De Villiers slams SA selectors

Johannesburg: Former pacer Fanie de Villiers has slammed the South African selectors for including “half-fit” bowlers in the national side that suffered an ignominious defeat to the visiting Englishmen in the second Test in Durban Wednesday.

“It was a big mistake,” De Villiers said, as he called for those responsible for including “half-fit” Dale Steyn and Jacques Kallis in the match to be hauled up.

Alam ire

Karachi: Livid with Pakistan’s poor batting performance in the opening Test against Australia, coach Intikhab Alam has warned the team’s senior players to either perform or perish.

Younis row

Karachi: Pakistan captain Mohammed Yousuf is disappointed at the PCB turning down the team management’s request to send senior batsman Younis Khan to Australia to reinforce the batting line-up ahead of the second Test, beginning Sunday, but said he has accepted the decision. “We had made a valid request… But once the Board and the selectors have taken their decision, we have to accept it and carry on with the rest of the tour,” he said.

Watson view

Melbourne: Australian all-rounder Shane Watson says he wants to continue in the opener’s slot rather than batting in the middle-order. Watson, who hit his maiden Test hundred in the first Test against Pakistan at the MCG at the top of order, said he relishes his new job as opener and wants to cement his place by scoring heavily.

U-16 cricket

Calcutta: Tamil Nadu rode on B. Indrajit’s 121 as they piled up 419 for nine against Mumbai in their Vijay Merchant Trophy (under-16) quarter final match in Krishnanagar on Friday.

Summarised scores

l In Cooch Behar: Delhi 207 in 81.2 ovs (Nitish Rana 78, Naryan Bisht 34 n.o.; M. Javed 6/63). Uttar Pradesh 110/3 in 36 ovs (M. Faraz 55 n.o.)

l In Krishnanagar: Mumbai 150. Tamil Nadu 419/9 in 141 ovs (B. Aparajit 91, K. Bharat Shankar 74, B. Indrajit 121; Aditya Dhumal 4/103, John Abraham 3/120).

l In Murshidabad: Punjab 414 in 126.5 ovs (Mohit Handa 110, Mahavir Singh 97; CV Miland 3/81). Hyderabad 147/7 in 51.5 ovs (Abhishek Ashok 72; Pradeep Kumar 3/17, Vinay Chaudhary 3/25).

l In Siliguri: Jharkhand 136 and 57/1 in 18.5 overs (Virat Singh 31 n.o.). Maharashtra 148 in 62.3 ovs (Kazi Shamzuma 54 n.o.; Ronit Singh 3/31, Pratik Ranjan 3/37).

All matches to continue.

Dakar Rally

Buenos Aires: Considered the most dangerous race on the planet, the Dakar Rally starts Saturday with 378 drivers taking part in the second edition staged in South America because of security concerns.

Ashbeer wins

Pune: A string of late bogeys nearly derailed Ashbeer Saini’s campaign but he held his nerve to lift the Lalit Suri All-India Junior Golf Championship with a narrow one-shot win over Bangalore’s Khalin Joshi.