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FA Cup fifth-round draw: Man City land Chelsea at home

FA Cup fifth-round draw: Man City land Chelsea at home

Manchester City will play Chelsea, while Arsenal are at home to Liverpool in the FA Cup fifth round.
Everton boss Roberto Martinez will face one of his former clubs, Swansea, while Sunderland will host Southampton in the the other all-Premier League tie.
Premier League strugglers Cardiff are at home to holders Wigan, Hull travel to Brighton and Sheffield Wednesday host fellow Championship side Charlton.
The games will be played on the weekend of 15-16 February.

James Faulkner plays a stunning innings to lead Australia to a one-wicket win in the second ODI in Brisbane.

 James Faulkner smashed an unbeaten 69 off 47 balls to give Australia an unlikely one-wicket win over England in the second one-day international for a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

Man-of-the-match Faulkner smashed five sixes and three boundaries in a 57-run partnership with Clint McKay in the final five overs to lead Australia to its victory target of 301 with just three balls to spare.

After Alastair Cook won the toss and elected England to bat, Eoin Morgan scored a dashing century and Ian Bell had 68 in a very competitive 300—8.

Australia made a disastrous start in reply when Aaron Finch was caught one-handed by Gary Ballance off Chris Jordan (2—53). Jordan soon struck again when he caught-and-bowled David Warner for 18.

Earlier, Eoin Morgan smashed a dashing century to lead England to a competitive 300-8.

Morgan hit four fours and six sixes in his knock of 106 before he was caught by Michael Clarke off James Faulkner (2—71).

Ian Bell made 68 to steady the innings after the early loss of Alastair Cook (22) and Joe Root (2) before being run out by Clarke.

Morgan earned an early reprieve while on 1 when he lofted a Clarke ball to deep mid-wicket for a simple catch but it was deemed not out because Australia had set too many fielders outside the inner circle.

Cook had another disappointing day after winning the toss and electing to bat first on a dry and flat Gabba wicket. The England captain again went cheaply, caught and bowled by Glenn Maxwell (2—31).

Joe Root fell shortly after, trapped lbw off Ashes hero Mitchell Johnson.

Gary Ballance made just 9 before being caught out of his crease by wicketkeeper Brad Haddin off Maxwell, leaving England looking vulnerable on 73—3.

Bell then set about restoring the innings with a solid knock that included five boundaries.

Ravi Bopara made 24 before being caught by George Bailey off Faulkner.

Jos Buttler made 49, with his score revised upward by a post-innings review which found a shot that had seemed to be knocked back into play by Shaun Marsh was actually a boundary.

Ben Stokes was caught for a duck by Maxwell off Coulter—Nine and Morgan was finally dismissed in the final over.

Vincent Kompany: Man City quadruple a matter of time


Vincent Kompany: Man City quadruple a matter of time
Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany says it is only a matter of time before the club com
plete a record haul of four major trophies in a season.
City boss Manuel Pellegrini wants to mark his debut season in England by securing all four trophies they are in.
And Kompany, 27, says it is inevitable that City will do the quadruple at some stage in the near future.
"We can't promise it will happen now, but eventually it will have to happen," said the Belgium defender.
"We are the players at the moment who have been chosen to do it. If it's not us then it will be other players.

Dhoni keen to continue as skipper in all 3 formats

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is not averse to the idea of continuing as the skipper of the Indian cricket team in all the three formats, saying it would be unfair to burden a new player with the mantle of captaincy with just one year left for the World Cup.

“I think it’s a point of no return with the World Cup literally one year away from now. It won’t give a new guy the ideal time to play, at least, 70-80-90 games beginning to the World Cup that’s what we would like to have him play before the World Cup,” Dhoni said.

“I understand the pressure, it’s not always that you turn up and at the same time, you get the kind of things which give you more experience than the others. So, we have to go through it,” he said at a promotional event in Delhi on Monday.

The skipper said he is feeling a lot fitter and healthier than ever.

“I was really fortunate to see where I am right now with the amount of cricket that we are playing these days. As of now, it’s looking good. The body is closely knit together. How it will be (in future), I don’t know but so far so good,” he said.

Munir Dar suspended for illegal action

Munir Dar, the Hong Kong left-arm spinner, has been found to have an illegal bowling action and has been suspended by the ICC from bowling in international cricket for 12 months. According to an analysis carried out by the ICC, the amount of elbow extension in Dar's action across all deliveries (stock delivery, quicker one and arm ball) exceeded the 15 degrees level of tolerance permitted.

Dar was reported twice during the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in the UAE, firstly on November 15 last year following a group match against Italy, and then on November 28 following a playoff match against Papua New Guinea.

Dar was first reported by umpires C Shamshuddin, Michael Gough, Ian Ramage and match referee Dev Govindjee, and was required to submit to an analysis by his home board, which concluded that his action was legal. As such, Dar was permitted to continue bowling in international cricket.

However, any subsequent report within a period of two years of the date of the first report requires a bowler to submit to an ICC analysis, and Dar was reported a second time by umpires Michael Gough, S Ravi, Adrian Holdstock, John Ward and match referee Graeme Labrooy. As a result, he was required to submit to an ICC analysis.

Where an ICC analysis concludes that a player's action is illegal, the player is immediately suspended from bowling in any international cricket for a period of 12 months. Upon the expiry of the suspension period, Dar will be automatically eligible to bowl again in international cricket.

The ICC analysis was performed by associate professor Jacque Alderson and her team at the School of Sport Science, Exercise and Health, The University of Western Australia, in Perth on December 19.

(News copy from cricinfo.com)

Participation in Asia Cup not guaranteed: Pakistan

The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) may have decided to hold the Asia Cup in the strife torn Bangladesh but Pakistan is refusing to commit itself to participation in the continental tournament. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) says its participation is subject to many a condition, effectively stating that there is no guarantee that it will take part. Primarily, the PCB wants to assess the situation before giving the goahead.

"Pakistan will have to assess the developing situation carefully before confirming its participation if the matches are held in Bangladesh," a high level PCB official close to Pakistan board interim president Najam Sethi, told Mirror. He termed the situation in Bangladesh as adverse to the Pakistan cricket team.

On Saturday, the ACC decided to go ahead with the tournament in Bangladesh despite reports of nation-wide protest in the country. Reports also said the situation in Bangladesh is volatile and Sunday's election was marred by violence and protests.

The PCB said that anti-Pakistani sentiments are prevailing in Bangladesh and it cannot ignore the threat perception to its team in Dhaka. The Pakistan board has also revealed that the country's foreign office is as much concerned.
"PCB and Pakistan foreign office cannot ignore the particular nature of the security threat to the Pakistan team if it is asked to play in the sort of civil strife circumstances that prevail in Bangladesh today," the official said.

The official also strove to give a political colour to the issue linking the Asia Cup to the case of Quader Molla, a religious leader, who was recently executed by the Bangladesh government. "Unlike other teams, there are anti-Pakistan protests relating to the case of Quader Molla," the official stated.

The ACC,led by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), however, is confident Pakistan will participate in the tournament, that has now been upgraded to a five-nation event. Previously, only four teams - India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh besides Pakistan - used to participate. The ACC has invited Afghanistan for the tournament.

"The PCB was a party to the decision of the ACC and the Pakistan board has not objected to the decision," ACC chief executive Ashraful Huq said on Saturday. "That is our understanding. We're hopeful that Pakistan will take part," a BCCI official added. The Asia Cup is slated to be held from February 25 to March 7 in Dhaka.

Afghanistan To Compete In 2014 Asia Cup


Afghanistan will participate as the fifth side in the Asia Cup this year, it was announced on Saturday at the Annual General Meeting of the Asian Cricket Council.

"The tournament will go ahead as scheduled in Bangladesh from February 25," Asian Cricket Council (ACC) chief executive Ashraful Huq said, "and Afghanistan will be added as the fifth team in the regional one-day tournament."

Afghanistan will join Asia's four Test nations - India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh - in the 50-over tournament. The fast-improving Afghanistan team, who have qualified for their maiden appearance in the World Cup in 2015, have also made it to their third successive World Twenty20 in 2014.

"This is a big step forward for Afghanistan," Huq said. "Their participation in the Asia Cup will encourage them for the bigger tests ahead."

The decision comes as a result of meetings between Afghanistan Cricket Board management and the cricket boards of India (BCCI) and Sri Lanka (SLC).

"We are grateful that the Asian Cricket Council recommended Afghanistan's participation in the Asian Cup 2014," Dr Noor Mohammad Murad, CEO of the Afghanistan Cricket Board, said in Kabul on Saturday.

"We are even more thrilled that India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have agreed to our participation. Afghanistan needs the kind of elite level experience that competing against those full member, testing playing nations can provide for us.

"Our Under-19 National Team has just participated in the Under-19 Asian Cup and made it to the first semi final after defeating Sri Lanka Under-19 team. Now we believe our National Team can also be a competitive presence in this tournament.

"Win or lose the experience we gain will be very important for us and will have tremendous value for our players."

Afghanistan's addition to the competition will lead to changes in the tournament schedule and may extend the competition by some days.