#first team to white wash Pakistan in Pakistan

[tarrastovar]

Tarras Tovar – Swedish Champion in Squash Some of my moments in squash.

No. 1 / Mohibullah..

Drysdale Cup, the Junior World Championship, Royal Automobile Club, Pall Mall, London, 1972.

Mohibullah Khan from Pakistan, seeded no. 1, in the final beat Peter Verow, Englands no.1, in 3 games and 30 minutes. /I lost in the quarter/. After the match, Mohibullah took of his new white Fred Perry shirt with dark blue monogram M.K., folded it, and put it back in the original plastic bag as if it was never used… I remember seeing the iron marks on the shirt after the match. He never passed the showers… “The lessons for me”: Pakistanis are fit on the court.. they seldom sweat in Europe.. if they don´t need to shower, they don’t.. and they are very good in squash…Squash Incidents, for the History Department.

No.2 / The Yellow Dot.

Drysdale Cup, early rounds, RAC, London, 1971.

One of my junior team mates in the Swedish National Junior Team, /we can call him Lars/, was warming up on the Centre court. The normal, a bit tense atmosphere was in the air. A packed gallery, with many well-dressed ladies and gentlemen in suits. Several officials from the English SRA, including John Horry and the referee Jack Gilles. After a couple of strokes from my friend, we could see that he was not happy with the bounce of the ball. He took up the ball, looked at it. Turned around to Jack Giles.. –“This is not a yellow prick”.. –“Jack, do you have balls with a yellow prick?”….

/For non Swedes, dot in Swedish is called prick/

 No. 3 / Inflation in Egyptian Club.

Gezira Sporting Club, Cairo, Dec 1975. In training for the Swedish National Championship, in Mars 1976.

My coach Abdel Wahed Aziz, a fantastic coach and friend, had the idea to train in Cairo for the Swedish National Championship. I followed his advise, bought a ticket and travelled to Egypt. In Cairo at the best club, Gezira Sporting Club, with several pools, squash, tennis, gym, polo, horse track, restaurants and bars. I looked forward to 3 fantastic weeks of hard training… Some of the best Egyptian players played at the club, Gamal Awad and his brother Mohamed Awad to mention the best. The courts at the time was outdoor courts with a cotton cover if rain should start. During one of my matches the first week, rain started and the cover was not in place until the floor was covered with water. A very interesting experience to slide around the tiled floor, /no wood flooring/. The match continued with a funny flat and strange bounce of the ball. My squash improved considerable during those weeks, playing different players of world-class, in a different environment to say the least… However, off court I was not used to service from servants and ball boys doing their best to please a Swedish guest. Every time I was served a drink, food, washing of clothes or a sport massage, I gave some Egyptian piaster in tip. Not much in Swedish currency, but enough for 20 of the service personnel to every morning stand in a line and do a military salute when I entered the club.. -“Good morning Mr. Tarras”, as they bowed. I didn’t understand why I got the extra treatment until one of the older members in the club explained. –“ You give to much in tip, to many piasters to the service boys.. You create inflation in the club, please stop”.

/Two of my other favorite clubs in Cairo are Heliopolis Club and The National Club also called Ali Club/

No. 4/ My second National Senior Title..

Linkoping, March 1976, Swedish National Senior Championship.

After jungle training in Cairo and some extreme hard training for 2 months in Stockholm.

Quarterfinal against Mike Nathanson, a Saturday morning on the way to the semi-final. Semi at the center court against Lars Kvant in the afternoon. Lars had up until that year always difficulties beating me. We started at 16.00. Full house and packed in the gallery. Two all in games after almost an hour. The fifth new dry shirt on, a half-liter of Gatorade and two salt tablets, before entering the court and the fifth.. I was quite tired but in an extraordinary fighting spirit and fit like never before /or later/. Lasse who is a fantastic fighter started very well in the final game 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 4-0 serve back etc. 5-0 and 6-0 in his favor. At 0-6 in my perspective in the fifth, I wasn’t on top in any way… I felt the pressure, as any good player feel stress being down 0-6 in the final game. I remember the closeness to the cracking. Ideas about trying wild winners often come up under physical and mental pressure. But I stayed disciplined, thinking of the old saying and advice, that it’s never too late to turn the match. He could start to relax etc.. I got the serve back and 1-6, 2-6, 3-6, 4-6, 5-6 in one hand without losing the serve. My thought was almost back in the match, hang on I told myself. 6-6, 7-6 and Lasse started to feel the pressure, to my pleasure… He also looked tired and a bit stiff in the legs. The effort and success in the last 5 minutes up to that moment gave me more adrenalin pumping in the blood system. Next 8-6 and match point, still without losing the serve from 0-6. A long and very tiring rally, with plenty of deception and tricks, ended with a nick shot from my side in the backhand front corner. The match. Lasse was very quick to congratulate. –“ I saw the silver cup at the tin, was his reflection”. The lesson for me was, Never Give Up. When the opponent starts “seeing the cup at the tin”, go for Lex N-G-U. The next day I was unstoppable in the final vs. Mikael Hellstrom, and my second title a fact. Squash is fantastic when preparation, a clear strategy, and the flow are in place at the same time…..

 No. 5/ Strip Poker on the court..

In the early 80’s, I was in the starting process of a relationship with a very nice looking, intelligent, and in squash very promising girl /no names/. That summer we had exclusive access to a squash center for training. The center was closed to the public for the summer. The idea was that I should increase her squash skills as much as possible in a couple of weeks.. We did all kinds of traditional training in the first week. The second week, I felt that we should renew our training method to get excitement and creativity back. I introduced some new rules.. The rules: The match is played in the best of 13 games. After every game you lose, you have to take off one piece of cloth. After three games, the shirt, the skirt, and the wrist band were off.. After six games the picture was different.. I will always remember the matches that summer, as something extra regarding fighting spirit, motivation, and excitement on court…

 No. 6/ In Sportsman’s Bar at Hong Kong Football Club, Happy Valley, Hong Kong, Mars 1992.

First time I met Colin Butterfield at my HK club, he told me after our match /my win 3-1/ why he was in Hong Kong. His words: -“I was working as a pilot for RAF in England. But I have problems with loops and advanced spinning, I used to vomit in the mask and cockpit. My balance is a bit to good.”  After some severe vomits, the RAF management wanted a meeting with Colin and started: -“We have two news for you Butterfield. One good one and one bad one. Which one would you like to hear first?”Colin: -“The bad news.”RAF Colonel:- “You are fired from the Royal Air Force. /Colin had a salary of approx. 40.000GBP a year/.Colin: And the good news?”RAF Colonel: -“We have arranged an employment for you with Cathay Pacific, as captain on 747’s”. / The salary at Cathay was four times the one at RAF at the time/.My reflection: -“Always go for the bad news first”.

 No. 7/ The World Team Championship, Birmingham, UK, April–May 1976.The Swedish International Team, myself, Lars Kvant and Mikael Hellstrom were in top form in late April after a very tough and long season. Team leaders were two brothers and former Swedish Champions, Ulf “The Organizer” and Bosse “The Doc” Jacobsson. During the ten days long event Bosse had had his pockets full of chocolate bars for distribution to us players at the right time to keep our blood sugar level at a perfect level. After several group matches, we were in the quarter final against Egypt. Micke started by taking on Gamal Awad. After some very good play and some fireworks from Gamal, Egypt won the first match. The second match was Ali Aloba and myself. As I had played a lot in Egypt, I knew their strength, tricks and weakness and was prepared. I played one of my best matches in my career and won 3-1. With 1-1 in matches the final and deciding match was between Lars Kvant and Mohamed Awad. Lasse started well but Mohamed slowly worked himself in to the match. At 2-2 in games and 8-8 the tension was “On a Top”. A couple of minutes later 9-9, with match points going to Sweden, and back to Egypt several times. After yet some minutes Mohamed sneaked a lucky shot in to the nick, and closed the win for Egypt. Very close but no cigar for Sweden. However neither before 1976 or after, have The Swedish National Squash Team done a better result in the World Team Championship.

[technobug]

World Test Championship: India, Australia retain first and second slot after epic Sydney draw

World Test Championship: India, Australia retain first and second slot after epic Sydney draw

“An incredible battle in Sydney has helped both teams retain the top two spots in the ICC World Test Championship standings. A difference of 0.2 per cent between India and New Zealand,” tweeted ICC. New Zealand had earlier white-washed Pakistan and West Indies in the respective two-match Test series and as a result, the Kiwis had attained the number one Test ranking for the first time. Batting…

[sportsjankari]

20 Unique Records held by MS Dhoni

MS Dhoni Records – Probably the main production of God with three of the best characteristics – The Finisher, The Leader and a wicketkeeper. What's more, the Ranchi-conceived wonder is among the best in each of the three offices. Apparently the best finisher we have ever observed, a keen yet quiet cricketing psyche in the initiative and an irregular however compelling man behind the stumps, there is nothing that Dhoni has not accomplished on the cricket field. So it should not shock anyone that the 37-year old holds a number of records in each of the three divisions. While some of them will not shock anyone given the sheer splendor of the legend that MS Dhoni is nevertheless a couple of them will leave you dazed. Give us a chance to investigate 20 such MS Dhoni records:

20 Unique Records held by Mahendra Singh Dhoni

1) Most Career Runs at No. 6

MS Dhoni made a profession out of batting in the lower center request and building associations with the tailenders. He batted at No. 6 and No. 7 in the vast majority of his ODI vocation, completing games in his own interesting style. So it should not shock anyone that the man has most runs at the No. 6 position in ODIs – 4031! That is a ton of runs considering No. 6 batsman barely gets any overs to bat and needs to bat with tail Enders. Be that as it may, once more, he is MS which is as it should be!

2) Highest Individual Score by a wicket-manager batsman in ODIs

The swashbuckling, long-haired Dhoni really showed up himself with an inning of 183 not out against Sri Lanka in 2005. Having demonstrated his hard-hitting force against Pakistan a couple of months prior, Dhoni was sent at No. 3 after India lost Tendulkar in the absolute first finished. What's more, the then 24-year old proceeded to play one of the best ODI innings, scoring 183 runs off only 145 conveyances.

Dhoni's inning had 15 fours and 10 sixes – A major number in the pre-IPL period. That score is Dhoni's most elevated individual score and the most elevated score by any wicket-guardian batsman around the globe in ODIs. Given the way that preferences of Adam Gilchrist and Kumar Sangakkara have been probably the best wicket-attendant batsman ever, MS Dhoni's record is genuinely a momentous one.

3) Only Captain to whitewash Australia in Australia in 140 Years

Beating Australia in Australia is a grand undertaking, not to mention white-washing them in the respective arrangement. The Kangaroos consistently figure out how to return somehow because of their never incredible. Thus, white-washing Australia in their very own lawn was a never-heard truth.

In any case, Team India figured out how to pull that phenomenal errand off, beating Australia 3-0 in the T20 arrangement in 2016. Virat Kohli was the star of the arrangement, scoring half-hundreds of years in every one of the three games. What's more, MS Dhoni turned into the main skipper to whitewash Australia on their turn in the previous 140 years.

4) Fastest to come to No. 1 of ICC ODI Rankings

Because of his inning of 148 against Pakistan and 183 against Sri Lanka, MS Dhoni immediately became well known in ODI cricket. In spite of drifting around in the batting request, the hard-hitting batsman was performing at pretty much every position. What's more, it appeared in his ICC ODI rankings when he turned into the No. 1 batsman soon after 42 innings – A World record! Dhoni still holds that record after right around 15 years.

5) Most Sixes in ODI as a Captain

MS Dhoni is known for a lot of things and his trademark 'Helicopter Shot' is one of them. On account of his sheer muscle control, hitting sixes has never been the hardest piece of Dhoni's vocation. What's more, he has hit a sum of 204 ODI sixes as the chief of the group, one more World record.

6) Most ODI Games completed with a Six

Dhoni and polishing games off with a six – a superior romantic tale than a large portion of the Bollywood motion pictures. So in one more obvious record, 'The Finisher' has completed NINE ODI games with a six, more than any other individual.

7) Most Expensive Bat

At the point when you talk about MS Dhoni completing a game with a six, you need to discuss the last of the 2011 World Cup. Dhoni finished India's 28-year sit tight for the World Cup, with the most notorious six in Indian cricket. He likewise played a match-winning thump of 91 not out on that mysterious night in Mumbai. A couple of years after the fact, the bat Dhoni utilized in that game was sold in bartering for £100,000, making it the most costly bat ever.

8) Only Player to win the World Cup with a Six

In the 11 World Cup played up until this point, four of them have been won by the group batting second. Furthermore, on second April 2011, in addition to the fact that India chased the most elevated aggregate throughout the entire existence of World Cup finals, yet MS Dhoni turned into the main batsman to win the World Cup with a six.

9) Most Times Bowled while playing as a WK

This is a special record. MS Dhoni wants to bowl at whatever point there is a chance to do as such. Once in a while, it is because of the conditions or here and there because of damage to the bleeding-edge bowler. MS Dhoni holds the record for bowling in the worldwide cricket generally number of times notwithstanding beginning as a wicketkeeper – Nine. He has even got a wicket in ODI when he clean bowled Travis Dowlin of West Indies in the 2009 Champions Trophy.

10) Most Not-Outs

Being probably the best finisher ever, MS Dhoni has generally a number of not outs in ODI Cricket – Eight Two!

11) Most hundreds of years at No. 7 in ODIs

We discussed MS Dhoni's capacity to bat in the lower center request and this record is one more case of his sheer splendor. The 37-year old has scored two centuries batting at the No. 7 position, more than some other batsman in world cricket.

Also Read: Dream11 Prediction

His initial one wanted Asia XI in the game against Africa XI in 2007 when Dhoni scored 130 off only 97 balls. In the ODI against Pakistan in 2012, India were 29-5 when Dhoni strolled in to bat at No. 7. He played the skipper's thump in that game, scoring 113 off 125 balls, taking India to a decent aggregate of 227.

12) Most Stumpings in International Cricket

MS Dhoni is beyond question the quickest wicketkeeper with regards to stumpings. You hazard missing Mahi's befuddling on the off chance that you squint your eyes for not exactly a second. What's more, his quick development behind the stumps has helped him get the most rejections through baffling in each of the three configurations of the game.

Dhoni has 38 stumpings in test cricket, 120 in ODI and 33 in T20 internationals. What's more, taking a gander at these numbers, it is sheltered to state that his record in ODIs and tests will be a troublesome one to break for quite a while.

13) Most Successful Indian wicket-keeper

India had attempted more wicket-keeper than any other time in recent memory MS Dhoni made his introduction. In any case, once the long-haired strong youth found a spot in the Indian group, India had no stresses over finding another wicketkeeper for over 10 years. Dhoni is India's best wicketkeeper in every one of the three configurations.

The strange wicketkeeper has 294 rejections in tests, 434 in ODIs and 87 in T20 internationals. His count in the most limited configuration of the game is likewise a world record, with no other wicketkeeper anyplace close to him.

14) First Player to pass 10,000 ODI runs with 50+ normal

This is a response to each cricket fan or alleged cricket master, who has ever questioned Dhoni the batsman. Regardless of his one of a kind batting style which was anticipated to flop in worldwide cricket, Dhoni has scored 10,000 or more runs in ODI cricket. He is one of the main 14 players to do as such, and the absolute initial one to it with a 50+ normal. What's more, this record turns out to be considerably all the more astounding when you think about the names who have scored 10,000 or more runs – Tendulkar, Sangakkara, Ricky Ponting, and a lot more legends.

Virat Kohli later finished 10,000 runs with a 50+ normal yet Dhoni's name will consistently be in the record books as the first to do as such.

15) Most T20 International wins as commander

MS Dhoni turned into the main skipper to lift the T20 World Cup in 2007 and he kept on bossing that field for quite a while. Dhoni is the best T20I skipper with 41 successes in a record 72 matches drove.

16) Most Successful IPL Captain

Rohit Sharma as of late turned into the primary commander to lift the IPL trophy multiple times, pushing forward of MS Dhoni, who has won the competition thrice. Be that as it may, the Thala, as he is broadly brought in Chennai, is the best IPL commander ever. Dhoni has won 104 IPL matches with 60% success. He is additionally the main commander to cross the 100 imprint in wins.

17) First Captain to take India at No. 1 in Tests

India is the current No. 1 side in the test cricket, cordiality a notable win in Australia. In any case, that wasn't generally the situation for Indians in red-ball cricket. Indeed, MS Dhoni was the principal commander to lead India to the highest point of the ICC test Rankings in 2009. He likewise turned into the main Indian to lift the popular ICC Test Championship Mace.

18) Most Matches as Captain

MS Dhoni has driven India all through different high points and low points for right around 10 years. Beginning with the T20 World Cup triumph in 2007, Dhoni at long last chose to step down as the chief of India in 2017. In his long and fruitful vocation as a chief, Dhoni has driven India on 332 events in every one of the three arrangements – one more world record.

The Captain Cool has driven India in 60 tests, 200 ODIs and 72 T20Is. He broke Ricky Ponting's record of 324 in August 2016.

19) Most Successful Indian Captain in every one of the three groups:

Seemingly the best Indian chief in the history, MS Dhoni has the details to show that he is to be sure the best Indian skipper. Dhoni has won the most number of matches as the chief of India in every one of the three configurations. 27 in testicles, 110 in ODI and 41 in T20I.

Despite the fact that Virat Kohli has 26 test wins and will break Dhoni's record before the finish of 2019, it is an uncommon accomplishment to be the country's best chief in each of the three arrangements.

20) Only Captain to win each of the three ICC Trophies:

Everybody knows about this record however this rundown will be deficient in the event that we don't specify it. MS Dhoni is the main skipper in World Cricket to win each of the three ICC Trophies – ICC Cricket World Cup, T20 World Cup, and the Champions Trophy.

Dhoni's young group drove India to achievement in the first-ever T20 World Cup in 2007.

[earthstory]

River piracy: Caught in the act for the first time...

Rivers love to steal each other's water and carry it on down to its inevitable marine destiny, and the diversion can have major effects on the landscape. The Thames for example used to meet the Seine and drain out through the crowned land of the North Sea, then settled as the sea levels rose to come out at the Wash, just to the north of the Anglia bulge before being captured and draining down its present bed some millennia ago. While geomorphologists (those who study how landscapes come to be) have deduced many such events as having happened, they have finally had an opportunity to study it, courtesy of a warming world.

River capture can happen in many ways, including tectonic uplift or subsidence changing the gradient of slope to the sea and the shape of the landscape, natural dams (eg landslides, lava flows), erosion of the valley head into another valley or into the next lateral one as a river meanders, or in limestone regions where rivers can sink into the ground and reappear in a different valley. The last cause is the culprit in this case: glacial retreat, accelerated by climate change. When this happens one bed is left high and dry while the other is swiftly deepened by the extra erosion, sometimes into a gorge.

Our example happened last spring in the Canadian Yukon, where the meltwater from the Kaskawulsh glacier that fed the Slims River (which was up to 150 metres wide and averaged 3m deep) was suddenly diverted into another streambed over the course of a mere four days between 26-9 May. The warm conditions in the Arctic last year led to exceptionally intense melting, which tipped the drainage gradient in such a way that the second streambed received the flow as a tongue of ice retreated and a new channel out of a glacial lake was opened. The meltwater carved its way through an ice field that had previously blocked it and reached a tributary of the Alsek, whose steeper gradient captured the Slim's water.

The event was monitored by a team of scientists who had been keeping an eye on the glacier for years, since it has retreated by over half a km since the 1950's. They were shocked when they turned up for fieldwork one day to find the river bed that they were measuring mostly empty, and used a helicopter and drones to try and find where the water had gone. At the snout of the glacier they saw that the emerging stream that used to split into two rivers heading in different directions was now directing the waters down just one of them. The second river is a UNESCO World Heritage site popular with white water rafters, and I suspect that future rides will be even more intense than before since it has just doubled in size at source.

While it may seem inconsequential it makes a difference of thousands of kilometres to the location of the water's eventual encounter with the ocean, displacing it from the Bering Sea to the Gulf of Alaska. Fish populations are redistributing and animals changing their patterns to graze the ex river bed, while the chemistry and level of local lakes is also changing in consequence. Two once riverside hamlets are also now high and dry, with likely consequences for their lives and economies. Kluane Lake (Yukon's largest) was fed by the Slims, and sediment cores reveal the moment that the glacier's meltwater began flowing down the Slims some centuries ago as the glacier advanced during the Little Ice Age (see http://bit.ly/1j3khlF).

It also brings to mind the many multilayered changes that await us as our planet inexorably continues to warm. Researchers are predicting more of these events as the temperature rises. There are other far more important rivers passing through major cities to which this could happen. Several of Asia's main rivers (Indus, Ganges, Mekong, Brahmaputra) have their source in the same region, any redistribution of water resources here would have catastrophic consequences (India and Pakistan are already arguing bitterly over their sharing of the Indus). Another at risk area is found in the high Andes, particularly where water starved Peru meets Brazil, but also between Chile and Argentina (whose wine regions are mostly glacier watered oases in the desert). The effects on downstream ecosystems of piracy in large river system would be equally devastating.

Loz

Image credit: 1: : Dan Shugar/University of Washington Tacoma 2: Jim Best/University of Illinois http://bit.ly/2pd1Ted http://bit.ly/2pK8rl7 http://bit.ly/2p1yR5g http://bbc.in/2pxcqV5 Original paper, paywall access: http://go.nature.com/2q3k2zd

[savetopnow]

2018-03-12 06 NEWS now

NEWS

Associated Press

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LA Times

British officials say low risk of contamination of others in nerve agent poisoning of former spy and daughter

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New York Times

Phnom Penh Journal: Deported, and Sticking Out: ‘This Ain’t Home. America’s My Home.’

Trump Won Ohio Handily. Populist Democrats Want to Win It Back.

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ProPublica

Injured Nuclear Workers Finally Had Support. The Trump Administration Has Mothballed It.

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Reuters

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The Guardian

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[global-news-station]

HOUSTON: Independent journalist and South Asian Affairs Analyst, Pieter Friedrich speaking at the Houston City Council today asked the city to boycott the upcoming ‘Howdy Modi’ event and say ‘Adios Modi’ instead, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

Friedrich speaking against the city’s participation in ‘Howdy Modi’ rally said that those in favor of the Indian Prime Minister were favoring a man championing Hindu supremacy.

Read More: Occupied Kashmir under curfew for 45th consecutive day

Friedrich sharing his speech earlier in the day on his Twitter account said: Speaking at (Houston City Council) against the city’s participation in #HowdyModi pep rally for #Modi, I spoke about #RSS & said: “Modi’s hands are stained with blood. Those who shake his hand in welcome cannot wash their hands of complicity in his crimes.” #adiosmodi

Speaking at @HoustonTX (Houston City Council) against the city’s participation in #HowdyModi pep rally for #Modi, I spoke about #RSS & said: “Modi’s hands are stained with blood. Those who shake his hand in welcome cannot wash their hands of complicity in his crimes.” #adiosmodi pic.twitter.com/W3bFNGNcHR

— Pieter Friedrich (@FriedrichPieter) September 18, 2019

Freidrich in his short yet penetrative speech pointed out similarities between the white supremacist ideals of Nazi Germany and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideology, a movement born in 1925 after Adolf Hitler published his autobiographical manifesto ‘Mein Kampf’ emphasizing that the Prime Minister of India harbored the principals of the fascism introduced by Hitler’s Nazi Germany.

Read More: Indian Prime Minister denied overflight access by Pakistan

US President Donald Trump will join Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a gathering of Indian-Americans in Houston, the White House said.

The special gesture of President @realDonaldTrump to join us in Houston highlights the strength of the relationship and recognition of the contribution of the Indian community to American society and economy. #HowdyModi

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 16, 2019

The September 22 rally – dubbed, “Howdy, Modi!” – will mark a rare joint appearance between a US president and a foreign leader before an ethnic community and will be the pair’s third meeting this year.

Read More: European Parliament urges India to ensure freedom of movement in occupied Kashmir

Organisers say that more than 50,000 people have registered for the event, which will take place inside NRG Stadium, home of the Houston Texans football team.

    The post Adios Modi: US journalist urges countrymen to boycott ‘Howdy Modi’ appeared first on ARYNEWS.

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[livesportcenter]

How And Where To Watch The Ashes 2019

The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup dominated the public’s attention in the early part of the summer, with both England and Australia looking to win the tournament. England were aiming to win for the first time ever, but the Australian team were looking for a sixth title having won it five times already.

It is not all about the World Cup this summer though is it? If you’re a fan of watching live cricket, you might well be looking forward to the 2019 Ashes even more!

When Does The 2019 Ashes Start?

The 71st Ashes Test series begins on Thursday August 1st at Edgbaston, Birmingham, where many an Ashes Test Match has been played before. The ground should be at a full capacity of around 25,000 from day one to day four and for the fifth day too if it gets to it.

That will be followed by the Second Test at the home of cricket Lord’s on Wednesday 14th August, before quickly moving north to Headingley, Leeds for the Third Test which could be a decisive one.

By the time the two teams reach Old Trafford for the Fourth Test the series could technically be all over if England (or Australia) have won the opening three tests. If not, then there will be all to play for in Manchester before heading back to London for the Fifth and Final test at The Kia Oval.

Full Match Schedule

1st Test: Thursday 1st – Monday 5th August 2019 at Edgbaston, Birmingham.

2nd Test: Wednesday 14th – Sunday 18th August 2019 at Lord’s, London.

3rd Test: Thursday 22nd – Monday 26th August 2019 at Headingley, Leeds.

4th Test: Wednesday 4th – Sunday 8th September 2019 at Old Trafford, Manchester.

5th Test: Thursday 12th – Monday 16th September 2019 at The Oval, London.

Is The Ashes on TV?

It sure is, Sky Sports have the exclusive rights to The Ashes with every ball bowled and every run scored being shown live for you to see. Sky’s dedicated cricket channel, which is currently showing the World Cup, will show all five tests live, plus highlights throughout August and September.

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If you don’t have Sky, then there is the option to watch it on NOW TV which has various subscriptions available to suit all your needs. You can buy a Sky Sports day pass, weekly pass or monthly pass to watch a live stream via your TV, computer or smart phone.

Free-to-air broadcaster Channel 5 will also be showing evening highlights every day of all five Test Matches.

Can I Still Get Tickets?

As usual, Sky Sports coverage of The Ashes will be excellent with all the in-depth analysis and live coverage. However being at an actual Ashes Test match cannot be beaten, so if you get the chance then it is a must.

Unfortunately most tickets for the five venues will now have been sold for days one, two, three, four and just in case, day five also. This is because most of the venues were selling tickets a good year in advance with priority going to club members and the regular goers to those grounds.

The remaining tickets went on general sale to the public with most getting picked up straight away. Which means current ticket availability will be very limited and they’ll be difficult to get hold of.

Do not give up though as there is always a chance of getting a ticket if you check out the host ground club’s website. If there is no availability of tickets on their websites then still do not give up.

The clubs do tend to get a limited number of returned tickets from fans that now cannot make it, these tickets however are not usually shown as available via the websites so it is definitely worth phoning the ticket office directly.

Good luck.

Ashes 2019 Preview: Cricket’s Ultimate Rivalry

For many purists, Test Match Cricket is still the ultimate form of the game. With all its history, England vs Australia is surely the ultimate cricketing rivalry of them all.

The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.

Source: https://www.lords.org/lords/our-history/the-ashes

English cricket fans grow up watching The Ashes and if you love the game then you certainly understand the enormity of what it means to win against the old enemy.

Who’s Going To Win?

Well, Australia are the current holders of The Ashes after beating England by four tests to nil over in Australia in their 2017/18 summer, but surely they won’t have it as easy as that this time around.

Home soil is a massive advantage and of the seventy series that have taken place over the last 130 years, Australia have won thirty three, England thirty two and there has been five draws. Can England draw level then and make it thirty three wins also?

They are favourites to do so having won all four of the previous series on home turf with Australia not having won in England for eighteen years now. Could that change this summer though?

The Ashes is like no other Test Series in World Cricket, it is the most watched and anticipated contest and that goes outside of both England and Australia too. Pakistan v India would potentially topple that (numbers wise), but due to political reasons those two have not met each other in a Test Match since 2007. When India won 1-0 in a three-match series in their own back yard.

Australia’s Form

The Aussies come into The Ashes with mixed form. In their last outing at the start of 2019 under the captaincy of Tim Paine, they won both Tests at home against Sri Lanka.

Before that though at the end of 2018, Paine captained the side against Pakistan in the UAE but lost the series 1-0. That was then followed by a disastrous 2-1 home Test Series defeat to India, the first team that has ever happened in Australia.

Form can easily go out of the window when it comes to the Ashes though. Literally anything can happen and with Steve Smith and David Warner now back after their bans, the Aussies definitely look a stronger outfit. Along with those two, the Australians have batsmen Finch, Khawaja and all rounder Glenn Maxwell to provide them with the runs required.

As for their bowling, well they have a few new names in their ranks like Jhye Richardson but it will be the experience of Pat Cummins and of course their man Mitchell Starc that they will be looking at to bring them most of their wickets.

England’s Form

England had been impressive in their recent Test outings, having convincingly beaten India by four tests to one last summer. With both new bowler Sam Curran and retiring ex-skipper Alastair Cook England’s best players of the series.

Another impressive Test series win followed in Sri Lanka at the start of their winter tour at the end of 2019. This time it was another new comer in Ben Foakes that stood out from the rest as he won Player of the Series, with Root and Bairstow also in good form.

Things then came unstuck for England when they travelled to the West Indies for the next winter tour at the start of 2019. They were the easy favourites to win the three test series but in the opening two tests they were blow away by the West Indies and lost by 381 runs in the First Test and by 10 wickets in the Second Test.

They did manage to avoid the white wash in the Third Test, but it was certainly a wake up call for quite a few of the newer players as well as some of the old guard.

England are still struggling to find a good and reliable opener partnership, but that is nothing new having tried numerous batsmen to play alongside Cook over the years. None have lasted too long but maybe with Cook now gone, a brand new partnership can with found with the likes of Burns and Jennings stepping up.

Thankfully England do have Root, Bairstow, Ali, Stoakes who can all score heavily once they get themselves in. Then the old bowling partnership of Anderson and Broad with Wood backing them up can help England take as many wickets as possible.

Lets just hope it’s going to be a superb series with some fabulous cricket played that we’ll all enjoy!

The post How And Where To Watch The Ashes 2019 appeared first on LiveSport Center.

from LiveSport Center https://livesport.center/how-and-where-to-watch-the-ashes-2019/

[torentialtribute]

England complete series win over Pakistan as decision day looms for selectors ahead of World Cup

Decision-day arrivals for England with Eoin Morgan and the selectors spoils for choice when they sit down on Monday to solve their World Cup puzzle and come up with a final 15 after another comfortable victory over Pakistan .

The good news is England, 4-0 winners in this dress rehearsal series after Sunday's 54-run victory, have never had such an embarrassment or riches ahead of a home World Cup they really do have an excellent chance of winning.

The bath is there seems to be at least one very unlucky bowler who will be told they are missing out even though they have done nothing wrong and played their part about the last four years in taking England to the top of the one-day world.

England meets Pakistan at Headingley to seal a series victory as the World Cup draws near "class =" blkBorder img-share "/>

England meets Pakistan at Headingley to seal a series victory as the World Cup draws near

It is the sort of 'problem' teams insist they love to have and it certainly beats the bad old days when England would barely have a handful of decent white-ball players to call on let alone at least 17 or 18 who would walk into any other squad.

David Willey, with one expensive wicket as Pakistan were bowled out for 297 chasing England's 351 for nine, and Joe Denly appearing the most vulnerable members of a squad who have had far too much power for Pakistan in this Royal London series.

The absence on Sunday of Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Liam Plunkett at Headingley suggest all three have done enough to be named at Lord's on Tuesday while Tom Curran will surely join them after an excellent series with ball and bat.

Joe Denly (L) and David Willey may be most vulnerable ahead of the squad announcement

Chris Woakes 'three-wicket new-ball burst in nine balls and five in all in Pakistan's reply after Morgan had elected to bat' as a rehearsal for losing a World Cup toss was further evidence of his importance to England and provided more bad news for Willey.

Only if England really do believe they must have th he variety of a left-arm swing bowler in their squad will Willey survive the emergence of a rare talent in Archer just in time for this World Cup, with the convenient help of a change in qualification rules. In which case Plunkett would come under scrutiny.

Denly, too, could miss out if Morgan and coach Trevor Bayliss can convince national selector Ed Smith that Liam Dawson, in superb white-ball form for Hampshire this season, is a better bet as backup spinner despite his absence in this series.

Squad newcomer Jofra Archer appears to have done enough to earn a World Cup place

National selector Ed Smith (L) and head coach Trevor Bayliss have some key decisions to make

The final full one-day international before the World Cup followed a familiar path, with England Pakistan's batting far too strong and their bowling good enough to stop One recording in the five matches, with the first washed out at the Oval.

At least one of England's batsmen should have gone on a really big hundred, or even England's first double in one-day international cricket, on the flattest of Headingley pitches and against a Pakistan side who were shambolic in the early overs

England had reached 95 for the loss of just James Vince, again giving it away after a fantastic start, after 10 overs and 191 for two at the halfway point as Pakistan struggled to find any sort of accuracy or penetration.

And when Joe Root and Morgan were cruising along in a stand of 117 in 19 overs England looked set for their highest ever one-day international score, let alone having content with the biggest recorded by any side at this famous old ground.

Joe Root (L) and captain Eoin Morgan put on an impressive state of 117 to help England to win

But Morgan, who approaches the World Cup in superb form himself, will be content that all his batting big guns have spent quality time in the middle of this series ahead of their World Cup date with destiny against South Africa on May 30.

Jos Buttler was a sublime in Southampton, Jonny Bairstow a belligerent at Bristol and Jason Roy a tremendous at Trent Bridge in all smashing centuries and now the captain hit five sixes in his 76 off 64 balls aided by some woeful Pakistan bowling and fielding.

If anythi ng Morgan was usurped by Root who hurried to 84 off 73 balls, emphasizing the importance of anchorman for the rest of England's big hitters to bat around.

Tom Curran demonstrated his improved batting with a final-over scoop in a sparkling display

The elder Curran brother then again showed what a much improved batsman he is, an extraordinary last over scoop over his head off Hasan Ali for four the pick of his 29 off 15 balls with two sixes in a late England flurry after they had lost four for 38.

Pakistan rallied after Woakes early burst through Babar Azam and Sarfraz Ahmed but three brilliant pieces of fielding, two of them a run out and catch the unlikely figure of Adil Rashid and the other a smart dumping from Buttler via his right leg, ensured England were to have no hiccups despite some productive last wicket swishing. Job done and now about the selectors

Wicket-keeper Jos Buttler produced a smart stumping to dismiss Sarfraz Ahmed "class =" blkBorder img-share "/>

Wicket-keeper Jos Buttler produced a smart stumping to dismiss Sarfraz Ahmed "class =" blkBorder img-share "/>

Wicket-keeper Jos Buttler produced a smart stumping to dismiss Sarfraz Ahmed

The only disappointment was a poor crowd at a Headingley ground boasting its impressive new Emerald Stand, with even the famously raucous Western Terrace in surprisingly subdued mood.

The ground was barely two thirds full and the decision to hold an Ashes Test here in Leeds this summer rather than Trent Bridge looks ever more questionable. It was the only blot on a very rosy landscape.

Man-of-the -match Chris Woakes emphasizing his importance to England with a five-wicket haul

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[gyrlversion]

Katie Piper EXCLUSIVE: Star feeling much better after surgery

Katie Piper looked happy and healthy as she attended her first event since undergoing painful facial surgery in Pakistan last month.

The presenter, 35, cut a chic figure as she attended the launch of Juvederm Beauty Decoded Live, at One Marylebone, London on Thursday.   

The star, has undergone almost 300 operations, looked chic in a white t-shirt paired with a dove grey trousersuit, adorned with floral motif.

Recovery: Katie Piper looked happy and healthy as she attended her first event since undergoing painful facial surgery in Pakistan last month

She added an extra splash of colour with lavender stilettos.

Charity campaigner Katie is recovering after the surgery, which left her covered in bruises. with a spokesman for the star exclusively telling MailOnline: ‘ Katie is feeling much better after travelling home from Pakistan last week. 

‘The operation went really well but she has been in a lot of pain. 

‘Katie is very much still in recovery mode and taking it easy. She is bandaged on one side of her neck and has bad bruising but after nearly 300 operations is keeping her spirits up. 

Post-op: The presenter, 35, cut a chic figure as she attended the launch of Juvederm Beauty Decoded Live, at One Marylebone, London on Thursday

Floral finesse: The star, has undergone almost 300 operations, looked chic in a white t-shirt paired with a dove grey trousersuit, adorned with floral motif

Pals: Katie posed up with presenter pal Rylan Clark-Neal 

Trio: The star joined forces with a couple of stylish pals for the evening 

‘She is so excited to have her new book out for Mother’s Day in a few weeks time.’ 

The star joined a host of celebrities at the event including Rylan Clark-Neal, Jodie Kidd and Donna Air.        

Last month Katie has revealed she was recovering well after undergoing treatment in a hospital in Pakistan.  

Brave: Charity campaigner Katie is recovering after the surgery, which left her covered in bruises. with a spokesman for the star exclusively telling MailOnline: ‘ Katie is feeling much better after travelling home from Pakistan last week

Chic: Jodie Kidd wowed as she arrived at the bash

Dynamic duo: Jodie and Rylan posed up for a stylish snap 

The star flew out to the country to have an operation with her surgeon, Dr Muhammad Ali Jawad.

Katie’s devoted husband Richard Sutton is staying at her hospital bedside while she recovers from her facial surgery. 

A spokesperson for Katie told MailOnline: ‘Katie has travelled to Pakistan to have an operation by her long-standing surgeon who is now based there. 

Brave: Last month Katie has revealed she was recovering well after undergoing treatment in a hospital in Pakistan

‘Katie is currently recovering in hospital and Richie her husband is by her side. 

‘She sends her love and thanks to everyone who has sent well wishes and hopes for a speedy recovery.’ 

On Tuesday, the mother-of-two posted a video to her followers explaining she was receiving treatment abroad which was why she had been absent from social media. 

Candid: The star also shared a photo from her hospital room, showing her wearing surgical stockings and a tracksuit while her husband Richard Sutton posed in the background

Friend: Katie’s doctor, Mohammed Jawad, was in charge of the star’s reconstruction surgery after she was attacked with sulphuric acid in 2008

She said: ‘Hi guys, I’m currently in hospital in Pakistan in Mr Jawad’s clinic hence why I’ve been quiet on the story but I’m recovering now.’

Referring to her recent television appearance on Famous and Fighting Crime, she said: ‘Thanks for all your messages that you’ve sent me about famous and fighting crime obviously haven’t been on her a lot.’

‘It’s great to read your feedback and response. Sorry I can’t reply to everybody individually but it’s really good to hear your feedback.’

The star also shared a photo from her hospital room, showing her wearing surgical stockings and a tracksuit while Richard posed in the background.

Treatment: The charity campaigner and presenter, 35, posted a video to her followers explaining she was receiving treatment abroad

Latest surgery: The charity campaigner and presenter, 35, flew out to the country to have an operation with her surgeon, Dr Muhammad Ali Jawad

Fighting crime: Katie explained why she was absent from social media as she returned to promote to her show; Famous and Fighting Crime (pictured L-R with Marcus Brigstocke, Sandi Bogle, Jamie Laing and Penny Lancaster)

She wrote: ‘First day in my clothes. Gotta keep these stockings on!’

The pair share two children, Belle, four, and Penelope, one. 

Katie’s doctor, Mohammad Jawad, was in charge of the star’s reconstruction surgery after she was attacked with sulphuric acid in 2008.  

The acid, some of which Piper had swallowed, blinded her in her left eye, and caused partial thickness and full thickness burns.

Pioneering surgery: Katie’s doctor, Mohammad Jawad, was in charge of the star’s reconstruction surgery after she was attacked with sulphuric acid in 2008 (pictured 2009)

Harrowing ordeal: Katie’s ex-boyfriend Daniel Lynch organised Stefan Sylvestre to carry out the acid attack in London in March 2008 (pictured 2007)

Dr Jawad and his team of surgeons completely removed the skin of Katie’s face, and replaced it with a skin substitute, Matriderm, to build the foundations for a skin graft.

This pioneering procedure was the first of its kind to be done in a single operation.

Dr Jawad previously told The Guardian: ‘When I first saw Katie, I was deeply concerned, her face was swollen and an orange-brown colour from the acid. 

‘Her eyes were welded shut, at first we didn’t know whether she had been hit with an acid or an alkali substance – the latter can actually have more devastating results – so we used litmus paper to determine which it was. 

‘Then we put her through an eight-hour extensive washing programme, with her eyes being particularly irrigated.’

Sylvester (left) was given a minimum six-year life term in 2009 after attacking Katie in Golders Green, North London, on the orders of her obsessive ex-boyfriend Daniel Lynch (right) 

After the operation, Katie was put into an induced coma for 12 days. She has since been through more than 200 surgical operations to treat her injuries.    

Writing in the National Geographic last year, she said: ‘It’s been a decade since I survived a sulfuric acid attack that left me with severe burns across my face, in the following years, I’ve worked to redefine my sense of identity.

‘With injuries such as mine, your face can be so damaged that your expressions may not convey how you feel, and you may even lose your ability to smile.

‘It can be an isolating experience, you feel one way on the inside but look completely different on the outside, after more than 200 surgeries since my attack, I’ve accepted that my old face is gone.’

Katie’s ex-boyfriend Daniel Lynch organised Stefan Sylvestre to carry out the acid attack in London in March 2008.   

Daniel, an obsessed fan who had a brief relationship with Piper, raped the aspiring model and presenter and ordered Sylvestre to attack her with acid.

After a trial the following year, Lynch was jailed for life with a minimum of 16 years at the age of 33. Sylvestre, then 20, received life with a minimum of six years.  

Sylvestre has been walking free since he was released from behind bars last year in October when Katie was competing on Strictly Come Dancing. 

Recovery: Piper (pictured in 2009) had to endure 200 operations to treat her burns, which have left her with permanent scars

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[freebetalerts-blog]

This Weekend on Freebetalerts: Premier League, cricket, racing and more

(New post on FreeBetAlerts.com) - https://freebetalerts.com/2019/01/12/this-weekend-on-freebetalerts-premier-league-cricket-racing-and-more/ #Football, #Freebets, #Tips

This Weekend on Freebetalerts: Premier League, cricket, racing and more Please share.

It’s getting cold outside but things are definitely warming up on the sporting front this weekend, with the return of the Premier League, horse racing around the UK and Ireland, and the Big Bash down under. “Paul Nicholls has runners at Kempton and Warwick, so read his thoughts when they go live at 5pm on Friday. Olly Murphy also sends runners to Warwick on Saturday, while across the Irish sea, Gordon Elliott’s focus is at Fairyhouse and Punchestown.”

This weekend the Premier League returns, which means we can stop pretending to be interested in watching Premier League reserve teams against lower league clubs, and get back to the real business of this fascinating season. Last week, Manchester City narrowed the gap between themselves and Liverpool, but this weekend it’s the turn of Tottenham, the title race’s overlooked protagonists, who can make a real statement when they host Manchester United in the weekend’s big game on Sunday (make sure you check out Michael Cox’s tactical analysis of the match when it goes live on Saturday). Prior to that, there are seven Saturday fixtures, including five 3pm kick-offs, and a tea-time clash between Chelsea and Newcastle, in which our tipster Jack Lang reckons the visitors can frustrate the hosts. A lot of the focus in the cricketing world at the moment is on the short form of the game (see below), but there are plenty of fans who are relishing the current Test series between South Africa and Pakistan. The hosts are two up with one to play and are hoping to make it a white wash in Johannesburg this weekend. The visitors will have other ideas but do they have the strength to resist South Africa’s pacey attack? Read our cricket tipster Ed Hawkins’ thoughts on the match and find out why he believes that, for bettors, the value lies with a certain Pakistan bowler. It’s big weekend for the Big Bash, especially on Sunday when there are three matches taking place at the Australian tournament. Admittedly, the first two of that trio involve early starts for viewers in the UK, but the third Perth Scorchers v Sydney Sixers get underway at the very reasonable time of 10:35 GMT. Mind you, this is proving to be such a compelling competition that it might be worth setting the alarm clock to catch the earlier action. We’ll have betting previews of each fixture on our dedicated Big Bash blog. We won’t pretend this is the most exciting time of year for horse racing, although actually if you can pick a winner then one race is arguably as good as another. Picking winners is what Tony Calvin excels at and, in his popular Saturday racing tips dispatch, he makes the case for a long odds runner at in the 14:40 at Kempton. Betfair Ambassador Paul Nicholls has runners at Kempton and Warwick, so read his thoughts on them when they go live at 5pm on Friday. Olly Murphy also sends runners to Warwick on Saturday, while across the Irish sea, Gordon Elliott’s focus is at Fairyhouse and Punchestown across the weekend.

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[xtruss]

The Earth Story: River piracy: Caught in the act for the first time... Rivers love to steal each other's water and carry it on down to its inevitable marine destiny, and the diversion can have major effects on the landscape. The Thames for example used to meet the Seine and drain out through the crowned land of the North Sea, then settled as the sea levels rose to come out at the Wash, just to the north of the Anglia bulge before being captured and draining down its present bed some millennia ago. While geomorphologists (those who study how landscapes come to be) have deduced many such events as having happened, they have finally had an opportunity to study it, courtesy of a warming world. River capture can happen in many ways, including tectonic uplift or subsidence changing the gradient of slope to the sea and the shape of the landscape, natural dams (eg landslides, lava flows), erosion of the valley head into another valley or into the next lateral one as a river meanders, or in limestone regions where rivers can sink into the ground and reappear in a different valley. The last cause is the culprit in this case: glacial retreat, accelerated by climate change. When this happens one bed is left high and dry while the other is swiftly deepened by the extra erosion, sometimes into a gorge. Our example happened last spring in the Canadian Yukon, where the meltwater from the Kaskawulsh glacier that fed the Slims River (which was up to 150 metres wide and averaged 3m deep) was suddenly diverted into another streambed over the course of a mere four days between 26-9 May. The warm conditions in the Arctic last year led to exceptionally intense melting, which tipped the drainage gradient in such a way that the second streambed received the flow as a tongue of ice retreated and a new channel out of a glacial lake was opened. The meltwater carved its way through an ice field that had previously blocked it and reached a tributary of the Alsek, whose steeper gradient captured the Slim's water. The event was monitored by a team of scientists who had been keeping an eye on the glacier for years, since it has retreated by over half a km since the 1950's. They were shocked when they turned up for fieldwork one day to find the river bed that they were measuring mostly empty, and used a helicopter and drones to try and find where the water had gone. At the snout of the glacier they saw that the emerging stream that used to split into two rivers heading in different directions was now directing the waters down just one of them. The second river is a UNESCO World Heritage site popular with white water rafters, and I suspect that future rides will be even more intense than before since it has just doubled in size at source. While it may seem inconsequential it makes a difference of thousands of kilometres to the location of the water's eventual encounter with the ocean, displacing it from the Bering Sea to the Gulf of Alaska. Fish populations are redistributing and animals changing their patterns to graze the ex river bed, while the chemistry and level of local lakes is also changing in consequence. Two once riverside hamlets are also now high and dry, with likely consequences for their lives and economies. Kluane Lake (Yukon's largest) was fed by the Slims, and sediment cores reveal the moment that the glacier's meltwater began flowing down the Slims some centuries ago as the glacier advanced during the Little Ice Age (see http://bit.ly/1j3khlF). It also brings to mind the many multilayered changes that await us as our planet inexorably continues to warm. Researchers are predicting more of these events as the temperature rises. There are other far more important rivers passing through major cities to which this could happen. Several of Asia's main rivers (Indus, Ganges, Mekong, Brahmaputra) have their source in the same region, any redistribution of water resources here would have catastrophic consequences (India and Pakistan are already arguing bitterly over their sharing of the Indus). Another at risk area is found in the high Andes, particularly where water starved Peru meets Brazil, but also between Chile and Argentina (whose wine regions are mostly glacier watered oases in the desert). The effects on downstream ecosystems of piracy in large river system would be equally devastating.

[cardinalclubexperiences]

I received an ‘interesting’ Whatsapp message today, and as is my practice, after a quick scan through, it gets moved out of my mind and inbox, to pave the way for more, ‘nuggets’ of whatever it might be. Strangely though, the ‘facts’ refused to budge from my brain, since they were about the very embodiment of conjugal love and a global wonder. The Taj.

And here are these disturbing ‘facts’ –

Mumtaz Mahal was the 4th of his 7 wives

ShahJahan killed her husband to marry her

Mumtaz dies during her 14th child’s birth

After her death, Shahjahan married her sister.

The message is punctuated, sarcastic – caustic – tongue- in- cheek with apt exclamations in this order-

Great | Excellent | Wow | Amazing   and ends with a profound question,

where on earth was love?

Of course, the world over, history, story, mystery and myths have all been sullied and stained and lost in evolution coupled with translation.

And, as will most diehard romantics, who likes to hear such things in connection with ‘The Taj’?  So off we go, fishing in the boundless ocean of info to unearth more and more gore.  But here is a set that set calmed me down considerably and smoothed my hackles down. True of false, here’s what I’d rather remember. ( Due credit to source: )

20 Interesting Facts You Didn’t Know About The Taj Mahal

by Swetambara Chaudhary

We know that the Taj Mahal is one of the seven wonders of the world. We know who built it and for whom. We know it is the pride of our nation, India. We know a lot about it. But we don’t know a lot of things about it.

Let’s look at some of them:

1. There is a small hole on the ceiling of the main hall perpendicularly above the tombstone of Mumtaz Mahal .

According to stories it is the work of an artisan who decided to sabotage Shah Jehan ‘s dream of creating a masterpiece after he came to know about his decision to amputate all the artisan’s arms. So the Taj is not as flawless as we would like to think it is.

2. The ASI had to conceal the Taj during WW-II  with a huge scaffold to misguide bombers.

One of the most majestic man-made creations, the Taj was covered with a huge scaffold in the 20th Century so that it looked like a stockpile of bamboo to bombers. Then d uring the India- Pakistan war in 1971, and after 9/11, it was protected by camouflaging it with a green cloth.

3. Ever wondered what was Shah Jehan’s first reaction on beholding the great Taj?

“Should guilty seek asylum here,Like one pardoned, he becomes free from sin.Should a sinner make his way to this mansion,All his past sins are to be washed away.The sight of this mansion creates sorrowing sighs;And the sun and the moon shed tears from their eyes.In this world this edifice has been made;To display thereby the creator’s glory.”

4. The story of the arms of all artisans being amputated by is probably a myth because the architect worked on other projects.

The architect who lead the team of architects to build the Taj mahal laid the foundation of the Red fort too. Ustad Ahmed Lahauri, was probably the leader of the architect’s team. Seeing that Shah Jehan commissioned him to work on a project after Taj means he was clearly using both his arms!

5. The minarets were built tilting outwards to protect the Taj from calamities like earthquakes.

If you observe carefully, you’ll find that the four minarets are tilting outwards. Thi s was done so that in the event of a natural disaster, like earthquake, theminars won’t fall on the main ‘ gumbad ‘ or Dome, thereby ensuring the safety of the Tomb.

6. A temple was built for the conman Natwarlal, who sold the Taj Mahalrepeatedly.

Natwarlal who repeatedly sold the Taj Mahal , has a temple on his name. The people of his native village Bangra in Bihar decided to put up a statue of him as his monument, at the place, where his house once stood.

7. The foundation of Taj Mahal would have eroded years ago if Yamunawasn’t there.

Taj’s foundation is made of timber which is not supposed to be long lasting. T he wood should weaken overtime and crumble owing to rot and ruin, but that did not happen because the wood is kept strong and moist by the Yamuna river.

8. The interior of Taj is capable of blinding any goblin with its grand inlay work.

28 kinds of rare, semi precious and precious stones were used for inlay work in the Taj Mahal . They were sourced from Sri Lanka, Tibet, China and of course several places in India. During the British rule, the monument was violated several times because of these stones and it was only in the late nineteenth century that restoration work was taken over.

9. The Taj Mahal is taller than Qutub minar.

The Taj Mahal is about five feet taller than Qutub Minar. A comparison with other monuments around the world can be found below.

10. How expensive was it for Shah Jehan to build the Taj exactly?

Shah Jehan spent about 32 million rupees during the years 1632-1653 on this great architectural venture. Today that amount would be close to 1,062,834,098 USD.

11. The fountains have a special feature to ensure uniform water pressure in the fountains.

To ensure uniform and undiminished water pressure in the fountains, the fountain pipes were not connected directly with the copper pipes feeding them. Instead a copper pot was provided under each fountain pipe so that the water first fills the pot and then only rises at the same time in the fountains. The pressure in the pots is maintained and so in the fountains.

12. PC Sorkar Jr. made the Taj Mahal vanish in the year 2000.

PC Sorkar Jr. managed to create an optical illusion that made the Taj vanish from the eyes of the public at Kachhpura in Agra on 8th November 2000.

13. Around 12,000 visitors come to see The Taj every day.

One of the seven wonders of the world, the Taj sees many visitors everyday.

14. Shah Jehan wanted to build another Taj Mahal , a black Taj Mahal .

Emperor Shah Jehan is widely believed to have desired a mausoleum for himself similar to that of the one he had built in memory of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal . The writings of the European traveller, Tavernier mention that Shah Jehan began to build his own tomb on the other side of the river but could not complete it as he was deposed by his own son Aurangzeb .

15. George Harrison clicked a selfie at the Taj .

One of the first selfies taken at Taj were by George Harrison. He used the fish-eye lens.

16. T he plinth of the Taj varies all around.

The plinth of the tomb is 2’10” on an average but varies all around. T his convexity has deliberately been given to the plinth in the center of each arch. The architect fully anticipated the apparent size which a finial would present from such a great height. If this wasn’t the way then the building would have appeared as if it were falling down.

17. The Taj changes colors depending on the light.

The Taj is pinkish in the morning, milky white in the evening and golden when the moon shines.

18. Shah Jehan’s daughter Jahanara Begum refused a grand burial like theTaj .

She said:

Allah is the Living, the Sustaining. Let no one cover my grave except with greenery, For this very grass suffices as a tomb cover for the poor. The mortal simplistic Princess Jahanara, Disciple of the Khwaja Moin-ud-Din Chishti,Daughter of Shah Jahan the Conqueror May Allah illuminate his proof.

19. An American Grammy Award-winning artist named himself Taj mahal.

Henry Saint Clair Fredericks, who uses the stage name Taj Mahal, is an American Grammy Award-winning Blues musician.

20. The makers employed an optical trick so that as you move closer to the gate, the Taj keeps getting smaller.

It seems to grow bigger as you walk away. The guides here say when you leave,you take the Taj with you in your heart.

      Tell Tale Times & The Taj I received an 'interesting' Whatsapp message today, and as is my practice, after a quick scan through, it gets moved out of my mind and inbox, to pave the way for more, 'nuggets' of whatever it might be.