Bowlers shouldn't get water: Sunil Gavaskar

New Delhi: Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar has slammed the ICC`s decision to abolish runners for injured batsmen in one-day cricket, saying even bowlers should not be allowed to have water as rules should be the same for everyone.

The ICC`s Executive Committee has decided to do away with runners for injured batsmen in ODIs and Gavaskar said if that is the case, it should be stringent for the fielding side as well.

"I would also like to suggest that there should be no water for bowlers at the boundary end. They bowl one over and come to the boundary where energy drinks are waiting for them," a miffed Gavaskar told a news channel.


"There should not be a substitute fielder when a regular player goes off the field. If a fielder gets injured or has cramps, he should either go off the field or stay there. That ways it balances out everything and the batting side is not the only one affected," he said. Gavaskar said if the ICC feels having runners for injured batsmen is not fair then it should also consider doing away with the drinks breaks and the concept of substitute fielders.

"There should be no drinks breaks that are usually scheduled after one hour or so. If you are going to make a situation like this then there should not be any substitute fielders either," he said.

India aim to end losing streak in Barbados!

An unbeatable series lead on their mind, a confident India take on a demoralised West Indies in the second Test on Tuesday, hoping to break a 58-year winless streak at the Kensington Oval.

All-conquering Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has made little secret of his desire to win at a venue where India has lost five successive Tests since 1971.

The Indians have in fact never won at the venue since it first played host to them in 1953, losing seven while drawing a game at the venue and that draw came way back in 1971.

I have regained my old bowling rhythm: Irfan

Dhoni walked in with his troops at the Kensington Oval on a greyish Sunday afternoon and spent longer time with them in the nets than he usually does.

He also made a departure from his usual practice of not inspecting the pitch and almost shared a conclave on the 22-yard strip with Harbhajan Singh and two selectors presently in the Caribbean -- Narendra Hirwani and Surendra Bhave.

The Kensington Oval has tested the technique of Indian batsmen -- indeed of any visiting batsman -- over the years and the mention of just a few legends, Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith, Malcolm Marshall and Joel Garner, has sent shivers down their spine.

However, that's time bygone and today the hosts lack the firepower almost to the same degree as the visitors are oozing confidence.

West Indies are aware they let go a splendid chance in Sabina Park last week and that the Indians are only going to get better from now on.

A troubled West Indies have thus sought the services of cricket's best-known psychologist Rudi Webster who, over the next five days, would try to get them out of a defeatist mindset.

"It's happened too often. We have lost critical moments of play for too long now," West Indian skipper Darren Sammy had lamented after the first Test which India won by 63 runs.

Webster needs a good hose-pipe of wit and wisdom to wash the hosts off their sins of omission this season.

It must be ominous to the West Indies that the Indians are not too happy with the way they won at Sabina Park.

Dhoni said on Saturday his team was getting anxious when the last-wicket West Indian pair had entrenched itself in the middle on the fourth afternoon.

The Indians didn't find their skills or concentration up to the mark and indeed chose the free fifth day of the Jamaica Test to practice on the centre pitch.

West Indies are unlikely to tamper with their pace attack and the only change from the first game ought to be the induction of Marlon Samuels even as game-changer Chris Gayle continues to cool his heels in the stands due to his feud with the cricket board.

The Jamaican showed glimpses of his fine touch in the one-day series and would lap up this moment of career resumption.

Samuels played his first Test in three years against Pakistan this season and promptly hit a half-century. He has a decent average of over 43 against India from three Tests, including a century.

India too may make a change and medium-pacer Munaf Patel could be included in place of leg-spinner Amit Mishra.

Munaf hasn't played in Tests for over two years but he has been an important cog in India's wheels this season and deserves a promotion on a pitch as juicy as the Kensington Oval suggests itself to be.

India vs West Indies

A few awaiting landmarks could also fire up the Indians. Harbhajan Singh needs just four wickets to reach 400-wicket mark; Ishant Sharma requires four for his 100 Test wickets; VVS Laxman needs 85 for complete 8000 Test runs while Dhoni 59 for his 3000 Test runs.

Teams (from):

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt.), VVS Laxman, Subramaniam Badrinath, Rahul Dravid, Harbhajan Singh, Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar, Amit Mishra, Abhimanyu Mithun, Abhinav Mukund, Pragyan Ojha, Munaf Patel, Parthiv Patel, Suresh Raina, Ishant Sharma, Murali Vijay.

West Indies: Darren Sammy (Capt.), Adrian Barath, Carlton Baugh (wk), Devendra Bishoo, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Fidel Edwards, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Lendl Simmons, Kirk Edwards.

Umpires: Asad Rauf (Pakistan) and Ian Gould (England).

Jacobson wins Travelers for first PGA Tour title!

Fredrik Jacobson accomplished a lot of firsts Sunday.

The Swede played in his first final group on the PGA Tour, won his first title on the tour, and gave his 5-year-old daughter her first trophy.

Jacobson shot a 4-under 66 in the Travelers Championship for a one-stroke victory over John Rollins and Ryan Moore, becoming the first international winner of the tournament since Greg Norman in 1995.

Jacobson said he promised Emmie that he would get her a trophy like the ones she saw other players holding up on television.

"It's been haunting me," Jacobson said. "I've been on the board, I've been asked so many times from the kids, 'Did you get a trophy this week daddy? Did you get a trophy this week?' Nope, no trophy. So, I'm excited about that. I'm glad I'm not breaking that promise for her."

Jacobson, a 36-year-old who joined the tour eight years ago and has three European Tour victories, had just one bogey in the tournament and finished at 20 under, two shots off the course record.

"I was hitting so many fairways," said Jacobson, who tied for 14th last week in the U.S. Open at Congressional. "It started clicking the end of last week. The last two days I struck the ball the best I ever have at the U.S. Open."

Jacobson hit all 28 fairways over the weekend.

Rollins and Moore closed with 63s. Moore missed a 4-foot par putt on 18.

"I'm not beating myself up over that putt," Moore said. "That happens in golf. ... It was a pretty simple left-center putt, and I pushed it right into the middle of the hole and it just slipped by the side."

Patrick Cantlay, the 19-year-old UCLA star who had a 60 on Friday to break the tour record for an amateur, — finished at 11 under after weekend rounds of 72 and 70.

He arrived to a loud ovation on the 18th green, but bogeyed the hole.

"I just learned what it's like to have a week on the PGA Tour, to make the cut and to compete with all the guys," said Cantlay, the low amateur last week at Congressional. "This was just my second go-around and it was a lot of fun. The ovations are special every time."

Rollins had four consecutive birdies to start the back nine and gave himself a chance to win at 18, by making birdie after hitting his second shot 4 feet from the pin.

"It seemed like every hole there was a roar going on, so you knew that guys were making birdies and all kinds of low numbers on the board," he said. "So I just kept plugging along and staying with what I was doing and managed to get a good round."

Michael Thompson, a 31-year-old who came out of qualifying school this season, shot the best round of the day, a 62, including a 29 on the back nine. He finished fourth at 18 under.

"It was very exciting, especially this being my dream to play on the PGA Tour," he said.

Jacobson was trying to become the first player since Lee Trevino in the 1974 Greater New Orleans Open to play 72 holes without a bogey.

And he almost did it.

He had 63 consecutive bogey-free holes before running into problems on the par-4 10th. His second shot went right, ending up resting against the cart path, but after taking relief and pitching onto the green, he couldn't make a 12-foot putt for par.

"I caught a mud ball there on the right side," he said. "You've just got to accept those. With a long iron, it can take off sideways so I got challenged there. But I think I dealt with it nicely and kept playing well."

Moore birdied his first three holes, making short putts on each and was 5 under for the day through the first seven holes. He hit his second shot on the par-5 13th about 262 yards to 10 feet of the pin, but missed his eagle putt. His birdie put him in a three-way tie for the lead.

Moore made three more birdies in a row at Nos. 14-16 to got to 20 under and catch Jacobson again. But the American hit into two sand traps on 18, before pitching inside 5 feet.

"When you shoot 63 in the final round, there is not a whole lot to complain about," he said. "My 18th hole is going to sting a little bit."

Jacobson's second shot on 18 stopped about 14 feet away, leaving him with an easy two-putt for the win.

He said it was a lot less pressure to play from in front, after ending the third round with a one-stroke lead.

"I've been the chaser many times being within a few shots, and it's a pretty stressful situation where you go for a lot of shots, try to make those putts to close the gaps to where you feel you can get into that rhythm," he said. "So I thought today, it's not for me to stress."

After tapping in, he threw both arms in the air as his caddie slipped the flag off the pin as a souvenir.

He hopes it's not his last. After all, he has two more kids.

"Alice is 7 and Max is 3," he said. "So they're probably going to want one each now too."

Argentine football giants relegated for first time!

Legendary Argentine football giants River Plate were relegated from the country's top division for the first time in their 110-year history, amid tears and scenes of violent mayhem.

The Buenos Aires team are Argentina's most successful club with 33 championships to their name, and their rivalry with Boca Juniors, based in the same city, is one of the most intense in all sport.

But there will be no Superclasicos next season unless the two sides draw each other in a cup competition, after River Plate were held 1-1 at home in the second leg of a promotion-relegation playoff with lowly Belgrano de Cordoba.

The Primera B side had won the first leg 2-0, meaning River Plate had to win by two clear goals to stay up under the play-off system rules.

The Millionaires, as the team are known, got off to the best possible start, Mariano Pavone scoring after just five minutes.

But they failed to settle and Guillermo Farre silenced the 50,000-crowd in the Estadio Monumental with an equaliser for the Cordobans in the 61st minute.

Pavone had a chance to put River Plate back in command with a penalty just nine minutes later, but his spot kick was saved by goalkeeper Juan Carlos Olave.

As violence erupted among supporters, referee Sergio Pezzotta brought the tie to a close on 89 minutes, giving Belgrano a 3-1 aggregate win and a place in history, as well as in the Primera Division.

Juan Jose Lopez's players, having brought their illustrious club to an unprecedented low on a cold winter afternoon, spent several minutes hugging each other, in tears, before leaving the pitch.

Belgrano de Cordoba departed under a hail of missiles from the home crowd, as firefighters sprayed water hoses into the stands to try to restore order.

The violence soon spread to the streets outside the stadium, where police used horses and water cannon to control furious fans, television footage showed.

The clashes left 68 people injured, 50 arrested and 15 vehicles destroyed, according to the Federal Police. Two officers were "in serious condition with head injuries from being hit by projectiles," police said.

About 2,200 police had been deployed for the match.

The 3,000 Belgrano fans who had made the journey to the capital were unable to leave the stadium for two hours, and it was another hour before the River Plate players and staff could do so, under heavy police escort.

"We will resist, we will reformulate the club from now on," said Daniel Passarella, River Plate's president, who captained Argentina's 1978 World Cup-winning side but who is blamed by some fans for the team's decline.

The club, named for the English version of the Rio de la Plata which divides Argentina and Uruguay, were formed in 1901 and earned their nickname in the 1930s, when their resources saw them acquire players from rival clubs for huge transfer fees.

As well as their domestic titles -- the last of them in 2008 -- they have won two Copa Libertadores, the Intercontinental Cup, the Supercopa Sudamericana and the Copa Interamericana.

Boca and Independiente are now the only sides never to have been relegated from Argentina's Primera Division.