"Old man" Sehwag surpasses mentor Tendulkar

INDORE, India: Sachin Tendulkar stepped on a plane on Thursday as the proud owner of the highest individual score in 50-over cricket but will land on Australain soil to find that he has been robbed of the record by his one-time protege Virender Sehwag.

Sehwag has come a long way since his early days when he was called a "Tendulkar-clone" and the 33-year-old struck a blazing 219 against West Indies to surpass his mentor in his 240th one-day international.

Tendulkar, who hit 200 not out against South Africa in Gwalior in February 2010, was among the first batch of Indian cricketers to leave for the team's Australia tour.

Sehwag fiercely cut an Andre Russell delivery for the most memorable of the 25 fours he hit on Thursday as Indore's Holkar Cricket Stadium went into a delirium.

One of the few batsmen considered capable of hitting 200 in one-dayers, Sehwag punched air before hugging batting partner Rohit Sharma. He then took the helmet off to acknowledge the cheers from the hollering fans.

One male supporter even managed to sprint on to the ground with a bouquet and tried to present it to a bemused Sehwag before being escorted out.

Everybody was expecting me to score a double hundred and I think I lived (up to the) expectation,' a visibly tired Sehwag said at the innings break, happy to have made the most of the perfect batting conditions.

'Whenever I wanted to hit a ball, I hit into the gaps and it went for four. Whenever I wanted to hit a six, I just tried to hit it with a straight bat,' said the opener with perhaps the most uncomplicated batting philosophy.

Wish Sehwag | Highest ODI Scores | Sehwag Special

'I was telling myself and Gautam Gambhir that if we batted with a little patience, we could score a big one here.'

Sehwag survived a run-out chance when he was on 20 and could have been dismissed on 170 as well but his opposite number Darren Sammy, running from extra cover, dropped an easy catch off Ravi Rampaul.

'When Sammy dropped my catch, I thought God is with me and God is telling me 'just bat until 45th-46th over and you will achieve your 200',' said Sehwag, one of the most devastating batsman in contemporary cricket.

His 150 came off 112 balls and by the time Kieron Pollard ended his 149-ball batting pyrotechnics studded with seven sixes, Sehwag had entered the record book after a breath-taking knock that left him drained.

'I'm very tired because I'm a 33-year-old. I'm an old man and my back and glutes are tight,' Sehwag said.

Army Navy Game: Navy Wins Eighth Straight Against Army, 17-3

PHILADELPHIA — Navy has made sports' most patriotic rivalry a lopsided one.


The Mids beat Army 17-3 on Saturday for their eighth straight win in the series. The loss eliminated the Black Knights' shot at playing in their first bowl game since 1996.

The Mids (9-4) already have a postseason date against Missouri in the Texas Bowl on Dec. 31.


Ricky Dobbs ran for a score to set an NCAA single-season record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback with 24, and threw for a TD to help Navy improve to 54-49-7 overall against Army for its biggest lead in a series that began in 1890.

Navy won the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy, awarded to the team with the best record in games between the three service academies, for a school-record seventh straight year.

Army (5-7) would have played in the EagleBank Bowl with a win. That matchup is now Temple vs. UCLA at RFK Stadium in Washington on Dec. 29.

For the first time in a long while, there was more on the line in an Army-Navy game than bragging rights.


Army blew its chance of marching into a late-December bowl with a series of turnovers and missed field goals.



Dobbs threw a 25-yard TD pass to Marcus Curry in the third quarter to give Navy a 7-3 lead. Dobbs' 1-yard scoring run late in the fourth made it 17-3 and gave him a whopping 24 rushing scores this season.

Dobbs was tied for rushing TDs by a quarterback with Air Force's Chance Harridge (2002) and Florida's Tim Tebow (2007).


Navy has won a service academy-record 15 consecutive games against Army and Air Force. Navy's last loss to a service academy was against Air Force in 2002.


But this one wasn't a rout like so many of Navy's wins in the series this decade. The Mids outscored the Black Knights 78-3 the last two years, including a 34-0 victory last season.

In front of 69,541 fans at Lincoln Financial Field in the 110th meeting between the two service academies, Army scored the only points of the first half on Alex Carlton's 23-yard field goal.


The 3-0 halftime lead may not have seen like much to an Army program looking for respectability under first-year coach Rich Ellerson, but it marked:


_the first time Army led at halftime in the series since 2001.


_the first time Navy was shutout in the first half of the series since 1993.


_the first time Army led against Navy since the first quarter of the 2006 game.

The Black Knights should have put more points on the scoreboard. Carlton missed an earlier field-goal attempt, and they had to settle for three after getting just 6 yards following an interception return to the Navy 12.


The Mids took advantage of the opening. Dobbs went over the 1,000-yard rushing mark in the third and became only the third Navy QB to reach that milestone. He found a wide-open Curry for the Mids' first lead, and Joe Buckley tacked on a 36-yard field goal.

Manatee Hurricanes win thriller, head to state final for 2nd time in 3 years

BRADENTON -- Somehow, someway, Manatee’s football team shielded itself from the joyful madness that had enveloped Hawkins Stadium on Friday night.

Huddled together in silence, the Hurricanes looked toward their coach, Joe Kinnan.

“Now,” said Kinnan, soaked from a water-cooler shower, “there’s two!”
TIFFANY TOMPKINS-CONDIE/ttompkins@bradenton.com Manatee's Leon Allen tries to outrun the defense during Friday night's game against Dwyer on Joe Kinnan Field at Hawkins Stadium.
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Next stop: The Florida Citrus Bowl, where Manatee (12-2) meets Jacksonville First Coast (13-0) for the state championship at 7 p.m. next Friday.

“This is my first state,” said junior defensive back Willie Smith. “I can’t even tell you how it feels.”

This is Manatee’s seventh trip to the finals and second overall, and it wasn’t sealed until the game’s waning minutes.

So much for the silence.

The players screamed in unison, and after a few minutes, broke up to dish out and take hugs from just about all of the 6,000 fans who witnessed another state semifinal win.

Manatee outlasted Palm Beach Gardens Dwyer 19-14 during Friday’s Class 7A state semifinal, winning a game that was as close as it was dramatic.
The Panthers (12-2) took a 14-13 lead on a 10-yard run by quarterback Faton Bauta, a Georgia-bound senior who chugged for 151 yards and two touchdowns. The Canes had a hard time corralling Bauta, a 6-foot-3, 223-pound converted linebacker who nearly lugged Dwyer to the final on his own.

But on Dwyer’s second-to-last play of the night, and with Manatee leading 19-14, Bauta came up lame after losing two yards. Their offensive star on the sideline, the Panthers faced a fourth-and-5 from Manatee’s 27 with 1:07 left to play and put Bobby Puyol, their kicker and backup quarterback, under center.

Puyol uncorked a low throw that sophomore receiver Johnnie Dixon was unable to handle, allowing the Canes to melt the clock.

“We knew if we got in the end zone,” said Manatee quarterback Cord Sandberg, “our defense wasn’t going to let us down.”

Aiding the drive was a personal foul penalty called on Dwyer, which moved the ball 15 yards to the 27.

“That same play that I scored on, earlier, we ran,” Sandberg said. “It was the same exact cut up, except I slipped. ... We came back to it, luckily it was open, and I kept my footing.”

The first half was the defensive battle everyone anticipated, as the Panthers took a 7-6 lead into the locker room. In fact, it was Manatee’s defense that got the Canes on the board when Smith recovered a fumble by Dwyer’s Malik Brown and returned it 52 yards for a touchdown with 2:11 remaining in the second quarter.

It was a heads-up play by Smith, especially because most of the Panthers, assuming the ground had caused the fumble, stopped running.

“I don’t stop until the whistle blows,” Smith said.

The two quarterbacks traded touchdowns before Manatee’s defense sealed the win -- and another trip to Orlando.

“You saw two heavyweights,” Kinnan said, “slugging it out out there.”

Martz: Bears will be more aggressive with Hanie

Coming off a brutal loss to the Kansas City Chiefs when the Bears scored only three points and failed miserably in the red zone, the natural instinct might be to pull back with quarterback Caleb Hanie.

That would fly in the face of what offensive coordinator Mike Martz believes in. He’s ready to give Hanie more with Jay Cutler’s fill-in preparing for this third career start on Sunday at Denver.

“I think we tried to mix all that in there with different protections and based on what we’ve seen out of the defense we tried to really adjust to what we’re seeing so they don’t zero on a protection,” Martz said. “We were in empty with five and six, eight, those kinds of numbers in the protection. What it comes down to, we just didn’t coach real good. We did not play as well as we should have in that game.

“To say it’s one thing or the other, it’s a combination of a lot of things. Some of the three- and five-step drop stuff, we weren’t as sharp as we needed to be. We want to make sure we are very careful with how many seven steps we do have in there but against a man team like that you want to let your guys shake free too, so there is a time for it too.”

“He did a lot of good things in that game,” Martz said. “We all – and coaches – all of us participated in that thing. I don’t think he is any different than any of our coaches on offense or players so he did some really good things in there and he’s making progress and I am encouraged by a lot of things in there. When you go back and look at that, there’s reasons for everything that happened. He’s not making mental errors, he’s sharp with everything so he’s learning under the gun so to speak.

“We’ve got to get him into the game a little bit earlier, probably a little bit still too conservative with him. He’s capable of probably more than what we’re doing with him. So, we’ll be a little bit more aggressive with him.”

Concern over Tiger's rise

Tiger Woods' first victory in two years raised consternation in some circles that he could go from No.52 to No.21 in golf's world rankings after winning against an 18-man field.

While it doesn't count as official on any tour, the Chevron World Challenge has received rankings points for three straight years under the provision it has a qualifying standard and the two sponsor exemptions are in the top 50 in the world.

What caused his swift ranking rise had as much to do with only playing 27 times in the last two years, giving him the minimum 40 divisor when points are calculated.

There will be some slight changes next year for Woods' event and for the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa, which Lee Westwood won and received 38 ranking points.

The Official World Golf Ranking board, at its annual meeting in July, approved a modification for tournaments that have fewer than 30 players.

Those events will no longer get the "home tour" rating component - essentially bonus points that depend on how many players from the host tour are in the event.

Without the home tour component at Chevron, the winner would have received 40 points, instead of the 44 that Woods received. Woods would have gone to No. 25 instead of No. 21.

GreenEDGE to break new ground with women

SPRUIKING the lofty aim of setting an example in the historically neglected world of women's road cycling, GreenEDGE has launched its foundation female team.

The 10-rider squad - the first Australian professional outfit of its kind - is headlined by a German world champion, Judith Arndt.

Unlike its male GreenEDGE equivalent, which this week won a top division racing licence that grants a start in the Tour de France, the team is light on established Australian female talent. Yet while GreenEDGE's masculine arm will begin as a minnow on the elite European circuit, the female unit believes it can instantly set new standards in the sport's less-supported domain.

Australia's most established female road cyclists - the likes of Rochelle Gilmore, Chloe Hosking and Bridie O'Donnell - do not feature on the foundation roster.

Joining her is Shara Gillow, Melissa Hoskins and Amanda Spratt, who all recorded breakout results in Europe this year, Rowena Fry, who comes from mountain bike, and sprinter Jessie MacLean.

The impressive international recruits include Arndt, the reigning time trial world champion and 2004 road world champion who has left HTC-Highroad, New Zealander Linda Villumsen, Loes Gunnewijk from the Netherlands and another German, Claudia Hausler.

Villumsen was the silver medallist in the time trial at this year's world road championship, while Hausler is a former winner of the Giro Donne, the female version of the Giro d'Italia.

Their combined successes mean GreenEDGE's women are ranked third in the world in teams classification before they have started an event.

''We consider this team an authentic Australian venture,'' GreenEDGE general manager Shayne Bannan said yesterday.

''We have contracted some of the top international riders to ensure the team has sufficient points to guarantee starts in the world's major events.

''We will look to our international riders to provide the leadership and experience necessary to create a culture of success. It's our hope this culture will flow down through the domestic women's development programs.''

The team is a joint venture of GreenEDGE, which is owned and underwritten for three years by successful Australian businessman Gerry Ryan, the Australian Institute of Sport and Cycling Australia. It will race as GreenEDGE-AIS and the management will be shared by high performance program staff from the three interested parties.

Jimmy goes it alone for HK Mile

NEW Zealand trainer John Bary jetted into Hong Kong concerned that Jimmy Choux was struggling to settle in to his solitary life in quarantine, but his fears were quickly allayed after watching the Cox Plate runner-up work at Sha Tin yesterday.

''It's not ideal and he had lost weight on the trip over,'' Bary said yesterday. ''It's unfortunate that there is not another horse with him but that's the way it is and you just get on with it.''

The four-year-old, who has a mirror in his stall for ''company'', has bulked up and is within two kilograms of his weight before the trip from Australia.

Yesterday, in his last serious piece of work before the group 1 Hong Kong Mile (1600 metres) on Sunday, Jimmy Choux worked over 1400 metres, finishing off his last 200 in 11.5 seconds under race jockey Jonathan Riddell.

''I told Jonathan just to stretch his legs and he's probably gone a bit quicker than we thought,'' Bary said.

''He's done it well and pulled up fantastically. I don't know whether I'm more relieved or excited.''

■Melbourne Cup casualty Jukebox Jury is making a good recovery from a leg fracture and could leave Australia by the end of January.

He could yet get back to England in time to enter training for the Ascot Gold Cup in June. ''All is going really well,'' part-owner Colleen Bamford said yesterday.

Jukebox Jury was the second-highest-rated stayer among a record number of internationals in last month's Melbourne Cup but faltered in the last 350 metres and finished 20th.

Junior champion takes big scalp

THE future of Australian women's tennis became the present yesterday, with 15-year-old junior Wimbledon champion Ashleigh Barty upsetting top seed and former world No. 39 Casey Dellacqua in the group stage of the Australian Open wildcard play-off at Melbourne Park.

Barty insisted she did not expect it, but the 6-3, 6-3 result emphasised her status as the nation's most exciting prospect since fellow Queensland prodigy Bernard Tomic. Both Barty and Dellacqua seem certain to feature in the main draw of next month's grand slam - if not through the wildcard on offer this week, then via the discretionary handouts that will follow.

''I was just coming in here to get a few more matches; I'm not really too fussed where I get into the tournament, I'm just out here having fun,'' she said. ''We didn't really have a game plan, so I was just out there seeing what would work and seeing what didn't, and I was just having a ball.''

''I know she has a lot of respect for Casey, she likes her as a person and respects her game, and she was in a situation where she probably didn't feel like she had a lot of pressure, and she could just go out and go for her shots. For her to go out and really believe that she could win was impressive, and then to back it up and do it was great, but she's young, and still learning.''

While Dellacqua was one of several seeded losers in the women's draw, from which only the top player in each round-robin group will advance to the semi-finals, the top eight in the knockout men's competition received byes into today's second round. Wimbledon boys' champion Luke Saville eliminated Chris O'Connell in three sets and next plays fifth seed James Duckworth, while No. 2 Marinko Matosevic meets Sam Groth, who is back from injury.

Shipperd gives short shrift to claims on Pattinson

CRAIG McDermott's advice to James Pattinson, that he should abandon the shorter length practised by Victoria's bowlers, worked like a charm for the Test debutant, but Bushrangers' coach Greg Shipperd has rejected the assertion his quicks are taught to bowl the wrong lengths for Test cricket.

''I think that is rubbish,'' Shipperd said yesterday. ''If you look at the bowleds and lbws for Victoria over the last six or seven years, you will probably find that we lead the competition in terms of hitting those particular spots.

''Our mantra is not to bowl back of a length, it is certainly to hit the wicket aggressively, but the length [is] knee roll and top of off stump. If you look at the statistics those comments would be proved incorrect.
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''Then if you actually look at the people we have had coaching our bowlers in Damien Wright, swing bowler, David Saker, swing bowler, [the bowling coaches for New Zealand and England, respectively] they are not the type of people who are going to say just bash it back of a length, they were teaching bowlers to move it in the air, present the seam correctly and bowl the right length for that to occur. Probably the only bowler who would have bowled at a different length was our attack dog, Shane Harwood, who wasn't a swinger of the ball, but his go was pace and targeting bodies.''

Pattinson learnt to ''smash'' a fuller length under the guidance of McDermott as a squad member in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and South Africa and was unleashed with stunning results at the Gabba, where he captured 5-27 in the second innings with fast, late away swing.

''He [McDermott] has said to me the length that I bowl with Victoria, that back of a length, doesn't work in Test cricket, it's hard to get wickets with that, you've got more chance of getting wickets if you pitch the ball up there and give [yourself] a chance to get some caught behindPattinson said on Fox Sports' Inside Cricket this week.

''I had to get a lot fuller with my lengths and all that work I have done in Sri Lanka and South Africa has proved really good for me.''

Peter Siddle has also been urged to bowl fuller by McDermott and captain Michael Clarke.

Shipperd supports the ''pitch it up and swing it'' mantra, which is likely to be promoted around the country in a consistent approach to coaching, but does not accept that Victorian quicks bowl too short to thrive at Test level.


''I don't know whose interpretation of our bowling plan was to bash back of a length. Whoever has been saying that has not been watching closely enough.''

Liverpool striker Luis Suarez's hand gesture looked at by FA

The Football Association is reviewing a hand gesture made by Liverpool striker Luis Suarez after their 1-0 defeat at Fulham on Monday.

Suarez, who had been called a cheat by the home fans over a penalty appeal, raised the middle finger of his left hand as he left the pitch.

Reds boss Kenny Dalglish said: "I have not seen the picture. If [it] is true then I've a decision to make."

Uruguay international Suarez is also facing an FA racism charge.

That stems from an incident during Liverpool's 1-1 draw with Manchester United in October that led to French defender Patrice Evra alleging that Suarez had racially abused him.

The FA is yet to receive the referee's report from the Fulham game, or any complaints about the incident involving Suarez.

Meanwhile, Dalglish said it was "scandalous" that Fulham fans chanted "cheat" at Suarez during his side's defeat at Craven Cottage.

Dalglish defended the striker after Fulham fans voiced displeasure in the belief Suarez had gone down too easily.

Of the taunts aimed at Suarez, Dalglish said: "I would like to see you write that in the paper because you would be in a bit of trouble as well.

"It is about time he got a wee bit of protection."

Suarez suffered a barrage of chants after one particular incident in which he went down following a challenge by Brede Hangeland.

Dalglish's post-match interview

The Liverpool manager is considering appealing against Jay Spearing's controversial second-half red card though.

Midfielder Spearing was sent off after fouling striker Moussa Dembele with his follow-through in a tackle, having initially won the ball.

Dalglish said: "Jay will be upset, but we will have a little look and see whether it is worthwhile appealing.

"I think you need to ask the referees what the interpretation is."

Spearing was shown a straight red card by referee Kevin Friend after 71 minutes, with the score at 0-0, before Clint Dempsey's late winner sealed victory for Fulham to move them 13th in the league.

Dalglish added: "It is frustrating because nobody tells us what the level of acceptance is. Jay had no other thought on his mind other than to win the ball and he did win it.
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    "I am not a referee. Sometimes they have been given, sometimes they haven't. As long as they are consistent, there is no problem."

A series of decisions went against Liverpool, with Charlie Adam denied a penalty after being brought down by Philippe Senderos and Luis Suarez having a strike disallowed for offside.

"The goal Luis Suarez scored that was ruled offside could have gone either way. Charlie Adam could have got a penalty when he was pulled down on the edge of the box.

"Tonight wasn't as well as we've been playing, but it was enough to have won the game. We never got the luck but we have just got to brush ourselves off and get on with it."

Graham Gooch focuses on England at Essex's expense

Gooch said: "I'm sad that I am unable to continue my Essex coaching duties.


"I never wanted to relinquish this role at the club but as my England commitments have grown it is impossible to do justice to both roles."

.

Gooch, who will remain at Chelmsford as club ambassador, has overseen an upturn in England's Test batting performances, particularly those of Alastair Cook.


The 26-year-old scored 766 runs in England's Ashes series win in Australia last winter before hitting a memorable 294 against India at Edgbaston this summer


Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell have all showed progress under Gooch, each notching Test double-hundreds since his arrival on the scene.

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Head coach Paul Grayson said: "We want to thank Graham for his services with the coaching side of the team.

"He has been a massive support to both the playing squad and myself but we understand his England requirements he has.

"I am really excited to be working alongside Matt Walker as he has vast knowledge of the game and I know he is looking forward to this next chapter of his career."

Black Caps unfazed by Australian speed test

Opener Brendon McCullum, who set the tone for the tour with a blazing 146 off 115 balls on Thursday, against an attack containing test quicks James Pattinson, Ben Cutting and Mitchell Starc (one of whom will be 12th man here), gazed out to the test venue with relish yesterday. "The groundsman's talked up a fast wicket which will probably help us, too," he said.

As Pattinson, Cutting and Starc were earlier undergoing a bowl-off in the nets, giving their batsmen a serious working over in the process, curator Kevin Mitchell was putting up a sign saying: "Keep off wet wicket block."

Hussey, having glanced off a few thunderbolts from tall Queenslander Cutting, warned the New Zealand lineup that a friendly Allan Border Field was almost as far removed as they could get from the much-awaited day one of the home test summer.


"We really enjoy playing in the fast, bouncy conditions. We adapt to those conditions very well; whereas teams from around the world, it does take a bit of time if they've been playing on slower pitches," Hussey said.

Peter Siddle, in his 26th test, will lead a pace attack containing two debutants, then spinner Nathan Lyon, with five caps, who admitted he had never been to The Gabba before. It was reportedly Australia's greenest pace attack since the mid 1980s, about the same time as New Zealand's previous win across the Tasman, at Perth in 1985.

McCullum said of Pattinson, Cutting and Starc: "They'll definitely be different. But it was a huge surprise for us to come up against three guys who got named in the test match. We knew they'll get themselves up, we expect them to bowl faster and better and put us under more pressure. Equally we've got room for improvement so we've got to make sure we counter them and put them under pressure.