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Saturday,
May 4, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Lara, Sarwan put Windies on top
Saurav Ganguly maturing as captain : Clive Lloyd
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Innings defeat for Kiwis
WORLD CUP LEGENDS Unprecedented wave of apathy sweeps Brazil Jeev one stroke
behind leaders Kang leads
in PGA Cup Kirtane, Dooyev in final 55 picked for Speed Fund Academy
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Lara, Sarwan put Windies on top
Bridgetown, May 3 The home side reached 199 for four at tea on the second day after bundling out the tourists for 102. Lara (55) and Sarwan (60) shared in a 119-run stand for the third wicket that assured the West Indies, already 97 runs ahead, were well-placed for a series-levelling win in the five-match rubber. Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who scored a career-best 140 in the drawn first Test at Georgetown, was unbeaten on 27 with captain Carl Hooper on 11. Left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan struck early as the West Indies, resuming on 33 for one, lost opener Chris Gayle before he could add to his overnight 14. Zaheer Khan had Gayle lbw with a ball that pitched on off-stump and then bowled two excellent overs to Lara, putting the left-hander, who celebrated his 33rd birthday on Thursday, in all sorts of trouble. But Sarwan, playing his 20th Test, enthralled the Kensington Oval crowd with a flurry of boundaries. The 21-year-old from Guyana glanced Zaheer Khan for four to fine-leg before driving him through the covers and pulling him to the square leg fence later in the same over. He then drove Ashish Nehra for a straight boundary and cut him two balls later to the point fence before reaching his 11th Test 50 with a four through mid-off from the bowling of off-spinner Harbhajan Singh. Lara hit some glorious shots after the lunch interval, driving paceman Javagal Srinath down the ground for two fours in an over and later crashing him though extra-cover for four more. The left-hander raised his second 50 of the series with a couple to square leg. He was just looking set for a big score when he got a leading edge to Nehra and ended up lobbing an easy return catch. Nehra struck again in his next over when he had Sarwan caught at point by Wasim Jaffer as the batsman tried to cut him over the infield. Mervyn Dillon completed figures of four wickets for 41 runs and Adam Sanford claimed three wickets as the hosts bowled out India in just 33.4 overs on the rain-hit first day. Lara was extremely tentative, especially during the early part of his innings and was beaten outside his off-stump a number of times by both Zaheer Khan and Javagal Srinath. But the brilliant left-hander survived the close calls and showed a lot of determination thereafter. He batted with tremendous patience and waited for the bad deliveries to score his runs. Sarwan, on the other hand, was quite fluent and impressed with good timing and technique. He hit a few elegant fours, none better than a flourishing off-drive against Zaheer Khan. He pulled the bowler in the same over for another boundary which brought up the 50-run partnership for the wicket. Both Srinath and Zaheer Khan bowled fine opening spells and were able to move the ball both ways. It encouraged Saurav Ganguly to bring himself into the attack and bowled an impressive spell of six overs, five of which were maidens, for just five runs. Reuters SCOREBOARD India (1st innings): Das b Dillon 0 Jaffer c Jacobs b Dillon 12 Dravid run out 17 Tendulkar c Jacobs b Collins 0 Ganguly c Dillon b Sanford 48 Laxman b Cuffy 1 Ratra c Jacobs b Dillon 1 Harbhajan c Dillon b Sanford 13 Zaheer c Sarwan b Sanford 4 Srinath lbw b Dillon 0 Nehra not out 0 Extras (nb-4, w-2) 6 Total
(all out, 33.4 overs) 102 FoW: 1-0, 2-26, 3-27, 4-50, 5-51, 6-61, 7-78, 8-86, 9-101. Bowling:
Dillon 11-1-41-4, Cuffy 9-4-17-1, Collins 8-0-24-1, Sanford 5.4-0-20-3. West Indies (1st innings): Williams c Jaffer b Zaheer 18 Gayle lbw b Zaheer 14 Sarwan c Jaffer b Nehra 60 Lara c and b Nehra 55 Hooper batting 11 Chanderpaul batting 27 Extras: (lb-4, nb-10) 14 Total: (for 4 wkts, 72 overs) 199 FoW: 1-30, 2-35, 3-154, 4-161. Bowling: Srinath 20-4-53-0, Nehra 15-3-47-2, Zaheer Khan 13-4-47-2, Ganguly 6-5-5-0, Harbhajan 17-5-36-0, Tendulkar 1-0-7-0.
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Saurav Ganguly maturing as captain : Clive Lloyd New Delhi, May 3 “Captaincy is not easy. It’s tough to be a captain. It’s tough to get a Gavaskar or Sachin (in the team) every day. A captain is only as good as his team”, observed Clive Hubert Lloyd, former West Indian captain, and one of the most successful and celebrated cricket captains the world has ever seen. Lloyd felt that some of the criticisms against Saurav’s captaincy was unwarranted. “You don’t make great captains overnight. Saurav is maturing as a captain. He will get better with experience. He seems to have the full team with him”, Lloyd noted. The former West Indian great said India’s ongoing tour to the West Indies was a “crucial test” for Saurav’s captaincy. But he also advocated the need for all the players to perform instead of depending on one or two players to do the trick. “A Sachin or a Lara does not make a team. Why can’t the rest make runs. Why Sachin alone?”, wondered Lloyd. When West Indies ruled the roost in international cricket in the seventies and early eighties, Lloyd was mostly at the helm. Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1971, Lloyd was in Delhi to launch the “Electrolux Kelvinator Wisden Cricket Century”, a three-month celebration of Indian cricket, that will culminate in the announcement of the “Wisden Indian Cricketer of the Century” at a star-studded awards ceremony in London on July 23. Lloyd held back nothing when he spoke about the present Indian team. He said India needed to get a good opening pair to give a kick start to their innings, for the strong middle order to consolidate the position. But as things stand, the failures of the openers have made the task of the middle order very difficult, particularly that of a “top class” player like Rahul Dravid. “If you lose the openers quickly, you expose the middle order. If you don’t have a good No 3, things can go really bad”, Lloyd observed. Lloyd said Venkat Sai Laxman was a “good striker of the ball”, and he was also greatly impressed with “wonderful bowling prospect” Ashish Nehra. And “Kumble is a class spinner”. As for Sachin Tendulkar, “if he keeps playing, all records are open to him (to be broken)”. Lloyd lamented the decline and fall of cricket in West Indies. In the seventies and early eighties, Windies were at the pinnacle of their cricketing glory, when they ruled the roost as “unbeatables”. Captain of the West Indies in 74 Tests, Clive Lloyd led his side to two World Cup victories at Lords in 1975 and 1979, and to 11 successive Test victories in 1984, including a 5-0 clean sweep in England. But things are in a pretty bad shape in West Indies. “The pitches in West Indies have deteriorated, and the quality of bowlers have deteriorated too. We just keep hoping that we would come out of this trough. But it’s not happening”, Lloyd bemoaned. He said the present lot has not been able to “fill up the gap” created by the exit of the great players of his generation, leading to the present crisis. He said the West Windies will have to play a lot better to win the on-going series against India, or even to draw the series. Lloyd has a very strong bonding with India, as he had made his Test debut in 1966-67 in Bombay, captained his first Test in India, and scored his highest Test knock of 242 in India. On his debut Test, he scored 82 and 78 not out to help Gary Sobers win the match on a turning track. His most prolific series was his first as captain in India in 1974-75 when he scored 636 runs in the Tests, including an 85-ball century at Bangalore and a superb 242 not out in Bombay. For Lloyd, it was indeed a very nostalgic occasion to travel down memory lane with Bishan Singh Bedi, Abbas Ali Baig and Chetan Chauhan. Lloyd is one of the 35 distinguished jury members to select the “Indian cricketer of the century”. Each jury member has been asked to sumbit a shortlist of five names, marking one as their choice of “Indian Cricketer of the Century” by setting aside “any bias towards your own region and your own era and name the five whose excellence at cricket during the past 100 years made the greatest contribution to the game”. Some of the legends who are in the race for this coveted honour are Vinoo Mankad, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Bishan Singh Bedi, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Sachin
Tendulkar. Wisden will also be naming the “batting performance of the century”,
”bowling performance of the century”, the “Indian team of the century” and the “spirit of cricket award” to the Indian cricketer who most embodies what is best in the game. |
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Innings defeat for Kiwis
Lahore, May 3 The Kiwis, skittled for 73 in the morning after resuming of 58 for six, followed on a massive 570 runs behind but struggled again despite the absence of Shoaib with a swollen ankle during their second innings. Lou Vincent and skipper Stephen Fleming, who top-scored with 66, made battling half-centuries but the tourists crumbled from 186 for three to 246 all out as 14 wickets tumbled during the day. Leg-spinner Danish Kaneria took five for 110 in the second innings.
Inzamam-ul-Haq had scored 329, the 10th highest individual score in test history, in Pakistan’s innings. Pakistan (Ist innings) 643
(Inzamam-ul-Haq 329, Imran Nazir 127; Craig McMillan 3-48) New Zealand (Ist innings) overnight 58 for six Richardson b Akhtar 8 Horne b Akhtar 4 Vincent c Latif b Kaneria 21 Fleming b Akhtar 2 Harris b Akhtar 2 McMillan c Afridi b Mushtaq 15 Hart lbw Waqar Younis 4 Vettori c W.Younis b Mushtaq 7 Walker lbw Akhtar 0 Tuffey not out 6 Martin b Akhtar 0 Extras:
(lb-1 nb-3) 4 Total: (all out, 30.2 overs) 73 Fall of wickets: 1-12 2-17 3-19 4-21 5-53 6-57 7-66 8-67 9-73 Bowling: Waqar Younis 10-6-21-1, Shoaib Akhtar 8.2-4-11-6 (nb1), Danish Kaneria 6-1-19-1, Saqlain Mushtaq 6-1-21-2 (nb2) New Zealand (IInd innings): Richardson c Latif b Mushtaq 3 Horne c Latif b W.Younis 0 Vincent c Latif b Kaneria 57 Fleming c sub
(Sami)
Harris lbw Razzaq 43 McMillan lbw Kaneria 2 Hart b Kaneria 0 Vettori c sub (Malik) b
Walker not out 15 Tuffey c Y.Khan b Kaneria 1 Martin c sub (Malik) b
Extras: (b-4 lb-6 nb-4) 14 Total: (all out, 76.3 overs) 246 FoW: 1-3 2-69 3-101 4-186 5-193 6-193 7-204 8-227 9-245. Bowling: Waqar Younis 9-1-38-1; Abdur Razzaq 14-2-47-2 (nb3); Danish Kaneria 32-3-110-5; Saqlain Mushtaq 17.3-3-38-2 (nb1); Shahid Afridi 4-1-3-0.
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WORLD CUP LEGENDS
Paris, May 3 Fontaine’s astonishing 13 goals in six matches in Sweden remains the record tally for a player at a single World Cup, and his total is only bettered by Gerd Muller’s 14 spread across two tournaments. Like so many famous players in World Cup folklore, Fontaine’s success was due in no small part to that most priceless commodity: luck. Born in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh in 1933, Fontaine played his early football with US Marocaine of Casablanca, before making the move to France in the early 1950s. He enjoyed three seasons with Nice from 1953, scoring a respectable 45 goals and helping the club triumph in the French Cup and League. A move to Stade Reims followed for the 1956-57 season. Fontaine was brought by the club to replace Raymond Kopa, who had been transferred to Real Madrid. In a fruitful partnership with France international Rene Bliard, Fontaine notched up more than 60 goals in two seasons, helping the club clinch the league and cup double in 1958. Yet for all his prowess on the domestic front, Fontaine was under no illusions about his place in the pecking order in the French national team, third in the queue behind Bliard, and the talented Kopa. “I’m centre-forward only until Kopa arrives,” Fontaine said as France settled in Sweden ahead of Kopa’s departure from Madrid, fate, however, in the shape of an injury to Bliard, was to intervene. Fontaine, a clinical finisher, was to provide the perfect foil for the more famous Kopa, blessed with immaculate close control and capable of splitting the meanest of defences with his pinpoint passing. The duo struck a telepathic understanding from France’s very first match, Kopa helping Fontaine to a hat-trick as Paraguay were overwhelmed 7-3. Fontaine took his total for the tournament to five in France’s next game, scoring both goals in a surprising 3-2 defeat against Yugoslavia. A sixth goal was to follow in the final group match, a 2-1 win over Scotland that saw the French safely into the quarter-finals against Northern Ireland. A weakened Irish side was no match for the free-scoring French however, and Fontaine helped himself to two more goals in a 4-0 victory. Inevitably, Fontaine found the net yet again in the 5-2 defeat against eventual winners Brazil in the semi-finals. But there was no question of France’s exit sating Fontaine’s hunger for goals: he banged in four more against West Germany in his side’s 6-3 victory in the third place play-off. The 1958 World Cup should have been the start of a long international career for Fontaine, yet within a few years he was to retire. He helped Reims win a league title in 1960, but in March broke his leg badly. After a nine-month injury lay-off, Fontaine returned. Five games into his comeback, he broke his leg again, forcing his retirement at the age of 28.
AFP
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Unprecedented wave of apathy sweeps Brazil
Rio De Janeiro, May 3 Soccer is facing a huge credibility crisis off the field, while on it the team that brought the world the Beautiful Game are now in the charge of a coach known as Big Phil who publicly encourages his players to foul their opponents and chastises them for not doing enough time-wasting. The sport used to be an escape valve for many Brazilians from their daily grind of injustice, poverty and violence. Four World Cup triumphs had made the national team a source of pride. Now, football directors, accused of plundering the game, are vying with politicians in the unpopularity states. If that were not bad enough, Brazil’s matches will be played at the crack of dawn, a real dampener in a country where fans like to gather at barbecues to watch televised games with a beer in one hand and a large steak in the other. “Nobody’s going to invite their friends around to support the team with sleepy, creased-up faces and drinking yoghurt,” Antonio Rosa Neto, president of the Dainet media consultancy group, said in a newspaper interview. “There’s no cup atmosphere and the kick-off times are terrible.” The street decorations in the team’s colours of yellow and green which usually appear months before the start of the World Cups are this year startlingly absent. A survey carried out by the Ibope institute found that 77.5 per cent of interviewees did not plan to buy World Cup-related products. Twelve percent said they would not watch Brazil’s matches and 42 per cent said they would not tune in to games not involving Brazil. And Brazilians, who usually expect their team to win the cup as a matter of course, after victories in 1958, 1962, 1970 and 1994, are this time happy to admit that arch-rivals Argentina are the favourites. Having seen their own team use more than 60 players in 18 World Cup qualifiers, many Brazilians now look in envy at the more settled Argentine side. Brazil coach Big Phil, full name Luiz Felipe Scolari, admitted recently that Brazilians may have lost faith in a team which used four coaches in the qualifiers and pulled through only with a lucky win over Venezuela in their final game. “It’s up to us to restore some faith in the team so that the public get more enthusiastic,” he said. The team alone, however, are not the only problem. Last year, two Congressional inquiries into the sport ended by making wide-ranging allegations against a number of leading directors, including Ricardo Teixeira, president of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF). Teixiera, who has run the CBF since 1989, was accused by the final report of one inquiry of mixing CBF and personal business, donating CBF money to politicians and living a life of luxury at the CBF’s expense. The report added that if the CBF were a private company, it would be bankrupt. The directors of a number of leading clubs were also accused in the report of crimes such as tax evasion and illegally pocketing their clubs’ money. Yet, in a country where impunity is a widespread concern, the directors named in the report, including Teixeira, have managed to cling on to their posts. Since then, feuding among directors has further alienated public opinion. The World Cup in South Korea and Japan comes as a legal battle rages over this year’s Brazilian championship, which is due to start in August. On the one hand, a group of leading clubs want to set up their own league. On the other, the CBF, backed by the clubs from Rio de Janeiro, wants to keep control of the tournament. Commentators believe these problems have rubbed off on the national team and Brazil will go into the World Cup after a dismal 18-month period in which they have suffered unprecedented defeats against teams such as Ecuador, Bolivia, Honduras and Australia. Scolari’s ultra-cautious tactics, and his refusal to pick charismatic veteran striker Romario, have not helped to muster enthusiasm and his team’s style has been dubbed “Bullyboy football” by the media. In a country where many people were brought up watching the sublime skills of Garrincha, Pele and Rivelino, few have been able to get excited about a team which fields up to five defenders and two tackling specialists in midfield. Scolari encouraged his team to foul their opponents before last year’s World Cup qualifier in Argentina and, after the game ended in a 2-1 defeat, complained that his players should have done more time-wasting, even if it meant being booked. Former national team coach Tele Santana points out that the sheer number of matches played by Brazil is water in the beer for the country’s fans. In the last year, Brazil have played in a devalued Copa America and the much-criticised Confederations Cup as well as a plethora of friendly internationals, often on dates when neither they nor their opponents were able to bring top players. Reuters
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Jeev one stroke behind leaders
New Delhi, May 3 According to information received here from the par-70 Nagoya Golf Club in Aichi (Japan), Jeev, aggregated five-under 135 at the halfway stage to be one stroke behind the leaders Katsunori Kuwabara, Yoshikazu Haku (both Japan), Dean Wilson (USA) and Justin Rose (England). The Chandigarh based pro was tied for the fifth place along with three others, including Prayad Marksaeng of Thailand, after shooting a level-par 70 on the opening day. It was a brilliant effort from the Indian as the weather was extremely windy.”I am delighted by the way I played today. The wind was swirling and scoring was difficult. Also, the pins were tucked today,” said Jeev on the telephone from Japan. His was the second-best card of the day, the best being a six-under 64 by
Wilson, winner of last week’s Tsuruya Open. Jeev began with a par and made a birdie on the par-5 second hole where he reached the green in two and two-putted. A birdie on the par-4 sixth was followed by a hat-trick of birdies from the ninth hole to the 11th, where he hit some remarkable wedge shots and sank putts in the range of six to ten feet.
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Kang leads
in PGA Cup Chandigarh, May 3 One stroke behind was Gurbaaz Mann who brought in a level par score. Sandy was not too behind with a score of 2 over par. The remaining amateurs who made the cut were also in the reckoning and with encouraging scores. In the ladies competition Guneet Raikhy was the front runner with a score of 81, followed by Dimple Minocha with the same score. The juniors showed a lot of enthusiasm and brought in competitive scores, Manreet Kochhar leading the field followed by Kanika Minocha. The ceremonial tee off was done by Mr Y.S. Ratra, Chief Secretary, Punjab. The tournament has been sponsored by Oswal Group of Industries. Tomorrow the day starts with the first four teeing off at 8.30 a.m. The prize distribution function will be held at 8 p.m. Lt-Gen (Retd) JFR Jacob, Governor of Punjab, will give away the prizes.
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Kirtane, Dooyev in final
New Delhi, May 3 Fourth seeded Eliran Dooyev, however, ensured an Israeli representation in the final as he ousted home hero and top seed Mustafa Ghouse 5-7 6-4 6-4 in the other semifinal. Ghouse had something to cheer about as he, in the company of Vijay Kannan, defeated the Russian pair of Serguie Demekhine and Ivan Syrov 6-3 7-6 (7/3) to win the doubles crown in the evening. The idea of scheduling games to suit television primetime took a severe beating as Suissa and Kirtane were forced to play their match after the first semifinal in searing heat. As it were, Suissa who was up one set and leading 2-0 in the second, succumbed to the extreme conditions and promptly lost the match. Dooyev’s though was an hard fought victory. He recovered well after conceding the first set and, as the game progressed, tightened his hold over the Indian. Ghouse’s serve, his strongest weapon, deserted him at crucial junctures as he twice lost serve at various stages of the game due to double faults. Dooyev, to his credit, never allowed Ghouse approach the net in the latter stages of the match, passing him repeatedly with consistent forehand winners. PTI
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55 picked for Speed Fund
Academy Chandigarh, May 3 |
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Yogesh, Tony win title Nabha, May 3 In the final, the duo of Ankur Kakkar and Karan Goyal scored 40 runs in the allotted 6 overs. In reply, Yogesh and Tony scored 42 runs to win the title and with it a cash prize of Rs 31,000. Ankur Kakkar and Karan Goyal were awarded Rs 21,000 for being runners-up.
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