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- Formula One: Rosberg fastest as Mercedes show their speed
- Russian opposition leader Nemtsov shot dead: official
- US sets out 'bottom lines' for Iran nuclear deal
- Car bomb kills 11 outside Damascus: monitor
- Flooding in Madagascar capital kills at least 14: rescuers
- Unmasking of 'Jihadi John' as a London lad shocks Britain
- Unmasking of 'Jihadi John' as a London lad shocks Britain
- Australia bat against New Zealand in World Cup
- Spacewalk to go ahead on Sunday despite helmet leak: NASA
- Oil rebounds in volatile trade
- Dollar scores eighth straight month of gains
- Pakistan look to rescue World Cup campaign
- England out to silence critics against Sri Lanka
- New Zealand, Australia clash as India target Perth stroll
- Struggling Watson plays on despite friend's death
| Formula One: Rosberg fastest as Mercedes show their speed Posted: BARCELONA (AFP) - Mercedes showed off their speedy new W06 on Friday as Nico Rosberg blew away the rest of the field on the second day of the final pre-season test in Barcelona.Using the faster soft tyres for the first time this season, Rosberg produced the fastest time through six days of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya in 1min 22.792sec.The Germans time was more than seven tenths of a second quicker than the previous best time set by Williams Felipe Massa on Thursday.We are confident that we have a good car because we have a great team at the moment, but at the same time we are well aware that some of the others have been posting quick times, said Rosberg.However, last seasons runner-up in the world championship wasnt completely happy with his days work despite the fast time in the afternoon session.We need to keep our heads down and keep working. Today was a difficult day because even though all the numbers looked like they were in the right place on the setup, actually the car was very far away from where it needed to be and we didnt really understand that, so the whole day we were chasing the setup and trying to find the right direction.Eventually in the end it was feeling more and more decent, and putting the soft tyres on gives the grip anyway so with the soft tyres it doesnt really matter what the balance is.Williams remained the closest challengers for the world champions as Valtteri Bottas was second fastest, albeit over a second back on Rosberg.Brazilian rookie Felipe Nasr completed another good day for Sauber as he went third quickest in a marathon 140-lap day.There was even some encouragement for the under fire McLaren-Honda partnership as Jenson Button managed 101 laps before bringing his session to an early end when he broke down with just 15 minutes of the day left to run.That tally equated to nearly half of the Woking-based teams testing mileage before Friday in a pre-season dogged by reliability issues and a crash suffered by two-time world champion Fernando Alonso in last weekends second test.Good progress made today. It wasnt hard from yesterday, but really nice to do 101 laps, said Button.Reliability has been great today, really big step forward by everyone and big effort by everyone which is great to see.For most teams 100 laps isnt really anything, but for us it is like a 1000 laps because there is so much for us still to learn about this package.Meanwhile, Force India finally unveiled their VJM08 car for the upcoming season and also had a positive day as Nico Hulkenberg managed 76 laps.It was a very good day, at least in terms of the running we managed to do. We were able to run reliably straight out of the box and that is very encouraging, said Hulkenberg.Obviously we still have a big task ahead of us and we are playing catch-up in certain aspects, but I am quite satisfied so far.  |
| Russian opposition leader Nemtsov shot dead: official Posted: MOSCOW (AFP) - Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, a fierce critic of President Vladmir Putin, was shot dead in central Moscow late Friday ahead of a major opposition rally this weekend, investigators and police said.In central Moscow, a man with documents in the name of Boris Yefimovich Nemtsov was killed, an interior ministry spokesman told AFP early Saturday, declining to give further details.Russias Investigative Committee confirmed the death, saying it had opened a criminal probe.According to preliminary information, an unidentified person shot at Boris Nemtsov no fewer than 7-8 times from a car as he was walking along the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky bridge, investigators said in a statement.The committee, which reports directly to Putin, said that experienced investigators had been put on the case.Nemtsov launched his political career as the governor of Nizhny Novgorod region in central Russia and became a vice prime minister in the late 1990s under the presidency of Boris Yeltsin.After leaving parliament in 2003, he helped establish and led several opposition parties and groups.Nemtovs murder comes ahead of a major opposition rally scheduled to take place on March 1.The murder bears the hallmarks of a contract killing, Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.Another interior ministry spokesperson, Yelena Alekseyeva, told reporters at the scene that Nemtsov was walking with a woman when he was shot.The woman, who is from Ukraine, was now being questioned, she added.Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev has taken charge of the criminal probe, she said.Mikhail Kasyanov, a former prime minister turned opposition leader, told reporters after viewing the scene: This is payback for the fact that Boris consistently for many, many years fought for Russia to be a free democratic country.  |
| US sets out 'bottom lines' for Iran nuclear deal Posted: WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States on Friday set out what it called its bottom lines to reach a deal with Iran to rein in its nuclear program, ahead of new talks next week.Washington had stuck to its guns that it wanted a good deal and had agreed to several extensions of the negotiations because we have held firm to certain bottom lines, a senior US administration official said.We will only accept an agreement that cuts off the different pathways to the fissile material that Iran needs for a nuclear weapon, the official stressed.US Secretary of State John Kerry will leave at the weekend for Switzerland, where he will meet once again with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif.The pace and intensity of the talks have sped up as global powers gathered under the P51 group have been seeking a deal with Iran to stop it acquiring a nuclear weapon -- something Tehran denies trying to do.A March 31 deadline for a political framework for the deal is looming with negotiators saying they will aim to pin down the final technical details by June 30.While US officials cautioned that there were no guarantees a deal would be reached, they said the negotiations have advanced substantially, gaps have narrowed.Staking out the broad outlines of a deal -- without going into specifics -- the US official spelt out where Washington was standing firm:-- Iran should not be allowed to develop weapons-grade plutonium at its Arak reactor. Were discussing how Iran can convert that Arak reactor to serve a different purpose, the official said.-- Iran should not use its Fordo nuclear plant to enrich uranium.-- That would leave only Irans Nantanz plant capable of enriching uranium, which at high grades can be used in nuclear weapons.-- Any deal must ensure that it would take Iran a year to gather enough fissile material to make a bomb.-- Iran would reduce significantly its current number of operating centrifuges and its domestic stockpile.-- Iran must agree to unprecedented inspections of both nuclear and production facilities as well as uranium mines and mills, and suspect sites.-- The US is pursuing a deal in which relief from international sanctions demanded by Iran is phased in over a period of time.We are insisting on the principle that sanctions can snap back into place if Iran were to violate the agreement, the US official said.  |
| Car bomb kills 11 outside Damascus: monitor Posted: BEIRUT (AFP) - Eleven people were killed on Friday in a car bomb blast in a rebel-held area outside the Syrian capital, while seven people died in regime air raids, a monitor said.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the toll from the bomb blast, which occurred near a mosque in the town of Dmeir, was expected to rise because of the number of people seriously wounded.The Britain-based monitor said a woman and a child were among those killed in the government air strikes on the Marj region elsewhere in Eastern Ghouta, a key rebel bastion outside Damascus.Regime forces have besieged Eastern Ghouta for more than 18 months, carrying out daily bombardment in a bid to dislodge rebels.More than 210,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011.  |
| Flooding in Madagascar capital kills at least 14: rescuers Posted: ANTANANARIVO (AFP) - At least 14 people died in flooding Friday in the Madagascan capital Antananarivo after a night of torrential rain caused dams to burst, rescue services said.About 24,000 people were driven from their homes in the floods and several neighbourhoods in the Indian Ocean island nation were being evacuated, the countrys emergency management bureau said.Due to the emergency, we call on all schools, churches, town halls, covered gymnasiums and those of goodwill to facilitate the sheltering of victims, a statement from the bureau said.Prime Minister Jean Ravelonarivo visited the affected areas early Friday. Three rivers flow in the area of the capital. A number of dams gave way under the weight of the floodwaters, sweeping away around 50 houses, the statement said. Electricity was also cut to parts of the capital.In the flood-stricken Valava district of the capital, Jean Christophe Rasolomaminirina, stands on the banks of a river watching boats and canoes evacuating residents.He said water levels started rising around mid-morning on Thursday and within five hours roads were submerged.There is no one left in Valava, he said. Meteorologists are forecasting more heavy rains Friday night.Poverty-stricken Madagascar which emerged a year ago from a lengthy political crisis sparked by a 2009 coup, is prone to cyclones.Last month, 68 people were killed when a tropical storm battered three-quarters of the island, dumping heavy rains and prompted major flooding in low-lying areas.The capital Antananarivo was originally built on hills, but with the citys population expanding, low lying areas are being turned into residential slums.  |
| Unmasking of 'Jihadi John' as a London lad shocks Britain Posted: LONDON (AP) - The unmasking of Islamic State militant Jihadi John as a Londoner who had repeatedly been questioned by security services sent shock waves through Britain Friday, with Prime Minister David Cameron stepping in to defend British spy craft.Cameron tried to defuse criticism of Britains intelligence community, which had Jihadi John on its list of potential terror suspects for years but was unable to prevent him from traveling to Syria, where he has played a prominent role in grisly beheading videos.Cameron did not mention Jihadi John or refer to his real identity: Mohammed Emwazi, a Kuwait-born computer science graduate raised and educated in Britain. But he said the countrys spies make incredibly difficult judgments daily about how to pursue threats to national security and have broken up plots that would have caused immense damage.Emwazi had been known to the British intelligence services since at least 2009, initially in connection with investigations into terrorism in Somalia.David Anderson, who is in charge of reviewing Britains terrorism legislation, said intelligence agencies may have dropped the ball, but faced a big challenge to identify real threats from hundreds, probably thousands of suspects.Perhaps they did slip up in this case but one wont know until theres been an inquiry or a report of some kind, he told the BBC.The case has some parallels to that of two al-Qaida-inspired extremists who murdered a British soldier in a London street in May 2013. A report by lawmakers concluded that delays and other failings by the agencies had contributed to that tragedy.However, it is not clear what laws could have been used to prevent Emwazi from leaving Britain at the time, since he had not been charged with any terrorist-related offenses. It is not known if police or security services had any evidence he was planning to join extremists in Syria.His identification as the front man in IS murder videos has raised questions about how a soccer-playing London youngster who liked smart clothes became one of the worlds most wanted men.Authorities were working to piece together the path to radicalization of Emwazi, who came to Britain from Kuwait as a small child and attended state schools in London before studying computer science at the University of Westminster.Court documents from 2011 obtained by the BBC list Emwazi as part of a network of west London men suspected by MI5 of sending funds, equipment and recruits to al-Shabab militants in Somalia. The group included Bilail al-Berjawi, a Lebanese-British militant who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Somalia in January 2012.Emails that Emwazi sent to a Muslim advocacy group reveal a young man increasingly frustrated by the attentions of British spies and angry at the plight of Muslims around the world.Emwazi approached the group, CAGE, after he and two friends were arrested and deported on a trip to Tanzania in August 2009. They said they were going on a post-university safari. But Emwazi said he was grilled by a British intelligence officer who accused him of trying to travel to Somalia to link up with terrorists there.He said the agent, who identified himself as Nick, suggested Emwazi work for us before saying life will be harder for you if he did not cooperate.It is clear that Emwazi was unnerved after his unwanted interrogation.He knew everything about me; where I lived, what I did, the people I hanged around with, he wrote in one of the emails that CAGE made public Thursday. He even said that he would try to visit me. But I refused and told him that I did not want him to pay me a visit.The following year Emwazi accused British agents of preventing him from going to Kuwait, where he had a job and planned to marry. He wrote in one email that his life is kind of on a pause.Like many British Muslims who have become radicalized in recent years, he seemed to feel that Muslims were increasingly under attack in many parts of the world and complained to CAGE of the plight of his fellow believers in Chechnya, Iraq and elsewhere.CAGE said that Emwazi even changed his name in a bid to escape the attentions of the security services, but still was barred from going to Kuwait. His family reported him missing early in 2013. Four months later, police told them Emwazi was in Syria, CAGE said.He appeared in a video released in August showing the slaying of American journalist James Foley, denouncing the West before the killing. A man with similar stature and voice was also featured in videos of the IS killings of American journalist Steven Sotloff, Britons David Haines and Alan Hemming, and U.S. aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig.Foleys parents in Arizona on Thursday expressed surprise that Jihadi John was an educated man who had real prospects in life.So he, in a sense, had a privileged upbringing, so to me that makes that even more sad that hed want to use his gifts for such evil and such hatred. Its very frightening to me, Diane Foley said.We need to forgive him for not having a clue what he was doing, she said.The widow of Haines, a British aid worker, said Friday she would like to see Jihadi John captured and put on trial.Dragana Haines told The Associated Press in a phone interview from her home in Croatia that I really hope he will be caught, I think it would be a good lesson for all.Haines, whose husband was killed in September, said she would rather see Emwazi judged in a court of law than killed by enemy action.People of his kind believe that death in combat is an honor, something special, she said.In the modest west London neighborhood where Emwazis family lived, citizens were shocked after his identify was revealed.Sharaft Ullah, who worships at the Harrow Road Mosque near the family home, remembered Emwazi as a strict Muslim who prayed several times a day. He said Emwazi was a very good local guy and polite with everybody.I feel angry because he was educated in this country and he graduated from Westminster, Ullah said. If he has been doing these things its wrong.Another mosque that Emwazi was reported to have attended, the Greenwich Islamic Centre, said it had no knowledge of him.  |
| Unmasking of 'Jihadi John' as a London lad shocks Britain Posted: LONDON (AP) - The unmasking of Islamic State militant Jihadi John as a Londoner who had repeatedly been questioned by security services sent shock waves through Britain Friday, with Prime Minister David Cameron stepping in to defend British spy craft.Cameron tried to defuse criticism of Britains intelligence community, which had Jihadi John on its list of potential terror suspects for years but was unable to prevent him from traveling to Syria, where he has played a prominent role in grisly beheading videos.Cameron did not mention Jihadi John or refer to his real identity: Mohammed Emwazi, a Kuwait-born computer science graduate raised and educated in Britain. But he said the countrys spies make incredibly difficult judgments daily about how to pursue threats to national security and have broken up plots that would have caused immense damage.Emwazi had been known to the British intelligence services since at least 2009, initially in connection with investigations into terrorism in Somalia.David Anderson, who is in charge of reviewing Britains terrorism legislation, said intelligence agencies may have dropped the ball, but faced a big challenge to identify real threats from hundreds, probably thousands of suspects.Perhaps they did slip up in this case but one wont know until theres been an inquiry or a report of some kind, he told the BBC.The case has some parallels to that of two al-Qaida-inspired extremists who murdered a British soldier in a London street in May 2013. A report by lawmakers concluded that delays and other failings by the agencies had contributed to that tragedy.However, it is not clear what laws could have been used to prevent Emwazi from leaving Britain at the time, since he had not been charged with any terrorist-related offenses. It is not known if police or security services had any evidence he was planning to join extremists in Syria.His identification as the front man in IS murder videos has raised questions about how a soccer-playing London youngster who liked smart clothes became one of the worlds most wanted men.Authorities were working to piece together the path to radicalization of Emwazi, who came to Britain from Kuwait as a small child and attended state schools in London before studying computer science at the University of Westminster.Court documents from 2011 obtained by the BBC list Emwazi as part of a network of west London men suspected by MI5 of sending funds, equipment and recruits to al-Shabab militants in Somalia. The group included Bilail al-Berjawi, a Lebanese-British militant who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Somalia in January 2012.Emails that Emwazi sent to a Muslim advocacy group reveal a young man increasingly frustrated by the attentions of British spies and angry at the plight of Muslims around the world.Emwazi approached the group, CAGE, after he and two friends were arrested and deported on a trip to Tanzania in August 2009. They said they were going on a post-university safari. But Emwazi said he was grilled by a British intelligence officer who accused him of trying to travel to Somalia to link up with terrorists there.He said the agent, who identified himself as Nick, suggested Emwazi work for us before saying life will be harder for you if he did not cooperate.It is clear that Emwazi was unnerved after his unwanted interrogation.He knew everything about me; where I lived, what I did, the people I hanged around with, he wrote in one of the emails that CAGE made public Thursday. He even said that he would try to visit me. But I refused and told him that I did not want him to pay me a visit.The following year Emwazi accused British agents of preventing him from going to Kuwait, where he had a job and planned to marry. He wrote in one email that his life is kind of on a pause.Like many British Muslims who have become radicalized in recent years, he seemed to feel that Muslims were increasingly under attack in many parts of the world and complained to CAGE of the plight of his fellow believers in Chechnya, Iraq and elsewhere.CAGE said that Emwazi even changed his name in a bid to escape the attentions of the security services, but still was barred from going to Kuwait. His family reported him missing early in 2013. Four months later, police told them Emwazi was in Syria, CAGE said.He appeared in a video released in August showing the slaying of American journalist James Foley, denouncing the West before the killing. A man with similar stature and voice was also featured in videos of the IS killings of American journalist Steven Sotloff, Britons David Haines and Alan Hemming, and U.S. aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig.Foleys parents in Arizona on Thursday expressed surprise that Jihadi John was an educated man who had real prospects in life.So he, in a sense, had a privileged upbringing, so to me that makes that even more sad that hed want to use his gifts for such evil and such hatred. Its very frightening to me, Diane Foley said.We need to forgive him for not having a clue what he was doing, she said.The widow of Haines, a British aid worker, said Friday she would like to see Jihadi John captured and put on trial.Dragana Haines told The Associated Press in a phone interview from her home in Croatia that I really hope he will be caught, I think it would be a good lesson for all.Haines, whose husband was killed in September, said she would rather see Emwazi judged in a court of law than killed by enemy action.People of his kind believe that death in combat is an honor, something special, she said.In the modest west London neighborhood where Emwazis family lived, citizens were shocked after his identify was revealed.Sharaft Ullah, who worships at the Harrow Road Mosque near the family home, remembered Emwazi as a strict Muslim who prayed several times a day. He said Emwazi was a very good local guy and polite with everybody.I feel angry because he was educated in this country and he graduated from Westminster, Ullah said. If he has been doing these things its wrong.Another mosque that Emwazi was reported to have attended, the Greenwich Islamic Centre, said it had no knowledge of him.  |
| Australia bat against New Zealand in World Cup Posted: AUCKLAND (AFP) - Australia captain Michael Clarke won the toss and decided to bat in the World Cup Pool A game against New Zealand at Eden Park on Saturday.New Zealand, who have won all their three games, kept the same side which has featured from the start of the tournament.Australia, whose second game against Bangladesh was washed out in Brisbane last weekend, brought in fit-again skipper Michael Clarke for George Bailey and fast bowler Pat Cummins for Josh Hazlewood from the line-up which beatEngland in the opening game two weeks ago.Teams:New Zealand: Brendon McCullum (captain), Trent Boult, Grant Elliott, Martin Guptill, Adam Milne, Daniel Vettori, Kane Williamson, Corey Anderson, Tim Southee, Luke Ronchi (wkt), Ross Taylor.Australia: Michael Clarke (captain), David Warner, Aaron Finch, Shane Watson, Steven Smith, Brad Haddin (wkt), Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins.Umpires: Marais Erasmus (RSA) and Richard Illingworth (ENG).Tv umpire: Sundaram Ravi (IND).Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG).  |
| Spacewalk to go ahead on Sunday despite helmet leak: NASA Posted: MIAMI (AFP) - Two US astronauts will go ahead with a spacewalk this weekend despite a flaw in one of the spacesuits that allowed water to seep into the helmet, the US space agency NASA said Friday.Mission managers made the decision after discussing what NASA called the minor seepage of water into the helmet of Expedition 42 Flight Engineer Terry Virts of NASA following the last spacewalk on February 25.Virts had finished his six-plus hour spacewalk and was back inside the crew lock section of the Quest airlock when he noticed water building up in his helmet and felt dampness on the back of his head.Spacewalk specialists reported that Virts suit -- serial number 3005 -- has a history of what is called sublimator water carryover, a small amount of residual water in the sublimator cooling component that can condense once the environment around the suit is repressurized following its exposure to vacuum during a spacewalk, resulting in a tiny amount of water pushing into the helmet, NASA said in a statement.A high degree of confidence was expressed that the suits systems are all in good shape and approval was given to proceed with the third spacewalk in this series.On Sunday, Virts and his colleague Barry Wilmore will finish routing cable outside the International Space Station and install communications antennas that will provide navigational data to visiting spacecraft.The work aims to help set up new docking ports for commercial spaceship carrying astronauts in the coming years.The spacewalk, which begins at 7:10 am (1210 GMT), will be the 187th in support of station assembly and maintenance.  |
| Oil rebounds in volatile trade Posted: NEW YORK (AFP) - Oil prices rebounded Friday at the end of a volatile week of trading as dealers weighed the global supply glut and slow growth in the world economy.US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for April advanced $1.59 to close at $49.76 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a day after WTI lost almost $3.In London, Brent North Sea crude for April delivery, the global benchmark, surged to $62.58 a barrel, up a hefty $2.53 from Thursdays closing level.WTI, after having fallen in early 2015 to a six-year low, has swung wildly in February, but finally finished the month a little more than $1.5 higher. By contrast, Brent has gained about $12.Crude oil has lost about 50 percent of its value since June.Weve kind of reached the bottom and the prices are just dancing around, said Michael Lynch of Strategic Energy & Economic Research, referring to the New York oil market.In Fridays trading session, Lynch said, the biggest impact was from the decline in US rig operating data, which suggests well see lower shale production than anticipated, and comments out of Saudi Arabia that the market may be coming back into balance.Lynch noted that the Baker Hughes US crude oil drilling rig count fell by 33 rigs this week, which marked a slower decline than recently seen, which has been about 90 rigs per week.The Department of Energys oil inventories report this week showed a jump of more than eight million barrels of crude oil to a record 434.1 million barrels.Its choppy all around the place, said Bart Melek of TD Securities. Essentially were responding to the view the supplies are going to drop off.  |
| Dollar scores eighth straight month of gains Posted: NEW YORK (AFP) - The dollar edged higher against the euro Friday, building on the prior days sharp rally and closing February with its eighth consecutive month of gains.The greenback found support from the latest government estimate of economic growth in the fourth quarter. Though revised lower, to 2.2 percent from 2.6 percent, the pace was better than expected.There was more good news than bad in the second estimate of fourth-quarter US GDP, said Moodys Analytics. The composition was better and sets up well for the first three months of this year.The euro had support as inflation data improved slightly in key eurozone economies, said Eric Viloria, currency strategist at Wells Fargo Securities, easing deflation fears somewhat.Inflation in Germany rose 0.1 percent after dropping 0.4 percent in January.In addition, German lawmakers approved a four-month bailout extension for Greece, clearing a key hurdle to keeping the new government in Athens financed and avoid a default.The market was looking ahead to Thursdays European Central Bank monetary policy. ECB President Mario Draghi is expected to provide details about the unprecedented large-scale asset-purchase program, or quantitative easing, announced last month. Some of the details that we expect Mario Draghi to provide include the exact date of when asset purchases will begin, how long they will last, the breadth of bonds purchased and whether national central banks can buy other countrys bonds or only their own, said Kathy Lien of BK Asset Management.One of the main reasons why investors sold euros aggressively in the month of January was because of the fear that Greece could leave the eurozone. This week that fear and concern was eliminated (for the time being), she said in a research note.It may be time to consider buying euros. The single currency fell to a one-month low versus the US dollar this past week despite stronger eurozone and weaker US data.  |
| Pakistan look to rescue World Cup campaign Posted: BRISBANE (AFP) - Pakistans calamity-hit World Cup campaign stops off at Brisbane on Sunday where they will look to get their first points on the board and so keep their quarter-final hopes alive against a bruised and battered Zimbabwe.On the field, 1992 champions Pakistan have been mauled by 76 runs by bitter rivals India and suffered a 150-run rout at the hands of the West Indies.Off it, the squad have been in turmoil with eight players fined for breaking a curfew, reports of a bust-up in training and chief selector Moin Khan being sent home in disgrace for visiting a casino.Zimbabwe, meanwhile, go into the game on the back of a four-wicket win over the UAE, a 62-run loss to South Africa and a 73-run defeat by the West Indies in a game where Chris Gayle made the first double century in World Cup history.The African side have found it hard to restrict opposition batsmen -- West Indies feasted on their bowlers to the tune of 372 for two while South Africa helped themselves to 339 for four.Pakistan havent played since February 21 but despite the break, giving them plenty of time to chew over over their problems, they will be buoyed by knowing they traditionally hold the upper hand against Zimbabwe.They have won 27 of their 30 ODI meetings, taking their most recent series 2-1 in Harare in 2013, although they did lose the opener by seven wickets with Hamilton Masakadza (85 in that game), Brendan Taylor (43) and Sean Williams (39) all likely to play at the Gabba on Sunday.Zimbabwes only other two wins came way back in 1995 in Harare and 1999 in Sheikhupura.Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq, who enjoyed innings of 83 and 67 in the 2013 series in Zimbabwe, said it was crucial to get the defeat against the West Indies out of their system and concentrate on rebooting their faltering World Cup campaign.We must forget it and learn from it. We just need to improve our performances, said the veteran.If you got tapped in the previous two games, then you cant perform. Every game is a new game, and now we have to leave it behind and prepare for the next one and try to win all other games. That is the only way.Pakistan opener Ahmed Shehzad has been cleared to play in the game despite suffering an ankle injury, an official said Friday.The 23-year-old right-hander was sent for an MRI scan after team practice in Brisbane, complaining of pain in his left ankle but has been judged fit to play.Shehzad scored 47 in the opening defeat by India but managed just one in Pakistans thrashing at the hands of the West Indies in Christchurch.Zimbabwe have two points from three Pool B games with skipper Elton Chigumbura demanding his bowlers match the promising form of the teams batsmen.We feel like were going towards the right directions, and with (coach) Dav Whatmore, since he took over, up to now weve been playing positive cricket, said Chigumbura.Our batting used to let us down, but at the moment its the one that is actually being consistent more than the bowling. We just need to polish up on our bowling and fielding.  |
| England out to silence critics against Sri Lanka Posted: WELLINGTON (AFP) - England are determined to restore their World Cup credibility in a crunch Pool A match Sunday against an improving Sri Lanka.Eoin Morgans men return to Wellingtons Westpac stadium for the fixture, scene of a humiliating eight-wicket loss to New Zealand on February 20.That defeat, a day-nighter in which England folded so quickly that ground staff did not need to turn on the floodlights, followed a 111-run drubbing by Australia in their opening match.A subsequent win over minnows Scotland was greeted with relief rather than jubilation, and opening batsman Moeen Ali said England needed to make a statement against Sri Lanka.Ali said victory against the 1996 champions would restore the battered self-belief of the team, which has been flayed in the British media.(Its) a very important game, if we can win that it will give the team a lot more confidence of being a very good one-day side and a major side in the competition. he said.Sri Lanka made a shaky start to their own campaign, suffering a 98-run loss to New Zealand and a real scare against Afghanistan.But they clicked in a 92-run win over Bangladesh last Thursday which included centuries for Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara.Sri Lanka defeated England 5-2 on home soil late last year in a series that prompted Morgans predecessor Alastair Cook to be axed as one-day captain.But paceman Steve Finn said England would not be dwelling on that series as conditions in Wellington would be completely different.We got beat by Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka so its important we go out there and try to stamp our authority in conditions that should favour us, he said.Finn said Englands poor start meant they were treating all their remaining pool fixtures -- against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan -- as must wins.Its very important for us and these three games are almost each like a quarter-final, but we thrive on that sort of pressure and hopefully it will bring the best out of us.After three matches, England are placed beneath Bangladesh and Afghanistan on the Pool A table.A loss to Sri Lanka would leave them facing an early exit if the group throws up any upset results.Sundays match will be Sri Lankas third in eight days, having played Afghanistan last Sunday and Bangladesh on Thursday.Former Sri Lanka great Muttiah Muralitharan said the schedule was not ideal preparation for a dangerous encounter against an England side keen to prove a point.But he said Sri Lankas batting looked ominous against Bangladesh and sling-arm fast bowler Lasith Malinga finally appeared to be finding form.He looked much more like his old self, his bowling had some of that old zip about it and that is a great sign for a team that really needs him to fire, he said.  |
| New Zealand, Australia clash as India target Perth stroll Posted: SYDNEY (AFP) - Trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand and Australia meet in a heavyweight World Cup clash Saturday in Auckland while, 5,500km away in Perth, defending champions India face the amateurs of the UAE.In front of 40,000 people at Eden Park, New Zealand can virtually make sure of a quarter-final place with a fourth win in four games.But four-time champions Australia, who beat England in their opener two weeks ago before seeing the clash with Bangladesh rained off in Brisbane, can take heart from a solid record in the New Zealand city.They have 11 wins out of 16 at Eden Park, including four of the last five.The Australians will also be buoyed by the return of skipper Michael Clarke who missed the first game as a consequence of his long-standing hamstring problems which have sidelined him since December.Clarke will replace stand-in skipper George Bailey for Saturdays game in one of two changes which will also see Pat Cummins dislodge fellow seamer Josh Hazlewood.The build-up has been dominated by suggestions that the meeting will be over-shadowed by a verbal contest while the peculiar dimensions of Eden Park, with his its short boundaries, are expected to encourage a run glut.Im not a big believer in it (sledging), said Clarke who was widely criticised for his threat to Englands James Anderson to get ready for a broken arm in the last Ashes series.It comes down to the individual player. If it helps them, then go for it.In captain Brendon McCullum, New Zealand have an explosive batsman at the top of the order who can change the game as he proved during his whirlwind 25-ball 77 against England in Wellington.He does hit them a long way, doesnt he? said Australia coach Darren Lehmann said. He plays a high-risk game, but theres a bit of a difference between 135km/h and 150km/h coming at him.New Zealand will be unchanged after Tim Southee, who recorded his countrys best-ever ODI figures of 7-33 against England, recovered from a minor shoulder injury.New Zealand coach Mike Hesson tried to downplay the importance of Saturdays match by saying: Its just another one of the round robin games and obviously its going to be a good one.At the WACA in Perth, two worlds collide when mighty India tackle the United Arab Emirates team of shipping clerks and airline staff, with at least two of the Gulf amateurs relishing the showdown.All-rounder Krishna Chandran and wicket-keeper Swapnil Patil were both born in India.But frustrated by the pedestrian pace of their playing careers in the countrys over-crowded talent market, they decamped to the UAE to pursue jobs and cricket.Chandran hails from Kerala and once featured for a Bangalore college club alongside Stuart Binny, who is a member of the India squad at the World Cup.Its going to be a big moment for people back home, 30-year-old Chandran, who moved to the Gulf in 2010, told wisdenindia.com.For people who saw me playing in my shorts, with a tennis ball, on the streets of my home village of Kollengode, its going to be a big thing to watch me on TV, playing against India, in a World Cup match, at a ground like the WACA.Patil is another Indian expat and is looking forward to meeting up with star batsman Ajinkya Rahane after the pair played in a variety of youth teams in Mumbai before the keeper moved to Dubai.India have been in rampant form so far, beating Pakistan by 76 runs and then trouncing South Africa by 130 runs in games where they racked up two 300-plus totals.The UAE have lost both their games, to Zimbabwe and Ireland, but only by four and two wickets.Indias in-form seamer Mohammad Shami, who took four for 35 against Pakistan and two for 30 against South Africa, will miss the game with a knee injury.  |
| Struggling Watson plays on despite friend's death Posted: AUCKLAND (AFP) - Struggling Australian all-rounder Shane Watson goes into Saturdays World Cup clash against New Zealand mourning the death of one of his closest friends who lost his battle with cancer this week.Paul Hutchison, a former fast bowler for South Australia and Tasmania, died from cancer in Brisbane on Friday, aged just 47, the Sydney Daily Telegraph reported.Watson and Hutchison played junior cricket for Brisbane club Redlands and while he was in the city last week for the washed-out World Cup game against Bangladesh, 33-year-old Watson made several visits to Hutchisons bedside.That included one in the hours after the game was cancelled.Watson was left upset by Hutchisons physical condition and told teammates how life had really been put in perspective, reported the Telegraph.Watson was our for nought in the win over England on February 14, but he is expected to keep his place in the team for Saturdays game at Eden Park with skipper Michael Clarke backing the veteran to return to form.I think Watto has certainly acknowledged that he would like to make runs as much as anybody. I wouldnt be surprised if you see him walk out there and make an important hundred for us, said Clarke.  |
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