KT 3-4-2013_Layout 1 - Kuwait Times

Michael Clarke
Just what Robert Guerrero was thinking
remains a mystery, at least for now. He’s
not saying and, after the idiotic move
that got him arrested with a gun at a
New York airport, that’s probably a
good thing.
Dumb doesn’t even begin to
describe packing heat for a trip to the
Big Apple to promote his May 4 fight
with Floyd Mayweather Jr. As tough as
the New York media can be at times, it
wasn’t necessary to bring a .40-caliber
Smith & Wesson pistol in case things
got real nasty.
The good news is that the
Mayweather fight is still on, and
Guerrero remains in training. The bad
news is that the threat of possible jail
time hanging over his head may be one
distraction too many in a fight where
Guerrero must be at his very best.
Forgive Mayweather if he’s spent the
last few nights at his Big Boy Mansion in
Las Vegas laughing with his yes men
about the whole thing. He may beat up
or berate women if they give him a
rough time, but so far he seems to be
pretty careful - with good reason -
when it comes to guns.
The Guerrero camp is doing its best
to tone things down, and you have to
believe the fighter really wasn’t aware
of New York’s tough gun laws when he
packed his pistol - legally registered in
his home state of California - in a locked
box and put it in his suitcase for his trip.
That’s not surprising because fighters in
general tend not to be up on local laws
unless they find themselves breaking
one. I mean, the guy told the ticket
agent at the JFK Airport counter that he
had the gun in his suitcase when he
checked in. That by itself may keep him
out of jail in a state so stringent about
gun control that former New York
Giants receiver Plaxico Burress was sentenced
to three years in prison for
shooting himself with his own unregistered
weapon.
At the very least, though, Guerrero
ruined a great story line for the bout.
He was supposed to be the good guy in
this fight, a humble and hard-working
boxer who praises God in every other
sentence, up against a thug who spent
more than two months in jail last summer
for assaulting his ex-girlfriend
while two of their children watched.
Until last Thursday, he played the
role well. I talked to him a few weeks
SPORTS
Being dumb is kind to describe Guerrero’s arrest
Two years on, Clarke still has
the stomach for the fight
SYDNEY: Australian cricketing prospects
have rarely looked bleaker than when
Michael Clarke took over the Test captaincy
after the last Ashes series but only an
out-and-out optimist would declare the
outlook that much brighter two years on.
While his personal stock has risen inexorably
on the back of a torrent of runs,
Clarke’s Australia could hardly be said to
be looking ready, willing and able to contest
back-to-back test series against
England this year.
At the weekend, Clarke celebrated the
second anniversary of his appointment as
Australia’s 43rd test captain with a night
in hospital suffering from gastroenteritis.
If the illness was a lingering reminder
of the recent tour of India, it was not the
only unpleasantness to accompany him
back from the sub-continent.
The 4-0 test drubbing not only once
again exposed the frailties of the
Australian batting but also featured offfield
problems, most notably when four
players were dropped for not performing
a post-match assignment.
Clarke pugnaciously defended the
“homework-gate” exclusions as necessary
to foster the team ethic required to fulfil
the ambition he starkly laid out two years
ago - to become number one ranked
team in all forms of the game.
The Australians flirted with taking the
top test ranking off South Africa in their
home series at the end of last year but
ultimately went down 1-0 to the Proteas.
They are currently ranked fourth.
Clarke will have plenty of time to
reflect on how much progress has been
made over the last two years in the next
seven to 10 weeks as he recovers from
hamstring and lower back injuries that
ruled him out of the final test in India.
What he probably did not anticipate
when he succeeded Ricky Ponting was
defending his team against the accusation
that they were the worst Australian
side to ever take the field.
“All of us understand our performances
over the last four tests were not acceptable,”
he wrote in a column for an
Australian website this week.
“But, that said, we are only a couple of
months removed from advancing to within
one test match of taking the number
one ranking from South Africa.
“That suggests all is not lost and talk of
us being the worst Australian team in history
is a bit harsh. One bad tour doesn’t
define a squad and I’m confident we can
KUWAIT: Kuwait Swedish Cricket Club
sponsored by Kuwait Swedish Cleaning
Services Company and patronized by Assad
Khan concluded another successful tournament
for the 5th year running.
Mirage CC captained by Rameshbabu
won the prestigious Kuwait Swedish Trophy,
beating Lions Cricket Club lead by the diehard
cricketer Sayed Quadri (Lion King) by
11 runs. The tournament played under the
aegis of Kuwait Veterans Cricket Committee
(KVCC) which is headed by Mahmoud
Abdullah (Abu Nader) Chairman MG Cricket
take the fight to England.”
Clarke singled out the performances of
batsmen Phil Hughes, Ed Cowan and
Steve Smith as positives to come out of
the tour, along with the workrate of seamers
such as James Pattinson, Peter Siddle
and Mitchell Starc.
Whereas Ponting during his reign as
captain was not on the selection panel
and therefore able to shrug off, or even
share, media incredulity at mismanagement
of players, Clarke has no such luxury.
Along with South African coach Mickey
Arthur, Clarke is part of the four-man panel
and must take his share of responsibility.
Leaving aside “homework-gate”, the
most baffling decision in India was to
drop spinner Nathan Lyon from the
Hyderabad test, which Australia lost by an
innings and 135 runs.
Although Lyon is not, and would never
claim to be, another Shane Warne, he has
been a solid test bowler and returned to
take nine wickets in the final match in
Delhi - a “good reward for effort” according
to Clarke.
Still, if the India tour was the nadir for
the Clarke-led Australia team, there have
been plenty of highlights too. Clarke, who
turned 32 on Tuesday, has led the team to
12 wins, six defeats and five draws in 23
tests.
There have been series sweeps of India
(4-0) and Sri Lanka (3-0) at home, series
wins in West Indies and Sri Lanka as well
as a 1-1 draw in an extraordinary series in
South Africa.
There has also been his own remarkable
form since he took the job, 2,533 test
runs at an average of 68.45 with one triple
century, three double centuries and five
other hundreds. Clarke repeatedly, and
apparently genuinely, trots out the line
that he would trade all his runs for victories
for his team.
And, as Ponting discovered to his cost
after three Ashes defeats, Australian captains
will only ultimately be defined by
how they fare against England.
“Everyone in Australian cricket knows
how much the Ashes means to the country
and we will do everything within our
power to turn the ship around after our
disappointing tour of India,” he wrote in
his column. “The players know how big
the next 12 months are and it is still our
aim to win back the urn and make
Australia proud.”—Reuters
Club included ten of the top veteran teams
in Kuwait.
Winning the toss and electing to bat
Mirage CC got off to a flying start openers
Fahim and Chauhan hitting a quick fire 50 in
5 overs with Fahim plundering 18 runs in
the 4th over hitting a massive six and 2
fours. Khalid gave Lions their first breakthrough
removing Chauhan caught trying
to hook him. Lion’s spinner Vijay struck
twice in the seventh over removing Fahim
with a full toss and the experienced
Chinmaya off successive deliveries slowing
earlier and he was full of confidence
that he could handle a big fight and
everything that surrounds it.
“I’ve been preparing for this
throughout my career,” the WBC welterweight
champ said. “I know the media
is going to be crazy - everything is
going to be crazy. But I’m ready for this.”
Turns out he wasn’t quite as ready as
he thought. He didn’t have enough
sense to leave his gun - unloaded,
along with the three magazines he had
in his bag - home, and he didn’t have
enough sense not to bring a gun registered
in California to a state where gun
control laws are among the toughest in
the U.S.
“I hope that Mr. Guerrero fights better
than he thinks,” Queens District
Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement.
“For anyone who hasn’t gotten
the message, let me be crystal clear.
You cannot bring an unlicensed
weapon - loaded or unloaded - into this
county or this city. And if you do, you
will be arrested and face felony
charges.”
Unfortunately for Guerrero, the
questions he gets over the next five
weeks will not just be about how he
CHICAGO: Defenseman Michal Rozsival scored
in the fifth round of shootout after Jonathan
Toews also connected in the tiebreaker, and the
Chicago Blackhawks pulled out a 3-2 win over
the Nashville Predators on Monday night.
Rozsival, who hasn’t scored a regulation goal
this season, beat Pekka Rinne with a high shot in
his first attempt in a shootout this season.
Patrick Kane scored his team-leading 19th
goal and rookie Brandon Saad scored in regulation
to help the Blackhawks win their second
straight. The Predators were outshot 27-11
through the first two periods, but stormed back
in the third to erase a 2-0 deficit on goals by
Dave Legwand and rookie Taylor Beck and force
overtime. Craig Smith scored in the second
round of the shootout for Nashville, but the
Predators dropped their third straight (0-1-2).
Corey Crawford made 25 saves for Chicago,
while Rinne stopped 38 shots for Nashville.
DUCKS 4, STARS 0
In Dallas, Viktor Fasth made 26 saves for his
third shutout of the season, and Bobby Ryan had
a goal and an assist to lead Anaheim over reeling
Dallas. Corey Perry and Matt Beleskey also
scored and Ryan Getzlaf added two assists for
the Ducks, who completed a four-game road trip
(2-1-1). Teemu Selanne had an empty-netter in
the last minute.
Despite having to travel, it was the Pacific
Division-leading Ducks that displayed more
energy and passion. Kari Lehtonen, making his
15th straight start, came up with 26 saves for
Dallas, which is 1-3-0 in its last four outings -
allowing 16 goals in the process.
CANADIENS 4, HURRICANES 1
In Montreal, Carey Price made 18 saves in his
300th NHL game to lead Montreal over Carolina.
Max Pacioretty scored twice, while Andrei
Markov and Jeff Halpern also scored for
Montreal, which swept the season series and
remains unbeaten in 10 games against the
Southeast Division this season.
Jordan Staal scored and Justin Peters stopped
25 shots for the Hurricanes, who have only one
victory in their past nine games. The win gives
Montreal a three-point lead over the idle Boston
Bruins in the race for the Northeast Division title.
Montreal’s Colby Armstrong had to be helped off
the ice after a hard collision in the third.
SHARKS 3, CANUCKS 2
In San Jose, Joe Thornton had a goal and an
assist during a second-period scoring flurry and
San Jose beat Vancouver for its fifth straight victory.
Andrew Desjardins and Logan Couture also
scored for San Jose, which broke a scoreless tie
with three goals in a span of 2:13 against
Canucks goaltender Cory Schneider.
Chris Higgins and Alexandre Burrows scored
to pull Vancouver within one, but the Sharks prevailed
and extended their longest win streak
since taking seven straight to open the season.
San Jose remains in the No. 6 playoff position
in the Western Conference but trails Los Angeles
by just one point for the fifth spot. The Canucks
sit at No. 4 in the West.
RANGERS 4, JETS 2
In New York, Derek Stepan scored twice,
including the go-ahead goal in the third period,
to lead New York over Winnipeg.
Ryan Callahan had a goal and three assists as
the Rangers snapped a two-game losing streak,
picking up two vital points in their fight to hold
onto a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
New York started the night clinging to eighth
place. Rick Nash also scored for New York and
Henrik Lundqvist made 26 saves. The Southeast
Division-leading Jets got goals from Nik
Antropov and Zach Bogosian in their third
straight loss. Ondrej Pavelec stopped 31 shots
for Winnipeg.
fought for years to get his big break
and now plans to capitalize on it.
Writers will want to know what kind of
guy packs a gun for business trips as
much as they will want to know his
plan for Mayweather. That’s too bad,
because up until last week there wasn’t
a lot not to like about Guerrero. This is a
guy who a few years back gave up a
title because his wife was sick with
leukemia and he wanted to be at her
bedside trying to nurse her back to
health rather than train for a fight.
It cost Guerrero more than a year of
his career, but his wife, Casey, beat her
disease and is now healthy. He would
become a national spokesman for the
bone-marrow match organization “Be
the Match.” “People ask how are you
going to deal with the media this and
media that under the microscope,”
Guerrero told me a few weeks ago.
“Nothing compares to the pressure of
what my wife went through and standing
by her side. Nothing compares to
stressing and not knowing what’s going
on and watching her go through
chemo, radiation and bone marrow
transplant surgeries.”
Maybe not, but facing a possible
BLUES 4, WILD 1
In St. Paul, Jaden Schwartz and Andy
McDonald each had a goal and an assist, Brian
Elliott stepped in and made 19 saves, and St.
Louis snapped a three-game losing streak with a
win over Minnesota. Kevin Shattenkirk and
Barret Jackman also had goals for St. Louis.
Dany Heatley scored for the Wild, whose
home winning streak ended at four games.
Minnesota lost for just the sixth time in its last 21
games overall. St. Louis began the day out of the
playoffs and staring at a stretch with six of its
next seven games coming on the road.
RED WINGS 3, AVALANCHE 2
In Detroit, Damien Brunner ended his 15game
scoring drought and Jimmy Howard made
a late save to help Detroit hold off Colorado.
Justin Abdelkader scored late in the first period,
Danny Cleary put Detroit ahead by two at
6:28 of the second and Brunner had a one-timer
a few minutes later. Colorado avoided a shutout
with a power-play goal at 14:08 of the third period
when Jamie McGinn’s backhander from
between the circles sailed over a sprawling
Howard. Matt Duchene made it 3-2 with 1:18
left, but Howard’s glove save on PA Parenteau
with 7 seconds left prevented overtime. Howard
finished with 22 saves for Detroit, which had lost
two straight.
OILERS 4, FLAMES 1
In Edmonton, Justin Schultz had a goal and
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3, 2013
four years in prison on a felony gun
charge with the biggest fight of his
career coming up has to come close.
The pressure of a big fight is immense
to begin with - especially if it is your
first - and now Guerrero must enter the
ring knowing he has a court date in
New York just 10 days later.
He was already a big underdog
against Mayweather, but at least
Guerrero was someone you could cheer
for. Promoters counted on that to help
sell the part of the pay-per-view that
Mayweather and his bad boy persona
can’t deliver.
Guerrero’s story is still pretty good,
but now you have to wonder: Is he the
compassionate and religious man who
spent all those nights at the hospital, or
is he some kind of loose cannon who
can’t rest comfortably at night without
his pistol by his side?
My guess is he’s the first, a good
man who made a bad mistake. I still
believe in Guerrero’s upside, but how
he handles this in the next few weeks
will likely tell the story. No, dumb
doesn’t come close to describing what
Guerrero did. But it’s a pretty good
place to start.—AP
Blackhawks soar over Predators
down Mirages run rate and making them
lose their momentum. Chandrakant (23),
Ravi (20), Hamid (16) and Ganesh (21)
played sensibly to ensure that Mirage CC
reached a fighting total of 154 in their allotted
20 overs. For Lions, Faisal 3 for 20 in 4
overs was the most successful bowler.
In response, Lion’s openers Wahid and
Nadeem started briskly giving them a
steady start reaching 47 without loss in 6
overs. Mirage bowlers Sasi and Fahim bowling
tightly did not give them a chance to
score freely and take advantage of the field
EDMONTON: Mike Cammalleri No. 13 of the Calgary Flames and Lennart Petrell No. 37 of the
Edmonton Oilers battle for position in front of Devan Dubnyk No. 40 of the Edmonton Oilers. —AFP
Eastern Conference
Atlantic Division
W L OTL GF GA PTS
Pittsburgh 28 8 0 123 84 56
New Jersey 15 12 9 89 100 39
NY Rangers 17 15 3 82 86 37
NY Islanders 17 16 3 103 113 37
Philadelphia 15 17 3 95 108 33
Northeast Division
Montreal 23 7 5 111 84 51
Boston 22 8 4 97 75 48
Ottawa 19 10 6 89 76 44
Toronto 20 12 4 112 100 44
Buffalo 13 17 6 94 113 32
Southeast Division
Winnipeg 18 17 2 91 110 38
Carolina 16 16 2 93 101 34
Washington 16 17 2 102 101 34
Tampa Bay 15 18 1 110 103 31
Florida 11 19 6 88 125 28
NHL results/standings
two assists and Edmonton continued its drive for
a playoff spot, beating Calgary for its fourth win
in a row.
Taylor Hall, Ryan Jones and Nail Yakupov also
scored for the Oilers, who have gone 7-2-2 in
their past 11 games. With the win, the Oilers
kept pace in the tight Western Conference playoff
race, sitting in a tie with Columbus, one point
back of eighth-place St. Louis. Brian McGratton
scored for the Flames, who said goodbye to Jay
Bouwmeester after the defenseman was traded
to the Blues shortly before the game. The Flames
have lost two in a row and six of their past eight.
ISLANDERS 3, DEVILS 1
In Newark, Frans Nielsen set up two early
goals, Evgeni Nabokov made 24 saves and New
York continued its playoff push with a victory
over New Jersey.
Josh Bailey and Travis Hamonic were the beneficiaries
of Nielsen’s passes, and John Tavares
added his 22nd goal of the season as the
Islanders won for the fourth time in five games.
New York’s only loss was a 2-0 setback to the
Pittsburgh Penguins, the winners of 15 straight
games.
Alexei Ponikarovsky scored for the Devils,
who are 0-1-3 since forward Ilya Kovalchuk was
sidelined with a shoulder injury more than a
week ago. Martin Brodeur finished with 18
saves. Matt Martin had a knockout of Devils forward
Tom Kostopoulos midway through the
first period.—AP
NY Islanders 3, New Jersey 1; NY Rangers 4, Winnipeg 2; Montreal 4, Carolina 1; Detroit 3, Colorado 2; St.
Louis 4, Minnesota 1; Chicago 3, Nashville 2 (SO); Anaheim 4, Dallas 0; Edmonton 4, Calgary 1; San Jose 3,
Vancouver 2.
restrictions in the first six overs. A brilliant
piece of fielding by Jai with a direct hit from
boundary caught Wahid short of the crease
and gave Mirage their first break through.
Mirage’s bowlers Chinmaya, and Hamid
contained the Lions batsmen and drying up
the boundaries. Mirage’s captain Ramesh
took a gamble by holding back their slow
bowlers and finishing the quota of their fast
bowlers before the slog overs which paid off
as the asking rate kept creeping up steadily.
With the introduction of Azeez in the 16th
over, Lion’s batsmen trying to keep up with
Western Conference
Central Division
Chicago 27 5 3 119 76 57
Detroit 18 13 5 94 94 41
St. Louis 18 14 2 98 94 38
Columbus 15 14 7 87 97 37
Nashville 14 14 8 89 99 36
Northwest Division
Minnesota 21 12 2 98 90 44
Vancouver 19 11 6 94 93 44
Edmonton 15 13 7 91 96 37
Calgary 13 17 4 94 118 30
Colorado 12 19 4 86 111 28
Pacific Division
Anaheim 24 7 5 111 90 53
Los Angeles 20 12 3 103 88 43
San Jose 18 11 6 88 86 42
Dallas 16 16 3 94 107 35
Phoenix 14 15 6 94 101 34
Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one point in the
standings and are not included in the loss column (L)
Mirage Cricket Club beat Lions to clinch Kuwait Swedish Cup
the required run rate started to slog out and
kept losing their wickets.
Azeez returned with match figures of 4
for 18 in his 3 overs. Needing 16 runs in the
final over Lions only managed to get 5 thus
losing the match by 11 runs.
The tournament concluded with a presentation
ceremony where Chief Guest Asad
Khan and the Guest of Honor Mahmoud
Abdulla gave away the trophies and honored
each player with individual gifts, Fahim
of Mirage CC was adjudged the Man of the
match for his all round performance.