ore than 21 balls this series.While Guptill didnt look at the innings as a redemptive effort, its value wasnt lost on him. It wasnt as fluent as I would have liked, but Ill take 72 any

Rather than savour the sight of Brisbane teammates fighting at training, North Queensland prop James Tamou admits it is not a good sign for the Cowboys ahead of Friday nights NRL semi-final in Townsville.NRL finals tensions sensationally boiled over on Tuesday when Test prop Josh McGuire and Broncos squad member Salesi Funaki came to blows at training at Red Hill in full view of a stunned media contingent.Some rivals would see it as a chink in the Broncos armoury ahead of a sudden death final but Tamou reckoned it was a show of force before the NRL grand final re-match.I think that shows the passion they have, Tamou said.In a league team it is a dog eat dog world. You are striving for a position.But I think coming into the finals it may be just passion - they cant wait to play.The incident was sparked by an overzealous tackle from McGuire on reserve grader Funaki.McGuire had to be dragged away by teammates while other second-string Broncos, including Herman Eseese, tried to calm Funaki down.Brisbane hooker Andrew McCullough claimed the players - and the club - had moved on from the incident.It was very hot and a pretty intense session. It was two young forwards going at it, things got a bit heated but nothing major, he told Fox Sports TV.It was blown out of proportion - the boys have moved on.Those two guys were not going to back down but that is good for the club.The Broncos will fly to Townsville after their final training session of the week on Thursday. Yeezy Boost 700 Store .com) - Following a late-game loss to the reigning NBA champs, the Toronto Raptors will look to sustain their recent high-level play as they travel to Indiana to take on the Pacers. Fake Air Max 270 . -- Teemu Selanne scored the first goal of his 22nd NHL season, and the Anaheim Ducks extended the best start in franchise history with their fifth straight victory, 3-2 over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night. http://www.cheapestairmaxstore.com/fake-air-max-270-cheap.html . After a replay, the winner will meet Sunderland in the quarterfinals. Sagbo did well to control Sone Alukos right cross and fire past Brighton goalkeeper Peter Brezovan. Aluko was making his first start in four months after recovering from an Achilles injury. Cheapest Air Force 1 . At a Manhattan federal court hearing, attorney Jordan Siev said his law office has gotten more evidence nearly every day to support its lawsuit accusing MLB and Selig of going on a "witch hunt" to ruin Rodriguezs reputation and career. He said the defendants went "way over the line. Fake Jordan 1 Outlet . The 20-year-old Pelicans big man glanced up and smiled widely at the well-wishers -- a fitting end to a day he wont soon forget. Davis responded to his selection earlier in the day as a Western Conference All-Star with 26 points and 10 rebounds, and the New Orleans Pelicans overcame a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves 98-91 on Friday night. Martin Guptill walked out to bat with a simple brief: take down the bowling while you still can. It might not appear radically different to how he has batted all series, but the conditions made such an approach necessary. New Zealand had finally won a toss on the tour and batting first was a no-brainer on a pitch that had very little bounce and would become slower.Up to this point, Guptills only contribution with the bat was a half-century in Indore after the Test series was decided. Here was a chance to make a difference while the series was still alive. But, he had to do it while the ball still came on to the bat; there was little scope for playing himself in and then launching into attack.And so, Guptill approached it as a glutton would an all-you-can-eat buffet near closing time. He was edgy at the crease and twice jumped out to Umesh Yadav in the first over, but eventually played out a maiden. He found his release in the next over, as he smacked Dhawal Kulkarni over the infield for a brace of boundaries. When Kulkarni pitched it short, he belted out a ferocious cut.The loft over the infield was his first-choice weapon, and the cut and flick his failsafe when the bowlers compensated with a short ball. He and Tom Latham put on 96 runs in 15.3 overs, creating a buffer for the fallow spell in the middle overs. Guptill said hitting over the top was central to his limited-overs batting in the last year and a half. I enjoy hitting the ball over the top when I can. So I just tried to make use of the ball when it was hard and I got away with it today.Unlike Guptill, his opposite number Ajinkya Rahane hasnt struggled for form. Rahane was the second-highest run-getter in the Test series, but then his place in the ODI side has never been a given. There was pressure on him coming into this game after he failed to convert starts in Dharamsala and Delhi before falling cheaply in Mohali. Rahane now had two shots at best to show why he deserved to keep his spot before Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul returned from injury.But, Rahanes ODI game is seen to be at odds with sluggish pitches like the one in Ranchi. At times over the past two years, MS Dhoni has expressed his belief that Rahane needs pace in the pitch to score, and that he struggles to rotate the strike on sluggish surfaces. This was then a crucial innings from the point of view of Rahane career - a big score would not only help India clinch the series but also prove hhe could wing his limited-overs game to succeed on slow surfaces.ddddddddddddIn a departure from the first three ODIs, Rahane took first strike. He played his usual go-to shots - the back-foot punch and the straight drive - but the real sign of intent came through a dandy upper cut off Trent Boult to hit the first six of the match. Rahane, however, didnt deviate from his natural game. There were gorgeous boundaries hit, but the familiar problems persisted. Often, Rahane, standing on middle and off stump, missed quite a few balls angling into his legs - he was eventually dismissed by one such delivery - thus missing run-scoring opportunities.With a dot-ball percentage of more than 50, it could be argued his strike-rotation was once again suspect. However, a measure of the difficulty in rotating strike on this pitch could be seen in the 22 dots played out by Virat Kohli off the 51 balls he faced. Even after Kohlis dismissal, Rahane consolidated things along with Dhoni before falling to a good delivery just when he was looking to attack. Dhoni, though, felt Rahane had done an adequate job.At that point in time I think partnerships were needed more than anything else, Dhoni said after the match. According to the requirement of the match, he was batting well. Thats how he bats and I dont think there was anything wrong.This wasnt too dissimilar to how Guptills innings shaped up. After racing to 43 off 34 balls at the end of the first Powerplay, he gritted out it till the 26th over to finish with 72 off 84. When the spinners were bowling, the ball hardly came on to the bat, but Guptill hung around, with a little bit of help from Amit Mishras fielding. Before this match, he hadnt lasted for more than 21 balls this series.While Guptill didnt look at the innings as a redemptive effort, its value wasnt lost on him. It wasnt as fluent as I would have liked, but Ill take 72 any day of the week, he said. Once the ball became a bit softer the scoring became a lot tougher and you had to grind it out a wee bit. I was happy to get through that little period.Both Rahane and Guptill set up strong bases for their respective sides - it will be fair to assume they have also earned themselves some breathing space - but it was only the latters team-mates that saw through the effort to its logical conclusion. ' ' '