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| Wednesday,
August 1, 2001, Chandigarh, India   |
Kiwis’ pathetic display hands easy victory to Lanka
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India left with daunting task Colombo, July 31 The Indian team may well be thanking their stars for New Zealand’s defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka, but more than just divine intervention will be required when they take on the hosts in a crucial triangular one-day match here tomorrow.
Rain dashes Zimbabwe’s
hopes |
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Decision on National
Games on Aug 2 Litmus test for Mukesh sans
Dhanraj Pandove on BCCI
panel Tennis
meet HP badminton
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Kiwis’ pathetic display hands easy victory to Lanka Colombo, July 31 It was a pathetic batting display by the Kiwis who could muster only 115 for nine in their allotted 36 overs while replying to 221 for six by Sri Lanka. The win gave Sri Lanka eight points with a match against India tomorrow in hand. New Zealand have four points and they too have a game against India on Thursday. India would need to win both their remaining matches in order to make it to the final. In the event of a tie, the head-to-head record of the two teams in this series would be taken into account ahead of the net run rate. New Zealand lost too many early wickets and never looked in the chase today after Sri Lanka, helped by a gallant 58 off 46 balls from Mahela Jayawardene, had set an imposing total. Set to score at 6.15 an over, New Zealand lost their first five wickets for just 18 runs in the eighth over and could never recover. Only four batsmen made it to double figures, with two of them ironically being last men Darryl Tuffy and Kyle Mills. Extras (25) accounted for maximum runs in the New Zealand innings with Dion Nash contributing 23 and Chris Harris 18. Chaminda Vaas, who returned figures of three for 20 off his seven overs, struck twice in his second over to send back Mathew Sinclair (1) and Jacob Oram (0). That started a collapse that saw captain Stephen Fleming (6), Craig McMillan (0) and Nathan Astle (4) back in pavillion in quick succession and by the eighth over there seemed to be only academic interest remaining in the match. Sinclair was trapped leg before wicket by Vaas while Oram, Fleming and Astle edged outgoing deliveries to be caught in the slips. McMillan was run out to a direct hit by Jayawardene. Requiring to score at over eight runs an over, New Zealand needed a miracle to turn their fortunes around but that never happened. Dion Nash and Chris Harris waged a losing battle for almost 15 overs before another collapse saw three batsmen falling in a heap. Nash, whose 23 came off 43 balls, became the second batsman to be run out when a direct hit by Marvan Atapattu found him short of his crease. Kumar Dharmasena dismissed wicketkeeper Adam Parore and Daniel Vettori off successive balls to leave New Zealand tottering at 57 for eight in the 23rd over. The last two wickets added 58 runs to take New Zealand beyond the 100-mark. Harris finally fell leg before wicket to Dilhara Fernando for his 65-ball 18. Kyle Mills and Darryl Tuffey remained unbeaten on 17 and 20 respectively. Tuffey smashed Suresh Perera for a six and a four in the 35th over but could hardly make any difference to the result. SCOREBOARD Sri Lanka: Jayasuriya c Tuffey b Mills 20 Gunawardene c Sinclair b Harris 38 Kaluwitharane run out 25 Attapatu st Parore b Vettori 34 Jayawardene c Nash b McMillan 58 Arnold not out 22 Perera b McMillan 1 Vaas not out 4 Extras (lb-10, w-7, nb-2) 19 Total (for 6 wkts, 36 overs) 221 Fall of wickets: 1-32, 2-89, 3-109, 4-165, 5-208, 6-211. Bowling: Tuffy 3-0-18-0, Mills 4-0-22-1, Nash 6-0-36-0, Oram 6-0-41-0, Harris 7-0-39-1, Vettori 8-1-38-1, McMillan 2-0-17-2. New Zealand: Sinclair lbw b Vaas 1 Astle c Gunawardane b Fernando 4 Oram c Arnold b Vaas 0 Fleming c Gunawardane b Vaas 6 McMillan run out 0 Nash run out 23 Harris lbw b Fernando 18 Parore c and b Dharmasena 0 Vettori lbw b Dharmasena 0 Mills not out 18 Tuffey not out 20 Extras (b-6, lb-5, w-13, nb-1) 25 Total (for 9 wkts off 36 overs) 115 Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-3, 3-16, 4-18, 5-18, 6-57, 7-57, 8-57, 9-83. Bowling: Vaas 7-1-20-3, Fernando 7-2-19-2, Perera 4-0-24-0, Muralitharan 8-1-21-0, Dharmasena 7-1-16-2, Jayasuriya 2-1-2-0, Arnold 1-0-2-0.
PTI |
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NZ probe clears Crowe Wellington, July 31 The investigation, carried out independently by a former High Court judge and a senior lawyer on behalf of New Zealand Cricket, looked into allegations that Crowe had received money from an Indian bookmaker for match information during the 1992 World Cup. Reuters |
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India left with daunting task Colombo, July 31 India are now left with simple mathematics — to win the remaining two league matches without bothering about the margins of victory - to make it to the final. According to the rules of the tournament, the head-to-head record of two teams would be taken into account ahead of their net run rate in case of a tie. That means if India lose to Sri Lanka tomorrow, they would be out of the tournament irrespective of the result of their game against New Zealand as the Kiwis have already defeated India twice in the three-leg league. But the task ahead of India is no doubt daunting, considering their form in this series. With a place in the final already assured, Sri Lanka would play under no pressure and would certainly go all out to avenge their humiliating seven-wicket loss in the previous game, their only defeat in the tournament so far. The comprehensive 106-run victory against New Zealand today must have given a lot of confidence to the hosts and India, who have won just one match in this series so far while losing three, will really need to perform to the best of their abilities to win.
PTI |
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Rain dashes Zimbabwe’s
hopes
Harare, July 31 The West Indies won the series 1-0 to be the inaugural winners of the Clive Lloyd Trophy. After consultation between umpire Kevan Barbour and the official scorers today, Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak was credited with four extra runs in his innings during the Zimbabwe second innings in the second Test match against the West Indies. Streak’s details now change to 83 not out, while Neil McGarrell has had four runs added to his bowling figures. The correction comes after confusion as to whether umpire Barbour signalled byes when the ball went to the boundary behind the wicketkeeper off McGarrell late in the Zimbabwe second innings yesterday. SCOREBOARD Zimbabwe (Ist innings): 131 West Indies (Ist innings): 347 Zimbabwe (2nd innings): 563 declared West Indies (2nd innings): Ganga c Strang b Streak 5 Gayle not out 52 Sarwan not out 31 Extras: (b-4 lb-5 w-1) 10 Total: (for 1 wkt, 46.2 overs) 98 Fall of wicket: 1-25 Bowling: Streak 14.2-3-34-1, Blignaut 9-3-24-0, Strang 14-8-19-0, Price 8-3-9-0, Masakadza 1-0-3-0.
Reuters |
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Decision on National Games on Aug
2 Chandigarh, July 31 When the organisers knew well enough that the Afro-Asian Games were proposed by the Indian Olympic Association in November 2001, why were the National Games postponed to September. The major plea to hold the National Games in September was based on India’s likely non-participation in the SAF Games. But now, after Pakistan President’s visit to India, chances of India sending a strong contingent for the SAF Games look bright. A sports official, on the condition of anonymity, said it was poor planning on the part of the organising committee for the National Games which has led to the present state of affairs. The state was never serious in trying to organise the games more on professional lines, with the
management part totally missing. The lack of coordination between various executive agencies and the delay in sanction of funds further aggravated the problem. Ever since the format of the games was changed to make it on the pattern of Asian Games, the dates kept on changing but in the case of Punjab worst has happened. The games have taken a more political nature, less emphasis is being laid on improving the basic sports environment in the state, which was the real motto of the games. If we look at the brief history of the National Games, the first National Games were held in 1924, then continuously held after every two years till 1952, then in 1953, 1954 till 1970 with a gap again of two years and again in 1979 at Hyderabad. The other places where these were conducted included Lahore, Calcutta and New Delhi (three times each), Patiala, Jabalpur, Chennai (twice each). In 1985 the format of the National Games was changed and they were held in New Delhi. The next edition was held in Kerala in 1987 in five cities, the third allotted to Punjab to be held in 1989, could not be conducted. Then after a gap of five years the National Games were held in 1994 at Pune followed by Karnataka in May 1997 (originally planned in 1996) and fifth in Manipur in February 1999 (earlier date was October 4, 1998.) The sources opined that when the preparations for the seventh National Games are already in full swing in Andhra Pradesh to be held next year, the Punjab National Games will continue to remain in jeopardy. |
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Litmus test for Mukesh sans
Dhanraj New Delhi, July 31 Only one Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) official was present at the Indira Gandhi International Airport early in the morning to receive the team as the tired players landed here by an Air India flight, after a stop over in Mumbai. Chief coach Cedric D’Souza and eight of the players had embarked at the Mumbai airport, while the rest of the flock accompanied Baljit to Delhi. Though India earned a berth in the 10th World Cup to be held in Kula Lumpur next year by a whisker, Dhillon described the outing in the qualifier as a “very good experience, as we learnt a lot there”. Baljit tried to project a different picture when he said that the quality of the competition was very tough as “all the teams had come well-prepared, after putting in a lot of hard work”. “We learnt a lot”, Dhillon continued “and we did not have much problems. It was easy for us”. The captain said India held back more than what they revealed “as we did not want to expose all our cards. Our sole aim was to qualify for the World Cup, which we have achieved. Our target was just that. Nothing more”. Though India muffed penalty corners by the dozens-14 of them against Poland alone, in the battle for a last four berth — Dhillon saw the whole scenario in a different light, saying, “we scored penalty corner and field goals in equal measure”. He said it will be a “totally different game when we play in the World Cup. We were always confident of qualifying”. Facts, however, give out a different story. India scored narrow wins against non-hockey playing countries like Wales, Egypt, Japan and Canada, but came a cropper against teams like New Zealand, Argentina and Poland, to expose the chinks in their armour. The claim of the chief coach that he was taking the best available talent to Edinburgh, also belied sense. India tottered on the verge of elimination before making the World Cup “cut”. The source said
wherever the team went, people wanted to know why Dhanraj Pillay was not in the team. Even Cedric D’Souza is learnt to have admitted at a team meeting that the hustling tactics of Dhanraj Pillai would have worked wonders in containing a marauding team like Argentina, particularly during penalty corner conversions. Only a player like Dhanraj could have checked “Player of the Tournament” Jorge Lombi of Argentina, who had fine-tuned the art of converting penalty corners, into perfection, to emerge the top scorer. The World Cup qualifier was not the right place to experiment with a new team. Aimless attack, loose play in the defence and shaky goalkeeping had all contributed to make it a very, very tough campaign for India, before they eventually made it by the skin of their teeth. The tours of Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand and the four-nation competition in Milton Keynes in England a week before the World Cup qualifier, had taken a heavy toll on the players, as they looked over-trained and jaded. “The Indian players played as if they were performing a ritual”, observed the source. According to the source, who was part of the team, the competition at Milton Keynes did more harm than good to the players as the board and lodging arrangements were deplorable. The players and officials spent more time in cooking meals than concentrating on hockey. The source wondered where was the need to “cut corners when the government had sanctioned US $ 100 per player per day. Moreover, the IHF had also struck a lucrative sponsorship deal with Castrol. Where did all the money vanish that the
players had to put up with unpalatable food?”. The eight officials — the chief coach, one assistant coach, a psychologist, two doctors, one trainer, one manager and an assistant manager — contributed precious little, other than squandering the Government money. To top it, one IHF observer, Lam Kema of Mizoram, joined the squad in Edinburgh. The source said there was no logic in taking two doctors along with the team as there was not much work for the doctors to perform, though they did things other than what they were intended for. While Dr PSM Chandran of the Sports Authority of India, who was added to the team as an afterthought just three days prior to the departure of the squad to Edinburgh, carried virtually a cartload of medicines with him, just in case the players required them, another doctor in the party - a private one from Bangalore—Dr B M Parthasarthy reportedly did not carry even a stethescope with him! One of the doctors virtually performed the role of a pysiotherapist, though the government had cleared a specialist pysiotherapist. It was also surprising that no masseur was taken for this major assignment as a masseur was the one the players most needed, than two doctors and one psychologist. The source said though the accommodation at the Pollock Hall of the Edinburgh University residential wing was excellent, and the food served there was palatable and sumptuous, Indian team manager N.P. Batra chose to order food from an “Indian restaurant” run by a Pakistani national, which was terrible and unpalatable. The 1970 Commonwealth Games were held in Edinburgh, and the athletes had been put up at the very same campus. The source also made a scathing assessment of Cedric’s coaching tactics, noting that the chief coach had totally failed to implement his so-called theoretical knowledge into practice on the field. “We had beaten Argentina twice in the Sydney Olympic Games last year, once in the pool and later in the placement matches. But here we were, being butchered by Argentina like cannibals. Similarly, we had lost out to Poland for a semi-final berth in Sydney, as the Poles turned the tables on us in a last-minute surge. But we have failed to learn from our mistakes as this time too, we succumbed to the Poles, despite dominating the match throughout, with 14 penalty corners to boot”. “Class room tactics will not win matches for us, unless we translate them into practice”, the source said, questioning the competence of Cedric to continue as the chief coach. The source said the story of the psychologist was even stranger as the gentleman seemed to have no clue about his job while trainer Saju Joseph spent more time in video-recording the matches than ‘training’ the players. The players had no source of entertainment either at Edinburgh as neither television nor newspaper was available at the university campus. The World Cup qualifier has taught India a very valuable lesson—that they just cannot ignore the claims of a talented player like Dhanraj Pillai whose value to the team is immeasurable. It will be a litmus test for Mukesh Kumar, sans Dhanraj, when he leads the team to the Azlan Shah Tournament in Malaysia. The team will leave for Kuala Lumpur tonight, for the tournament to be played from August 2 to 12. Five players from the Edinburg squad — Devesh Chauhan, Dileep Tirkey, Bimal Lakra, Daljeet Singh and Paramjeet Singh — joined the Azlan team, as they went straight from the airport to the Nehru Stadium. |
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Pandove on BCCI
panel Chandigarh, July 31 Besides Mr Pandove, the other members of the committee are Sunil Gavaskar, Kris
Srikkanth, Arun Lal, Anil Kumble and Sachin Tendulkar. Sunil Gavaskar has been appointed chairman of the committee. Dr Muthiah will also attend all meetings of the committee. The committee will consider the structure of the senior national domestic tournaments like the Duleep Trophy and Ranji Trophy and will also advise the BCCI the changes in the format or playing conditions wherever required. These changes, according to sources close to the board, will make these tournaments more meaningful, competitive and performance oriented. The first meeting of the committee was scheduled to be held at Mumbai tomorrow (August 1). |
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Tennis
meet Chandigarh, July 31 According to Mr Lachman Dass Kapoor, Director, Total Tennis Academy, the events to be conducted in the boys section include under-10, under-12, under-14, under-16, under-18 and seniors while for girls competition would be in under-14, under-16 and seniors section. Entries close with Mr Arvind Noel at YMCA, Sector 11, on August 2. |
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HP badminton Shimla, July 31 The championship will be held in senior and junior categories for both men’s and women’s sections. The championships for state, mini section and veteran categories will be organised at Mandi in the first week of October. |
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