Who hasn’t wanted to take a bat to their office printer? From confusing error messages to unfixable paper jams, today’s office printer is a source of frustration and angst. This is why we hate you, office printer. And yet we can’t quit you, either.
EURO BONDS-BAT dual tranche bond
June 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment
June 25 (Reuters) – News, details on corporate bond issues in the European markets on Friday:
Stocks | Bonds | Global Markets
BAT (BATS.L)
Issue: Cigarette maker British American Tobacco is selling a dual-tranche bond, an official with one of the banks managing the sale said. The deal comprises a 10-year 600 million euro bond and a 30-year 275 million pound bond.
Managing banks: BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, JP Morgan, Lloyds.
Rating: Moody’s Baa1, S&P BBB+ and Fitch BBB+
(London Corporate Finance: +44 207 542 8389)
Pak must aim at wickets, not containment to win T20 title: Imran Khan
May 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Islamabad, May 13 (ANI): Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan has said that the Shahid Afridi led team should adopt a ‘wicket taking’ policy rather than just focussing on preventing other teams from scoring runs, if it has to move further in the ICC World T20 World Championship.
He said Afridi should adopt the same strategy which was adopted by the 1992 World Cup winning Pakistan squad, which was to look for wickets.
“This is what the Aussies have been doing and this has made them a great team,” The Nation quoted Imran, as saying.
Pakistan would be taking on Australia in the second semi-final of the T20 championship at St.Lucia tomorrow (Friday, May 14).
He also suggested that Pakistan should use fast bowler Mohammed Asif as an attacking bowler, and not as a ‘run stopper’.
Imran, one of Pakistan’s most successful captains, said that batting was Pakistan’s main problem in the on going tournament, as apart from opener Salman Butt none of the other batsmen have fired so far.
He said that since Pakistan’s batting has not been upto the mark, Afridi should always look to bat first rather than chasing.
He also suggested some changes in the batting order, saying Afridi should bring himself and Misbah-ul-Haq up the order so that they can accumulate maximum runs when the ball is new and hard. (ANI)
Vettori blames poor first innings for Hamilton Test defeat
March 31, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Hamilton, Mar 31(ANI): New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori has said that a poor batting display in the first innings was a crucial factor in his side’s 176-run defeat against Australia in the second Test in Hamilton on Wednesday.
“It’s similar to the first test, we played really well at times, but to beat Australia it has to be over five days and there were pockets where we let ourselves down,” Stuff.co.nz quoted Vettori, as saying.
“Not supporting Ross Taylor in the first innings with the bat was probably the crucial bit because we bowled so well in the first innings to give ourselves a chance, but we needed to have a sizeable lead to put pressure back on Australia,” he added.
Taylor had scored the fastest century in New Zealand history with a brilliant 138, but it had failed to provide any momentum to the home side, as they only managed a 33-run first-innings lead after being bowled out for 264 in reply to Australia’s first innings of 231.
Meanwhile, Australian skipper Ricky Ponting paid tribute to left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Johnson, who took 12 wickets at 18.33 in the one-day series and 12 wickets at 23.08 in the two tests.
“He has come a long way, this tour in particular has been the best and most consistent I”ve seen him bowl. There were probably some question marks over our test cricket before the summer started, having been a bit inconsistent during the Ashes series and not nailing the crucial moments,” Ponting said.
“If anything we’ve gone the other way when there”s been big moments we really have stood up and nailed them. When we”ve had opposition teams down we”ve stayed on top,” he added. (ANI)
Allow Pak batsmen to play freely like Sehwag: Basit Ali
March 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Islamabad, Mar.23 (ANI): One of the prime reasons young Pakistani cricketers have not made it big on the international circuit is due to them being asked to curtail their natural style of playing.
Former Pakistan batsman Basit Ali underlined this problem during an interview with the PakPassion.net and said youngsters like Mohammad Hafeez and Imran Nazir have loads of talent but they have never been allowed to play according to their own style.
Quoting the example of explosive Indian opener Virender Sehwag, Ali said his (Sehwag’s) key to success is that he plays his natural game.
“These (Pakistani) players should have been allowed to play the way they wanted to. The example I like to give is Sehwag – he plays the way he wants to and succeeds. If you tell Sehwag not to play any shots ever and just block, his average will become 18 too, like Hafeez,” Ali said.
Commenting on Imran Nazir’s inability to transform his talent into big scores, he described Nazir as a ‘15 over player.’
“Imran Nazir is not a player for 50 overs, he’s a player for 15 overs. It is exceedingly silly to use him to bat for 50 overs. He should be told to bat for 15 overs only. If he just bats for the first 15 overs, he can easily score 80 odd runs, and thus get the team to 150 in those 15 overs – job done,” Ali said. (ANI)
Out of form Bopara wants to be England’s main man
September 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment
London, Sep 11 (ANI): Ravi Bopara, who has been struggling with his batting form, remains convinced that he will become an international star despite a desperate struggle against Australia.
He has already been dropped from England’s Test team and is now in danger of relinquishing his place in the one-day team.
The Essex batsman was speaking up for England’s under pressure one-day side after three miserable performances in the past week that have handed Australia a 3-0 lead in the NatWest Series.
According to The Sun, Bopara knows he has no alternative other than to fight and discover some form from somewhere, or to lose the series by a humiliating margin, perhaps even a dreaded 7-0 whitewash.
“I don’t doubt my ability. It is just a case of getting my game in order. There is a lot to come from me yet. A big score can turn it round. I’ve made a few 40s and 50s but I want to go out and win games for England,” Bopara said.
“I don’t want to get scores that just do enough to give England a chance, I want to seal the win. I’m desperate to do that but not over-desperate because that’s when things can go wrong.
“I want to be the main man for England. I would love to go out at Lord’s on Saturday and smack the Aussies around. I still think we can pull this series out of the fire – England normally respond well when we are down,” he added.
Since scoring three tons in three Test innings against West Indies earlier this year, Bopara has been struggling with the bat. (ANI)
Kiwis relieved about Sehwag’s absence during tri-series
September 8, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Colombo, Sep.8 (ANI): New Zealand cricketers have expressed relief that swashbuckling Indian opening bat Virender Sehwag will not feature in the tri-series in Sri Lanka and in the upcoming Champions Trophy in South Africa because of a shoulder injury.
A shoulder injury means New Zealand avoid one of the most devastating strikers of a cricket ball.
It maybe recalled that during the recent one-day series in New Zealand, Sehwag had tonked 299 runs at an average of 74.25 to help India win by a margin of three games to one.
“It is a relief,” said vice-captain Brendon McCullum when asked about the significance of Sehwag not leading off the Indian order in against New Zealand on Friday.
“The way he played against us in the home summer, he was pretty terrifying at the top of the order,” stuff.co.nz quoted McCullum, as saying.
“He really tore us apart so to not have him in their team is a bit of a blow for them,” he added. (ANI)
Flower confident of Pietersen recovering before South African tour
September 3, 2009 By Leave a Comment
London, Sep 3 (ANI): England cricket team director Andy Flower has expressed confidence that injured batsman Kevin Pietersen will make a full recovery and would return for the tour of South Africa.
Pietersen was forced out of the Ashes series following an Achilles injury, and has suffered a further setback after developing an infection in the scar tissue making him unavailable for the ODI series against Australia.
“He is still struggling a little with that wound in his Achilles. I spoke to him yesterday but I think we are confident in saying he will be back for South Africa,” The Independent quoted Flower, as saying.
Flower further said that he has advised Peitersen to use the time as a break from the busy schedule of an international cricket player.
“Sometimes you never know what is good or bad luck. It is enforced time away and he didn’t want it and we didn’t want it, but since it’s there and there is nothing anyone can do about it, I think he has got to make the most of it,” Flower said.
“I think that is what he is doing. He is spending time with his family and his wife and getting a break from the international game,” he added.
Flower also said that he was unsure about all-rounder Andrew Flintoff’s career, who had underwent a knee surgery after the Ashes series.
“If he can come back and play one-day international and Twenty20 cricket for us and bat at six or seven and bowl like he can bowl, that will make us a force to be reckoned with in one-day cricket,” Flower said.
“Whether he will or not I don’t know, I just hope he does,” he added. (ANI)
Benaud calls for overhaul of Australian selection panel
August 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Melbourne, Aug 30 (ANI): Former Test selector John Benaud has blamed the Australian selection panel for a series of blunders, including dumping opening batsman Phil Hughes for Shane Watson, opting for wicketkeeper Brad Haddin over Graham Manou and leaving behind a spare batsman.
Benaud has called for an overhaul of the four-man panel, claiming the team of Andrew Hilditch, Jamie Cox, Merv Hughes and David Boon lacks balance and innovation, and is too stubborn to change.
“I have a fear about this selection panel, that they don’t like admitting a blue. They’ve got this blinkered view of things,” the Daily Telegraph quoted Benaud, as saying.
“It’s all right for Jamie Cox to put his hand up and say, ‘I misread the pitch’ but I don’t think it was that so much as it was the way we handled things.
“They got themselves into a bit of a corner, these blokes, because when they chose the Ashes squad initially they only had the two opening batsmen. They were one batsman short,” he said.
“I feel they should have taken (Brad) Hodge to cover any eventuality. They created their own problem by dropping Hughes, who two Tests before made two centuries in a Test match against one of the best opening bowling attacks in the world (South Africa).
“To drop him, that suggests they were never really keen on Hughes as an opening bat, and that they’d been tyre-levered into picking him because the kid had done so well.
“But then they surprised us all by picking Watson as the opening batting replacement. I just couldn’t follow that,” Benaud said. (ANI)
Ponting says he’s ready to play under Michael Clarke
August 27, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Sydney, Aug.27 (ANI): Australian cricket skipper Ricky Ponting has returned home and declared he would not walk away from international cricket even if he was stripped of his captaincy. He said he would be happy to play under deputy Michael Clarke.
Ponting said the stunning Ashes loss had made him more determined than ever to shine with the bat and restore Australia to its status as a world cricketing power.
Ponting, who arrived in Sydney just after 7 p.m., said he accepted responsibility for the 2-1 series defeat – team selections remained a sticking point with critics – before hinting he would play on if Cricket Australia officials elevated Clarke to the top job.
“I still think I’ve got a lot to offer the team as a batsman and captain and leader. If that’s with a ‘c’ next to my name well and good, if not, I still think I’ve got a lot to offer, particularly to the younger guys who are in and around our set-up. I’m not immune to anything, criticism, I’m trying to do the best possible job I can and at the moment I feel I’m the best person to take this team forward,” The Daily Telegraph quoted him, as saying.
“If it ever gets to the stage if I think I’m not … can I play without being captain, absolutely. love the game and every opportunity I’ve had to play and captain Australia, and that makes me more driven now to do it better next time when I get the chance,” he added.
Ponting still managed a smile as he fronted a large press contingent at the airport and was far from bitter given the hammering he had copped by the press on both sides of the globe.
He will take a couple of weeks to unwind with his family before he returns midway through the one-day series against England and then leads Australia into the Champions Trophy in South Africa later next month.
Ditching the shorter forms of the game could be one way to preserve his career, Ponting said, with the 2013 Ashes tour still an option.
Ponting said proof he was already looking to the future was a meeting he had with Clarke, coach Tim Nielsen and Cricket Australia’s Michael Brown in the team hotel a day after the loss at The Oval. (ANI)
Ponting says consider returning to England in 2013
August 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment
London, Aug. 24 (ANI): Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has refused to rule out being back in England in 2013 after losing the Ashes here again.
Ponting has probably played his last Ashes Test in England however he conceded he could have unfinished business here.
He would be 38 at the time of the next Ashes in England.
“Who knows – with us losing here – I might even see if I can make it back for one more go,” the Daily Telegraph quoted Ponting, as saying after his side’s 2-1 series loss.
“I’ve always enjoyed playing here. It took until today for me to get a round of applause when I went out to bat. Andrew Flintoff mentioned to me that he thought I had hired a PR company for the last day of the game,” Ponting said.
In an extraordinary Ashes series, Australia dominated the statistics yet England have won the big moments.
Australia had six of the seven leading run scorers this series – and the three top Ashes wicket-takers – yet will go home empty handed.
“You look back through all the stats and you probably scratch you head and wonder how it has turned out like it has,” Ponting said.
“There has been countless opportunities through this series to put our stamp on games. But we haven’t been good enough and England have seized whatever momentum they can and run with it,” he added.
Ponting labelled the dry and dusty Oval pitch as “poor” but refused to blame the dodgy surface for Australia’s loss. (ANI)
More than virus, Dilshan’s batting contributed to Kiwi defeat: Vettori
August 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Galle (Sri Lanka), Aug 23(ANI): New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori has said that more than the energy-sapping virus that stuck his team during the first Test match at the Galle International Stadium, it was Sri Lankan batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan’s explosive batting which contributed to New Zealand’s 202-run loss.
Dilshan scored 92 runs in Sri Lanka’s first innings and scored quickfire 123 runs in the second to take Sri Lanka to an imposing target of 413.
“When you look at how well Dilshan played and how poorly we bowled to him, it was probably the defining moment of the game,” Stuff.co.nz quoted Vettori, as saying.
“There were a couple of opportunities there to put pressure on them, but everything we did, he took it away from us. He played exceptionally well, he played very aggressive innings, and when you’ve got a player like that, it makes it very tough to captain,” he added.
Vettori said that he wanted to take the game to the wire, however, failed to do so, as multiple players being ill in the team meant that they were bowled out for a meager 210 runs.
“I really hoped we’d take it down to the wire. I hoped that we could bat for long periods of time, but in some ways a few illnesses counted against us and the application wasn’t quite there,” Vettori said.
He further said that one of the most disappointing things in the Test was to lose as many wickets to the seamers as they did.
“Obviously Murali’s a difficult customer to come up against but the way Thushara bowled was probably where we let ourselves down,” Vettori said. (ANI)
Ashes dreams still alive, says Bell
August 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment
London, Aug 21(ANI): England batsman Ian Bell has said that there is no need to panic, and pleaded with England fans to cling on to their Ashes dreams in the fifth and final Test match at The Oval.
“I don’t think we have thrown it away. We don’t know what a good score will be on this wicket and we’re quite pleased to get 300 on the board,” The Sun quoted Bell, as saying.
“It was ugly at times and we had to fight. We could have been in a better position, but it wasn’t like your normal Oval pitch, it was low and slow,” he added.
Bell further said that the England team is hopeful of a comeback, as it won’t be easy for the Australians to bat last on the low and slow pitch.
“Hopefully as the game goes on the pitch will deteriorate further and it won’t be easy to bat last,” Bell said.
“There is a bit in this track for everyone, I can see this Test going late into day five,” he added. (ANI)
Ponting’s legacy as Oz captain on the line at The Oval
August 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment
London, Aug.19 (ANI): The fifth Ashes Test, which begins at The Oval from tomorrow, will be a defining one for Australia captain Ricky Ponting.
Victory at The Oval will hand Ponting something that is demanded of any Australia captain worth his salt, a series victory over England, in England, reports Fox Sports.
A draw or worse and Ponting will have failed in two attempts to overcome the old enemy – each series with the world’s No.1 team.
That Ponting engineered only the second 5-0 Ashes whitewash in between times will be remembered fondly, but, unfairly, it will be overshadowed by his failings in England.
A stalemate will be enough for Australia to retain the Ashes, but the man they call Punter will have just one outcome in mind: victory.
Ponting’s standing as an all-time batting great is secure, but for a captain who’s leadership qualities constantly come under question, it’s not stretching things to say his legacy is at stake.
“The pressure is on. Your captaincy gets rated on series wins, but also on how we go against the old enemy. It wouldn’t please Ponting to have another series defeat in England on his CV,” says ex-captain Allan Border.
“I’ve said from the start about how much it would mean to me to win here. It’s a chance I’ve been waiting for this whole tour and a chance the whole team has been waiting for,” Ponting adds.
Should Australia lose, Ponting will join Billy Murdoch as the only captains of Australia to lose two Test series in England. It would be an immovable blemish on his record, and grist to the mill for Ponting’s numerous detractors.
“He’s probably not saying too much publicly, but privately it would be burning that he wants to right that wrong. He wants to come away as an Ashes-retaining captain,” Border told Fox Sports.
Pushing 35, this will almost certainly be Ponting’s last tour of England. The Oval might even be his last Test match against the Poms. He’s had a mixed series with the bat and as a tactician, all the while contending with the goading of British media and fans who have not forgotten Ponting’s ill feeling in 2005.
Ponting’s vice-captain and heir apparent, Michael Clarke, has meanwhile been in astonishing form. Probably the player of the series to date, Clarke led by example with two very Ponting-like knocks, backs-against-the-wall centuries, at Lord’s and Edgbaston.
Despite Ponting’s advancing age and Clarke’s obvious leadership potential, Border does not believe The Oval result will have any influence on Ponting’s position as captain of Australia.
“I get the feeling Ponting’s very comfortable with where he’s at, both as a player and as a captain,” said Border, who started Australia’s long-running hold over in England in 1989, and who was an Ashes-winning captain three times.
“Stepping down as captain and continuing as a player doesn’t work in our system. Ricky will know when it’s the right time to hand over the reins,” he adds. (ANI)
Aussies shocked by Freddie’s retirement plans
July 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment
London, July 16(ANI): England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff’s decision to quit international Test cricket after the ongoing Ashes series has shocked quite a few Australian cricketers, including Nathan Hauritz and Marcus North.
Hauritz and North had faced Flintoff for the first time at Cardiff last week, and were gearing up for Thursday’s second Test match at Lord’s, when they learnt about Freddie’s retirement plans.
“I’m shocked. He has been the cornerstone for English cricket for some time now. You only had to see at Cardiff, when he came on to bowl or out to bat, the lift he gave the whole ground,” The Sun quoted Hauritz, as saying.
Meanwhile, middle-order batsman North acclaimed the credibility of Freddie and claimed that he is still a fearsome bowler to bat against.
“Andrew’s been outstanding in his career and an icon in his country. He’s obviously had problems with fitness and the gruelling nature of the game. But without question he’ll be a huge loss to the game,” North said.
“He’s still bowling really quick and without a doubt he is intimidating.
To keep charging in like he does, with the injuries he’s had, just shows what a competitor he is,” he added. (ANI)
Here’s how Zimbabwe’s blind cricket commentator Dean du Plessis bowls audiences
London, September 12 (ANI): He was born blind and has never seen a single match in his life, but has proved that all one requires to become a great cricket commentator is a mix of erudite descriptions of action, comprehensive knowledge of great players, faultless recall of statistics, and needle-sharp sense of timing and judgment.
Needless to say, Zimbabwean-born Dean du Plessis, 32, possesses all these attributes, and has been delivering commentaries on matches for nine years.
He has shared the commentary box in Tests, one-day, and Twenty20 tournaments involving all the Test-playing nations in worldwide radio broadcasts.
The commentators he has worked with include Tony Cozier, Geoffrey Boycott, Ravi Shastri, and Australia’s former spin bowler Bruce Yardley, who himself lost an eye.
In 2004, du Plessis and Yardley made the first ever team to deliver a commentary with a single eye between them.
It is du Plessis’s accentuated sense of hearing that makes up for being sightless.
He relies upon sounds heard via the stump microphones to tell who is bowling from the footfalls and grunts, a medium or fast delivery by the length of time between the bowler’s foot coming down, and the impact of the ball on the pitch.
He can tell whether a delivery was a yorker from the sound of the bat ramming down on the ball, whether a ball is on the off or on-side, and when it’s hit a pad rather than bat.
When the wicketkeeper’s voice goes flat, du Plessis tells him a draw is in the offing.
Though he can’t play the role in the commentary box of the anchor, du Plessis can tell from the crowd noise whether a ball has been gathered in a fielder’s hands or spilled.
“I have to work with the anchor. I am the guy who supplies, well, the colour,” Times Online quoted him as saying.
Andy Pycroft, the Zimbabwean opening batsman from 1979 to 2001, said: “The thing about Dean is the intuition. The public love to listen to him. If he has the right person at anchor to support him he is brilliant.”
Du Plessis hated the “blind cricket” he was taught to play with a plastic-wrapped volleyball at the blind school he attended.
At 14, while feeling bored one day, du Plessis tuned the radio in to a station devoted to ball-by-ball commentaries, and that was what was to change his life.
“There was a phenomenal noise in the background, 80,000 people in a stadium in India, people roaring. I realised it was cricket. I was fascinated,” du Plessis said.
He pushed his way into the commentary box at Harare Sports Club in 2001, and was allowed to try out with the microphone.
He never looked back. (ANI)