Sports

AHMEDABAD, India, (Reuters) – Champions Australia  softened up a resolute Zimbabwe with fiery pace and bounce to  kick start their campaign with a resounding 91-run victory yesterday, their 30th World Cup win on the trot.

NAGPUR, (Reuters) – England captain Andrew Strauss  expects Kevin Pietersen to thrive in his newly assigned opener’s  role and wants the team to play the smart one-day cricket that  was conspicuously absent in their recent tour of Australia.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Marlon Samuels stroked his second hundred for the season, as Jamaica settled for a draw with Barbados in the WICB Regional first-class championship yesterday.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Lendl Simmons narrowly missed-out on a hundred, as Trinidad & Tobago earned a draw with England Lions in the WICB Regional first-class championship yesterday.

While outgoing president of the Guyana Cricket Board  (GCB) Chetram Singh claims that he has no idea  how investigations are proceeding, some executive members are not satisfied with the work of the investigator.

BERNE, (Reuters) – AC Milan captain Gennaro Gattuso  has been given a four-match European ban for head-butting the  assistant coach of rivals Tottenham Hotspur at the end of last  week’s Champions League tie, UEFA said yesterday.

LYON, France, (Reuters) – Real Madrid are a stronger  proposition than last year after the arrival of Champions League  specialist Jose Mourinho and several new midfielders, bogey side  Olympique Lyon said yesterday ahead of their last-16 first leg.

SYDNEY, (Reuters) – Hosts Britain will be nervous  about their medal chances at next year’s London Olympics after  raising expectations by finishing fourth in the table at  Beijing, according to Australia’s Chef de Mission Nick Green.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Pakistan’s World Cup captain  Shahid Afridi will play for Hampshire in the 2011 English  domestic Twenty20 competition, the county said yesterday.

LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) – Blake Griffin soared over  an automobile and into a new stratosphere on Saturday with an  awe-inspiring performance to win the NBA’s slam dunk contest.

DELHI, India, CMC – Darren Bravo wants to make a name for himself at the World Cup in the hope of ending comparisons with Trinidad & Tobago and West Indies batting legend Brian Lara.

DELHI, India,  CMC – Chris Gayle hopes his explosive batting can lift West Indies in the World Cup, but he also wants to be crowned the top all-rounder in the tournament.

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC – Windward Islands kept their composure to complete a four-wicket victory over Guyana, after Veerasammy Permaul and Davendra Bishoo threatened to derail them in the WICB Regional first-class championship yesterday.

Jason-Ray Khalil and Ben Mekdeci were the winners of the main category and category A respectively of the Bounty Farm Handicap squash tournament which concluded yesterday afternoon at the Georgetown Club courts.

Cyclist Robin Persaud braved the rain to cross  the finish line in first position  when the Forbes Burnham 88th birth anniversary cycle road race ended yesterday morning at Carifesta Avenue.

Delhi, India – West Indies Team Manager Richie Richardson is full of confidence that the team will do very well at the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

NORTH SOUND, Antigua, CMC – Combined Campuses & Colleges were within sight of a historic, maiden victory over Leeward Islands in the WICB Regional first-class championship yesterday.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Jamaica, leading by two on first innings, reached 114 for two in their second innings at the close on the third day of their third round match in the WICB Regional first-class championship against Barbados yesterday at Kensington Oval.

AHMEDABAD, (Reuters) – Kevin Pietersen will be ready  to unleash his destructive brand of cricket from the off when  England face the Netherlands in their opening World Cup Group B  match tomorrow.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Trinidad & Tobago failed to tame the England Lions and conceded first innings points to the invitational side in the WICB Regional first-class championship yesterday.