ICC World Twenty20

Ashraful upbeat

First official practice game today

Bangladesh skipper Mohammad Ashraful poses with the ICC World Twenty20 Championship trophy following a press conference at Lord's in London yesterday.

Bangladesh skipper Mohammad Ashraful believes the Tigers are preparing well for the ICC World T20 which kicks off on June 5.

"We have come here one week early, had three games against New Zealand, Holland and Scotland and the boys have done well. We are confident and there are two tough games against Australia tomorrow [Monday] and Sri Lanka the day after. So that's a nice build up to the main tournament," said Ashraful at the captains' media briefing at Lord's yesterday.

The Bangladesh skipper was due to stay back in London until later in the evening for the official dinner before he would leave for Nottinghamshire. The rest of the Bangladesh squad is already in Nottingham, their World T20 base, and had a training session at Lady Bay to prepare for today's warm-up against Australia at Trent Bridge.

The Tigers are expected to go in with three spinners and three pacers against the Aussies. Nayeem Islam might make a return to the side after missing the last two practice matches with a sore shoulder. Shahadat Hossain is likely to be kept out again with Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Syed Rasel and Rubel Hossain forming the pace attack.

The game starts at 1:30pm local time (6:30pm Bangladesh Time) with ESPNStar Sports beaming live coverage in South Asia.

Ashraful was looking forward to the first match of Group A against India at Trent Bridge on June 6.

"In this form of the game any side can beat the other. We defeated the West Indies in the last World T20 in South Africa and progressed to the Super Eights. Our main goal is to repeat that and if we beat India, who are the world champions, in the first match then we will fancy our chances of doing well against the other top sides and making the semifinals even."

The captain was asked about the new kid on the block Rubel Hossain who has been too hot to handle for Holland and Scotland in warm-up matches.

"He has taken nine wickets in two matches and is bowling really well. He has an awkward action and has bit of extra pace," said Ashraful.

Ashraful also put his money on vice-captain Mashrafe to come into his own against India despite a rather forgettable Indian Premier League campaign for Kolkata Knight Riders where he just got one game and went for many.

"It was only in the last over that he did badly. Otherwise I thought he was okay. But I know he'll be back. He is that type of a player. He always does well against India."

Mortaza has been the man-of-the-match in both games Bangladesh have won against India.

Asked about the comment from the Ireland captain William Potterfield that they wanted to beat Bangladesh, Ashraful said the Tigers were the better side.

"I think if we play our best cricket then we should not have a problem against Ireland because we have more quality in the side."

French Open

King Nadal ousted

Ivanovic follows suit

Spanish world number one Rafael Nadal serves the ball to Swedish Robin Soderling (not in picture) in the French Open round of 16 match at Roland Garros in Paris yesterday. Nadal, the king of clay, was eventually beaten by the Swede.

Defending champion Rafael Nadal was knocked out of the French Open on Sunday losing in the fourth round to Sweden's Robin Soderling 6-2, 6-7 (2/7), 6-4, 7-6 (7/2).

Soderling will play either Russian 10th seed Nikolay Davydenko or Fernando Verdasco, the eighth-seeded Spaniard for a place in the semifinals.

Belarussian teenager Victoria Azarenka sunk Ana Ivanovic's hopes of defending her French Open crown with a comprehensive 6-2, 6-3 win in the fourth round.

It is the first time the 19-year-old has reached the last eight at a Grand Slam event and she will play Russian top seed Dinara Safina for a place in the semifinals.

The 21-year-old Ivanovic, meanwhile, was left pondering what she has to do to re-discover the form that brought her the title and world No.1 spot a year ago.

Top seed Dinara Safina eased into the French Open quarterfinals defeating Aravane Rezai of France 6-1, 6-0 in a 53-minute centre-court mismatch.

It was the Russian's 18th win out of 19 matches on clay this season and confirmed her status as favourite to win her first Grand Slam title.

Ten-time Grand Slam title winner Serena Williams angrily denounced her Roland Garros opponent as a 'cheat' on Saturday as two of the world's top 10 crashed to shock French Open defeats.

Williams, the 2002 champion, defeated Spain's Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the last 16.

Andy Murray reached his first French Open quarter-final on Sunday where he will face big-hitting Fernando Gonazalez who almost missed Roland Garros due to a freak injury caused by signing autographs.

Third seed Murray became only the third British man in the Open era to reach the last eight here with a convincing 7-5, 7-6 (7/4), 6-1 win over Croatia's Marin Cilic.

The 28-year-old, who outgunned Romania's Victor Hanescu 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 to reach the Roland Garros quarter-finals for the third time, injured his ankle while signing photos and tennis balls for fans at the Rome Masters in April.

ICC World Twenty20

Twenty20 is home

Cricket's newest format returns to its birthplace when England hosts the World Twenty20 from Friday with the event kicking off a bumper summer which includes one of the sport's oldest combats, the Ashes.

But, as with all the other forms of one-day cricket first played in England at county level, the 'mother country' has found herself having to play catch-up with the rest of the world.

Originally conceived as a fun way of bringing new audiences, particularly those who couldn't watch cricket during the working day, into the game, Twenty20 has taken the sport by storm.

Tournaments such as the Indian Premier League (IPL) are now far more lucrative per match for a player than five-day Test cricket, the traditional pinnacle of the sport.

India, whose administrators were originally hostile to Twenty20 because they feared its commercial impact upon the 50-over game, won the inaugural global tournament in South Africa two years ago.

Nine members of that winning squad, which defeated arch-rivals Pakistan by five runs in a thrilling final in Johannesburg, will be coming to England.

But, in what above all other types of cricket is a game heavily weighted in favour of batsmen, India will be without master run-maker Sachin Tendulkar, who has now opted out of Twenty20 internationals.

Generally short boundaries and fielding restrictions put a premium on big-hitting batsmen and in Yuvraj Singh they have someone who struck England's Stuart Broad for six sixes in an over in South Africa.

Tendulkar, who himself played in this year's IPL, warned it was important that openers Yuvraj and Gautam Gambhir were refreshed after failing to find top form in the IPL.

"I think the key would be how soon they can shed the fatigue factor," Tendulkar said.

Wicket-taking bowlers are an invaluable commodity in a game where economy rates can go out the window and India look to have a promising pace attack.

Left-armer Rudra Pratap Singh, who took 12 wickets in South Africa in 2007, will be supported this time around by Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma.

Pakistan, starved of international cricket at home after a terror attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore in March made the country a 'no-go zone', will fancy their chances of going one better this time around.

"I thought Australia would thrash them in the one-off T20 match in Dubai but it was the other way round and now, if Pakistan play to their potential, they can win the title," Pakistan great Wasim Akram told AFP this month.

Australia have dominated all forms of cricket during the last decade except Twenty20 and captain Ricky Ponting is determined to improve both his and the team's record.

"The past couple of games I've played have been very poor," he said. "In the two games in South Africa I made one in each. It's not great form going into a World Cup."

Ponting gave Australia a scare when he sustained a hand injury during practice on Saturday.

But he is still expected to take part - which is more than England captain Andrew Strauss.

The opening batsman has opted out of the tournament because he thinks he isn't a good enough Twenty20 player and the suspicion remains that England are more interested in the Ashes series against Australia that follows this event.

England have never won a major international one-day tournament and they will be without all-rounder Andrew Flintoff (knee), now replaced by uncapped leg-spinner Adil Rashid, while doubts persist over star batsman Kevin Pietersen (Achilles).

But the IPL and subsequent international form of Ravi Bopara has shown England that there is life beyond "Freddie" and "KP".

Sri Lanka and New Zealand have repeatedly punched above their weight in international tournaments and could do so again during a tournament that will take place at three of English cricket's most historic venues - Lord's, the Oval and Trent Bridge.

And the West Indies could yet put a largely disappointing tour of England behind them in this format.

Meanwhile South Africa, who won both of their two previous Twenty20s against Australia, are desperate to add a one-day title to set alongside their achievements in winning Test series in both England and Australia during the past 12 months.

Bangladesh and Ireland, who have both enjoyed shock wins on the global stage in the past, will dream of further upsets although, with both Scotland and the Netherlands taking part, there is also the capacity for some hugely lopsided results too.

For the first time the corresponding women's tournament will run in parallel with the main men's event, with both finals taking place on the same day at Lord's where, thanks in part to Twenty20, permanent floodlights are now a feature of the ground.

The tournament gets underway on June 5

ICC World Twenty20

From IPL to WC

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is looking forward to uniting all the talents at his disposal during the World Twenty20 in England after competing against his teammates in the Indian Premier League.

India are the defending World Twenty20 champions after winning the inaugural edition in South Africa two years ago.

Since then the IPL, a lucrative franchise Twenty20 tournament that features the world's best players, has burst on the scene although this year it was played in South Africa because of security concerns.

"Of course it is a pleasure representing your country after the IPL where you have limited talent in your side," Dhoni told reporters at Lord's here on Sunday.

"But here we have plenty of options and we have the cream of the IPL so there is less pressure on each and every individual."

India supply more IPL players than any other nation but wicket-keeper batsman Dhoni, the captain of the Chennai Super Kings, said this was not an advantage in itself.

"The IPL will help us but not only us. There are quite a few players from other countries but most of our players are in the IPL.

"The best thing is that our youngsters will know how to handle pressure, when in the last over you need 10 or 15 runs, everyone in our side has faced that situation.

"It's good exposure for our guys to play against guys like Brett Lee and Shane Warne.

India have been drawn in Group A alongside Asian rivals Bangladesh - who defeated India at the 2007 50-over World Cup in the Caribbean and Ireland - who beat both Bangladesh and Pakistan in the West Indies two years ago.

"In Twenty20, there is no such thing as a weak side, an individual can take the game away from you," Dhoni explained. "If we take care of the immediate steps, the result takes care of itself."

Reflecting on India's success in South Africa, where they beat arch-rivals Pakistan in a thrilling final, Dhoni said: "We can't live on or relish the memories, we have to turn up and do everything from scratch again, it's not about the past.

"Cricket is a very cruel game, the moment you relax is when you are in trouble," Dhoni said.

Asked how the team had developed, Dhoni joked: "I've got quite a few grey hairs. That's one change, the plus point is that in the last three years there have been fewer changes in the side.

"The individuals involved have played 80 to 90 one-day internationals, helps me personally. I can pick ideas according to the situation. Also the fielding has evolved compared to what it was. We have raised the bar."

India, who still have a doubt over the fitness of fast bowler Zaheer Khan's shoulder injury, come into this event without batting great Sachin Tendulkar.

'The Little Master' has opted out of international Twenty20s and Dhoni said: "He's among the greatest, it's tough, you always want a player like Sachin in your side.

"But he wasn't at the last T20, the guys are getting used to it. But he has a big impact in the dressing room, the amount of ideas he has is amazing."

Much has been made of the impact various strategies might have on the outcome of Twenty20 matches but Dhoni said: "It's about how quickly the individual adapts, about what he does on the field.

"It's not only about strategies but how you implement and how the individual you are planning against reacts. If it was all about strategy Sachin would have been sorted out by now and he's been playing for 20 years."

India begin their Group A campaign against Bangladesh at Trent Bridge on Saturday.

Citycell National School Football Championship
Said's fiver at BNS
Action from yesterday's Citycell National School Football Championship match between Muslimuddin High School of Jhenidah and Azimuddin High School of Kishoreganj at the Bangabandhu National Stadium. PHOTO: BANGLARCHOKH.COM Sports Reporter

Abu Said of Moslehuddin Secondary School scored a mammoth five goals contributing to his team's victory over Aziumddin High School by 8-2 goals in the Citycell National School Football Championship at the Bangabandhu National Stadium (BNS) yesterday.

Said scored in the 29th, 65th, 66th, 75th and 78th minutes while Arup Reza (42nd), Shimon (36th) and Kayes (39th) netted the other goals. Humayun (67th) and Ujjol (77th) scored the two goals for Aziumuddin.

In the second game of the day, Shuti VM Pilot High School defeated Raja Suryakumar Institute 3-1 at the same venue. Shujon Miah (17th) and Sabbir (22nd, 58th) took their team to victory and Shujon scored the lone goal for Raja in the 74th minute.

The Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) coaches panel has selected six top players from the school championship who will be part of BFF's future star program. The selected players are Anik Burman (Laxmi Narayan Cotton Mill), Mohammad Saddam (Raja Suryakumar Institute), Mohammad Zahid (Victoria High School), Mohammad Yasmin (Town Secondary School), Kawsar Ali Rabbi (Govt. Nasirabad School) and Rubel Miah (Govindaganj Bahumukhi High School).

The first semifinal will be held today at BNS between Govindaganj Bahumukhi High School and Victoria High School.