagat regained the American indoor 5,000-meter record on Saturday with a victory at the 104th Millrose Games, the first in 98 years to be staged outside of Madison Square Garden. Three-time Olympian Lagat won in 13mins 7.15secs, showing his fitness six months before the London Olympics at age 37 by breaking the US mark of 13:11.44 set by Galen Rupp last year in the British city of Birmingham. "I had a few problems in training this past week and rested a bit more than I usually do, so to run 13:07 at this time of the year, in a week like this, that s a good indication I can do a lot better," he said. Lagat, a two-time 1,500 Olympic medalist, performed just as coach James Li had expected right down to the second. "Bernard did exactly what we expected," Li said. "We knew from his training that he was ready for something like this." Kenya s Lawi Lawang, Lagat s training partner, was second in 13:08.28 to smash the US college record that was also owned by Rupp. Rupp answered by breaking Lagat s two-mile American record, winning in 8:09.72 at the USA Track and Field Classic in Fayetteville, Arkansas. "That s the way it goes," Lagat said. "You win some, you lose some." In a showdown of US Olympic contenders, David Oliver won the 60m hurdles in 7.51 with Terrence Trammell second in7.52 and Aries Merritt third in 7.53. Two-time US Olympic relay medalist Sanya Richards-Ross won the 400 in 50.89, surpassing Bulgarian Vania Stambolova for the fastest time in the world this year. Matthew Centrowitz, the son of a two-time US Olympian, won the men s mile in 3:53.92. Women s world 1,500m champion Jenny Simpson won the 1,500 title in 4:07.27 while LaShawn Merritt, the 2008 Olympic 400-meter champion and 2011 world 400 runner-up, won the rarely contested 500m in 1:01.39. World high jump champion Jesse Williams of the United States cleared 2.32 to win while Russian Olga Kucherenko of Russia won the long jump in 6.75 and world leader Jenn Suhr took the pole vault by clearing 4.58m.

Barca freeze and title slips away in Pamplona

Barcelona’s fading hopes of capturing a fourth consecutive La Liga crown suffered a major setback when they lost 3-2 at Osasuna on Saturday to leave Real Madrid seven points clear at the top with a game in hand. In freezing conditions in Pamplona, Osasuna striker Dejan Lekic scored twice inside the first 22 minutes and Barca, who have struggled on the road all season, waited too long to react. Spanish World Cup winners Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Cesc Fabregas started on the bench, and although Alexis Sanchez pulled one back for the visitors in the 52nd minute, Raul Garcia quickly restored Osasuna’s advantage. Barca’s youth team winger Cristian Tello grabbed a second in the 73rd but a late charge just failed to produce the equaliser. The world and European champions’ second defeat of the season left them on 48 points, seven short of leaders Real, who host high-flying Levante on Sunday. “The league is much tougher now, and I suppose tomorrow we will see the gap grow even larger, “ Barca coach Pep Guardiola told reporters. “If we could play well on this pitch in the second half we should have done so in the first as well. We found it hard to get into the game.” Atletico Madrid climbed to sixth with 31 points despite being held to a 0-0 draw at Racing Santander. Home keeper Tono was man-of-the-match as he pulled off a string of saves to deny Atletico, who are unbeaten in the six games since Argentine Diego Simeone took the helm and have yet to concede a goal in that time. Osasuna are seventh also with 31 points, one ahead of King’s Cup finalists Athletic Bilbao, who suffered a 2-1 defeat at Real Betis in the late game. Nelson struck a rasping last-minute winner for Betis, who played the last 25 minutes against 10 men after Bilbao defender Javi Martinez, the scorer of the equaliser, was sent off for a second bookable offence.

BUMPY PITCH    

Osasuna’s bumpy pitch and a swirling wind saw both sets of players struggling to keep their feet at the Reyno de Navarra stadium, but the hosts adapted quicker than Barcelona. Serbian striker Lekic beat Victor Valdes at his near post after only five minutes to open the scoring and the Navarrans continued to boss the game until they doubled the lead. A low cross from the right saw Lekic arrive unmarked again to find the net and Barca went in at the break trailing by two goals for the first time in the league since Guardiola took the helm in 2008. Barcelona turned to youngsters Tello and Isaac Cuenca at halftime, perhaps reserving Xavi and Iniesta for the return to Champions League action next Tuesday, and the latter provided the cross for Alexis to score in the 51st minute. It was only a brief respite. A poor clearance from Valdes, one of a string of errors among Barca’s players, led to Osasuna’s third, when Raul Garcia squeezed a shot in off the post in the 55th. Substitute Fabregas laid on the second for Tello, who cut back inside his marker to smash the ball high into the net. Osasuna hit the post on a counter-attack but the action was all in their area in the closing minutes, and Fabregas had a header saved on the line in the fourth minute of added time.

Even Taliban support Afghan cricket team

Afghanistan s first-ever one-day international against Pakistan achieved what no other sport had managed -- support from the once cricket-hating Taliban, an official said Saturday. "Friday s match was a big milestone for Afghanistan, so much so that the Taliban sent a message of support, saying they are praying for the success of the team," Omar Zakhilwal, president Afghanistan Cricket Board told reporters. Although Afghanistan lost by seven wickets in the first-ever one-dayer against Pakistan on Friday, they gave a good account of themselves, scoring 195 and then capturing three early wickets before succumbing. Cricket has become the top sport in the war-ravaged country in the last three years after it was introduced by youths who learnt the game in refugee camps in Pakistan following the Soviet invasion of their country in 1979. Under the Taliban regime no outdoor sport was allowed and grounds were primarily used for executing political opponents who defied the hardliners. But since the ouster of the Taliban, following the war on terror led by the United States in 2001, cricket has taken root with Afghanistan winning one-day status in 2009. Zakhilwal, also the finance minister in the Hamid Karzai-led government, said cricket is uniting the nation. "Even president Karzai was watching the match and wished the team well," said Zakhilwal. "Across the country 80-90 percent of the kids were watching the game as this was a big occasion for our cricket." Zakhilwal said no other thing unites Afghanistan like cricket. "On streets you can see kids playing, there is no other sport which mobilises the people, neither politics nor any other event, neither the reconstruction, there is nothing which can match cricket. "This (cricket) becomes an example of progress in other areas as well. Even with little peace in our country we have achieved this much in cricket. We can achieve more -- when there is a will, there is a way, with the support of the people." Zakhilwal said his board will push other nations to play his team. "We are pushing the top teams," said Zakhilwal, praising Pakistan for giving them the opportunity. "It was great support from Pakistan. We are pushing India, Australia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and with this kind of performance and following I see no reason why they don t play us." Zakhilwal urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) and Asian Cricket Council (ACC) for more help. "They have done their part but they should help us get more chances against top teams," said Zakhilwal, hoping countries would not shy away from facing his team. "My personal opinion is that top teams shy away from playing us because winning against Afghanistan is not huge but losing against them would be big for them. "I think we are a team and have broken the ice by playing Pakistan and the team has shown maturity and strength," said Zakhilwal, predicting the day when his country would host international matches was not far ahead. "We now have two international stadiums -- in Kabul and Jalalabad -- and we are open to all teams. If they can t come, they can play us anywhere in the world," said Zakhilwal.

Another spin headache for England

Pakistan will once more depend on spin to maintain their dominance over England when the teams meet in a four-match one-day series starting here from Monday. Misbah-ul Haq’s men blanked England 3-0 in the Tests series with off-spinner Saeed Ajmal finishing with 24 wickets, left-armer Abdul Rehman taking 19 and allrounder Mohammad Hafeez five in a spin-dominated series. Pakistan’s spin repertoire will further be boosted by allrounder Shahid Afridi whose 5-36 helped Pakistan beat Afghanistan in a first-ever one-day between the two countries in Sharjah on Friday. Even spinning allrounder Shoaib Malik, controversially included in the squad despite failures in the last six one-day matches, will pose problems for England who were routed 5-0 in India last year. Pakistan captain Misbah acknowledged Afridi’s heroics as leg-spinner. “Afridi is a match winner,” said Misbah of Afridi whose 338 wickets is now the second highest by a spinner behind Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan (534) in one-day internationals. “In the last three series in almost all matches Afridi has been outstanding and undoubtedly he is one of the best bowlers in one day cricket,” said Misbah, who has won one-day series against Ireland, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh since taking over in June last year. Misbah, however, seeks improvement in his batting, especially in the top order. “I always say that the main area we need to improve is batting. Against England if we can have batting consistency or if we can set very good targets then we have the bowling to give our opponents a tough time,” said Misbah. England coach Andy Flower also hoped his batting improves after struggling badly against Pakistan’s spinners. “This will be a really challenging series for us. In our last one-day series in sub-continental conditions, we lost badly to India. The batsmen are lower in confidence after the Tests, so it will be a serious challenge for us,” said Flower. “I expect better things from the batsmen, and I really expect to see us improve with our knowledge and method of how to combat their spin,” said Flower, adding that Kevin Pietersen will open the batting. Pietersen had a miserable Test series, managing just 67 runs. “He’s a very, very fine cricketer – very dangerous – and someone we’d like to give the option of facing as many balls as possible in the limited-overs game. If he stays in long enough, he will win games for us in that position.” James Anderson and Stuart Broad — who both missed the India one-day series — will be on support for Tim Bresnan, Jade Dernbach and Steven Finn in pace while Samit Patel and Danny Briggs will assist Graeme Swann in spin. The remaining three matches will be played in Abu Dhabi (February 15) and in Dubai on Feruary 18 and 21. Teams will also play three Twenty20 internationals in Dubai (February 23 and 25) and in Abu Dhabi (February 27).

Champions Boca off to winning start in Argentina

Boca Juniors weathered a whirlwind start from Olimpo to open the defence of their Argentine league title with a 2-0 home win and extended their unbeaten run to 30 matches. Olimpo attacked from kickoff and goalkeeper Agustin Orion had to go down sharply at his left-hand post to push away a shot from Martin Rolle and prevent Boca from going behind inside half a minute. Urged on by a packed Bombonera bedecked in their blue and yellow colours, Boca found their feet after the opening 10-minute onslaught during which they were mostly forced into their own half. Captain Juan Roman Riquelme was involved when Boca broke the deadlock four minutes from halftime. His chipped centre from the left edge of the box was headed down into the middle by winger Pablo Mouche, who looked marginally offside, for striker Dario Cvitanich to blast home. Boca, who won the Apertura title by a 12 point margin from their closest challengers in the first half of the season, went further ahead when Riquelme delivered a well-weighted pass to Mouche, who found the net at the second attempt in the 66th minute.

Will Guardiola renew Barca contract?

Barcelona sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta said Friday he is confident that coach Pep Guardiola will prolong his contract with the Spanish and European champions beyond the end of the current season. Guardiola prefers to renew his deal with the club on an annual basis and as the season has progressed without him commiting his future to the Catalan side, speculation has mounted that he may leave in June. “The conditions are favourable for Pep to renew,” Zubizarreta said during an interview with Catalan radio station RAC1, adding he had no list of possible candidates should Guardiola decide to leave. Guardiola waited until February 8 last year before inking a new one-year deal. The 41-year-old has been coach of Barcelona since 2008, during which time he has led the Catalan club to 13 major honours, including three La Liga titles and two Champions League crowns.

Roo double, Blues woe, heroic Henry

A late goal from Luis Suarez, public enemy No. 1 at Old Trafford, could not stop Manchester United earning a 2-1 victory over Liverpool that sent them back to the top of the Premier League table.

In the battle for the final Champions League spot, a triumphant Arsenal side made significant ground on fourth-placed Chelsea, who were conquered by Everton.

The strained atmosphere prior to kick-off inManchester United's clash with Liverpoolwas heightened when Suarez appeared to spurn Patrice Evra's offer of a handshake, causing Evra to snatch at the arm of the player who last year was found guilty of racially abusing him. The match failed to live up to those fireworks in the early stages, with the best chance of the opening period falling to Paul Scholes, who headed straight at Pepe Reina when unmarked six yards out.

Suarez was heavily involved in flashpoint seconds before half-time, beating Evra before being foiled by a fine saving tackle from Rio Ferdinand just as he was about to race through on David de Gea's goal. During the interval, Sky Sports suggested both sets of players were involved in an altercation in the tunnel that required the intervention of police and stewards.

United took the game away from Liverpool with a two-goal blitz before the 50th minute. Both came from Wayne Rooney; the first from close range after Jordan Henderson inadvertently headed Giggs' corner into his path, and the second when he netted from Antonio Valencia's pass following Jay Spearing's mistake.

It was Suarez who injected some fresh intrigue into the game with ten minutes remaining, stabbing in from six yards after Rio Ferdinand had failed to deal with a delivery into the penalty box. Glen Johnson forced De Gea into an acrobatic save in injury time, but United held on to leapfrog Manchester City - a result that provoked joyous scenes of celebration from Evra, whose decision to revel in close proximity to Suarez riled several Liverpool players at full-time.

In a week that has seen owner Roman Abramovich keeping a close eye on training sessions, the pressure increased on boss Andre Villas-Boas as Chelsea slumped to a 2-0 loss at Everton. Steven Pienaar grabbed the first, slipping past Branislav Ivanovic, taking the ball on his chest and walloping it into the roof of the net. Denis Stracqualursi's first Premier League goal put the seal on the victory, as his shot snuck in at the near post, with Petr Cech culpable.

Tottenham stay five points off the summit after they blitzed Newcastle 5-0 at White Hart Lane. Spurs scored four times in 34 first-half minutes as Harry Redknapp further enhanced his claims to the vacant England post.

It took four minutes for the breakthrough to arrive as Newcastle went to sleep at the back post to allow Benoit Assou-Ekotto to convert Emmanuel Adebayor's low cross. Adebayor was the provider for the second goal too, centering for Louis Saha to volley home on his first Tottenham start.

Saha drove home right-footed on 20 minutes for a 3-0 Spurs lead, and Niko Kranjcar increased Newcastle's misery when lashing home a rebound before half-time. Adebayor bagged the goal he fully deserved with a classy volley midway through the second period, and Spurs could have had several more but for some wayward finishing.

Thierry Henry, playing in what is likely to be his final competitive game in England, grabbed an injury-time winner as Arsenal beat Sunderland 2-1. Sunderland forged ahead when Per Mertesacker got himself in a tangle and tripped over his own feet, which let James McClean through on goal to fire past Wojciech Szczesny - only for Aaron Ramsey to equalise with a shot that rebounded off both posts before rolling over the line. Then Henry, who returns to New York Red Bulls next week at the end of his loan spell, had the final say by volleying in Andrey Arshavin's cross.

Blackburn leapfrogged QPR - and climbed out of the relegation zone in the process - with a 3-2 victory at Ewood Park. On his return from suspension, Yakubu conjured an inventive finish to get the hosts off the mark, while Steven Nzonzi and Junior Hoilett, who crashed home a fine volley, also got their names onto the scoresheet. Jamie Mackie tried in vain to get the Hoops back in it by bagging a brace.

Bottom side Wigan gave their survival chances a timely boost with a 2-1 success that leaves opponents Bolton deep in the relegation mire. Wigan, who were good value for the victory, were grateful for goals from Gary Caldwell and James McArthur, either side of Mark Davies' screamer of an equaliser.

Stoke suffered their fourth-successive Premier League loss as they fell to a 2-1 reverse against Fulham at Craven Cottage. Debutant Pavel Pogrebnyak notched the hosts' first, controlling John Arne Riise's cross before finishing past Thomas Sorensen, then Sorensen was the unfortunate recipient of an "OG" next to his name when Clint Dempsey's shot hit his back and ricocheted into the net. Ryan Shawcross was on target for the Potters, but it was too little, too late.

Swansea lost at home for just the second time in the league this season, with Norwichrunning out 3-2 victors at the Liberty Stadium. Swansea striker Danny Graham began and ended the scoring, while Holt notched a brace for the Canaries, and Anthony Pilkington was also on target.