Are the mighty Australian cricket flattened???

Another blunder for the proud Australian cricket happened when they were hit by the talented England team with an innings defeat at the 2nd test of the 2010 Ashes. According to Cricinfo the Australians never recovered from their initial slump. This leaves us with the hope that the power of Aussie cricket has now been slowly deteriorating .

England 5 for 620 dec beat Australia 245 and 304 (Clarke 80, Watson 57, Hussey 52, Swann 5-91) by an innings and 71 runs

	James Anderson and Steven Finn combined for the first breakthrough, the big wicket of Michael Hussey

England have one hand on the Ashes after Graeme Swann bowled them to victory with a five-wicket haul in Adelaide, where neither rain nor the lower order could save Australia on the fifth morning. The significance of the win cannot be underestimated, as it gives England a 1-0 advantage heading in to the third Test in Perth, which starts in a week and a half.

The triumph came when Swann turned a ball through the gate to bowl Peter Siddle, completing his five-for and confirming the margin of an innings and 71 runs. It was a devastating morning for Australia, who began the day hopeful that they could survive for a draw with six wickets in hand, but it took England less than 90 minutes to skittle the remaining Australians.

Last time England took a series lead in Australia, it was 1986-87, and they did not give it away. And as the holders of the urn, Andrew Strauss and his men will retain the Ashes unless Australia can win at least two of the remaining three Tests, a monumental task given that they have now gone five Tests without tasting victory, stretching back to the series against Pakistan in England. 

There will be changes for both teams at the WACA, with England forced to look to Chris Tremlett or Tim Bresnan, due to a series-ending abdominal injury to Stuart Broad. Australia will have to find a new opener as Simon Katich's Achilles tendon problem has ruled him out of the rest of the series, while Xavier Doherty and Marcus North will also face a nervous wait to see if they keep their places.

North could have saved his position by salvaging a draw for Australia on the final day, but he was one of the wickets to fall cheaply as England wrapped up the contest before lunch. The visitors knew a thunderstorm was expected later in the afternoon, and after they made the initial breakthrough by getting rid of the established Michael Hussey for 52, they tightened the noose on Australia's lower order. 

Hussey and North resumed at 4 for 238 after the loss of Michael Clarke from the last ball of play on Monday, and it took only six overs for England to get a sniff of victory. Hussey was dropped by Matt Prior off the bowling of Swann but didn't survive a second chance when he top-edged a pull off Steven Finn and was comfortably taken at midwicket by James Anderson.

There was a roar from Anderson as soon as he had the ball safely in his hands, knowing that the in-form Hussey was the big breakthrough England required. Brad Haddin followed soon afterwards for 12 when he edged behind off Anderson, and England were in to Australia's long tail, with North carrying the home team's slim hopes at the other end. 

Anderson quickly found himself on a hat-trick when Ryan Harris made unwanted history by completing a king pair, leaving a ball that swung back in and struck him in line with the stumps. Out of desperation more than belief, Harris asked for a review, but there was no way he was going to be saved, and neither were Australia. 

There was no hat-trick for Anderson when he began his next over but he didn't really mind, as in the meantime Swann had removed North, the last of Australia's specialist batsmen, for 22. This time the review system did overturn a decision; Tony Hill gave North not out as he came forward with bat and pad close together, Swann wanted a referral, and the replays showed it was pad first, hitting the stumps, and a potentially career-busting blow for North. 

Swann bowled outstandingly on the final day, and deserved his 5 for 91. In the absence of Broad for much of the innings, he sent down 41.1 overs, and collected the final two wickets when he sneaked the ball under the bat of Doherty for 5 and then finished off Siddle.

And it all happened under the most perfect, sunny skies. If Australia were hoping for storms, their prayers were not answered. In truth, they never recovered from the hurricane that struck on the first morning when they were 3 for 2. And now, England need only one more victory to retain the Ashes.

WikiLeaks founder arrested in Britain

According to the Washington post Julian Assange,the founder of the whistle blowing website Wikileaks, has been arrested in London.

LONDON - The detention Tuesday of Julian Assange, the elusive mastermind behind the WikiLeaks website, has pulled him from behind his laptop and into the international justice system.

But his potential extradition to face sexual assault allegations in Sweden could also significantly complicate any U.S. attempt to quickly try him for releasing thousands of classified documents on the Internet.
Assange, who has been taunting world leaders by revealing sometimes embarrassing U.S. secrets, is now the center of an international tug of war, with his opponents calling him a dangerous agent against state secrecy and supporters calling him a champion of the public’s right to know. British authorities were holding Assange without bail after the 39-year-old Australian surrendered at a London police station early Tuesday following weeks of living under the radar.
Assange now faces a legal proceeding next Tuesday to fight extradition to Sweden for questioning in connection with alleged sexual assaults, which he denies.

But to bring Assange to trial on American soil could be increasingly messy. Not only would the United States need to come up with creative charges that may be difficult to prove, it would also have to launch a laborious extradition request with Sweden, a country known for protecting asylum seekers.
In addition, if British authorities grant the Swedish request, Assange would be flown to a country that shares a significantly stricter extradition treaty with the United States. Swedish authorities said Tuesday that they would seriously weigh any request but noted that their treaty with the United States does not cover crimes that are political and military in nature.
“If and when a U.S. request comes, it must be built with some sort of evidence and would be complicated if the same act is not punishable under Swedish law,” said Nils Rekke, head of the legal department at the Swedish prosecutor’s office in Stockholm. It would also depend, he said, on whether any crime “is considered political or military, which are omitted” from the U.S.-Swedish extradition treaty.
Assange has argued that the allegations against him are politically motivated. U.S. officials have been investigating whether Assange, as head of WikiLeaks, can be charged for disseminating sensitive documents, including detailed accounts of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and embarrassing personal opinions of world leaders held by U.S. diplomats.
Given the broader extradition treaty Washington enjoys with London, analysts say that going after Assange while he is still on British soil would prove the surer path. Nevertheless, his arrest may not affect the pace of the investigation in the United States, according to U.S. officials and experts on the laws of extradition.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Alexandria, Va., and the FBI are conducting what Justice Department officials have described as an aggressive criminal probe that sources familiar with the inquiry say could lead to charges under the Espionage Act. But prosecutions under the 1917 Espionage Act are highly complex, and sources familiar with the investigation have said no criminal charges are imminent.
Despite the closing net around the organization’s international financial and technical operations, WikiLeaks representatives vowed that Assange’s arrest would not interrupt the release of more documents.
“We are on 301 and there are 250,000 secret cables,” Mark Stephens, one of Assange’s attorneys, told reporters in London. He referred to WikiLeaks’ latest cache of State Department documents, the most recent of which was released Tuesday night.

Nevertheless, Assange suffered a blow Tuesday when British Judge Howard Riddle denied him bail. While a media horde and a smattering of WikiLeaks supporters gathered outside the courthouse, Riddle said that not only was the nomadic Assange a flight risk, but that he was potentially at risk of harm from “unstable persons” if released.
Appearing stoic in a dark blue suit, Assange told the court that he declined to give fingerprints or DNA samples on the advice of his lawyers, according to accounts from the courtroom.
Assange, the court heard, had spent two months living at the Frontline Club, a media watering hole near Paddington Station, though more recently he had been living with a female friend. When asked if he would willingly agree to the extradition, he said he would not.
Though his extradition trial next week could potentially be wrapped as quickly as a day, legal experts said it could also drag on for weeks. Assange’s attorneys are stating their case that there is no need him to go to Sweden to answer prosecutors questions, arguing they could interview him through video-conferencing or come to London themselves.
Britain and Sweden, as members of the European Union, share an extradition treaty that is designed for rapid and streamlined dispatching of suspects. Proving a political motivation for extradition may be one way to fend off the Swedish request. But Riddle made it clear that the burden of proof would be high.

“This case is not, on the face of it, about WikiLeaks,” Riddle said in the courtroom. “It is an allegation in another European country of serious sexual offenses alleged to have occurred on three separate occasions and involving two separate victims.”

On Tuesday, British authorities offered additional details of the thus-far murky allegations against Assange in Sweden. During a trip last August, when Assange was scouting out Sweden as a potential new base of operations, a woman alleged he had unprotected sex with her despite her protests, and that he additionally used his body “to hold her down in a sexual manner.” A second woman, authorities said, alleged that Assange had unprotected sex with her while she was asleep.
Assange has yet to be formally charged; rather, he is still only being sought for questioning by Swedish authorities. If found guilty of the most serious of the allegations, he could face up to four years in jail under Swedish law.

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Commonwealth Games- a Brief History...

The 19th Commonwealth Games got off to a spectacular start on Sunday evening in New Delhi with the glittering opening ceremony showcasing Indian culture through music and dance by thousands of participants.

The controversies surrounding the CWG was set aside as over 60,000 cheering spectators filled the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, which was virtually glowing in colourful and strobe lights, with a spaceship-like balloon hanging over the venue.

The Games was inaugurated by Prince Charles and President Pratibha Patil. Prince Charles read out the message from the Queen and expressed his happiness to be able to attend the Games.

The 19th Commonwealth Games got off to a spectacular start on Sunday evening in New Delhi with the glittering opening ceremony showcasing Indian culture through music and dance by thousands of participants.

The controversies surrounding the CWG was set aside as over 60,000 cheering spectators filled the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, which was virtually glowing in colourful and strobe lights, with a spaceship-like balloon hanging over the venue.

The Games was inaugurated by Prince Charles and President Pratibha Patil. Prince Charles read out the message from the Queen and expressed his happiness to be able to attend the Games.

Motto	HUMANITY – EQUALITY – DESTINY
Headquarters	London, United Kingdom
Commonwealth Secretariat	Hon. Michael Fennell OJ, CD
Website	Commonwealth Games Federation

Under that formula of the London Declaration, Queen Elizabeth II is the Head of the Commonwealth, a title that is currently individually shared with that of Commonwealth realms.

A sporting competition bringing together the members of the British Empire was first proposed by the Reverend Astley Cooper in 1891 when he wrote an article in The Times suggesting a "Pan-Britannic-Pan-Anglican Contest and Festival every four years as a means of increasing the goodwill and good understanding of the British Empire

In 1911, the Festival of the Empire was held in come London to celebrate the coronation of KingGeorge V. As part of the festival an Inter-Empire Championships was held in which teams from Australia, Canada, South Africa and the United Kingdom competed in events such as boxing, wrestling, swimming and athletics.

Countries which have hosted, or plan to host, the event Other countries which enter the games

Countries which have entered the games but no longer do so
• Host cities and year of games

In 1911, the Festival of the Empire was held in come London to celebrate the coronation of KingGeorge V. As part of the festival an Inter-Empire Championships was held in which teams from Australia, Canada, South Africa and the United Kingdom competed in events such as boxing, wrestling, swimming and athletics.

In 1928, Melville Marks Robinson of Canada was asked to organise the first ever British Empire Games. These were held in Hamilton, Canada two years later.

The first Games were held in 1930 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The name changed to British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1954, to British Commonwealth Games in 1970 and assumed the current name of the Commonwealth Games in 1978.

At the 1930 games, women competed in the swimming events only.From 1934, women also competed in some athletics events.

So now all are looking forward to the 19th time the games are held in New Delhi.

External links

Commonwealth Games Official website

Statistics (1911 to 2006)

Flags and emblems of the Commonwealth Games – evolution of the emblems of the Games

Omg, can you imagine a time machine blender?!