ICC World Cup 2011 Photos

ICC World Cup 2011 Photos, Images and Stills.

Japan Nuclear Plant

Japan nuclear plant releases radioactive water.

Japan nuclear plant releases radioactive water into sea. Fukushima plant begins to discharge 11,500 tonnes of water into Pacific to make space for more highly contaminated liquid.

The operator of Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant has started breaking its own regulations by discharging 11,500 tonnes of contaminated water into the Pacific to make space for more highly radioactive liquid.

The release of water that is 100 times the legal limit is an unprecedented breach of operating standards, but it is considered necessary so workers can concentrate on containing more severe leaks.

The government justified the action as the lesser of two evils. Recent samples of contaminated seawater from the leak show radiation levels at 4,000 times the legal standard.

"We didn't have any other alternatives," the chief cabinet secretary, Yukio Edano, told reporters. "This is a measure we had to take to secure safety."

The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric, said it would discharge 10,000 tonnes of water from its waste treatment facility and a further 1,500 tonnes that have collected in pits outside reactors No 5 and No 6.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has been notified of the discharge. On a website update, it said the Japanese authorities explained the move was necessary "to have sufficient capacity to store highly contaminated water found in the basement of the Unit 2 turbine building".

Tokyo Electric estimates the potential additional annual dose to a member of the public would be approximately 0.6 millisieverts if they ate seaweed and seafood caught near the plant every day for a year. The annual permissible level for the general public in Japan is one millisievert.

Workers have been battling to control radiation leaks since the magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami crippled the plant's cooling system on 11 March, leading to a partial meltdown of the reactor.

Earlier attempts to cool the reactor by hosing water from fire engines and helicopters have left pools of contaminated water and flooded basements, hampering the containment operation and efforts to restart the cooling pumps.

Highly radioactive water is seeping from at least one point at reactor No 2, where a 20cm crack has been found in a concrete pit. It is thought to be leaking into an inflow conduit for seawater, but there may be other paths of contamination. Plant workers have started to dye the water a milky white colour so they can trace its route.

At the weekend workers tried and failed to plug the crack by using 80kg of highly absorbent polymer (more commonly used in nappies) mixed with shredded newspaper and sawdust. A previous attempt to use concrete had a similar outcome.

Edano said the situation must be stabilised as soon as possible because a long-term leak "will have a huge impact on the ocean".Critics of Japan's nuclear industry said the authorities were confronted with a dilemma that was unique in the history of nuclear power: whether to keep cooling the reactors and spent fuel or reduce the water being pumped into the plant, which is overflowing the capacity of the trenches.

"As a result of Tokyo Electric's desperate but failed efforts to cool the reactors, they are about to release perhaps an unprecedented amount of radioactivity into the environment," said Shaun Burnie, a nuclear consultant to Greenpeace Germany. "If the Japanese government were to take a cupful of this water and take it outside their territorial waters it would be illegal under the law of sea dumping convention."

As a temporary measure to ease the leak, Japan's nuclear and industrial safety agency has recommended the construction of an undersea silt barrier."A silt fence ensures that mud down deep doesn't seep through," said Hidehiko Nishiyama, Japan's spokesman on nuclear safety.

Officials said the situation is unlikely to be under control for several months. Independent analysts warn it might take years.

Giant concrete pumps are being sent to the area from overseas. The government has also asked Tokyo Electric to look into the possibility of covering the plant with sheets pinned to a steel frame.

But the more radioactivity that enters the air and water, the harder such countermeasures become. Tokyo Electric has said the plant will never recover and some areas are so contaminated that workers cannot get near them.

"I don't know if we can ever enter the No 3 reactor building again," Hikaru Kuroda, the company's chief of nuclear facility management, said on Sunday.

The situation dominated a meeting in Vienna of signatories to the convention on nuclear safety, which was supposed to prevent a repeat of the disasters at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl."I know you will agree with me that the crisis at Fukushima Daiichi has enormous implications for nuclear power and confronts all of us with a major challenge," Yukiya Amano, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told participants. "We cannot take a 'business as usual' approach."

Although the nuclear threat has yet to claim a life, it has overshadowed the severe humanitarian crisis faced by survivors of the tsunami, which killed 12,157 people and has left 15,496 missing. Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their homes and millions are still affected by shortages of electricity.

Ind Vs Pak World Cup quarter-final Cricket Live Score

India vs Pakistan (Ind Vs Pak) ICC World Cup semi-final Live Cricket Score.

Pakistan try hard to keep Sachin at the crease by dropping him on four occasions but skipper Shahid Afridi finally does the 'impossible' by grabbing a drive to remove the batsman on 85.

Sachin smashed 11 boundaries in his innings and was dropped on 27,45, 70 and 81 before Saeed Ajmal forced him to drive only to find a waiting Afridi at short extra cover. MS Dhoni is batting though and has been joined at the crease by Suresh Raina.

Ind Vs Aus World Cup quarter-final Cricket Live Score

India vs Australia Indies (Ind Vs Aus) ICC World Cup quarter-final Live Cricket Score.

Current world cup holders Australia take on tournament favourites India for a place in the semi-finals. Viewers from around the world will be glued to their television sets in what should turn out to be a closely contested match that could go down to the wire.

Date: 24th March

London Start Time: 09:00

Venue and Pitch

The match will take place at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad. The pitch will offer a bit of bounce during the start of each innings but will settle down after that. The team that wins the toss will look to bat first and look to get a total in excess of 270 in order to put pressure on the opposition.

Team News

Australia have concerns over the form of captain Ricky Ponting and Cameron White. The bowling of Jason Krejza will be severely tested by the Indian batsmen and Australia will be depending a lot on their pace trio.

Virender Sehwag is expected to play in this game and that means either Yousuf Pathan or Suresh Raina will have to be left out. After Pathan’s poor showing in the last 6 games, Raina who is also a brilliant fielder will most likely get the nod.

Match Odds

It was 8 years ago that Australia took on India in a world cup final and defeated them by a massive margin. India 8/11 have the upper hand this time because they are playing at home and the wicket will suit their spinners. However, Australia 6/5 know that if they get a few quick wickets, the pressure of playing at home will get to the Indians and could cause another batting collapse.

Top Batsman

Mitchell Johnson has said that he plans to take out the dangerous Virender Sehwag 10/3 with short pitch bowling. Sachin Tendulkar 10/3 and Yuvraj Singh 11/2 will be the other key players to watch out for.

Shane Watson 7/2 failed in the last game but Mr. Consistent will be the key wicket for the Indians. Michael Clarke 9/2 has been in great form and along with Michael Hussey 11/2 will look to anchor the Australian innings.

Featured Bet

Either Sachin Tendulkar or Virender Sehwag will score a century in this match and a total close to 300 will be on the cards if India bats first.

Match Predictions

India have the advantage of playing at home and because of the conditions have their noses ahead of the Australians. They should move on to the semi-finals and most probably face Pakistan.

Best Bet: Virender Sehwag 10/3

Pak Vs WI World Cup quarter-final Cricket Live Score

Pakistan vs West Indies (PAK vs WI) ICC World Cup quarter-final Live Cricket Score.

World Cup News Updates! West Indies win toss, elect to bat vs Pakistan. West Indies captain Darren Sammy won the toss and elected to bat against Pakistan in their World Cup quarter-final on Wednesday.

Pakistan made one change to the team who beat Australia last weekend, bringing in off-spinner Saeed Ajmal for left-armer Abdur Rehman. Fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, who will be retiring after the World Cup, was again left out.

West Indies made three changes to the side who were beaten by India on Sunday. Opener Chris Gayle, fast bowler Kemar Roach and batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul were recalled. Kirk Edwards, Sulieman Benn and Andre Russell were left out.

The winners will face either India or Australia in the semi-finals.

Teams:

Pakistan: Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Younus Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Shahid Afridi (captain), Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Saeed Ajmal

West Indies: Devon Smith, Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Darren Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Devon Thomas, Darren Sammy (captain), Devendra Bishoo, Ravi Rampaul, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Kemar Roach.

Pakistan vs West Indies

Pakistan vs West Indies: A different shade of green

Cricket News Updates! As the disparate green speck-shirts on the field at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium converged towards the exit and filed out at the dot of 5.30 pm on Tuesday, the solitary figure of Saeed Ajmal remained lurking around one of the nets propped up for Pakistan.

In another recent era, he’d have been left to wrap up himself and linger on, but coach Waqar Younis’ booming, snapping orders to end the session got the youngster to instantly hustle and march straight out in a show of discipline, unlike what you’d associate with Pakistan. But then, this World Cup has seen Pakistan in a new disciplined avatar — an ominous sign for the rest of the cricketing world, stumped by this significant step forward from a team that was forever termed unpredictable (read undisciplined, faction-ridden, under-achieving and prone to self-destruct).

So when Shahid Afridi came and said that in his 14 years of international career he has never seen a Pakistan team train so seriously and focus on their game, he was clearly giving an idea of how things had dawdled and drifted along in the past. It’s not just Afridi who has been saying this; the support staff too admits how the team has turned a corner and changed into an austere outfit that doesn’t flirt with controversy at the drop of hat, or many catches.

Since the entry of Waqar as coach, the team hasn’t been what it used to be. Players are no longer treated according to a hierarchy based on international experience and star images, while everyone has one thing in common — an intent to do well.

“What’s been remarkable is that they have maintained discipline. One is seeing the results now. They are stubborn to do well at any cost. That is why we have been able to pull off wins from any situation,” says former Pakistan coach and current manager Intikhab Alam, someone who has seen Pakistan cricket from close quarters over some tumultuous years.

Breaking the mould

Pakistan certainly have managed some consistency and lined up a winning streak, which they never managed in the last four years. They would beat lower-ranked teams like New Zealand, Bangladesh, West Indies and Zimbabwe but struggle against the big sides. Not here, though.

At this World Cup, Pakistan not only handed a bruising defeat to Sri Lanka in their own den but also brought the Australians’ unbeaten-march to a halt — they were the last country to have managed that, in 1999, incidentally a year when they made the World Cup final.

Their quarters opponents, the West Indies, will not only try to stop the Pakistan juggernaut but will also challenge the in-form team in a knock-out situation — which often tests the mettle of disciplined, consistent units. Afridi agrees there won’t be a second chance from here on, and the team can’t afford to take anybody lightly. Even the West Indies captain Darren Sammy insisted on keeping past performances out of consideration.

“Any team is capable of winning on their day, there is no second chance from here,” Afridi said, adding the team will go ahead without any change — which means Shoaib Akhtar will have to wait for a farewell match, and might not get to play against the Caribbean outfit.

Having played all their matches away has been a blessing in disguise for Pakistan. They haven’t had to deal with crowd pressure, tucked away in idyllic Lanka. Had they been the co-hosting nation, one suspects, the collective temperament of this team would have looked very different.

“I think our playing away has worked for us. The boys are not under immense pressure which they would have been, playing at home. There was no distraction, which helped the boys focus more,” Alam says. Pakistan has lived with the fact that they will need to bond as a team here. Nevertheless, Afridi says, the team need to focus to do well, and they can be assured of some very partisan backing from a Bangladeshi crowd.

Gayle, Roach to return

Meanwhile, the good news for the West Indies will be the return of Chris Gayle and Kemar Roach. West Indies would like to get rid of the label of having lost their last 18 matches against Test-playing nations, though pound for pound, they might pale in front of the sheer talent and Pakistan’s formidable presence. Still, the West Indians have shown glimpses of hitting the extremes and can hardly be expected to roll over.

The tickets are sold out as Pakistan and West Indies chase their dreams of a World Cup charge which will start from the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium. Up next, Mohali will be waiting with bated breath. After Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, Pakistan would be keen to dish out their disciplined drills on Indian soil as well. Ultimate glory beckons a side that’s recently befriended the idea of working by the clock.