March 2009

SRILANKAN CRICKETERS ATTACK IN PAKISTAN

• According to the officials, 12 gunmen were hiding near Liberty Square, in the centre of Lahore, waiting for the Sri Lankan team to pass on their way to the Gaddafi stadium.
  


• When the bus crossed the road they started firing, targeting the bus.
  


• The Pakistan police escorting the team returned fire; in the ensuing fighting, six policemen and two civilians died.
  


• After about 20 minutes, the militants fled, leaving behind rocket launchers and grenades.

• The gunmen had first targeted the wheels of the bus, and then had fired at the bus and its occupants.


• The attackers had fired a rocket at the bus, which missed and hit a nearby electric pole. The driver of the bus, Mehar Mohammad Khalil, had then kept on driving a distance of about 500 metres (1,600 ft) until they reached the stadium.
  


• The attackers had also thrown a grenade under the bus, which exploded after the bus had passed over it.

• A minivan following the team bus and carrying the match referee and umpires was also fired upon & the driver was killed.


• Simon Taufel, Steve Davis, Nadeem Ghauri, Ahsan Raza, umpires performance manager Peter Manuel, liaison officer Abdul Sami and ICC match referee Chris Broad were in this minivan.
  


• The minivan was subsequently allegedly abandoned by security personnel & no bullets were fired by the security forces for twenty minutes.


• Chris Broad threw himself over & kept his hand on the chest of Ahsan Raza to slow down the profuse bleeding from a bullet injury.


• A police officer who climbed into the minivan to seek cover initially refused to drive the minivan.


• After Chris Broad scolded him he agreed and drove the minivan to safety.

• Security cameras captured footage of several gunmen carrying automatic weapons and backpacks, firing on the convoy from the Liberty Square roundabout.


• They were later seen jogging up the street and escaping on motorcycles.


• The video was broadcast around the world presenting pictures of the attacks.


• CCTV footage has been made public.


• They arrived at 8:39 am local time and left at 8:46 am.


• The attackers were armed with AK-47 assault rifles, hand grenades, RPG/LAW launchers, claymores and explosive charges.


• The Sri Lankan team were then taken to the stadium and airlifted from the pitch via Pakistan Air ForceMil Mi-17 helicopters, and immediate arrangements were made for the Sri Lankan team to return home on the next available flight. The second Test, which was the last scheduled fixture of the tour, was abandoned as a draw

Casualties

Six Pakistani policemen and two civilians were killed in the attack. Several team members sustained minor injuries, including:

• Thilan Samaraweera


• Kumar Sangakkara (vice-captain)


• Tharanga Paranavitana


• Ajantha Mendis


• Chaminda Vaas


• Mahela Jayawardene (captain)


• Suranga Lakmal

• Samaraweera and Paranavitana were hospitalized following the incident.
  


• The others had sustained minor injuries and shrapnel wounds.Samaraweera sustained shrapnel wounds to his thigh, and Paranavitana to his chest.


• The team's Assistant Coach Paul Farbrace was also injured.


• Although it was reported that Coach Trevor Bayliss also sustained minor injuries,it was later announced that this was incorrect.

• Reserve umpire Ahsan Raza, who was travelling in a van for the umpires that was following the Sri Lankan team bus, was injured and taken to hospital.


• The driver of the minibus was killed in the attack.Match referee Chris Broad threw himself on Raza to protect him from further injury.
  


• Australian umpires Simon Taufel and Steve Davis were also both in the rear bus.

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INDIA TOUR TO NEW ZEALAND

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1st Formula One Race in 2009 Australian GP

• MELBOURNE: Jenson Button led Brawn GP to an astonishing one-two at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday in Formula One’s most successful team debut for 55 years.
  


• The 29-year-old Briton, written off by some as overpaid and overrated after two dismal seasons with Honda, cemented a fairy-tale comeback that left team owner Ross Brawn lost for words.
  


• Brazilian teammate Rubens Barrichello started and finished second, but only after Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and BMW-Sauber’s Robert Kubica drove each other off the track while fighting for the runner-up position with three laps to go.


• The safety car came out and led the field until the final corner of the race.


• Catastrophic
  


• McLaren’s World champion Lewis Hamilton, starting last on the grid after a catastrophic gearbox failure in qualifying, showed his fighting spirit by clawing his way back to third place while the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen failed to finish.
  


• “It wasn’t my best race, but I still won,” said Button, whose teammate got off to a terrible start after he hit the anti-stall button and dropped to seventh.
  “This win is for me and the team.


• That’s what I care about.


• I don’t need to poke anyone in the eye about what was said in the past.”
  


• No Formula One team had won on its debut since Wolf in 1977 while the last to secure the top two places first time out was Mercedes, Brawn’s current engine suppliers, in 1954.
  Fifty five years on, Button and Barrichello followed in the footsteps of the great Argentine champion Juan Manuel Fangio and Germany’s Karl Kling.


• Pole to podium
  Button led from pole to chequered flag, despite two safety car periods, to take his first victory since Hungary in 2006 and score more points in a single afternoon than he had in two years with Honda.
  


• The victory marked a remarkable turnaround for a team which was fighting for its Formula One survival earlier this year after Honda pulled out.
  


• With Barrichello well behind in fourth place, the one-two looked an impossible dream until

Kubica tried to pass Vettel on the outside and Vettel drove into him.

• Brawn was stunned with the result.
  


• “You don’t find Ross speechless very often,” said Button. “But in the last 15 minutes I’d be surprised if he said a word. The big bear was just speechless.”
  


• The first race of a new-look Formula One, with radically-revised aerodynamic regulations, slick tyres and the new KERS energy recovery systems, turned the starting grid upside down and shook up the pecking order as many had predicted.
  


• Italian Jarno Trulli finished third but was demoted to 12th.
  


• “We scored way more points than we could have realistically expected,” said Hamilton. “I was looking to try and get one point, so to get six is a great achievement.
  


• “I wrung every last ounce of pace out of the car, drove one of my best ever races and absolutely raced my heart out. I’m so satisfied.”
  


• Germany’s Timo Glock, who started behind Trulli in the pit lane after Toyota were disqualified from qualifying for using an illegal rear wing, was elevated to fourth ahead of Renault’s Fernando Alonso and Williams’ Nico Rosberg.


• Buemi’s distinction
  Toro Rosso’s Swiss rookie Sebastien Buemi became the 58th driver to score on his debut with seventh place while French teammate Sebastien Bourdais took the final point.
  


• McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen retired after being caught in a first lap coming together with Australian Mark Webber’s Red Bull and Nick Heidfeld’s BMW-Sauber.
  


• The first safety car came out on the 20th lap after Williams’ Japanese driver Kazuki Nakajima crashed into the wall with Button already 36.4 seconds clear of Vettel.
  


• Red Bull was fined $50,000 and Vettel demoted 10 places on the starting grid for the next race in Malaysia for causing the incident with Kubica.

The results (read under driver, car, laps, time, ‘x’ denotes penalised 25 seconds for overtaking under safety-car conditions):

1. Jenson Button, Brawn GP, 58, 1:34:15.784;

2. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP, 58, 1:34:16.591;

3. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 58, 1:34:18.689;

4. Timo Glock, Toyota, 58, 1:34:20.219;

5. Fernando Alonso, Renault, 58, 1:34:20.663;

6. Nico Rosberg, Williams, 58, 1:34:21.505;

7. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 58, 1:34:21.788;

8. Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso, 58, 1:34:22.082;

9. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 58, 1:34:22.119;

10. Nick Heidfeld, BMW, 58, 1:34:22.869;

11. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India, 58, 1:34:23.158;

12. x-Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 1:34:17.388;

13. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 57;

14. Sebastien Vettel, Red Bull, 56;

15. Robert Kubica, BMW, 56;

16. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 55. Not classified:

17. Felipe Massa, Ferrari;

18. Nelson Piquet, Renault;

19. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams; 20. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren