Ashes 2009 match 2 – Flint and Strauss thrashes Aussies hope

July 16, the ashes season, match 2 started with lots of hope on the Australian side with their outstanding performance in the match 1, but the match ended in the otherway. Aussies hope was thrashed by the England players. England chose to bat first and put up a huge score of 425 all out which included an excellent 161 by the skipper Strauss and 95 by Cook, the opener. Johnson’s bowling figure was not so good though he managed to get 3 wickets in the first innings. Australia got a low total of 215 all out which included 51 by Mhussey. England declared with the second innings total of 311 for 6 which included 61 from prior and 54 by collingwood. Aussies had a tough time with the bat while Flintoff was in fire. They were all out with a score of 405 which made England win the game by 115 runs. England leads the series by 1-0. Great performance England! Keep going.

“TRI WIZARD” TOURNAMENT

The fourteenth annual Tri nation Rugby Union between Australia, South Africa and New
Zealand will be starting around the middle of July and extend into August and September. Week 1 will start on the 18^th of July and the tournament, which is meant for declaring the Rugby champions of the southern part of the globe, goes on till the 19^th of September as per the schedule. As of now according to the International Rugby Board (IRB) New Zealand has been ranked number 1 followed by South Africa at the second position and Australia has been ranked third. Each country is going to be playing three home matches and an equal number of away fixtures. The first match will be held between New Zealand and Australia on Saturday the 18^th of July at Eden Park. The second one between South Africa and New Zealand will be held on the 25^th of July at Vodacom Park at Bloemfontein.

QUALITY RAISING IN GERMAN GRAND PRIX

The German Grand Prix has become the platform for a number of technical modifications and improvements in top rated racing cars like McLaren and Ferrari. This time McLaren has introduced a new B version of its MP4-24 with a new front wing and additional side pods. The model also has a new floor and a new rear diffuser. The Toyota TF109 has come with new strakes on the side of its cockpit. They are placed ahead of the sidepods in order to decrease the lift produced by just changing the alignment of the flow of air. Meanwhile Renault R29 has come up with the additional feature of new front wing endplates. These endplates have a unique curved shape at the rear of the endplate. The Ferrari F60 boasts of a modified rear side diffuser to improve the extraction of air which is implemented at the side channels. With so many interesting modifications and added features being introduced, the German Grand Prix is ought to be the talk of the town.

WEBBER STORMS THE GERMAN GRAND PRIX

The German Grand Prix saw Australian Mark Webber storming into victory finishing the 60 laps in 1 hour 36 minutes and 43 seconds gaining 10 points for his triumph. RBR-Renault teammate Sebastian Vettel took the 2^nd position finishing 9.2 seconds later. He obtained 8 points. Felippe Massa of Ferrari finished 15.9 seconds later and took the third position and along with it took home 6 points. Lewis Hamilton who started at the lead position was pushed back to the 18^th position. His teammate Heikki Kovalainen managed to obtain the 8^th position. Meanwhile Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari was forced to retire after lap 34 due to radiator damage. Sebastian Bourdais of STR Ferrari also retired after the 18^th lap due to problem in hydraulics. As far as the driver championships go, Button is the one leading with 68 points followed by Vettel at 47 points and Webber third at 45.5 points and Barrichello at 44 points.

Ashes 2009 match 1 – collingwood precludes Aussies victory

The ashes season have began were the Australians have come to England to defend their title. The first match started at July 8. England wouldn’t have wanted to begin this way in the big game. The game was almost on the Aussies side with a massive total of 674 in the first innings. Though England manged to score 435 in the first innings their second innings was so awful with 259 for 9 wickets. England just managed not to lose all the wickets at the end of day 5. Aussies were in fine touch with all the players in great form especially Katich, Pointing, North and Haddin contributing century each. Without Brett lee Aussies din’t have tough time since Johnson was awesome. On the counterside collingwood was the only man who turned the match otherway. He stabilised the game for England with his bat. His 74 runs from 245 balls in the second innings precluded Aussies victory in the first match of the ashes 2009. The match was a draw and the ashes series is 0-0 at moment.

FRENCH OPEN GOLF

The French Open Golf Tournament started on the 2^nd of July. Martin Kaymer of Germany took a three stroke lead after the 1^st round of the contest in spite of having a severe blister. His performance led him to equal the record set by Argentinian Eduardo Romero in 2005. Two Englishmen Paul Waring and Nick Dougherty shared the 2^nd place with a 66. He went on to become the winner of the tournament with amazing scores in all the four rounds. Kaymer scored his lowest in the Round 1 with 62 which was the best in that round as well as his best score. Next, he scored 72 in round 2. This was followed by scores of 69 and 68 in the 3^rd and 4^th rounds respectively. He topped the French Open with a total of 271. Lee Westwood who has the same total was ranked 2^nd. Ian Poulter got the 3^rd position with a total of 274.

HARRINGTON’S HOPES

With a number of participants gearing up for the big event, the French Open Golf Tournament at the Le Golf National near Paris is starting on the 2^nd of July 2009 with a lot of expectations. Irish golfer Padraig Harrington is highly optimistic about his chances to succeed at the French Open. He also hopes it will be the perfect practice for the US Open coming up in a fortnight’s time at Turnberry. But his 2009 record has not been good and he has not had any top 10 finish so far. He has missed his last four cuts and has been very disappointing in his performance. His ranking has become as bad as 195^th out of 212 for his Driving Accuracy in the European Tour. He has to realize that if he has to regain his previous brilliant form he needs to perform well at the French Open and the upcoming US Open Golf Tournament.