Three records established at Nagpur India

Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh made history by taking the wicket of the Australian captain as his 300 wicket in the 2nd day of the 4th test match played against India and Australia in Nagpur India yesterday (07).

Harbhajan Singh has played 175 test matches and gained 300 wickets in 9260 runs. His best record is 8 wickets for 84 runs in a test match.

Meanwhile playing in his first ever match Australian bowler Jason Krejza took 8 wickets and enters the record list for best performing bowler debut match.

In the 4th test match against India and Australia, India scored 441 runs in the first innings and by the end of the second day Australia was 189 to the loss of 2 wickets.

Indian top cricketer Sachin Tendulkar who played his first test match in 1989 scored his 40th test century in the 1st day of the test match against Australia. This was his 153rd test match and he has also played 51 half centuries. Sachin is also the highest test scorer in the world.

Courtesy: Lankapuvath

Top US military official praises Sri Lanka’s war on terrorism

Commander of US Pacific Joint Command, Admiral Timothy Keating while commending the effective measures adopted by the Government of Sri Lanka in combating LTTE terrorism said ”We are hopeful that the LTTE would be a decreasingly important factor of much less reach than they are and have been in the past,” foreign media sources said.

As head of the US Pacific Command, with its headquarters in Hawaii, Keating is responsible for  US military operation ranging from Australia and New Zealand to China, Taiwan and Japan to India and Sri Lanka.

Speaking to foreign correspondents in New York yesterday (06), top US military official, Keating added “We are very pleased the Sri Lankan Navy has been able to wage an increasingly effective campaign against the LTTE,”

“We are assured and gratified by the progress that the Sri Lankan military is making, and I think, the Sri Lankan military would be the first to admit that there is work to be done,” he noted.

Mr. Keating was also of the view that by providing more capability and capacity to the Sri Lanka military the war against the LTTE terrorism would be more effective and efficient.

“I am confident the Sri Lankan military have every intention to defeat the LTTE. Surely, they would like to have greater capability and capacity, but the progress they are making is commendable,” he said.

US commends military operations against LTTE

“I am confident the Sri Lankan military has very best intentions in the world (to defeat LTTE). Surely, they would like to have greater capability and capacity, but the progress they are making is commendable”, the US Admiral Timothy Keating, Commander of US Pacific Joint Command, told foreign news correspondents in New York yesterday(Nov 6).

“We are very pleased the Sri Lankan Navy has been able to wage an increasingly effective campaign against the LTTE,” Admiral Keating said adding that the LTTE would be a decreasingly important factor of much less reach than they are and have been in the past.

“We are assured and gratified by the progress that the Sri Lankan military is making, and I think, the Sri Lankan military would be the first to admit that there is work to be done” he was further quoted as saying.

Sri Lankan Army chief Sarath Fonseka said early this week in Colombo that LTTE’s ‘80 percent’ of the fighting capabilities have been eliminated. He also claimed that the Sri Lankan troops were just seven kilometres away from the Kilaly lagoon, which links northern Jaffna peninsula to the Wanni mainland along the western coast.

Admiral Timothy Keating is the head of the US Pacific Command, with its headquarters in Hawaii, who is also responsible for the US military operations ranging from Australia and New Zealand to China, Taiwan and Japan to India and Sri Lanka. Washington has proscribed the LTTE as an international terrorist outfit since 1997.

LTTE is a ruthless terrorist outfit that has been fighting for a mono ethnic separate homeland for the Tamils in Sri Lanka since 1983. During its 3 decades of existence the outfit has pioneered a large number of terror tactics particularly in the field of suicide bombing, that have been soon copied by the other terror organizations in the world .

Fuelled by extremist tribal ideologies held by their megalomaniac leader, V. Prabhakaran, and largely foreign funds generated through its false propaganda, LTTE terrorists have killed tens and thousands of innocent civilians in many village massacres, bus bombings , train bombings, ethnic cleansing raids , and etc. The outfit is also included in the UN list of shame for using children for terror attacks.

Courtesy: Ministry of Defence

Australian assistance for tsunami monitoring systems discussed

Minister of Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services, Rishad Bathiudeen during his visit to Australia, discussed several issues related to natural disaster management with the Australian officials, according to a media release issued by the Ministry.

Murali a chucker: Gilly

After targetting Indian cricketers, former Australian vice-captain Adam Gilchrist has now set his sights on the Sri Lankans and has alleged that spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan bowled with an illegal action. In his autobiography ‘True Colours of My Life’, Gilchrist further accused the International Cricket Council (ICC) of changing the rules of the game to accommodate Muralitharan after the Sri Lankan authorities interpreted questioning of his bowling action as a racial attack.

”Does Murali chuck the ball? I thought for a few moments, and then said, cautiously: ‘I think he does’,” Gilchrist wrote, referring to a question posed to him.

”I say that because, if you read the laws of the game, there’s no doubt in my mind that he and many others throughout cricket history have,” he added.

”This reached an absurd point when the laws were changed to accommodate him. When I heard that the rules would now allow degree of straightening - 15 degrees to be exact, a fraction more than Murali’s straightening had been measured at - I thought ‘That’s a load of horse crap. That’s rubbish.” Muralitharan has a history of confrontations with Australian players who have repeatedly questioned the legality of the off-spinner’s action. This reached the boiling point during Sri Lanka’s tour of Australia in 1999.

”It got even worse in 1999 when Murali was again no-balled in Australia and Ranatunga tried to take his team off the Adelaide Oval. Ranatunga was charged under the ICC Code of conduct, but turned up to his hearing with lawyers who argued that as the ICC match referee brought the charge, the same guy could not also sit in judgments on it,” Gilchrist said.

”Legally this was true, but morally it was a landmark moment, a direct attack on the spirit of the game… the Sri Lankans seemed to be saying ‘If you hold Murali to the laws, we’re going to tear the whole game apart’.” The former stumper went on to question Murali’s famous ‘doosra’ delivery, and alleged that the ICC appeared to have passed it without the required level of examination.

”His doosra, the ball which spins away from the right-hander and attracted new scrutiny in 2004, seemed to be passed without any rigorous examination,” Gilchrist felt.

”Often Australian players, having seen him bowl yet another suspect doosra past the outside edge, would look at each other in changing room and say: ‘Wasn’t that one meant to have been sorted out?” The 36-year-old further accused the legendary off-spinner of spoiling the Test career of many batsmen.

”Nobody seemed to spare much thought for the batsmen playing Murali. Because he was so potent, guys were losing there wickets, and eventually losing their Test careers in some cases — because of this bowler,” Gilchrist quipped.

”As much as I like Murali, my sympathies lay more with those batsmen, from every other nation, whose careers suffered because of a bowler who was in technical breach of the rules and seemed to enjoy a kind of political protection.” Muralitharan is the leading wicket taker in the history of Test cricket and is one of the finest bowlers produced by Sri Lanka. He has claimed 756 Test wickets from just 123 matches at an astounding rate of nearly six wickets per Test. (Manoramaonline.com)

Courtesy: Dailymirror