The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Strauss resigns as England captain, quits cricket
- Kubica has test day-out with Ford
- Paralympics: 'Inspirational' Paralympics to open in London
| Strauss resigns as England captain, quits cricket Posted: 29 Aug 2012 05:48 AM PDT Published: Wednesday August 29, 2012 MYT 8:35:00 PM Updated: Wednesday August 29, 2012 MYT 8:48:13 PM LONDON: Andrew Strauss (pic) resigned as England's Test captain and annnounced his retirement from professional cricket with immediate effect on Wednesday. "After much thought over the last few weeks, I have decided to step down as England Test captain and announce my retirement from all forms of cricket," Strauss said in an England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) statement issued ahead of a news conference at Lord's. "It has clearly been a tough decision to make, but I believe that it is both in the best interests of the England cricket team and myself to step down at this stage," the 35-year-old, who played exactly 100 Tests, added. "The driver to all this is I haven't batted well enough for a long time. I wasn't going to improve batting-wise, I've run my race," Strauss later told the news conference. "It's one of these decisions when you know when your time is up." "It is important for a captain to not be a passenger and that people are not speculationg whether you should be in the side." Alastair Cook, already England's one-day captain and Strauss's opening partner in the five-day game, was announced as the new skipper of the Test team. Strauss insisted his retirement had nothing to do with the ongoing England exile of star batsman Kevin Pietersen. England dropped Pietersen, who hasn't played international cricket in any format since making 149 in the drawn second Test at Headingley, after he admitted sending "provocative" texts to South African players. Some of these were alleged to have been critical of Strauss, who succeeded South Africa-born and raised Pietersen as England captain in 2009. Strauss said he'd spoken to England coach Andy Flower about retiring "before the Kevin Pietersen situation reared its head". His last Test was a 51-run defeat by South Africa at Lord's, his Middlesex home ground where he made his Test debut in 2004, earlier this month that saw England surrender their number one Test ranking to the Proteas. Strauss scored 21 hundreds - one shy of England's all-time record - and led England to the top of the world Test rankings, a run that included home and away Ashes wins in 2009 and 2010/11. Cook's first Test as captain will be the first of a four-match series in India in November. The 27-year-old paid tribute to Strauss by saying: "Andrew's contribution to England cricket in recent years is evident to everyone who follows the sport but only those of us who have been lucky enough to share a dressing room with him are fully aware of his immense contribution to our success. "He has been a fantastic captain, has led from the front for three-and-a-half years and is a true ambassador for the game. "I know this can't have been an easy decision for him and everyone in the dressing room will be sad to see him go. "I'm very excited by this new challenge, it is a huge honour to be appointed Test captain." ECB chief executive David Collier said: "On behalf of the ECB and everyone involved in cricket I'd like to thank Andrew Strauss for his outstanding contribution to the game. "Andrew's calmness and authority when dealing with some of the most difficult moments in our sport in recent times should be applauded and I have no doubt that his contribution as an ambassador for the game will be recognised by anyone who has had an opportunity to spend time with him." Strauss has enjoyed modest returns with the bat in recent years and his 122 against the West Indies in May was his first Test century since November 2010. He followed up with another century, at Trent Bridge, but averaged just 17.83 in six innings against the South Africans. England's form in 2012 has been poor, with six defeats in 11 Tests culminating in a 2-0 series loss to South Africa, their first home reverse in four years. Strauss was the third England skipper to be 'seen off' in as many tours of England by South Africa captain Graeme Smith after Nasser Hussain in 2003 and Michael Vaughan in 2008. -AFP |
| Kubica has test day-out with Ford Posted: 29 Aug 2012 03:34 AM PDT PARIS: Formula One driver Robert Kubica, seriously injured in a crash in February 2011, spent a day behind the wheel of a rally car on a test track in France last month, reports claim. Kubica drove a Ford Fiesta with the team's world rally championship drivers Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg also present, British motorsport website www.autosport.com announced. Ford refused to acknowledge that Kubica was at the test, but the team's technical director Christian Loriaux said that an experienced driver had "put in some very good work" alongside Latvala and Solberg. Kubica, with the Renault F1 team at the time, suffered life-threatening multiple injuries in an accident at the Ronde di Andora Rally 18 months ago. The 27-year-old's right-hand was partially severed in the crash in northern Italy when he hit a safety barrier and had to be cut free from his car. He also suffered serious injuries to his shoulder and leg. - AFP |
| Paralympics: 'Inspirational' Paralympics to open in London Posted: 29 Aug 2012 03:34 AM PDT LONDON: A spectacular opening ceremony was set to ring in the biggest ever Paralympic Games on Wednesday, with double amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius among those gearing up for 11 days of competition. Stephen Hawking, Britain's most famous living scientist, was expected to feature in the ceremony at London's Olympic Stadium, where the curtain came down on the Olympic Games just two weeks ago. Hawking, who has motor neurone disease and has been paralysed for most of his life, was set to appear alongside a cast of more than 3,000 at the ceremony, where Queen Elizabeth II will officially open the Games. A record 4,200 athletes are taking part in the Paralympics across 20 sports, with the event expected to sell out for the first time and win its biggest ever television audience. The Paralympic torch arrived in London early Wednesday after travelling in an overnight relay through the English countryside. It was lit at Stoke Mandeville - the hospital that is the spiritual home of disabled sport - on Tuesday evening and carried 148 kilometres (92 miles) southeast by 116 teams of five people. Cheers and prayers met the flame as it arrived in northwest London at the Shree Swaminarayan Hindu temple, before travelling through the British capital past famous landmarks including Westminster Abbey and Piccadilly Circus. The torch was heading east for the start of the ceremony at 1930 GMT, which will be watched by some 80,000 people in the stadium. Organisers have described the ceremony, which is named "Enlightenment", as a "celebration of the inspirational spirit of the Paralympic Games that challenges perceptions of human possibility". The British Paralympic Association (BPA) has said the ceremony will be "groundbreaking in its inclusivity and innovative staging", showcasing deaf and disabled artists. It has been created by artistic directors Jenny Sealey and Bradley Hemmings, both of whom have a long history of hosting live shows involving disabled performers. "Aerobility", a British charity that trains disabled people to become pilots, will perform a fly-past, the BPA said. Across the 11 days of elite disability sport, the International Paralympic Committee predicts a global television audience of more than four billion - a record for the Games, which first took place in Rome in 1960. Organisers believe much of the interest has come after a successful Olympics for British athletes, which saw the host nation finish third in the overall medal table behind the United States and China. Britain is also considered the "spiritual home" of the Paralympics, as the first recognised sports events for athletes with disabilities was held in Stoke Mandeville in 1948. The sporting action begins on Thursday, with shooting set to provide the first gold of the Games in the women's 10m standing air rifle. Medals are also up for grabs in the velodrome with the finals of the men and women's individual pursuit, in four weight categories in judo at the ExCel Arena and at the Aquatics Centre, where 15 swimming finals are to be held. The showpiece athletics programme gets under way on Friday with the spotlight on South Africa's Pistorius, who is seeking to defend his T44 100m, 200m and 400m titles from Beijing four years ago. Pistorius, dubbed the "Blade Runner" because he runs on carbon fibre blades, made history earlier this month by becoming the first double amputee to compete in the Olympics when he ran in the 400m heats and 4x400m relay final. But on Tuesday he played down expectations of repeating his Beijing treble, with Britain's world-record holder Jonnie Peacock and world champion Jerome Singleton of the United States likely to feature in the 100m final. "It's important to note that I haven't run a 100m personal best in five years. It's not really my event," he told a news conference, adding that he would "be happy" with a medal of any colour in the blue riband sprint. - AFP |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Star Online: Sports To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan