Katich made his maiden Ashes century

Simon Katich yesterday completed his maiden Ashes century and after that he paid tribute to Aussie great Bobby Simpson frustrate England on the second day of the first Test cricket match at Sophia Gardens.The Australlia were 249 for one at the end of the days play, still a deficit of 186,but Katich is batting superbly and he is now on Katich 104 not out along with Ponting, who also scored 100 not out.Both of them made partnership of 189 unbeaten runs for the second-wicket and for Katich made his first hundred against England in seven Tests was especially good, because he suffers a lot during the Ashes series 2005, where he struggled against the incoming reverse-swinging deliveries during Australia's 2005 Ashes series loss.The 33-year-old has started his career in 2001 but not able to achieve the permanent position for Australia's test team squad. Katich its heip him a lot working with Simpson, who was a former Australia opener, captain and coach, had made a huge difference of his batting style.

The Glorious History of the Ashes

The Ashes is a cricket series that happens between England and Australia every year and a half to three years. The teams have been meeting on opposite shores since 1882 when a topical newspaper at the time said that England cricket was dead following a defeat by Australia.

Australia and England actually met for the first time in 1877 but it was not until the 1882 match when Australia won in spectacular fashion at the Oval that the series was given a birth into mainstream sport. It was this year that was to signal the start of the most intense rivalry in sport and even today any Australian or Englishman will say that they would like nothing better than to stuff the other.

The Ashes are a symbol of this death and the urn that is permanently housed in the Lords Cricket Ground Museum is one of the most treasured prizes that are available in top-level sport. Needless to say replicas of the urn are always made for each series.

There have since been many squabbles between the English Cricket Board and Cricket Australia with the latter wanting the urn to be held in the country that possesses it in the statistics. It is no secret that CA have made this argument as the Australians have held the Ashes for greater periods of time than the English have done.

Ever since the Ashes began the sides have always played a series of five test matches, which has resulted in many memorable series e.g. the bodyline series and the 2005 series. Australia have been the more dominant of the two sides and currently hold the trophy heading into the 2009 series.

Australia and England have never gotten on in a cricket sense. The evolution of so many factors that are present in the modern game have originated when these two teams have met. For example it was between England and Australia that the banter known as sledging developed. This has been used by cricket players ever since as a way of unsettling the batsmen of an opposition side.
The real bitterness between the two sides developed during the 1932-1933 series when England’s bowlers used a series of bodyline tactics to get out many Australian batsmen. They used tactical and aggressive bouncers to try and hit the batsmen, which resulted in much hard feeling and is still held by some to be the most defining hatred of any Australian player towards the English.

It can also be said that the hatred that was generated between the two during this series has also been carried over into other sports. For example whenever the English and the Australians meet in a game of Rugby Union the rivalry is just as fierce and it is because of the Ashes. The Ashes started the great duel between the two and is the reason that it has carried on along different parallels for such a long time.

Needless to say that many great players have featured during the history of the Ashes. Arguably the greatest batsman of all time, Don Bradman, would regularly put England to the sword scoring many hundreds as he maintain the high class average that he had the ability to display through his entire career.

His centuries as well as memorable performances from the likes of Sir Ian Botham and Bob Willis in later series have all led to the memory of many great sporting moments that have had us all glued to the edge of our seats.

In 1989 Australia won the Ashes back and held the urn for the next 16 years. It was not until 2005 that the beauty and history of the event was once again opened up and captured the imagination of the public concerned. The 2005 series was hailed as the best Ashes series of all time and owing to the fact that it was broadcast on English domestic television means that it is the first instance of test cricket that some have ever watched.
Many former players will put the Ashes down to a simple battle of wit and pressure. The Ashes has produced some legends of the game and the 2005 series showed that even in the later part of his career, Australian legend, Shane Warne, could still prove a thorn in the side of the English.

Warne made his debut in the 1993 series between the sides and his first ball ever in the test match arena was to become known as the greatest ball ever bowled. Warne pitched a ball to England batsman, Mike Gatting, which turned square and clipped the off stump, signalling the start of one of the greatest careers ever in the game.

Warne bowled out England four times on his own in the 2005 series despite Australia losing but he bowed out in grace when his country won back the urn just two years later, thumping England 5-0.

Even when England were being beaten so comprehensively in each series that was played between the two teams there was always an air of anticipation and excitement that the old enemy could be overcome and this is exactly the same with the 2009 series that is about to start, which pretty much renders the last result useless.

There are few better spectacles of sport for the spectator to just sit back and take in and because the Ashes is such a long series the drama can go on for weeks and even months. It is a strange game but some will say that they would not trade a single second of it for any amount of limited overs cricket that is currently available.

There is also the history of the grounds that is involved in any Ashes series. Whether it be Perth in Australia or at Lords, the Home of Cricket, the venue that gets to hold an Ashes match always seems to be buzzing and this series will be no different. Although the first venue for the 2009 series has been heavily criticized it can be guaranteed that the place will be jumping, as the majority England crowd will look to get right on top of the Australians and bring back the Ashes to their country of origin.
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Magnificent Dhoni Steers India Home

A brilliant captain’s knock by Mahendra S Dhoni ensured that India got the better of West Indies in a rain affected third One-Day international match played at St. Lucia. India beat the hosts in a convincing fashion, notching up a 6-wicket win in a match that was hugely affected by the rain. The Duckworth-Lewis method was used to draw up the final total, which India managed to pull off with just a single ball to spare. This victory meant that India now have an unassailable lead in this one day series and would be looking forward to another series victory on foreign soil.

Winning the toss, the Indian captain decided to field first as the hosts got of to a great start with Chris Gayle hammering Ishant Sharma to all parts of the field. However, constant rain interruptions and delays ensured that India were able to restrict West Indies to 185 runs. Ramnaresh Sarwan played a brilliant knock of 62 to ensure that West Indies put up a competitive total. Rain was now a big factor in the match as India was set a revised target of 195 runs in 27 overs using the D/L method.

Keeping the rain factor in mind, the Indian openers did not waste time and put on a solid opening partnership of 84 runs with Dinesh Karthik scoring 47 runs and Gambhir scoring 48 in the Indian innings. Once Karthik was run out to a brilliant piece of fielding by Rampaul, the Indian captain took centre stage. However, due to constant rain interruptions the target was revised to 159 runs of 22 overs. Requiring just 64 runs in the last nine overs of the match, the Indian batting line up faltered as Gambhir and Yuvraj made the long walk to the pavilion in quick succession.

With 11 runs to get in the last over of the match and the departure of Rohit Sharma, the whole onus was now on Dhoni to take India home. The Indian captain took control of the match by hitting a massive six of Taylor in the second delivery of the last over to ensure that India went on to win the match. Although the match became a T20 affair, the Indian team can draw some positives from this win. The hosts will consider themselves a touch unlucky due to the D/L method being brought into play. Now the complete focus shifts to the next ODI as the hosts would definitely want to pull one back and even the series.

Dhoni's Fifth Consecutive Series Win

India won ODI series against West Indies yes day by 2-1 margin Last time India won in West Indies seven years ago under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly.This is India's fifth consecutive series win, previously they won two against Sri Lanka, One each against England and New Zealand and yesday win against West Indies. Indian captain contributed heavly with182 runs at an average of 91.00. Dhoni now enjoys best indian captain at wining % of 66.00 - 33 wins out of 55 (Lost 17, NR 5) .

Yuvraj contributed heavily for India's first ODI win over West Indies

India got an excellent win over West Indies in their first ODI Cricket match.India's first wicket falls early as Gautam departed early at a score of 13. India,s second wicket falls at the score of 32 as Rohit Sharma, after that Yuvi came in the center and start hitting the ball allover the park. His brilliant inning of 131 came for just 102 balls included 12 fours and 7 huge sixes.When Yuvi was in the field it looks like India can easily achieved 370 mark,but Bravo strikes sending back yuvraj an Rabindra Jadeja in two consecutive delivaries. Yousuf Pathan and Harbhajan Singh reached the India's total to 339 by some lasty hitting in end over. West Indies also started their innings brilliantly Chris Gayle scored 37 of 32 balls including five fours and 1 sixes.Runako Morton, Ramnaresh Sarwan, S Chanderpaul palyed well, but as the target was huge they were not able to give West Indies a win.

Reason behind India early exit from T20 WorldCup 2009

India was the champions of the T20 world cup 2007, which has been played in South Africa.In South Africa Dhoni's team started the tournament as a underdog, that's why there was no pressure on them, but this time the started as a hot favorite and there was a pressure on them to defend their crown.After the winning the T20 World Cup Dhoni's men own some good series for India, Australia series, series in New Zea land and won two series in Sri Lanka. Dhoni was truly on a high as India’s captain, which he touched in the last two years has turned into gold.India played too much cricket in recent times , and fitness of the players was become an issue that time.Over the last couple of years, they played almost non-stop cricket which entailed excessive travelling and in the Lalit Modi's mulli millioon shows they also engaed for a month before the the T20 World Cup in England.

Dhoni's team was not prepared for the world cup and his teammates was over-confident, arrogant and complacent and team selection for the crusial games also to be blammed for the world cup debacle.

Some silly cricket rules Part-1

In cricket suppose a batsman hit the ball and the fielder or the wicket keeper stop the ball by their hats or gloves, the ball will be declared as a dead ball and the batting side side will be awarded with five bonus runs.

In early days of Test cricket,fielding was not a priority and many players were sloppy on the field,but now quality of cricket is improves and the ground is became more friendly for fielders.
The fielding side can saves 30 or 40 runs on the field.For more details follow the website.