Lara stars in losing effort for Aussie Legends

PERTH, Australia (CMC) — Legendary West Indies batsman Brian Lara stroked a typically flashy half-century, but failed to prevent Australian Legends from a 50-run defeat to Perth Scorchers in an exhibition Twenty20 clash here yesterday.

Chasing 180 to win at Aquinas College, the Legends XI ended on 129 for five with the left-handed Lara finishing unbeaten on 51 from 50 balls.

Lara started slowly before easing into his rhythm, and beginning to find the boundaries with touches of his old class.

The double world-record holder was the only batsman in his star-studded side to pass 20 as Dean Jones (16), Andrew Symonds (13), Justin Langer (9) and Adam Gilchrist (1) all fell cheaply.

Despite the loss, former Test star Langer said playing in the same team as the West Indies great was satisfaction enough.

“This is so much fun,” the left-hander said. “To be on the same field as Brian Lara — I used to idolise him. Even when I played against him I loved watching him bat.”

Earlier, Ashton Turner thumped a top score of 75 from 38 balls, while Englishman Michael Carberry stroked 28, in his debut match for Scorchers ahead of the Big Bash League starting later this week.

Marcus Harris chipped in with 23 and Sam Whiteman got 22, while Scorchers seamer Yasir Arafat, who played for Legends, was the best bowler with two for 30 from four overs.

Symonds (1-43) and Andy Bichel (1-50) were roughed up by the Scorchers batsmen but Michael Kasprowicz proved miserly with one for 22 off his four overs.

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Lara stars in losing effort for Aussie Legends

Maryland delays effort to recoup $55M for failed ObamaCare site - VIDEO: ObamaCare reportedly fading as midterm issue - Full Coverage: Midterm elections

FILE: Oct. 2, 2013: A man looks over the Affordable Care Act signup page on the HealthCare.gov website in New York. (REUTERS)

Maryland officials reportedly have agreed to delay court action seeking $55 million from the primary contractor for the state’s problematic ObamaCare website.

Officials from Maryland’s health care exchange in April fired the contractor, Noridian Healthcare Solutions, and vowed to seek court actions to recoup the money.

Both sides have struck a temporary deal so state officials can focus on the second year of ObamaCare enrollment that starts Nov. 15, according to The Baltimore Sun.  

A spokeswoman for Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley told The Sun that officials are still “evaluating claims that we may pursue in litigation.”

The first ObamaCare enrollment, on Oct. 1, 2013, got off to a disastrous start, marked by an overwhelming public response that crashed the federal site, HealthCare.gov, and several state-run sites.

President Obama, angry and “frustrated” by the start of arguably his biggest legislative accomplishment, made sure the software problems were essentially fixed after the first several weeks by hiring industry experts to work around the clock to write better computer code and fix software bugs.

But at least two state-run sites — Maryland and Oregon’s — had to scrap their failed, multi-million dollar, online projects.

Oregon has moved online customers to the federal site after software bugs and other technical problems kept the state from fully enrolling a single customer online.

The problems and transition is estimated to cost state and federal taxpayers at least an additional $85 million — including $50 million to manually enroll thousands of customers and $35 million to Deloitte Consulting to salvage the faulty technology.

Maryland officials have decided to replace their technology, instead of fixing the system or like Oregon joining the federal exchange system.

They have hired Deloitte Consulting, which has successfully run the Connecticut exchange. The effort is expected to cost $43 million.

The decision also comes just weeks before Election Day for Democratic nominee for governor Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, who was O’Malley’s point man for ObamaCare.

Maryland and contractor Noridian have blamed each other and subcontractors, including IBM, for the problems.

The decision to delay action also came amid an ongoing inspector general’s probe, which was requested in February by Maryland GOP Rep. Andy Harris.

“Millions of dollars were wasted because of a lack of oversight by Lieutenant Governor Brown, and now the state must try to recoup some of the money he allowed to be sent to companies who couldn’t deliver,” Harris told The Sun. “The federal investigation should provide critical information about how taxpayer dollars were wasted and whether fraud occurred.”

Justin Schall, Brown’s campaign manager, said: “It’s disappointing that congressman Harris would mislead the people of Maryland and play political games with a federal investigation.”

Thirty-six states are part of the federal exchange, and there are 14 state-run sites.

The president crafted the legislation to help an estimated 30 million uninsured Americans get coverage.

The administration reached its goal of enrolling 6 million people by its self-imposed March 31 deadline. And right now, 7.3 million people have enrolled in marketplace plans, paid their premiums and have access to insurance, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

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Maryland delays effort to recoup $55M for failed ObamaCare site - VIDEO: ObamaCare reportedly fading as midterm issue - Full Coverage: Midterm elections

Decent effort, but job still undone

PANAMA CITY, Panama — Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz, while not getting three points needed to lift their World Cup mission from the throes of disaster, still can take heart from a decent rendition against host Panama on Friday night.

The 0-0 score, it can be argued, is a fair one — but clearly not the desired outcome for any of the teams. They both needed a win to advance their cause as the teams lingering in the drop zone of the hexagonal play-offs.In a breakdown of how the Jamaicans performed on a rainy Panama City night, their grades will be mixed from the defence to the midfield and offence. The mark is from 0-10.DEFENCEClearly, the department that saved the Reggae Boyz from sure defeat to a Panama team that was bent on persevering home turf pride. In executing the 3-5-2 formation, drifting away from the 4-4-2, debutant central defender and Leicester City captain Wes Morgan was the consummate professional. He demonstrated throughout the match a class act who reads the game well, plus his timely tackles were clean. He, no doubt, helped to lift the game of fellow debutant, the left-sided Reading man, Shaun Cummings. Jermaine Taylor and Lloyd Doyley, who partnered Morgan in the three-prong defence, fed off his high-quality delivery. With Adrian Mariappa in the reckoning for Tuesday’s match against Costa Rica, it would be interesting to see what coach Winfried Schafer will do. Donovan Ricketts, when called upon, was in his element to deny the opposition. With all of the above, plus the fact that they kept a clean sheet, Jamaica’s defence gets a passing grade.— 6.5MIDFIELDFive midfielders were spread across the field with the new formation, and those playing on the flanks did more defence work than going forward, especially when Jamaica went down to 10 players, and understandably so. What was encouraging is how newcomer Shaun Cummings looked comfortable playing on both flanks, which he was forced to do when right-flanker Alvas Powell got injured in the first half. O’brian Woodbine, who came in, never shone, but he held his own and fitted into the scheme out there. Sadly, there wasn’t much feed for the strikers as those operating more inside were lacking in collective imagination. Still, the cry for a creative midfielder for the team, it seems, will go on forever. What we had was a lot of running, all running. Jobi McAnuff did well as he ran all game like a wound-up Duracel bunny, but with his purpose, to be fair. His Reading teammate, Garath McCleary, did show some good touches, but he too ran, albeit more into traffic than anything else. Rodolph Austin, the tanker in the middle, was doing his mopping-up duty, which eventually cost him in the end with two yellow cards. His replacement, Marvin Elliott, came in and played his typical game by keeping things simple, plus he broke up a couple of threatening Panamanian attacks.— 4.5OFFENCEWe didn’t score in a game we had to win. Too few shots on goal. Too few shots, period. Marlon King and Luton Shelton have contrasting playing styles, and while they gave us a couple of cute one-two plays, they never clicked as a deadly duo. The midfield may have failed them to a large extent, in terms of service, but forwards ought to be clever and resourceful operating behind enemy lines. Down to 10 men, substitute Jermaine ‘Teddy’ Johnson played as a one-man wrecking crew upfront, but he wasn’t packing the venom we know he’s capable of producing. It appeared that the counter-attacking approach was the name of our game, but it never paid dividends.— 4.0

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Decent effort, but job still undone