The word 'Boxing' has nothing to do with the sport; it has to do with boxes in which you put things.
During the Christmas season a lot of people attend church and while they are there, they donate money and other goodies to the poor.
The money and gifts are put in a box, and this is called a Christmas box. A priest opens the boxes the day after Christmas and he, in turn distributes the contents to the needy. This is why 26 December is called Boxing Day.
The first Test to start on Boxing Day was between Australia and West Indies in 1968-69 at Melbourne. But it was not until 1981-82 that the tradition really took off. Since then there has usually been a Test starting on Boxing Day at Melbourne.
Boxing Day Test Match
Bob Woolmer’s new book steers clear of match-fixing
The late cricket coach’s much-awaited new book, believed to be the reason for his mysterious death, is a simple coaching manual with no controversial content 
Late South Africa and Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer’s tell-all book on cricket touches every aspect of the game barring two dreaded words: betting and fixing. In his soon-to-bereleased book Art and Science of Cricket, these two words do not occur even once through the 650 pages.
This will come as a huge disappointment to the eagerly-waiting readers who might be thinking that his book would be an expose on the murky world of match-fixing and behind-the-scenes misdeeds of players who act at the behest of bookies.
It was believed the book might even have cost him his life. The book is an outand-out cricket manual for coaches and serious students of the game. It deals with the techniques of batting, bowling and fielding.
It also has sub-sections on personalities like Don Bradman, Shane Warne and Gary Kirsten, the new India coach.
It throws light on issues like ball-tampering, sledging, reverse swing, racial tensions, cricket relations between hostile India and Pakistan; almost every conceivable issue barring the ones in question.
The co-authors of the book, Timothy Noakes and Helen Moffett, do not discuss the events leading up to Woolmer’s death at all. They simply state: ‘‘Bob Woolmer began his life with a cricket bat in his crib (in a Kanpur hospital); and he died in the service of cricket, on March 18, 2007, at the Cricket World Cup in West Indies.
His sudden death, most probably of heart failure, caused a cloud of speculation and confusion that for a few months threatened to veil Bob’s gigantic contribution to the game. The book serves as his legacy.’’
Woolmer may never have had any intention of exposing any wrong-doings by Pakistan players in this book. He just wanted to put forth his modern coaching and training methods.
He writes: ‘‘I have written and rewritten chapters because my own coaching style has had to change with each role that I have undertaken. It has become extremely clear that there is no right or wrong way to play or teach this game. Inevitably, it is the player who will shape his own destiny either as player or coach. There can be no cloning in cricket.’’ At one point, Woolmer writes:
‘‘Cricket is glittering dream to some, and a source of bitter disappointment to much greater majority. Those to whom it remains a gentle and gentlemanly game played in white on the village green might be shocked to know of the dizzying hope and heartbreak the game can engender.’’
The book may be as mundane as MCC’s guide to cricket or Bradman’s own Art of Cricket, considered the bible of cricket coaching. But still it has nuggets of information which will interest a general reader.
Woolmer’s take on...
‘ISLAMIC’ REVERSE SWING: Reverse swing has always struggled to shake off its reputation as a somehow devious or underhand tactic. Acrimonious debate is still being fuelled by the latent suspicion that reversing the ball is the preserve of cheats.
To make matters worse, these suspicions sometimes appear to have racist overtones. As only a very scuffed ball, and one that has been constantly polished on one side, can reverse, Pakistan provides ideal conditions for the phenomenon to emerge.
But it didn’t help that the only Islamic Test-playing nation at the time was the one that introduced reverse swing so spectacularly. Hardliners like Ian Botham still insist that for a side to collapse from 250/2 to 280 all out, someone has to be cheating. The scene was thus set for racial stereotyping that persists to this day, as reflected in the brouhaha over umpire Darryl Hair’s declaration that the Pakistan side tampered with the ball during a Test Match with England in August 2006, (which at that time was awarded to the home team as the Pakistan team refused to come back onto the field).
However, one can’t ignore the fact that many teams do tamper with the ball, speeding up the natural roughening process so that it can start reverse swinging.
SLEDGING: Sledging has one tactical purpose: to disrupt the concentration of the batsman, and to rile him into making a mistake. Whatever your opinion of the use of aggressive — and often foul — language, the fact is that sledging is here to stay and players need to know how to deal with it.
He has two suggestions for cricketers: 1. Never ever dish it out if you can’t take it and 2. Never get personal or ugly.
HOW TO BE A HAPPY TOURIST: It is not a bad idea to learn a little about the countries marked for touring, learning basic greeting and courtesies in local language is always appreciated. By all means, interact with locals, but never assume that your status as a visiting athlete gives you the right to flout laws or religious or cultural norms. 
Sex scenes made Eckhart squirm
Aaron Eckhart felt awkward during his sex scenes in upcoming film Towelhead, because his co-star Summer Bishil found them funny. The film tells the story of an Arab-American girl’s encounter with racism. She has an affair with Eckhart. He says, “I tried to get her to trust me, to build a relationship when we were doing physical scenes. We’d really rehearse them mechanically. She was so good-humoured about the whole thing and welladjusted. I think I found it more difficult.”
Mariah’s Hollywood dreams
Mariah Carey has hopes of turning around her disastrous movie debut with her forthcoming film Tennessee. The pop superstar hit headlines with her disastrous movie debut Glitter in 2001. She is now set to star in the upcoming road trip drama as aspiring singer Krystal, whose hopes of stardom have been dashed by a bad marriage. Carey will perform her original ballad Right to Dream in the film, a song she co-wrote with country legend Willie Nelson.
IN CONVERSATION YUVRAJ SINGH
I lost my confidence in Sri Lanka: Yuvraj
Left-Hander Says He Will Fight Back
Seeing him struggle against the Sri Lankan bowlers in the One-day series last month, the national selectors thought it fit to leave Yuvraj Singh out of the Rest of India squad. It’s a setback but the left-hander hasn’t lost the confidence to fight. Being a talented middle-order batsman, Yuvraj still dreams big and he knows that he can make them come true. After winning ICC’s T20 cricketer of the year award, the morale of the cricketer is high and he wants to come back with a bang.
In a candid chat with the TOI, Yuvraj reveals what’s going through his mind. Excerpts:
What went wrong with your batting in Sri Lanka?
I started off well in the warm-up match and was even batting well in the first ODI in Dambulla. But later in the series, I just didn’t get the start. There were a few inside edges. I also lost my confidence in the process. It happens when you are not in form, it’s part of the game. But I have faith in my ability and I can come out of this lean patch.
What are your plans now? Will the ICC award help you in any way?
I just want to work hard on my game and think positively. From here on, I want to end this year on a high. That is my target. I may not be a part of the Rest of India squad, but I will make use of all the opportunities I get. Yes, the ICC award has surely helped me remain positive. It will really inspire me to do well. What happened in the past is past. I am hungry for more runs and recent failures have made me wiser.
Is there any problem with your technique?
Not exactly. My technique is fine. It’s all in the mind. If your confidence is low, you can’t score consistently. But I am also a human being and prone to making mistakes. But I am confident of coming out of this patch as soon as possible. At this juncture, I am getting a lot of support from my teammates, family and friends.
You seemed to have struggled against spinners?
It’s not about struggling against spinners. Ajantha Mendis is a tough bowler to pick. In fact, in the Test series we struggled against him but in the One-dayers we were able to pick him well. The more you play him, better it is for you. Unfortunately, I didn’t stay long enough at the crease to dominate Mendis’ bowling.
Do you think that the toss played a role in India’s series victory?
Toss can’t be everything in the match. You can’t really discount the fact that our team played some real good cricket in the series. With the bat, Raina and Dhoni played some crucials knocks in the middle-order and with the ball, Zaheer (Khan) and Harbhajan (Singh) continuously hit the right areas. So it was not the toss factor but team effort that made the difference. And in a team, all the eleven players can’t click in one go.
Coming to the Australian series, what are your thoughts?
It will be a tough series for India. The last time the Aussies came here, they beat us. So we have to play really well to beat them. It will not be easy for sure. They may have some rookies in their line-up, but underestimating the world champions is not a wise thing to do. It will be a competitive series.
What’s your view on the Andrew Symonds issue?
Symonds is a great cricketer, and most importantly he is a fighter. I am sure he is going to do well for himself in the future. He is going through the worst phase of his career, but he is mentally strong and will surely make a comeback. When chips are down, these things happen.
STAR TREK
Nadal fires Olympic warning 
Rafael Nadal sent out a stark message of intent to contenders for the Olympic singles crown with a crushing 6-1, 6-2 defeat of Australian Lleyton Hewitt here on Tuesday.
The Spanish second seed asserted full control of the match early on, breaking Hewitt at 2-1 up in first set.
The Australian had played a gruelling doubles match that stretched into the early hours of Tuesday , and his tiredness showed, notably on his backhand returns. Hewitt managed to break Nadal in the first game of the second set in a shortlived revival but the Spaniard stole the march again and soon had the match wrapped up. AFP
Satyam mulls job cuts for non-performers
In what could be a decisive move for the company, Satyam Computers is exploring ways to scale down its workforce based on performance metrics. The software major currently has 51,000 employees on its rolls, and company sources say that 1,500 employees have been put under the Performance Improvement Plan (PIP).
Apart from this another 3,000 employees have not been given any increment in the last appraisal cycle thereby indicating to them that their services are dispensable. “This 1,500 plus 3,000 totals 4,500 which indicates the total number of persons who could be eased out of the company,” the source said.
Interestingly, on Friday, all employees received an e -mail from the company chief Ramalinga Raju warning them, especially the ones on the bench, to not bunk offices and be in their best ‘dress code’ failing which they might face strict disciplinary action.
Last week some 400 employees from across different locations of the company were given the pink slip. One hundred and fifty were from Hyderabad. The sources also indicated that getting the message many among the 3,000 have also started leaving their jobs on the own, but an estimate of the numbers who have left on this account is not known.
A company spokesperson when queried said: “The bottom 5% of those who have got a bad appraisal have been put under PIP and given dummy projects to prove themselves. If they fail they will be shown the door.” But some of them marked for PIP said that they have been given very little time to come up as winners.
But even as it downsizes, Satyam continues to hire new employees in thousands. Over 40% of them are flesh blood just passing out of college.
Employee sources say that the plight of the 3,000 who have not got any increment is pitiable: they are neither on the bench nor into any high-revenue earning project. “Some of us cannot quit even though we know that we will be eventually sacked. This because we have paid a bond amount of Rs 2 lakh undertaking to serve the company for two years,” said an employee.
Industry analysts say that inspite of the current economic slowdown due to which big projects aren’t coming the way of Indian IT companies, Satyam is still maintaining a buffer of 3-8% on the bench. “It’s like a contingency plan,” says an analyst. “Sometimes when a big project comes all of a sudden and the company can’t show enough resources which could be employed to deliver the work, the company could lose deals. Which is why this behaviour,” he adds.
Finmin to decide on tax sops for IT cos
Chennai: With a section of the IT industry in India requesting further extension in the tax concessions given to units in Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), union minister for IT and communications, A Raja on Monday said his ministry would take up the issue of extending the benefits by another year, with the prime minister and the finance minister.
CII’s annual ICT event held in Chennai, the minister said it was up to the finance minister to take a call on giving further extension, but added that it would be considered after talks with the finance minister. The sunset clause for STPI units was initially supposed to expire on March 31,2009 but was extended by one year. Now, the industry is seeking an extension of one more year. TNN
Britney Spears has roots in Britain
American pop star Britney Spears’s family apparently has its roots in Tottenham in north London. Experts also found that her ancestors might have a secret, reports a website. London Metropolitan Archives reveal that Spears’ great-grandfather George was a sailor and was registered at the same address with lover Lillian when they got married in 1923. The 26-year-old star, who made a triumphant return at the MTV Video Music Awards this week, is descended from George Anthony Portell and Lillian Esther Lewis. Britney’s family secret will be on show when the archives go online —with the records of more than 77 million people available.
Laurence Ward, head of digital resources at the archives, said there could be an innocent explanation. “Her great-grandparents have certainly listed the same address in the records for their marriage. But as her great-grandfather is recorded as being an able seaman, he may have been away with the Navy a lot. They could have recorded the same address for convenience,” he said.
Volatile Symonds gets the axe
Allrounder Ignored For India Tour As Australia Pick 15-Member Test Team 
Volatile all-rounder Andrew Symonds, who has made headlines for controversies in recent times, was dropped from Australia’s 15-member Test squad for next month’s tour of India on disciplinary grounds.
The burly Symonds, who created a flutter earlier this year for claiming that India’s Harbhajan Singh had racially abused him, has been given time for “introspection” so that he can decide on his future.
Australia’s national selection panel chairman Andrew Hilditch said Symonds, who was sent packing after his “gone fishing” saga in Darwin during the One-dayers against Bangladesh last month, is now in a process of introspection and will be considered once he is fully fit.
“Andrew Symonds was stood down for disciplinary reasons in Darwin and is now going through a process managed by Cricket Australia designed to give him time to assess whether he is fully committed to all of the things needed for a cricketer to be a member of the world’s number one team,” Hilditch said.
“Cricket Australia has told us that selectors will be advised once Andrew can be considered again for selection and we hope we can look forward to that advice in due course because as we all know, a fit and fully-committed Andrew Symonds can be a world beater,” he added.
Left-arm chinaman bowler Beau Casson also have been dropped while spinner 36-year-old Bryce McGain has been included and is set to make his debut against India. Right-arm spinner Jason Krejza have also been given a ticket and Hilditch feels the spinners will do well in Indian conditions. “We are pleased with the balance achieved in this squad. We have selected two internationally inexperienced spinners but we feel they are the right kind of spinners for the conditions and have faith they will both do very well when given opportunities,” he said.
Among the pacers, youngsters Doug Bollinger and Peter Siddle have been given a chance to play for Australia, while all-rounder Shane Watson has been included to provide extra flexibility to the team. Batting mainstays Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden are also recovering fast from injuries. AGENCIES
The squad: Ricky Ponting (captain), Michael Clarke (vice-captain), Matthew Hayden, Phil Jaques, Michael Hussey, Simon Katich, Brad Haddin, Shane Watson, Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, Bryce McGain, Mitchell Johnson, Jason Krejza, Doug Bollinger, Peter Siddle.
Vehicles likely to cost 3.5% less
Prices of cars, two-wheelers and commercial vehicles are set to come down by around 3.5% due to the duty cut announced by the government, but the auto industry gave a cautious welcome to the move, saying steps were required to boost the availability of finance in the sector.
Almost all major manufacturers, including Maruti, Hyundai, M&M, Tata and TVS, said they would be passing on the benefits of the reduced duty to customers immediately. Broadly, the 4% relief on ex-factory cost is likely to result in ex-showroom price reduction in the range of Rs 8,000 to 45,000 for different passenger vehicles (cars and SUVs).
The benefit for the truck and buses will be much higher and could be in the range of Rs 30,000 to Rs 2 lakh if the manufacturers pass on the entire benefit to customers. While the two wheeler segment which has been posting negative sales in the past few months could see a price reduction of Rs 1,000 to Rs 3,000.
Though companies are yet to announce a final price cut, it is estimated that a car priced around Rs 3 lakh will be cheaper by around Rs 10,000. Alto, the largest selling car on Indian roads, is expected to be cheaper by Rs 8,000.
Maruti Suzuki chairman R C Bhargava said, “We are looking at passing on the entire benefit to the customers. We shall be cutting down prices in the range of 3.5-4% from midnight and most of our vehicles will be cheaper by that percentage.”
Arvind Saxena, senior VP (marketing and sales) of Hyundai India also welcomed the move. “We will pass it on to the customers,” Saxena said, though adding that “immediate steps” were required to reduce cost of lending (interest rates) and boost finance availability.
While interest rates on auto financing are hovering at record-high levels, banks and NBFCs have been reluctant in lending in view of the tight liquidity position.
Auto companies complain that despite enabling measures by the RBI to boost liquidity in the system, banks have remained “extra vigilant” in lending to the automobile sector, leading to a big contraction in demand.
P M Telang, executive director (commercial vehicles) of Tata Motors, said the company would also pass on the additional benefits due to the duty cuts. However, he added that to give a boost to the commercial vehicle sector, the government should increase spending in infrastructure and boost credit availability.
Dr Pawan Goenka, president (automotive sector), Mahindra & Mahindra said, “M&M is passing on the entire Cenvat reduction to consumers, and in some high-end models, even more than the announced reduction.
At the top-end, one could expect the price on a Scorpio to come down by Rs 42,000-43,000, or even more. On pick-up trucks, there will be a price reduction of around Rs 17,000-18,000.
A 4% cut in excise is the maximum that one could have expected. However, we were expecting that the extra duty of Rs 20,000 — levied post-Budget, sometime in June, would also be removed because there is no justification for the same now. Also, while the government has announced repo and reverse repo cuts to boost liquidity, nothing specific was done to ease retail financing.”
A Ford spokesperson also said the company will pass on the duty cut benefit to customers.
