SOUTHAMPTON: Ian Bell marked his return to England's one-day side with a stylish century as the home team beats the West Indies by 114 runs under the Duckworth/Lewis method in the series opener on Saturday. Man-of-the-match Bell, filling the opener's spot vacated by Kevin Pietersen following the South Africa-born batsman's retirement from limited overs internationals, responded with 126 in an England total ...

HALLE: Germany wildcard Tommy Haas caused a significant upset with victory over 16-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer to win the Gerry Weber Open in Halle. Second seed Federer, who has won the grass-court event five times, lost 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 in an hour and 35 minutes. Former world number two Haas, 34, is now ranked 87th and had lost his previous nine meetings with Federer. But he proved too strong on Su ...

HARARE: Zimbabwe cruised to an 11-run win over Bangladesh in the opening match of the tri-series at Harare Sports Club. After choosing to bat on a dry pitch, Zimbabwe were propped up by the in-form Hamilton Masakadza's bellicose half-century as they reached 154 for 6. A professional team effort from Zimbabwe's bowlers then completed the job, the spinners keeping Bangladesh's explosive top order quiet and th ...

COLOMBO: Belligerent Pakistan all-rounder and former limited-overs skipper, Shahid Afridi, has urged Pakistan Cricket Board selectors to name a squad for September’s ICC World T20 Championship as soon as possible in order to give players time to settle down. Afridi, who is in Sri Lanka these days to play two T20 and five One Day Internationals against the Islanders, told media reporters on Sunday that a del ...

COLOMBO: Pakistan's batsmen deprived their team of a chance of winning the series, collapsing to lose seven wickets for 13 runs after reaching a position of advantage in the chase in the fourth ODI. An implosion of that nature can be dispiriting, the painstaking yet determined progress by their captain and an emerging top-order talent decimated by the ineptness of those followed. Not too long ago, in 2009 i ...

VIENNA: Hungary can fund itself without help from theInternational Monetary Fund although an IMF deal would reduce Budapest's borrowing costs and provide a backstop in nervous markets, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told a newspaper. Saddled with the region's highest debt load, Hungary has been in dispute for months with the IMF and the European Union over conditions for starting talks on a multi-billion-euro ...

ISLAMABAD:  The government is optimistic to achieve the Rice export target of 4 million tons with estimated foreign exchange earnings of $ 3 billion in current financial year ending June 30,2012. In the first 9 months (July-March) of on going financial year the country exported 3.025 million tons Rice out of which 0.7 million tones Basmati and 2.3 million tones coarse rice have been exported. According to a ...

MUMBAI: It’s been more than a month, but Emraan Hashmi’s mysterious stomach bug is still proving impossible to heal. The ailment, which first displayed its symptoms while Emraan was promoting Shanghai, still hasn’t abated, and the punishing schedule he’s working on has only increased his pain. “Emraan is suffering from a bout of flu and a severe stomach infection. He became a little worried when the problem ...

LOS ANGELES: Stars of the silver screen KATE WINSLETT and Kenneth Branagh are to take the lead at this years honours list for the Queen's birthday, with the acting pair being awarded a CBE and Knighthood respectively. Winslet, 36, becomes one of the youngest women to receive the honour, which she is being awarded for her services to drama. Speaking with The Guardian, she said the CBE was unexpected and made ...

BERLIN: Saudi Arabia wants to buy 600 to 800 Leopard battle tanks from Germany, at least twice the number previously expected, a German newspaper reported on Sunday. A deal for around 300 tanks was about to be signed, Bild am Sonntag newspaper said in a report sent to Reuters ahead of publication. The newspaper said that while there was opposition to the deal in Germany's Chancellery, Foreign Ministry and D ...