Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The goal is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot square, or diamond. Players on one team (the batting team) take turns hitting against the pitcher of the other team (the fielding team), which tries to stop them from scoring runs by getting hitters out in any of several ways. A player on the batting team can stop at any of the bases and later advance via a teammate's hit or other means. The teams switch between batting and fielding whenever the fielding team records three outs. One turn at bat for each team constitutes an inning and nine innings make up a professional game. The team with the most runs at the end of the game wins



Evolving from older bat-and-ball games, an early form of baseball was being played in England by the mid-eighteenth century. This game and the related rounders were brought by British and Irish immigrants to North America, where the modern version of baseball developed. By the late nineteenth century, baseball was widely recognized as the national sport of the United States. Baseball on the professional, amateur, and youth levels is now popular in North America, parts of Central and South America and the Caribbean, and parts of East Asia. The game is sometimes referred to as hardball, in contrast to the derivative game of softball

In North America, professional Major League Baseball (MLB) teams are divided into the National League (NL) and American League (AL). Each league has three divisions: East, West, and Central. Every year, the major league champion is determined by playoffs that culminate in the World Series. Four teams make the playoffs from each league: the three regular season division winners, plus one wild card team. Baseball is the leading team sport in both Japan and Cuba, and the top level of play is similarly split between two leagues: Japan's Central League and Pacific League; Cuba's West League and East League. In the National and Central leagues, the pitcher is required to bat, per the traditional rules. In the American, Pacific, and both Cuban leagues, there is a tenth player, a designated hitter, who bats for the pitcher. Each top-level team has a farm system of one or more minor league teams. These teams allow younger players to develop as they gain on-field experience against opponents with similar levels of skill

Eight Football Hope Centres

South Africa

Mogalakwena, Mokopane
Centre Host: South African Red Cross Society (Mokopane Branch)
Focus: Serving social service and youth development programmes, peer education, public health, volunteer counselling and testing, and first aid.

South Africa

Khayelitsha, Cape Town
Centre Host: Grassroot Soccer
Focus: Using football-based programmes to educate on HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention as well as on how to lead healthy lives.

Ghana

Cape Coast
Centre Host: Play Soccer Ghana
Focus: Integrating education into health, social and football programmes to promote leadership and socio-economic development.

Namibia

Katutura, Windhoek
Centre Host: Special Olympics Namibia
Focus: Providing individuals with intellectual disabilities and special needs with adequate learning facilities, HIV/AIDS awareness and assistance in job searches.

Mali

Baguinéda, Bamako
Centre Host: Association Malienne pour la Promotion de la Jeune Fille et de la Femme (AMPJF)
Focus: Empowering girls and young women by helping to strengthen their self-esteem and social status in the community.

Kenya

Mathare, Nairobi
Centre Host: Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA)
Focus: Educating on HIV/AIDS awareness, leadership and the environment, including organising clean-up groups.

Rwanda

Kimisagara, Kigali
Centre Host: Espérance – Association des Jeunes Sportifs de Kigali
Focus: Supporting young people through counselling and training to overcome ethnic divides and become peace advocates in their communities.

Lesotho

Maseru
Centre Host: Kick4Life
Focus: Teaching HIV/AIDS awareness including education and testing, essential life skills, personal development and work training.

DEAF SPORTS EVENT 2010

30th July - 1st Aug European Deaf Futsal Championship Cardiff, Wales

31st July GB Men Football vs Oxford City FC Oxford

7th Aug GB Men Football vs Lichfield City FC Lichfield

9th-13th Aug Golf – World Deaf Championships St. Andrews, Scotland

21st-28th Aug Badminton – European Deaf Championships Sofia, Bulgaria

28th-29th Aug Flat Bowls Team Championship Swansea

11th Sept Golf - "The County Cup" Rhos-on Sea Golf Club

19th Sept English Deaf Squash Closed Championships Bishop Stortford

1st Oct Home International Darts Match England, Wales and Scotland Hull Deaf Club

2nd Oct BDSC Team Darts Hull Deaf Club Oct (TBC) Chess - EDCA National Individual Championships TBC

4th-10th Oct Squash - World Deaf Championships New Zealand

23rd Oct Deaf Karting - English Open Milton Keynes Daytona

6th-14th Nov Futsal – European Deaf Championships Winterthur, Switzerland

Mahendra Singh Dhoni Marriage with Sakshi

Boston Red Sox (53-41) at Oakland Athletics (47-47), 3:35 p.m.

Injuries to a number of key performers have caused the Boston Red Sox to lose ground in the American League playoff race. They'll get one of those players back this afternoon, however, with standout pitcher Clay Buchholz set to toe the rubber in today's finale of a three-game road series with the Oakland Athletics.

Buchholz stood among the league leaders in wins when he was forced to exit a June 26 game at San Francisco after just one inning due to a strained left hamstring. The injury also forced the first-time All-Star to miss last week's Midsummer Classic, where he had earned a spot on the AL roster after amassing a 10-4 record in 15 starts along with a 2.45 earned run average that's tops in the Junior Circuit at the moment.

The right-hander enters today's matchup having won seven of his past eight decisions and prepped for this assignment with a 3 2/3-inning rehab start for Triple-A Pawtucket on Friday. Buchholz threw 60 pitches and was reached for a pair of runs on four hits in that game.

The 25-year-old will be making his second career start against Oakland this afternoon and looks to build upon a sensational 5-1 record and 1.70 ERA on the road this year. Buchholz got a no-decision in a Fenway Park clash with the A's last season after letting up a pair of runs in 5 2/3 innings of work.

He'll be getting the call today for a Boston squad that's dropped nine of its last 13 tests following last night's extra-inning setback to the A's. Oakland came through with a 5-4 victory on Kevin Kouzmanoff's RBI single with two out in the bottom of the 10th inning.

Both Kouzmanoff and Jack Cust drove in two runs to help Oakland avenge a 2-1 defeat in Monday's series opener and record its sixth win in seven games. Daric Barton collected a pair of hits and scored the deciding run shortly after singling off Boston reliever Ramon Ramirez (0-3) with one out in the 10th.

"Anytime you can win an extra-inning game it's nice, but when it's against a team like the Red Sox, it's nicer because of how good they are," Athletics catcher Kurt Suzuki remarked afterward.

Andrew Bailey (1-3) did his part as well for Oakland, with the All-Star closer tossing two scoreless innings to pick up the win.

Marco Scutaro finished 2-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored in Boston's latest loss. The Red Sox enter this evening's play six games behind the New York Yankees for first place in the AL East and 3 1/2 behind Tampa Bay for the lead in the league's Wild Card race.

Gio Gonzalez will attempt to pitch Oakland to a series win, as well as duplicate an excellent performance in his latest start, when he takes the mound for the home team this afternoon. The young left-hander got his second half off to a terrific beginning when he limited Kansas City to one run over seven innings in a 5-1 Athletics' win this past Friday. More importantly, he walked only one batter for the game after issuing four or more free passes in each of his three prior appearances.

Gonzalez improved to 8-6 and lowered his season ERA to a respectable 3.63 ERA with Friday's verdict, and he's been tough on the Coliseum mound as well. In nine home starts thus far in 2010, the 24-year-old has generated a 4-3 record along with a 2.98 ERA.

The former supplemental first-round draft choice has received a pair of no- decisions in two lifetime starts against the Red Sox, including a June 1 affair in Boston in which he was touched for three runs in five innings.
The Red Sox won two of three games from the A's in a series held at Fenway Park earlier this season, but have lost in six of their past eight visits to the Oakland Coliseum. Click here to Read more

Match format and rules of Twenty20

Format

Twenty20 match format is similar to limited overs cricket in that it involves two teams, each with a single innings, the key difference being each team bats for a maximum of 20 overs. In terms of visual format, the batting team members do not arrive from and depart to traditional dressing rooms, but come and go from a "bench" (typically a row of chairs) visible in the playing arena, analogous to Association Football's "Technical area" or a baseball "dugout".


Middlesex playing against Surrey at Lord's, in front of a 28,000-strong crowd

General rules

The Laws of cricket apply to Twenty20, with some exceptions:
• Each bowler may bowl a maximum of only one-fifth of the total overs per innings (generally four, for a full, uninterrupted game). i.e., 4 in the 20 overs

• Should a bowler deliver a no ball by overstepping the popping crease, it costs 1 run and his next delivery is designated a "free-hit", from which the batsman can only be dismissed through a run out, as is the case for the original "no ball". (Strictly speaking, the very rare methods of dismissal from a "no ball" – for hitting the ball twice, obstructing the field or handling the ball – also apply to the "free-hit" delivery.)

The following fielding restrictions apply:
• No more than five fielders can be on the leg side at any time.

• During the first six overs, a maximum of two fielders can be outside the 30-yard circle. (sometimes referred to as the powerplay)

• After the first six overs, a maximum of five fielders can be outside the fielding circle.

• If the fielding team doesn't start to bowl their 20th over within 75 minutes, the batting side is credited an extra six runs for every whole over bowled after the 75 minute mark; the umpire may add more time to this if they believe the batting team is wasting time.

Indian Premier League Team Standings - 2010

Team	P	W	L	Pts.	NRR
Mumbai Indians	11	8	3	16	+1.040
Bangalore Royal Challengers	11	6	5	12	+0.443
Delhi Daredevils	11	6	5	12	+0.206
Rajasthan Royals	12	6	6	12	-0.288
Chennai Super Kings	11	5	6	10	+0.107
Kolkata Knight Riders	11	5	6	10	-0.417
Deccan Chargers	11	5	6	10	-0.539
Kings XI Punjab	12	4	8	8	-0.484
P : Played	W : Won
L : Lost	Pts : Points