Chennai back in final again
The Chennai Super Kings beat the Mumbai Indians by 48 runs to progress to their fifth Indian Premier League final in six years.
Michael Hussey and Suresh Raina starred for the Super Kings, both making unbeaten 80s as they posted a highly-competitive looking 192-1 from their 20 overs.
However, Mumbai looked well positioned to overhaul their mammoth target after a blistering start from West Indian all-rounder Dwayne Smith.
The right-hander smashed 68 off just 28 balls, but once he departed in the eighth over the Indians lost wickets at regular intervals and ultimately ended well short.
Having won the toss, Chennai captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni opted to bat and saw his decision vindicated as his side paced their innings perfectly.
Superb partnership Hussey and Murali Vijay (23) provided a solid if unhurried start before the latter became the only Super Kings wicket to fall as he was caught by Smith off the bowling of fellow West Indian, Kieron Pollard, in the seventh over.
It was then all about Hussey (86) and Raina (82) as they shared in a quite superb unbroken stand of 140, making 123 of those in the final ten overs without appearing to take many risks.
Smith certainly gave Chennai cause for concern as he blazed his brutal half-century to lead Mumbai to 86-1 after seven overs, but – after Ravindra Jadeja had him caught by Raina – Mumbai struggled to maintain the momentum he had built up.
Although Dinesh Kartik and Rohit Sharma went cheaply, Pollard did suggest he could yet turn the contest as he unleashed a couple of trademark sixes.
But when he became the fifth wicket to fall, also picked up by Jadeja who finished with three wickets, Mumbai rather folded and managed to add only another 17 runs as Dwayne Brave ripped through their tail, also helping himself to three wickets.
No progress on Dettori return
Dettori: Still waiting French racing authority France Galop has said it is awaiting further contact from Frankie Dettori concerning “medical issues” before the rider’s application for a renewed licence is to be approved.
France Galop banned the Italian for six months after he tested positive for cocaine at Longchamp last September.
Dettori was due to return to action at Leicester on Monday, but his comeback was vetoed by the British Horseracing Authority after the French regulators said on Friday he must firstly attend a meeting with its medical committee.
With the Investec Derby at Epsom on June 1, the jockey’s representatives have stated their intent to hasten Dettori’s return to the saddle.
However, a spokesman for France Galop said on Tuesday that the onus is on Dettori to contact them.
“We’re waiting for him to get back to us over medical issues,” said communications director Julien Pescatore.
Dettori’s solicitor Christopher Stewart-Moore said his team were in contact with France Galop but declined to discuss the details of the situation.
He said: “We are in correspondence with France Galop about this and it is a private matter.”
Harrison’s retirement U-turn
Audley Harrison: ‘How can I retire, when I know I have another shot in me?’ Audley Harrison has confirmed his return to boxing – less than three weeks after announcing his retirement.
The 2000 Olympic super-heavyweight gold medalist decided to call time on his professional career after being knocked out inside 70 seconds by Deontay Wilder last month.
That reverse was Harrison’s second first-round defeat in recent months, having been stopped inside 82 seconds by David Price in October last year.
But Harrison (31-7) is returning to the ring after the birth of his son and having taken the advice of Lennox Lewis and David Haye.
“When I made the tough decision to walk away from boxing, I knew it was not going to be easy,” Harrison said.
“As the days passed, I knew I would not be able to live with the decision.
I wrestled with it for a few weeks, and spoke to everyone from the Boxing Board, to Lennox Lewis, David Haye, my dad, wife and many others…
ultimately seeing my son born crystallised my decision.
“There is no way I am going to tell my son, ‘I gave up because I didn’t want to climb the mountain again, I didn’t want to dust myself off again, when I’m now in the best shape of my career, doing things I haven’t done for years, and back in love with the sport…’ “How can I retire, when I know I have another shot in me? People who worry I may get hurt, I thank you for your concerns.
We live in a free society and my desire for freedom and autonomy is my universal right.”
Hazard set for Belgium stay
Thorgan Hazard: Linked with move to Anderlecht Sky Bet Football Betting Retrieving latest Sky Bet odds Football Betting 10 Free Bet Thorgan Hazard looks set to remain in Belgium with Anderlecht after impressing whilst on-loan at SV Zulte Waregem.
Thorgan, the younger brother of Chelsea star Eden Hazard, has enjoyed regular first-team football out on loan rather than developing in the Chelsea youth set-up after arriving at Stamford Bridge from Lens last summer.
And his form has attracted interest from a host of Belgian clubs including champions Anderlecht, Club Brugge and Racing Genk.
Anderlecht chairman Roger Vanden Stock confirmed they enjoy a good relationship with the Premier League side, fuelling speculation a move for the 20-year-old winger is imminent.
“Thorgan Hazard? We have very good contacts with Chelsea,” he told Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad.
West Ham snare defender Rat
Razvan Rat: Helped Shakhtar beat Chelsea in last season’s Champions League campaign Sky Bet Football Betting Retrieving latest Sky Bet odds Football Betting 10 Free Bet West Ham have confirmed the signing of Romania captain Razvan Rat on a free transfer.
The experienced left-back will join the Hammers on an initial one-year deal after his contract with Ukrainian champtions Shakhtar Donetsk expires on 1 July.
Rat has spent the last 10 years in the Ukraine, winning 15 trophies, and has 88 international caps.
“I’m hugely happy that we’ve got a player of his experience and character,” manager Sam Allardyce told West Ham’s official website.
“He’s been playing Champions League football this year and at the highest level for many years.
“Shakhtar had offered him a very good contract but his ambition was to come and try his abilities and skills in England.
“We certainly know he’s got the ability and he’s at an age where he’s still capable of producing at 31.
He speaks perfect English, which he taught himself, and that shows the discipline and character of the man.
“Discipline, character and ability are the three big things in the Premier League and, with a little bit of adjusting, we’ll see him early on in the season giving hopefully his best performances for West Ham.
Windfast has Royal Ascot aim
Brian Meehan: One-two at Nottingham Windfast is likely to head for the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot after getting off the mark in good style at Nottingham.
The 1/4 shot, trained by Brian Meehan, stepped up on his debut run behind Green Door at Newmarket to land the British Stallion Studs EBF Maiden Stakes by a length and a quarter from his stablemate Mawfoor.
“They are two nice horses and we are very pleased.
Windfast showed a lot of promise at Newmarket and we’ll take him to Royal Ascot next,” said Meehan.
“He was out there in front all the way and any horse would b e better with a lead at this stage of his career.
“We always thought he was a Coventry horse even before he went to Newmarket.
“We’ll run the other one in a couple of weeks’ time and see how he does.
It is possible he could go to Royal Ascot as well.
“We’ve got a nice team of two-year-olds and they have backed that up.”
De Boer signs new Ajax deal
Frank de Boer: Staying at Ajax until 2017 Sky Bet Football Betting Retrieving latest Sky Bet odds Football Betting 10 Free Bet Ajax coach Frank de Boer has agreed a new four-year contract with the Eredivisie champions.
De Boer, who also played for the club and Barcelona, has agreed a deal which will keep him at Ajax until June 2017.
The former Holland international, whose deal was due to end at the end of next month, told the club website: “This new contract is exactly what I wanted.
“I’m here enjoying myself and my family is happy here.
I see enough challenges here.
“We reached an agreement quickly, because of both sides, we are very satisfied.
“Now I can follow up on where we are with each other and I have started looking forward to it.” Ajax director of football Marc Overmars added: “It’s no surprise that we wanted to extend Frank’s contract.
“That we have come to an agreement after a conversation says it all.
It is good for Ajax that Frank remains connected to the club.” The defender rose through the Ajax youth ranks before making 400 appearances for the first team.
De Boer, who also played for Rangers, Galatasaray and Al-Rayyan, won five Eredivisie titles, two KNVB Cups, the Champions League and UEFA Cup and also a La Liga title with Barcelona.
De Boer won 112 caps for Holland, playing both in the World Cup and European Championships.
Having coached the Ajax youth side he worked as assistant to national coach Bert van Marwijk when they finished runners-up in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, losing 1-0 to Spain in the final.
De Boer has spent the last two and a half years in charge of Ajax, winning the Eredivisie title three times in a row.
Kessler hails perfect timing
Mikkel Kessler: Feels great ahead of Saturday’s fight with Froch Mikkel Kessler feels he is at the peak of his powers ahead of Saturday’s super-middleweight unification fight with Carl Froch.
The WBA super-middleweight champion takes on the Nottingham fighter at the O2 Arena after the pair’s first bout in Denmark three years ago went the distance before Kessler was given a close points decision.
The Danish ace is looking forward to a renewal of hostilities, believing he could not be in better shape for Saturday’s showdown, which is being shown live on Sky Sports Box Office HD .
Speaking from the Hayemaker Gym in Vauxhall, he told Sky Sports News : “I’m feeling good, I’m feeling ready to fight Carl.
“I’ve done a lot of things different (in preparation), I always try and do things, what I eat, how I sleep, how I train and I can’t reveal that now but of course, I try to do everything different.
“It’s been very good, very good sparring – I think I’m in my peak now, it couldn’t be more perfect timing, so I feel like no-one can beat me now.” Asked if he feels like he has to do something different in order to beat Froch again, he replied: “Yes of course.
I’ve fought him before so it’s a different gameplan we have to do but I always try to do things better.
“If there are new things discovered we can be better at (to) get in better shape, I’m going to do that you know.
I try to do everything as much as possible so.” Kessler also played down his sparring sessions with George Groves, who was branded a traitor by Froch for helping the Dane prepare for Saturday’s fight.
“I haven’t really heard so much about that, somebody told me this, Carl was angry, I don’t know what it is, I don’t know how good friends they are.
“I didn’t spar with him so much but he’s a good guy George.
I’m sure that Carl also has a lot of sparring partners that are not English, maybe not Danish people, but its ok for him.”
Borderlescott comeback option
Borderlescott: On verge of possible comeback Group One-winning sprinter Borderlescott could be set to come out of retirement at the age of 11.
Trainer Robin Bastiman will give the dual Nunthorpe winner a gallop on Wednesday morning and if he comes through that well and a subsequent heart scan shows no issues, he will return to full training.
“It’s not confirmed just yet, he’ll gallop tomorrow when he’ll have a heart scan and then we’ll know,” said Bastiman.
“If there’s anything at all not quite right we’ll forget the idea.
“He’s not a happy horse being turned out in a field.
We’ve kept him in semi-exercise and I’d told the owners at York that he’d been showing quite a bit of speed still.
“They agreed to it, but he needs a clean bill of health tomorrow.
“I’m just a bit worried about his last run when he was well beaten but he’s had plenty of time off.
“Obviously he hasn’t been put under any pressure at home since so we’ll see how he copes with that tomorrow.”
League of their own
Gary Neville: Eye for a player Sky Bet Football Betting Retrieving latest Sky Bet odds Football Betting 10 Free Bet Gary Neville has added the coveted Sky Sports Fantasy Football League title to his packed trophy cabinet.
The former Manchester United and England defender produced a strong surge in the closing months of the season – much like his former United boss Sir Alex Ferguson was renowned for – to clinch top spot ahead of David Jones.
The pair, who often combine for Sky’s live football coverage, were pitted against each other in the closing stages of the season, with the pundit pipping the presenter in this incident.
Neville’s I Wanna Be Adored FC pulled in 37 points on the final weekend to finish on 2012 points, seven ahead of Jonesy’s Giants .
In fine United style, Neville’s success came on the back of a glut of goals – his team were one of only four to finish with more than 100 goals to their name.
Sky Sports News presenter Adam Leventhal coached his Levski team to third, ahead of Marcus Bluett’s Jayluc Hotspur and David Croft’s Hammered , which had led the running for much of the season only for their challenge to stall.
Merse and Fenners, with their Fantasy Football Club team, finished inside the top 10 with 1924 points, ahead of Soccer Am’s Max Rushden and Soccer Saturday’s Jeff Stelling.
Wayne Mardle finished bottom of the pile with his Mardles Marvels racking up just 973 points and saving Sir Ian Botham’s blushes with Beefy’s Iron Men ending the season second bottom, and all out of ideas, on 1019 points.
Click here for a full rundown of the final league standings
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