Cricket-New Zealand level series thanks to Guptill century

EAST LONDON, South Africa, Dec 23 (Reuters) - A brilliant, unbeaten century from opener Martin Guptill led New Zealand to an eight-wicket victory off the final ball against South Africa in the second T20 international on Sunday.
Chasing 169 for victory in 19 overs at Buffalo Park, Guptill helped erase the memory of Friday's embarrassing capitulation to 86 all out in Durban with a stunning batting display as the tourists reached their target for the loss of just two wickets to level the series 1-1.
Requiring 39 from the final four overs and 11 off the last, Guptill was on 97 and needing four for victory when Rory Kleinveldt bowled the final delivery - a low full toss which was eased away through extra cover.
Guptill's unbeaten 101 was just the third T20 international century by a New Zealander, the first two belonging to captain Brendon McCullum who was almost anonymous with 17 from 15 balls during a second-wicket partnership of 73 with Guptill.
The right-handed opener was similarly dominant during an opening stand of 76 with Rob Nicol (25) as he drove the Proteas attack impeccably straight and displayed the skills - and patience - so obviously missing from the New Zealand batsman in Durban.
Captain Faf du Plessis led from the front once again as South Africa posted a competitive 165-5 in 19 overs after losing the toss and being asked to bat first.
Du Plessis paced his innings to perfection on a tricky pitch to reach 63 from 43 balls with eight fours and a six in a match reduced to 19 overs per side following a 52-minute floodlight failure.

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PREVIEW-Cricket-Australia hobble into Boxing Day test

A last-gasp victory over Sri Lanka in Hobart gave Australia a sorely needed boost after disappointment against South Africa, but a mounting injury toll has tempered the hosts' Christmas cheer in the lead-up to the second test in Melbourne.
Captain Michael Clarke, in white-hot form with the bat, remains a doubt to play the Boxing Day test after suffering a hamstring strain at Hobart, while front-line seamer Ben Hilfenhaus has been ruled out with a side strain.
Top young talents Pat Cummins and James Pattinson have already been lost for the series, and have been joined in the casualty ward by fellow quicks John Hastings and Josh Hazlewood.
Six months out from the Ashes, Australia's hopes of using its home summer to hone a battle-hardened attack lie in tatters.
Australia's selectors have compounded the angst, however, with a controversial rotation policy that has seen injury-free bowlers rested for fear they might break down, drawing howls of criticism from former players and pundits.
The in-form Mitchell Starc is the latest casualty of that policy, and despite taking a five-wicket haul to help Australia seal the Hobart win, will cool his heels in the Melbourne Cricket Ground dressing room when the test starts Wednesday.
"We've got to be very mindful of the fact that we've got such a lot of important cricket coming up," Australia head coach and selector Mickey Arthur told reporters on Monday.
"And Mitch will be integral to that. It's tough on Mitch but hopefully he misses one test to make sure we don't have another injury."
Paceman Starc's enforced break and Hilfenhaus's absence mean Australia will bring an overhauled pace attack for a third consecutive test.
The mercurial Mitchell Johnson earns a recall after being dumped following the third and final test against South Africa in Perth.
Although the Proteas' batsmen bullied Australia in the series-sealing victory at the WACA, the 31-year-old Johnson was the pick of the hosts' bowlers and will hope for a big haul to remain in favour ahead of tours to India and England.
Johnson, however, may have to wait his turn behind debutant Jackson Bird, who will open the bowling against Sri Lanka's formidable batting lineup in front of a bumper crowd at the MCG.
RAW ATTACK
The 26-year-old Bird has played only 17 first-class matches, but is the leading wicket-taker in the domestic Sheffield Shield, and has enjoyed good form for his adopted Tasmania state in his two matches at the MCG.
He is likely to share the new ball with fiery paceman Peter Siddle, who took nine wickets in a man-of-the-match performance at Hobart and is the only pace bowler retained from the first test.
Sri Lanka have their own pace bowling problems, with their raw attack struggling in Hobart, but they will again pin their hopes of a breakthrough first test win in Australia on their batsmen and spinner Rangana Herath.
With the team having lost the coin toss and the benefit of batting first, Sri Lanka's batsmen frustrated the Australian bowlers for nearly four sessions on a deteriorating wicket at Hobart, only to collapse after tea and surrender the test within the last hour.
They will hope to have better luck with the toss at the MCG, where the drop-in pitch traditionally rewards batting sides who survive a torrid first session on day one, before offering something for the spinners on days four and five.
The Sri Lankans have additional motivation in their first Boxing Day test in 17 years, with master batsman Kumar Sangakkara needing only 40 runs to reach the magical 10,000-run milestone in tests.
The 35-year-old would become only the 11th cricketer to reach the landmark and second Sri Lankan after captain Mahela Jayawardene.
"I think Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela have played a huge part with the youngsters," middle order batsman and captain-in-waiting Angelo Mathews told reporters.
"We would like to get (Sangakkara) 100 this time. It's a very special game for us."
Australia skipper Clarke had a short session batting in the nets on Monday and would be given until the last minute to prove his fitness, the team's coach Arthur said.

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New Zealand level series thanks to Guptill century

A brilliant, unbeaten century from opener Martin Guptill led New Zealand to an eight-wicket victory off the final ball against South Africa in the second T20 international on Sunday.
Chasing 169 for victory in 19 overs at Buffalo Park, Guptill helped erase the memory of Friday's embarrassing capitulation to 86 all out in Durban with a stunning batting display as the tourists reached their target for the loss of just two wickets to level the series 1-1.
Requiring 39 from the final four overs and 11 off the last, Guptill was on 97 and needing four for victory when Rory Kleinveldt bowled the final delivery - a low full toss which was eased away through extra cover.
Guptill's unbeaten 101 was just the third T20 international century by a New Zealander, the first two belonging to captain Brendon McCullum who was almost anonymous with 17 from 15 balls during a second-wicket partnership of 73 with Guptill.
The right-handed opener was similarly dominant during an opening stand of 76 with Rob Nicol (25) as he drove the Proteas attack impeccably straight and displayed the skills - and patience - so obviously missing from the New Zealand batsman in Durban.
Captain Faf du Plessis led from the front once again as South Africa posted a competitive 165-5 in 19 overs after losing the toss and being asked to bat first.
Du Plessis paced his innings to perfection on a tricky pitch to reach 63 from 43 balls with eight fours and a six in a match reduced to 19 overs per side following a 52-minute floodlight failure.
The deciding match takes place in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday.

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Could the US learn from Australia's gun-control laws?

Almost two weeks after a shooting spree stunned Australia in 1996, leaving 35 people dead at the Port Arthur tourist spot in Tasmania, the government issued sweeping reforms of the country’s gun laws. There hasn’t been a mass shooting since. Now, after the recent shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, Australia’s National Firearm Agreement (NFA), which saw hundreds of thousands of automatic and semi-automatic weapons bought back then destroyed, is being examined as a possible example for the US, to mixed reaction in Australia.
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Australians have been following the Connecticut tragedy closely, and many say the US solution lies in following Australia’s path, or at least reforming current laws. But a small but vocal number of Australia’s gun supporters are urging caution.
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Just 12 days after the 1996 shooting in Port Arthur, then-Prime Minister John Howard – a conservative who had just been elected with the help of gun owners – pushed through not only new gun control laws, but also the most ambitious gun buyback program Australia had ever seen. Some 650,000 automatic and semi-automatic rifles were handed in and destroyed under the program. Though gun-related deaths did not suddenly end in Australia, gun-related homicides dropped 59 percent between 1995 and 2006, with no corresponding increase in non-firearm-related homicides. Suicides by gun plummeted by 65 percent, and robberies at gunpoint also dropped significantly. Many said there was a close correlation between the sharp declines and the buyback program.
A paper for the American Law and Economics Review by Andrew Leigh of the Australian National University and Christine Neill of the Wilfrid Laurier University reports that the buyback led to a drop in the firearm suicide rates of almost 80 percent, "with no significant effect on non-firearm death rates. The effect on firearm homicides is of similar magnitude but is less precise.”
Perhaps the most convincing statistic for many, though, is that in the decade before the Port Arthur massacre, there were 11 mass shootings in the country. Since the new law, there hasn’t been one shooting spree. In the wake of the shooting, polls indicated that up to 85 percent of Australians supported the measures taken by the government.
In the wake of the Newtown shooting, several Australian politicians are now suggesting that the US adopt Australia’s gun laws. “I implore you to look at our experience,” Labor Member of Parliament Kelvin Thomson wrote in an open letter to US Congress that he also posted on his official website. “As the number of guns in Australia reduced, so too did gun violence. It is simply not true that owning a gun makes you safer.”
MIXED VIEWS
But the nation still has some steps to take before becoming the perfect example, cautions Queensland Member of Parliament Bob Katter.
“I think we are absolutely reprehensible, we have done nothing, not one single overt act, to separate the guns from the people who are mentally unhinged," he told reporters recently. Although the laws imposed strict licensing rules, critics here point out that Australia has yet to actually ban semi-automatic handguns completely – they are still available for police and hunters – and that there are other loopholes. They also note that most of the guns used in violent crimes, both before and after the 1996 law, were unregistered.
“There weren’t that many deaths in the first place,” says President of the Sport Shooters Association of Australia (SSAA) Bob Green, cautioning against taking the causal link many draw between the NFA and a steep drop in gun deaths at face value. “Gun deaths were declining for the past 30 years before they brought the laws in.”
Though many point to declining gun violence statistics as further evidence of the effectiveness of Australia's 1996 law, gun supporters also use it to support their case: In 1979, there were 689 gun related deaths in Australia, or about 4.71 per 100,000 Australians. That rate began to decline in the 1980s and reached 2.82 per 100,000 Australians in 1996, with 516 killed that year. The number of deaths by firearms and the rate per people continued to drop until 2010, when 231 died and the rate was 1.04 per 100,000 people, according to the University of Sydney’s GunPolicy.org.
Still, says Mr. Thomson who was “horrified and disgusted” by the killing of so many small children, an Australian-inspired solution might be workable.
“There have been always been great differences between the number of weapons that Australians and Americans own – that is precisely why there are so many more deaths, on a per capita basis, in the United States. It is also true that there are differences in the way Americans and Australians view weapons – nevertheless … our experience is relevant and potentially informative – we had massacres, we acted, we no longer have massacres.

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Cricket-Australia skipper Clarke facing Boxing day fitness test

Dec 25 (Reuters) - Australia will wait until the very last minute to decide if Michael Clarke has recovered sufficiently from a hamstring injury to lead the side out for the second test against Sri Lanka at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Boxing Day.
Clarke was forced to retire hurt while batting on the fourth day of the opening match of the series in Hobart and while Australia are reluctant to risk aggravating the injury further, the 31-year-old has shown improvement over the last few days.
The leading test run scorer this year put himself through batting and fielding practice on Tuesday and sounded confident he would be fit to start the match.
"I'm still pretty positive I'll be right for tomorrow," he told a media conference. "I haven't run at 100 percent but I've certainly built up over the last three days."
Clarke said he was "improving every day" but would have to wait until the morning of the match to see if there was any reaction to Tuesday's practice.
"I did a fair bit of running today in the indoor nets. A decision can't be made today," he added. "I really need to wait and see how I pull up tomorrow morning."
Waiting in the wings should Clarke not make the test is top-order batsman Usman Khawaja, though coach Mickey Arthur was leaning towards the skipper taking the field in front of a huge crowd at the MCG.
"If I was a betting man I'd bet on Michael Clarke leading the team out on Boxing Day," he said.
"We've got to be mindful as well, much like the Mitchell Starc decision, as to the amount of important cricket we've got coming up."
Australia have opted to rest 22-year-old paceman Starc as part of a controversial rotation policy after a swathe of injuries decimated their pace bowling stocks.
Front-line seamer Ben Hilfenhaus has been ruled out with a side strain, joining James Pattinson and Pat Cummins on the sidelines.
Mitchell Johnson, who was dropped following the third test against South Africa, has been recalled to the side while Jackson Bird, the leading wicket-taker in the domestic Sheffield Shield, has been called up for his first test.
Only Peter Siddle, who took nine wickets in a man-of-the-match performance at Hobart, has been retained in the pace attack while off-spinner Nathan Lyon has also kept his place.
Australia lead the three-match series 1-0, with the third test scheduled to begin in Sydney on Jan. 3.

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"X Factor" judge L.A. Reid quitting TV talent show

L.A. Reid, "The X Factor" judge, says he is leaving the TV talent show next season after two years on the panel.
Reid, 56, chairman and chief executive of Epic Records, told "Access Hollywood," the television program and website, he has decided to leave the Fox reality singing show to return to the record label full time.
"I have decided that I will not return to 'The X Factor' next year," Reid told "Access Hollywood" late Thursday. "I have to go back and I have a company to run that I've kind of neglected, and it saddens me a little bit, but only a little bit."
He added that the show was "a nice break, it was a nice departure from what I've done for the past 20 years, but now I gotta go back to work."
Fox declined to comment on Reid's departure on Friday.
Reid joined "The X Factor" when Cowell introduced the show in the United States in September 2011. Reid sat alongside Paula Abdul, former Pussycat Dolls singer Nicole Scherzinger and Cowell.
Cowell fired Abdul and Scherzinger after a disappointing first season and brought in pop stars Britney Spears and Demi Lovato.
But "The X Factor" audiences have dropped this year to an average 9.7 million from about 12.5 million an episode in 2011.
The show broadcasts a two-part finale next week with the winner earning a $5 million prize and record contract.
Epic Records, a unit of Sony Music Entertainment, which commands a roster of artists including Avril Lavigne, will sign the winners of "The X Factor."

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White House TV comedy aims for laughs, not politics

There is a crazy family living at the White House, but it's not the Obamas. It's the Gilchrists, whose never-ending follies pulse and push upcoming TV comedy romp "1600 Penn."
Starring Bill Pullman as U.S. President Dale Gilchrist and Jenna Elfman as his first lady, the show's co-creator Josh Gad said on Friday that there is plenty of precedent for family madness at the Oval Office.
"You can look as far back as Mary Todd Lincoln ... and you can see dysfunction in the halls of the White House," Gad told reporters on a conference call, referring to the wife of Civil War President Abraham Lincoln.
Gad, who shot to prominence in the Tony-winning musical "The Book of Mormon," also plays the error-prone, good-intentioned son Skip, who with his three younger siblings backstop the earnestness of his father and step-mother.
"We really wanted to dissect what it meant to be a family in the most extraordinary of circumstances - and what's more extraordinary than being the first family?" Gad said.
The show, which takes its title from the 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue street address of the White House, debuts on January 10 on NBC.
It sees Skip crashing a Latin American trade meeting at the White House and helping convince the region's leaders to abandon the arm-twisting Brazilian president and cut a deal instead with his father - summoning their courage with booze.
It is all part of Skip's plan to redeem himself after causing a public relations embarrassment by burning down a fraternity house at his college.
"It's like a drop of a political thing that will spark a family problem," Elfman said, whose character struggles to win the trust of her step-children and fights the media's trophy-wife label.
"1600 Penn," is co-created by Jon Lovett, a former speechwriter for President Barack Obama.
The White House has been successful grounds for TV in the past, inspiring shows like Aaron Sorkin's drama series "The West Wing" from 1999-2006, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus's Emmy-winning turn as a frustrated vice president in the satirical "Veep."
But Gad said "1600 Penn" has no interest in party politics and that President Gilchrist's party affiliation is deliberately vague.
"I can't emphasize that enough," Gad said. "We never set out to make a political show."
Nevertheless, Pullman, who played the president in the 1996 blockbuster film "Independence Day," said the 2012 U.S. presidential race gave him plenty of fodder to study.
"It was a surreal time to be making this because of the campaign going on," Pullman said. "Every day that we were shooting (the race) was in the news.

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Participant Media starts cable network for millenials

 Participant Media, the company behind films including "Lincoln" and "The Help," is starting a new cable network targeting millenial viewers, with content from Davis Guggenheim and The Jim Henson Company, among others.
It will be led by Evan Shapiro, who joined Participant in May after serving as President of IFC and Sundance Channel.
Participant has bought The Documentary Channel and entered into an agreement to acquire the distribution assets of Halogen TV from The Inspiration Networks. No terms were disclosed.
The combined and rebranded properties are expected to reach more than 40 million subscribers once the yet-to-be-named network launches in the summer.
"The goal of Participant is to tell stories that serve as catalysts for social change. With our television channel, we can bring those stories into the homes of our viewers every day," said Participant chairman and founder Jeff Skoll.
Those producing content for the new network also include producer Brian Graden, The Jim Henson Company's Brian Henson, columnist and blogger Meghan McCain, Morgan Spurlock, Gotham Chopra, filmmaker Mary Harron, writer/director Timothy Scott Bogart, and Cineflix Media, a TV producer and distributor in which Participant Media controls an equity interest.
Guggenheim directed the Oscar winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" for Participant.
"Our content will be specifically designed for the viewers that the pay TV eco-system is most at risk of losing," said Shapiro. "We all know that Millennials are changing how media is consumed. However, they also have the strong desire and inimitable capacity to help change the world. Our research shows that there is a whitespace in the television landscape and we believe that a destination for ‘the next greatest generation' will be a win for our affiliate partners, advertisers and the creative community.

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Hulu Plus doubles subscribers to 3 million

 Hulu Plus more than doubled the number of subscribers who pay for access to its premium content in 2012. The streaming service now numbers 3 million paid subscribers, Hulu CEO Jason Kilar announced in a blog post Monday.
That's a far cry from the nearly 30 million subscribers the company's main rival Netflix attracts, but it is a sign that Hulu is moving in the right direction. Because the company had not released its numbers publicly for months, some analysts had privately speculated that its growth had stalled. Hulu's paid-subscription service launched in 2010.
In addition, revenue at Hulu grew over 65 percent in 2012 to close the year at $695 million.
"When it comes to building things that matter, most entrepreneurs hope to have the good timing and the good fortune to find and ride (and ideally shape) one massive wave," Kilar wrote. "At Hulu, we are doubly fortunate in that we are at the crest of two massive waves that we believe will persist for the long term: the rise of online video advertising and the rise of online video subscription services."
Like Netflix, Hulu has also gotten into the original content game - launching documentary shows with the likes of "Super Size Me" director Morgan Spurlock and the campaign dramedy "Battleground." In 2012, the company said it invested $500 million in content.
Kilar wrote that Hulu now has 430 content partners, producing 50,000 hours of video on Hulu and Hulu Plus.
However, advertising, not subscriber numbers remains the major driver behind Hulu's revenue, and here too the company said it is expanding. In 2012, Kilar wrote the company attracted some 1,000 advertisers, a 28 percent uptick from last year.

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HBO making "Game of Thrones"-themed beer

Winter is coming - and so is a new line of beers based on HBO's fantasy drama "Game of Thrones." Presumably, all will boast a full, robust head, perhaps resting on top of a spike.
HBO is teaming with Cooperstown, N.Y. brewery Ommegang for a line of brews centered around the series, the New York Times reports. The first beer, Iron Throne Blonde Ale, is slated to go on sale in March, in time for the March 31 premiere of the show's third season.
It sounds like the perfect libation for watching the premiere from the comfort of your $30,000 Iron Throne replica.
A second "GoT"-themed beer will go on sale in fall 2013, with two more varieties expected to go on sale in conjunction with new seasons of the series.

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