New Zealand made it two wins out of two in Pool A with a bizarre three-wicket victory against Scotland in Dunedin.

The Scots were reduced to 12-4 in the fifth over before Matt Machan (56) and Richie Berrington (50) put on 97.

Four batsmen fell first ball, a World Cup first, and only the third such instance in a one-day international, as they were 142 all out in the 37th over.

But New Zealand had more alarms than expected in a curious run chase, before winning with 25.1 overs to spare.

The Scots are in their third World Cup campaign and are yet to win a match in nine attempts, but came closer at the University Oval than anyone could have believed after such a destructive start.

They thrashed their higher ranked fellow qualifiers Ireland by 179 runs in a recent warm-up game yet it quickly became apparent they would not be emulating the Irish team's victory over West Indies on Monday.

Facing an in-form New Zealand on their own patch was a rather different proposition to a fragmented Windies, and the co-hosts, semi-finalists six times, justified their position as one of the leading contenders for the trophy with a fine display in the field after winning the toss.

Left-arm seamer Trent Boult expertly exploited the conditions, swinging the ball back into the right-handers at pace to claim wickets with his opening two deliveries in the second over.

Tim Southee also struck with consecutive deliveries and there was concern the lowest World Cup total of 36 by Canada was in jeopardy.

But Sussex left-hander Machan played with calm assurance in a 79-ball innings to restore some respectability with the purposeful Berrington.

However, wily spinner Daniel Vettori wrapped up the innings with successive wickets and the Kiwis had almost 40 minutes of batting before the official lunch interval.

Skipper Brendon McCullum and opening partner Martin Guptill appeared to want to reach the target in the nine overs bowled before the break, with number of wickets lost not affecting a team's overall run-rate in the group table, and both were caught behind in the mini-session.

The prolific Kane Williamson top-scored with 38 but edged seamer Josh Davey in the 18th over, one of four wickets to fall for 31 in a surprisingly ragged batting display from the Kiwis, who next face England in a day-night fixture in Wellington on Friday.

Scotland captain Preston Mommsen said he was "very proud" of his side after they ran the co-hosts so close

Once again India beat Pakistan in Worldcup this time man of the match Viratkholi . This is the first time india playing against pakistan in wc with out sachin. Our batting side is helprd by Kholi ,Raina, Dhawan and by bowling Shami helped us in a good way. Though pakistan skipper Mishbah tried a lot but he can't reach the score.

England suffered humiliation at the hands of Australia in their opening World Cup match. A crowd of 84,000 saw Aaron Finch, dropped second ball before he had scored, make 135 as Australia reached a formidable 342 for nine, the highest score England had ever conceded at a World Cup.

In reply Eoin Morgan’s side managed only 231 and lost by 111 runs, dismissed by the medium pace of Mitchell Marsh, who took five for 14 in one seven-over spell.

Only James Taylor saved some of England’s blushes, making an unbeaten 98 before the last man, Jimmy Anderson, was run out in confusing circumstances. Taylor had been given out lbw, but the stumps were then thrown down as well with Anderson out of his ground. Taylor was reprieved on review but Anderson given out instead.

The International Cricket Council later confirmed that he should not have been. A statement said: “The ball should have been deemed dead when the batsman (James Taylor) was given out leg before wicket (lbw). No further runs or dismissals were possible … the game ended incorrectly and an error was made.”

If it was a horror story for the England team, then it was doubly so for the captain. Morgan was dismissed for a six-ball duck, his fourth in five innings including one in his only warm-up game. However, Morgan, caught behind attempting to pull a short ball from Marsh, still insisted that he is frustrated rather than concerned. “I don’t feel too bad over that dismissal,” he said. “I toe-ended a pull and I think the ball stuck in the pitch a little. As a rule I am a huge nick-off candidate, I know that, and if that was how I was getting out, then I would be worried. But there is no pattern to it.”

Morgan defended the bowling tactics at the end of the innings that saw Australia score 105 runs in the last 10 overs. “We have different plans for different players,” he said. “It varies. It is certainly not easy at the end, and the ultimate is not just to restrict but to take wickets. We think the plans are sound but our execution has not been as good as it might be. We are looking for a higher standard of skill all round.”

Morgan praised Steven Finn following his five-wicket haul – which included a hat-trick – and Taylor, who had moved from three to six in order to accommodate Gary Ballance, and who added 92 for the seventh wicket with Chris Woakes, and went on to hit 11 fours and two sixes, one driven straight off the paceman Mitchell Starc.

“It was outstanding, especially in the circumstances,” said Morgan. “It was typical Taylor. He played himself in and then took advantage of that. We are looking for guys who can go on and post the sort of score that will win games. Here he batted closer to his natural position at five or six.”

Well, as close to the perfect game from New Zealand. They probably would have preferred one of their set batsmen to go on and notch a three figure score, but they’ll be satisfied that they start the World Cup with a professional performance.

Sri Lanka have issues, not least in the bowling department, where Malinga looks a pale shadow of his former self. Have Sri Lanka made an error in keeping him on this tour? He’ll no doubt bowl himself into form - there are more than enough games - but 10 overs, 0 for 84, is a huge worry.

Still, no need for total doom and gloom just yet. Thanks for joining me - I’m off to feel real again

Espn cricinfo have started a fantasy cricket league come lets play and win amazing gifts in it.         join a league there
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 Côte d'Ivoire ended a 23-year CAF Africa Cup of Nations title drought by winning 9-8 on penalties after the final with Ghana ended 0-0 following extra time. Congratulations, Les Elephants! 

Actress Vidya Balan has been out of action for quite sometime now has secretly been preparing for Mohit Suri's Humari Adhuri Kahani is a story she been dying to do ever since Parineeta.

Talking to a leading daily, the powerhouse performer said, "For me, it is an intense love story...something that people have not seen me doing for the longest time."

"It has been a revelation for me as well. It is the strength of the role, the story and the fact that it's been written by Bhatt saab and directed by Mohit made me say yes, she added.
And why not? After all, Vidya's character in the film is loosely based on Mahesh Bhatt's mother Shirin. The director, famous for his auto-biographical Arth, Janam, Daddy and Zakhm, borrowed cues from Shirin, among the other women who influenced his life.
"She was a beautiful woman living in a man's world. And that is one hell of a hazardous journey, more so for a single woman and a single parent. But her courage, strength and dignity kept her going and these are the qualities Vidya draws from her," he said in an interview recently.

Vidya's character in the film is a florist by profession but personally fighting several battles. She play a woman trapped in a loveless marriage, whose life takes eventually takes a turn changing everything about her and her surrounding.
Emraam Hashmi plays her love interest, while Rajkummar Rao has been roped in to play her husband.

Praising Rajkummar, Vidya said, "he's an actor who is unafraid to look into his co-star's eyes while acting and I enjoy that. Very rarely do you come across actors like that."
Director Mohit Suri and Mahesh Bhatt were insistent on making the film with Vidya, so much so that they had decided to shelve it if she didn't come aboard. But instead of being prettified of the expectation, Vidya feels lucky as HAK has got her the opportunity to work with Mahesh Bhatt.
"Bhatt saab is someone who I wanted to work with forever. He has been one of those few directors whose work I really enjoy. But he stopped directing even before I joined. So this is just another way of me getting to work with him," she said.

source: Indiatoday in

In announcing his decision to leave Liverpool, Gerrard stressed he could not play for another European club if there was a chance they would come up against his boyhood side, and he believes Galaxy is the ideal destination.

"I think it's a match made in heaven really," Gerrard told the Los Angeles Times. "One of the reasons I chose LA Galaxy was because of the success they've had recently.

"I want to finish my career very strong. I want to add some medals and trophies to my collection."

Galaxy coach Bruce Arena said: "Steven Gerrard arrives in July and by then we will certainly have a plan available.

"He's a player of quality. I'm not concerned about how he's going to fit in with our team.

"We have a club now with a proven history of success. All those things go hand in hand in making LA Galaxy a very attractive team for players such as Steven Gerrard."

Galaxy president Chris Klein described the former England midfielder as "the perfect fit" for Galaxy who have won the Major League Soccer title in three of the last four years.

Klein said: "We just started thinking in the universe of players that are out there, we want to make a decision on what signifies a Galaxy-designated player.

"When we look at that, Steven Gerrard is the perfect fit with what he brings to us on the field and the character that he has off it."

source:Football360

Yuvraj ignored for World cup 2015, is this the end of  the road?: Yuvraj Singh the hero, the king of sixers, Yuvi Strong are all synonyms to this man in Indian cricket who played a major role for India to win the ICC cricket world cup 2011 and in the end was declared the Man Of the Tournament for his overwhelming performance both with the bat and the ball. It was him who gave the skipper Dhoni to maneuver  around with other bowlers and whenever he was handed over the ball responded with a wicket or two.

Yuvraj who fought cancer during and post the victorious world cup in 2011, made a successful comeback to the team, but was soon dropped due to lack of fitness and form and since then has not been able to make it back into the Indian cricket team.

Yuvraj last appeared for India in the ICC World T20 finals against Sri Lanka where poor batting form costed India crucial moments in the finals. But, since then he has tried his best to get fit and at the moment does look fit. He had a good opportunity in the Ranji season to showcase his form and he did that as well with 520 runs in the 3 matches that he has played for Punjab averaging well over 100.

News of Ravindra Jadeja who is currently unfit not making it in time for the world cup did rounds the last week thus prompting Yuvraj’s name back in the fray. Otherwise Yuvi has completely been off the radar of the BCCI and it was no surprise when he was dropped from the list of players contracted by the Indian cricket board annually.

Thus, it was a remote chance of him getting selected in the 15 despite of his mention not being there in the squad of 30. As a provision of the ICC allows such inclusion the probability was towards unachievable and so did happen. The selectors overlooked Yuvraj Singh for the 15 members squad for ICC cricket world cup 2015 and thus ending speculations.

Young left arm spinner and all-rounder Axar Patel has been picked along with Jadeja. Jadeja was a part of the 2011 team as well which makes Axar the guy to replace Yuvi. Axar shot to fame from illustrious performance for the KXIP and continued to impress in the ODI’s against Sri Lanka where he emerged as the leading wicket taker. A cool head with the bat gave him the all-rounders tag and in the last 6 months has done enough to make it to the World Cup 2015 squad. His age is the biggest asset as someone who is only 20 years will be in a much better position to perform than the 33 years old Yuvraj.

Though Yuvi himself had said earlier that it would not be the end of his world if not selected in the world cup team but, it will be really tough for someone who guided the team to victory in the previous championship to not find himself a part of the current lot.

But he has time and again shown the fighter that he is, if he can beat a life threatening cancer he can as well live with this adverse call. His priorities now should be to play Ranji cricket to full potential and make every attempt to prove that though not considered he continues to have the worth of being a part of the Indian cricket team again.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Monday reacted over the Pakistan boat incident and complimented the Indian Coast Guard and those involved in the operation for intercepting the rogue vessel in timely and precise manner.

Parrikar said the Indian Coast Guard has done the right job at the right time based on intelligence inputs.

"Indian Coast Guard reacted immediately. The boat was on surveillance for 12 hours and it was intercepted as soon as possible," said Parrikar.

"I think they were suspected terrorists as they committed suicide. A normal boat even carrying drugs can surrender," added Parrikar.

The defence minister said the location was not the normal sea route and even the smugglers normally take the busy route so that they can mingle with boats.

A suspected terror bid was foiled by the Coast Guard on New Year's Eve when officials intercepted a suspicious boat near the Porbandar coast off Guajrat, say reports.

The boat was reportedly carrying four suspected terrorists and had begun its journey from Karachi in Pakistan.

Jose Mourinho insists Eden Hazard loves playing for Chelsea and dismissed speculation the physical nature of the Premier League could prompt the midfielder to seek a move abroad.

The 23-year-old, who is in his third season at Chelsea after joining from Lille in June 2012, is in advanced discussions over a contract extension which Mourinho expects to be a formality.

And the Blues boss does not expect Hazard to leave despite warning after the loss at Tottenham that the physical nature of English football means "maybe one day we won't have Eden Hazard".

"I think he loves it here. I think so," Mourinho said. "I think, I hope (he will stay)."

Mourinho last season often bemoaned the frequency of fouls on Hazard and has again repeated his complaint, calling on officials to protect his prized asset by punishing persistent offenders.

"The first free-kick of every game is somebody kicking him," Mourinho said. "He has fouls and fouls and fouls. I don't see many yellow cards.

"Sometimes a yellow card is a consequence of violent conduct, but I also think that accumulation of small fouls is also violent conduct.

"The kid is suffering the consequences of that, but playing amazingly well.

"(Against Tottenham) he was amazing. Even in the second half, with a difficult result to face, and to have the determination to keep believing till the end. He was fantastic."

Hazard may be afforded a rare rest for Sunday's FA Cup third-round clash with Watford while Didier Drogba is likely to start in place of Diego Costa up front.

Chelsea have won four of the last eight FA Cups and Mourinho is eager to prevail in the competition for a second time, after his 2007 success.

He added: "Every game and every competition, we try. So the next game is FA Cup, let's respect the competition, which is a beautiful one, and try to go all the way."

He will not be underestimating Watford, but believes the fact Chelsea will be playing so soon after New Year's Day, when Championship clubs were not in action, could be to the visitors' advantage.

"The Championship clubs will be in a better condition than the Premier League clubs," Mourinho said.

"At the same time, normally the Premier League clubs have more potential, more quality. Maybe it's a way to make things level.

"One team has more quality but another team is fresh and ready for the game. So maybe matches between Premier League teams and Championship teams, this is a good way to level things.”

Ravindra Jadeja is recovering from a shoulder injury but if he is not fit in time for the World Cup - starting February 14, Yuvraj Singh may become the best replacement due to his good form in domestic cricket.

Veteran India batsman Yuvraj Singh may yet find a place in the team's World Cup squad. After beingomitted from the 30-man probables list announced last month, the left-handed batsman's name may come back into reckoning with Ravindra Jadeja nursing an injured shoulder.

In yet another reminder that Lionel Messi isn't from this planet, the Argentine phenom showcased his phenomenal first touch during a recent appearance on a Japanese television show.

After a pair of trucks hoisted a fence to a height of 18 metres, Messi was asked to kick a ball over the obstacle and collect it on the other side. 

It's a task that even some of the world's greatest footballers would struggle to accomplish, but Messi had little difficulty performing the feat as he dropped the jaws of those who were                                                                                               watching.

Gautham Menon's Yennai Arindhaal, which has Ajith, Anushka and Trisha in the lead, was scheduled for a Pongal release. Now, there is a change in the schedule. The film will release on January 29. Even the Telugu version of the film will release on the same date. We hear, as the post-production work is taking time, the release of the film has been postponed.

A source close to the production unit says, "The makers decided that January end will be apt for the release. Some more work is still pending and they don't want to rush the post-production work. Hence, the release has been pushed to 
a later date." Meanwhile, the audio and trailer of the film have been launched.

According to a few sources from within Microsoft, it appears that the company is working on a new web browser — codenamed Spartan — that will debut with Windows 10. Spartan will reportedly look like a mix of Firefox and Chrome, with tabs above the address bar — and, perhaps most excitingly, Spartan will apparently support real browser extensions. (Extensions/add-ons in current versions of Internet Explorer are a bit of a joke.)

Back in September, just before the first Windows 10 Technical Preview, there were some rumblings that the future version of Internet Explorer (i.e. IE12) might support extensions, and that it would have a reworked interface. Now, ZDNet and Neowin are reporting — from fairly reliable sources — that there may actually be two different browsers that ship with Windows 10: Internet Explorer 12, and this new Spartan browser. Neither of these browsers (if they exist) have yet made an appearance in the public Technical Preview, but presumably they would have to emerge quite soon if they want to debut with the final build of Windows 10.

According to the various reports, Spartan (which is just a codename right now) is a new web browser, but it uses the same Trident rendering engine and Chakra JavaScript engine as Internet Explorer. The rest of the browser would be different, though: It would have a different UI — something like Firefox or Chrome, with the tabs on top — and allow for extensions. Extensions (add-ons in Firefox parlance) could be very interesting, though we should wait and see what Microsoft’s implementation is before we get too excited. Microsoft would have to create a completely new front-end to allow for powerful, Firefox-like extensions — whic According to Neowin, Spartan “looks a lot like Chrome but with Microsoft’s flat lipstick applied.” To be honest, Internet Explorer 11 is already quite flat, so presumably the big change is dropping the address bar below the tabs. (Amusingly enough, Microsoft originally moved the address bar in-line with the tabs to reduce the amount of vertical pixels wasted by the browser UI — so it would be a bit of a regression to have tabs on their own row, starting in the top left corner of the window.)h would take a lot of work.

Personally, I’m not entirely sure how Microsoft would go about accomplishing a lightweight (read: spartan) version of Internet Explorer. IE11 is already fast and lightweight. It has a few user experience and interface oddities that need to be cleaned up, but that could be done without a whole new browser. Another possibility is that Microsoft is actually working on more of a general rebranding — as in, a hip new interface and name that puts some distance it and ye olde Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer hasn’t really been “IE” since IE9, when Microsoft started to embrace HTML5 and the open web — but I’m sure many people still avoid IE because of the stigma attached to its name, thanks to the scourge upon humanity that is IE6.

As for what Microsoft’s new web browser might be called, we could find out at the next Windows 10 unveil event on January 21. My money is on something confusing, like “Modern Browser” or maybe “Explorer One.”

Pakistan stumbled in key matches in previous World Cups, but our perseverance and determination finally paid off in 1992, writes Javed Miandad

The ICC Cricket World Cup has over the years become ICC’s pinnacle tournament, an event which is eagerly-awaited by the fans and players alike. I was very lucky that my international career kicked off as a 17-year-old against the West Indies in Birmingham during the inaugural event in England. Twenty-one years later, curtains fell on it in the same mega event in Bengaluru. It had been a memorable journey all through these years.
 
I was lucky to feature in the first six ICC Cricket World Cups and when I look down the road, I think it was due to hard work and training along with the passion to perform which led me all the way. Being one of the two players to play in six ICC Cricket World Cups, is something to be proud of.
 
When the first edition was played back in 1975, limited overs cricket was in its very early days. The prime attraction for new players like me, and even for the experienced individuals, was to get a chance to mingle with fellow cricketers, assess oneself and try to know others better.
 

The ICC Cricket World Cup 1992 remains the most memorable one for me as we came from behind to win the tournament. I am delighted that I contributed to that success by finishing as the second leading run-getter behind New Zealand’s Martin Crowe.

 
Pakistan had consistently done well in the previous World Cups, but had stumbled in key matches. Had we not lost to the West Indies by one wicket in my debut match in 1975 after Deryck Murray and Andy Roberts put on 64 runs for the last wicket, we could have finished better. Ahead of this match, Pakistan captain Asif Iqbal had to be rushed to the hospital where he underwent appendicitis surgery and followed the proceedings from the hospital.
 
We again lost to the West Indies in the 1979 and 1983 editions, both times in the semi-finals. We should have won the 1979 semi-final after Zaheer Abbas and Majid Khan had set the stage for a perfect run-chase, but we failed to carry on the good work and collapsed like a house of cards.
 
The home event in 1987 ended in despair when we lost to Australia in the semi-final. We were clearly the best side in the tournament and produced some magical performances when the chips were down. Abdul Qadir’s performance with the bat against the West Indies in Lahore was a case in point. But I guess we ran out of luck when we needed it the most.
 
The semi-final didn’t start very well for us when Saleem Yousuf was injured in the 19^th over and I had to keep wickets. Then Steve Waugh’s late cameo, which included 18 runs off the last over, lifted Australia to 267. In our turn, I was back on the crease in the 10^thover, this time in batting gears. Imran Khan and I produced the best partnership of the match (112) but we found Craig McDermott too hot to handle and lost by 18 runs.

The loss was nothing less than a national tragedy. The mood in the country was somber and people were clearly heartbroken, an indication of what this sport meant to the passionate people of Pakistan. The semi-final was Imran’s last match for Pakistan, though the then President of the country convinced him to reverse his retirement decision and lead the team on the tour of the West Indies, which took place a few months later.

 
Our perseverance and determination finally paid off in 1992 when, after a shaky start, we won the last five matches on the trot to lift the trophy in front of 90,000 spectators at the MCG. Imran Khan played a master-stroke when he batted at number-three and who can forget Inzamam-ul-Haq’s cameo and then Wasim Akram’s consecutive deliveries – described as deliveries of the century – that dismissed Allan Lamb and Chris Lewis.
 
The victory had come after we had lost Waqar Younis before the start of the competition and had suffered defeats in three of the first five matches in a tournament.
 
It was a fairy-tale event for me. There was a big question mark on my participation due to a stomach infection and troubled back. I arrived just a couple of days before the tournament started and carried throughout the tournament. It was worth playing with pain as I contributed to the team’s cause by scoring five half-centuries, including in the semi-final and final.
 

The welcome we got upon our return as champions was unprecedented in the history of Pakistan. It was the holy month of Ramadan but the spectators thronged the Karachi airport and our team hotel, just to catch a glimpse of the players. The celebrations continued for days to follow.

 
The Bengaluru quarter-final in the 1996 tournament was my final international match and though I would have loved to finish on a high, we were fairly and squarely beaten on that day by a better India side.
 
During my World Cup journey, I got the chance to play with and against some of the very best cricketers. It will be unfair for me to give names but I would take this opportunity to thank everyone who supported, appreciated and backed me during my time at the ICC Cricket World Cup.
 
For me, it has been a privilege playing with them in the greatest cricket spectacle, memories of which will remain with me forever.
 
2015 © ICC Development (International) Limited

                                         
 TOP 25 ANDROID GAMES OF 2014

                              

1Monument Valley

What we say: Beautiful puzzler Monument Valley won bags of critical acclaim in 2014, deservedly. It’s a surreal shape-shifting game that sees you guiding a mysterious princess through a series of impossible-architecture levels by tapping and swiping.