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Saturday,
August 10, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Ganguly shines on rain-hit day Sehwag to be better than Sachin ?
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Chetan Sharma writes Harbhajan to play county cricket BCCI to finalise domestic calendar Australia cancel tour of Pakistan India bag one silver, 3 bronze Randhawa against cancelling allotments
Capriati struggles to enter last eight Jeev stays in title contention Swimming pool renovated Rousing welcome to Palwinder
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Ganguly
shines on rain-hit day
Nottingham, England, Aug 9 Ganguly, after a highly entertaining 68, left the Trent Bridge pitch with a thunderous expression on his face after being given out caught behind off a Matthew Hoggard delivery. The disgruntled Indian batsman clearly felt the ball had come off his arm guard on the way to the wicketkeeper. Minutes before tea India, who had spent the whole morning in the pavilion waiting to resume on 210 for four after overnight rain, had looked healthily placed on 285 for five. But Ajit Agarkar then fell for a 39-ball 34 after a 67-run partnership with his captain and 17-year-old wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel began his test career with a duck as pace bowler Steve Harmison, another debutant, took two wickets for one run. Ganguly's dismissal came immediately after the break, as he looked to clip a rising Hoggard delivery to fine leg only to spoon the ball to Alec Stewart. Shortly after his exit -- having batted for just under four hours and hitting 11 boundaries -- the rain began to spatter down again and play was soon abandoned for the day. On a day when the ball swung far less than it did on the opening day yesterday, Ganguly executed some trademark shots on the off-side but two of India’s batsmen — V.V.S. Laxman and Parthiv Patel — failed to score today. Laxman was dismissed for his overnight score of 22 while Patel, the youngest wicketkeeper to play Test cricket, made an inglorious start to his career when he was out for nought. But Ganguly had a rollicking sixth wicket partnership with Ajit Agarkar who contributed a quick, albeit shaky, 34 off 39 balls with six fours. Agarkar, who scored his maiden Test hundred in the first match at Lord’s, lived dangerously as he repeatedly hit in the air over slip and gully region but punctuated his knock with some brilliant hits. Ganguly, on the other hand, was grace personified as he hit a flurry of boundaries in his run-up to the half-century immediately after the fall of Laxman. Ganguly, unbeaten on 29 overnight, hit a perfect straight drive off Matthew Hoggard for a boundary and followed it up with a sweetly-timed four through extra-cover in the same over. One over later, he hit a glorious cover drive off Craig White and repeated the shot after two balls to bring up his half-century with his eighth boundary. In between, Agarkar struck two boundaries in Andrew Flintoff’s over as runs started flowing for India. Flintoff replied with an extremely tidy over in which he tested Ganguly outside the off-stump. The Indian captain also survived a strong leg-before wicket appeal in that over. Ganguly, fighting to get back to form, showed a fine judgement in leaving the deliveries outside the off-stump and was unnerved even after being hit on his helmet by a rising delivery from Hoggard. In another over from Flintoff, he struck two fine fours, one straight and the other through mid-wicket, to get into his sixties. Agarkar’s luck ran out at the other end, his chipped shot over the slips being caught brilliantly by a diving Mark Butcher who was specially placed at short thirdman for that shot. Agarkar’s dismissal brought up the first Test wicket for debutant fast bowler Steve Harmison. Harmison struck again in his next over when he sent back a tentative Patel with a delivery that rose sharply. The little Indian wicketkeeper could do nothing as the ball took the outside edge of his bat and flew to Flintoff in the second slip. India (1st innings): Jaffer b Hoggard 0 Sehwag b White 106 Dravid c Key b Hoggard 13 Tendulkar b Cork 34 Ganguly c Stewart b Hoggard 68 Laxman c Key b Flintoff 22 Agarkar c Butcher b Harmison 34 Patel c Flintoff b Harmison 0 Harbhajan not out 13 Zaheer not out 1 Extras: (b-1, lb-7, w-2, nb-1) 11 Total: (for 8 wkts) 302 Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-34, 3-108, 4-179, 5-218, 6-285, 7-287, 8-295. Bowling: Hoggard 31-10-82-3, Cork 11-3-45-1, Harmison 19-7-53-2, Flintoff 23-5-68-1, White 7-0-46-1.
Reuters
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Sehwag to be better than Sachin ?
London, August 9 Sehwag’s reputation as a Tendulkar clone without the kudos and fast cars is beginning to do him “injustice” after he scored the century yesterday, a report in the media suggested. “The young man who used to spend hours in front of the television copying his hero is in danger of turning out better than the original,” it said. “The knock was certainly as sublime as anything offered in the past by Tendulkar, who has always encouraged Sehwag, 23, to play his natural game. As this normally involves a shot a ball, his decision here to play deliveries on their merit shows certain advances he has made. “That choosiness allowed his team to prosper and if India, held up after losing 24 overs to bad light, can add substantially to their 210 for four, it may turn out to be the decisive innings of the match,” The Telegraph said. The report pointed out that while none of the bowlers will admit they were at their best, Sehwag was, and he reached his hundred when India were 159 for three. “After watching his team being scuppered by poor shot selection at Lord’s, Sehwag led the way here, combining watchfulness with withering power whenever the ball was loose, which, frankly, was more often than it should have been. “Many of Sehwag’s strokes defied description, their inspiration coming from the dusty street corners of his youth rather than the coaching manual,” the report said. “His on-side whips were more like top-spin tennis shots and should not be tried at home, at least not unless you have double-jointed wrists and access to a good physiotherapist.” The paper also compared Tendulkar’s dismissal to that of Bradman in the infamous Bodyline series. “Although he did not deserve the wicket, Cork later snared Tendulkar after the batsman dragged a wide long hop down on to his stumps. For those who have seen the old Pathe newsreels of the Bodyline series 70 years ago, the dismissal was virtually identical to the one suffered by Don Bradman, when Yorkshireman Bill Bowes sent down a similarly juicy long hop at the MCG, it said. “The pre-eminent batsman of his era, Bradman made nought, but other similarities endure. Like Cork, the bespectacled Tyke was said to be a voluble extrovert, and noisy enough for one wag to suggest that team-mates must have been born within the sound of Bill Bowes.” PTI
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Chetan Sharma writes It is the fickle English weather once again. Just when it looked that the match was interestingly poised rain came and forced players to pack up their bags on the second day. A lot of play has been lost and it will not be easy to get a result in the remaining three days, especially with more rain forecast for the weekend. It will be a pity because this Test match was very vital for the series. Saurav Ganguly was a revelation today. He played and missed but most importantly kept his cool and did not throw away his wicket cheaply. He must have been very disappointed to get out minutes before the rain came down. He would have been happier had he stayed on only to resume battle tomorrow morning but he fell to a very difficult caught behind decision. It was not easy to say whether the ball touched his forearm or his gloves on the way to the wicket-keeper but Ganguly was ruled out with a comeback century well within his sight. V.V.S. Laxman made a mistake of trying to drive on the up without moving his feet and when you consider that he had not added a run to his overnight score, I feel he should have been more cautious and careful. Specialist batsmen should never throw away their wickets, more so if they are the ones in good form. Had Ajit Agarkar not stayed on with Ganguly the story would have been totally different and who knows, Indians may have even got all out today itself. Agarkar’s confidence was understandable as he had hit a century only in his previous innings and any batsman will tell you your feet start moving from the first ball when you have a big score behind you. Agarkar played some lovely strokes and just when he looked good to add a half-century here, he too got out. The main interest today was Parthiv Patel’s first entry in a Test match. He is baby faced but I have heard from some players and coaches at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore that his ability defies his age. But today was simply not his day and he probably had the worst time of his life in the middle. I have been a big supporter of Parthiv Patel but I must confess, he was struggling to come to terms with the occasion. I wish him luck and hope his wicket-keeping turns out a lot better than his batting today. I also pray that our selectors should stick with him and give him some more time once they have decided to groom him. Who knows he could be a miracle in the making?
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Harbhajan
to play county cricket
Trent Bridge , August 9 “I wouldn’t give out the name of the county yet as it would be inappropriate to do it before I sign the deal but I am ready for some county action next year,” Harbhajan Singh said. Harbhajan is being pursued quite vigorously by both Lancashire and Sussex and says he would take the decision based on the pitches and local support he would receive at a county venue. “The two factors high up in my list are the kind of pitches I get to play on as well as the local support. Money is important but wouldn’t be an overriding factor in my opting for a particular county,” he said. Harbhajan betrays his leaning towards Lancashire though by stating the pitches were helpful to Sri Lankan Muthiah Muralitharan in the two seasons he played for the county and there is also a sizeable Asian presence in the northern county. “Murali was quite successful for Lancashire and there is a great Asian support as well,” said Harbhajan, the only Indian bowler to bag a hat-trick in Test cricket. Muralitharan took 66 wickets from 7 matches in 1999 and then returned in 2001 to claim 50 more victims from six games. Chief Executive Officer of Lancashire County Club Jim Cumbes said it was funny how spinners seemed to like the pitch at Old Trafford. “It is quite interesting really how spinners have taken a fancy for Old Trafford pitch. Murali was successful here and Shane Warne has always appreciated the bounce here.” “I guess like Warne, Harbhajan too would be happy to play on a pitch which offers good bounce,” said Cumbes. If Harbhajan opts for Lancashire, it would be a bit of an incongruity because Indian captain Saurav Ganguly’s one-year stint in 2000 only earned negative reactions. “I think the entire thing was grossly exaggerated. Ganguly would be the first one to admit his form with Lancashire wasn’t all that good,” said Cumbes. “But it is unfair to see he wasn’t liked in the dressing room. He is bit of a loner but nobody holds it against him.” “Actually, Ganguly was quite popular — it was just a section of the media who blew it out of proportions,” Cumbes explained. Lancashire has plumbed for Asian talent quite a few times in the past and Cumbes said it has been an easy choice because they were attractive cricketers. “Starting with Farookh Engineer, we have drawn Asian talents like Wasim Akram, Muralitharan and Ganguly. We are just hopeful Harbhajan is an addition to this list,” Cumbes said. Harbhajan didn’t reveal the money which has been offered to him by the two counties but sources say it is at least £ 80,000 (appx Rs 57.6 lakh). Mr Peter Moores, Cricket Operations Manager with Sussex, said Harbhajan would get around as much as the big stars from Asia have received in recent years provided he signs with his county. “Harbhajan is a major star and we would be very excited to have him on the roll. He is as exciting and a big draw as Murali or Wasim or Ganguly and would get around the figure these cricketers have managed.” “We are looking for him to not only claim a bagful of wickets but also to stir up Asian support,” Mr Moores said. “India has no engagements next year but for a series against Pakistan in April. So Harbhajan could be available for the entire county season,” Mr Moores said. Harbhajan feels it would be part of his learning experience if he opts for a county stint. Some county experience will also help Harbhajan to develop his reportoire and learn how to bowl on foreign pitches with local balls.
PTI
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BCCI to finalise domestic calendar
Mumbai, August 9 A BCCI official, who attended the tour programme and fixture committee meeting here today, said the groupings in the upper tier and lower tier were chalked out at the meeting but the dates and venues of the matches would be finalised only on August 21. The venues for the West Indies tour of India from October 1 to November 28 also were finalised but the match dates would be known only after the working committee meeting. The venues for the three Test matches are Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai and for the seven one-day internationals are Baroda, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Jaipur or Jodhpur, Jamshedpur, Visakhapatnam and Nagpur (all on rotation basis), the official added. Meanwhile, Mumbai and Delhi Ranji teams and in group-A of the upper tier along with Railways, Hyderabad, Andhra, Himachal Pradesh, Bengal and Rajasthan while the seven teams in group-B are Baroda, Punjab, Gujarat, Assam, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, the official said. In the lower tier, the teams are divided into two groups of six teams each. Group-A consists of Goa, Services, Saurashtra, Kerala, Vidarbha and Tripura while group-B has Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Bihar. PTI
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Australia cancel tour of Pakistan
Sydney, August 9 The ACB also confirmed that the world champions would participate in the one-day international tri-series in Nairobi also involving Pakistan and Kenya. ACB Chairman Bob Merriman said recent advice from a range of Australian government sources had clearly identified an increasing security risk for the Australian team in Pakistan. “Following our most recent information from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Australian High Commissioner in Pakistan, the board has decided that, regrettably, travelling to Pakistan would compromise the safety of our players and officials,” Mr Merriman said. “Given this situation, the ACB has now advised the Pakistan Cricket Board President, Lt-Gen Tauqir Zia, of our decision and re-affirmed our desire to play the Test series as scheduled in October but at an alternative venue.” Mr Merriman said it was a decision the ACB had not taken lightly. “The ACB has a well-tested procedure to assess the safety and security issues surrounding impending tours. This exhaustive process has enabled the board to make an informed decision about the Pakistan tour,” he said. Mr Merriman said the system for assessing the risk to players and officials involved a number of key steps: A pre-tour inspection carried out by representatives from the ACB and the Australian Cricketers’ Association; on-going discussions with the administrative organisation in the host nation; briefings from the Australian High Commissioner in the relevant country; and briefings from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The chairman said the ACB deferred the decision until today in the event that the security concerns may diminish. PTI
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ACB offers tri-series with India
Islamabad, August 9 Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Lt Gen Tauqir Zia today said the ACB had proposed a tri-nation tournament after next year’s World Cup to compensate Pakistan for its revenue losses due to the cancellation. Though he was not sure, Zia said ACB must have held discussions with Indian cricket board before coming up with the proposal. “They must have spoken to Indian Board President Jagmohan Dalmiya. Otherwise they would not have made the proposal,” Zia told PTI at the ceremony for handing over the charge of Asian Cricket Council to Bangladesh. “He (ACB chief Bob Merriman) did mention that he spoke to Dalmiya. It is entirely up to India now,” he said. PTI
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India bag one silver, 3 bronze
Colombo, August 9 China’s Li Yanfeng bagged the second gold for China in the discus throw. India’s Harwant Kaur and Swaranjit Kaur finished second and third in the event with distances of 57.60m and 55.05m respectively, behind Li’s 60.06m. Earlier, Hardeep Kaur’s 57.82 metre throw of the hammer saw India winning its first medal, a bronze at the Sugathadasa stadium. Lakade Jagannath earned the country’s last medal of the day, cantering in the men’s 10,000 metre a good 20 seconds behind Hashim Ahmed Ibrahim of Qatar, who won the gold ahead of his countryman Awad Aman Majid. India’s J J Shobha ran an impressive 200 metres in the women’s heptathlon event late in the day, to surge ahead from a lowly fifth position at the end of three events to the second position after four. She had earlier earned a second place in the 100 metres hurdles.
PTI
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Randhawa
against cancelling allotments New Delhi, August 9 Randhawa whole-heartedly supported the stand taken by Union Fertiliser and Chemicals Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) Secretary-General Randhir Singh and former Indian hockey team captain Pargat Singh in this regard. Randhawa said it was a matter of “gratification that old stalwarts, who have brought laurels to the country, have got their well-wishers, at a time when the government has threatened to cancel the allotment of petrol pump and gas agency dealerships, following the expose of arbitrary allotment of dealerships by the Union Petroleum Ministry”. Randhawa sought “immediate intervention of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to reconsider the matter in the case of sportspersons and pass suitable and favourable orders in favour of sportspersons, failing which it would have an adverse effect on the morale and performances of top class athletes”. However, Randhawa felt that the rules for the allotment of retail outlet distribution of petrol pumps and gas agencies under the “outstanding sportspersons category are very ambiguous and full of anomalies, which are required to be urgently rectified.” Randhawa said gross injustice was done to him when another sportsman, who had never even represented the state, was favoured in the allotment of a petrol pump dealership. |
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Capriati
struggles to enter last eight Manhattan Beach, August 9 Capriati was kept on court for two hours eight minutes yesterday before securing a 6-3 6-7 6-2 win over Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn. By contrast, top seed Williams strolled to an easy 6-2 6-1 win over Nathalie Dechy of France, while Davenport had a minor scare in the second set against Russia’s Tatiana Panova before securing a 6-2 6-4 win. Capriati appeared to be firmly in control when she took the first set and led 3-0 in the second, but Tanasugarn refused to give up the battle. Mixing up her shots and keeping second seeded Capriati on the move, the 16th seed also benefited from 11 double-faults from her opponent in the second set.
Reuters |
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Jeev stays in title contention
New Delhi, August 9 According to information received here, the Chandigarh based pro Jeev was just four strokes behind the leader Hideki Kase of Japan. Kase shot a brilliantnine-under 63 to aggregate 11-under 133. There was a three-way tie for the second place at 10-under 134 between American Christian Pena, Aussie Brendon Jones and Naomichi Ozaki of Japan. Jeev was seven-under 137 after two rounds and tied for the 12th place along with three others. The cut was applied at two-under 142 and 66 players made it to the weekend rounds. Jeev started from the 10th tee and was two-over with bogeys on the 12th and 14th holes. He recovered thereafter and made birdies on the 15th, 18th, first and the ninth holes, and had one more bogey on the par-3 sixth where he made an uncharacteristic three-putt.
UNI
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Swimming
pool renovated
Sangrur, August 9 The renovation of the pool started barely six months ago due to efforts of the Deputy Commissioner. The pool has all modern facilities and is a delight for swimmers. The Punjab Sports Department is running a coaching centre at this pool. Coach Karam Singh has produced many well known swimmers who have brought honours to the state. The total cost of renovation has been estimated at Rs 35 lakh.
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Rousing
welcome to Palwinder Patiala, August 9 Cheema, who arrived by train from New Delhi, was taken all the way to his residence in a cavalcade. Prominent among those who felicitated him were ADGP R.S. Gill, who is also the president of the Punjab Basketball Association, Mr K.S. Kang, Administrative Member, PSEB, and president of the Punjab Archery Association, DSP and Arjuna Awardee pugilist Jaipal Singh, District Sports Officer R.K.Rishi, coaches of the Punjab Sports Department and host of other national and international-level wrestlers. Palwinder owed his success to the foreign coach attached to the Indian contingent Stanslow Harlow. Cheema said ever since the Belarus-based coach assumed charge of training freestyle matmen, there was a marked improvement in the performances of Indian grapplers in international meets. Everything went according to the script at Manchester where Cheema prevailed over his Canadian rival in the final by a wide margin of 10-0. In the semi-finals, he had it easy while warding off the challenge of his Australian opponent.
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Warm welcome
for Bhupinder
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Haryana badminton Kaithal, August 9 The results: U-13: (boys singles): IInd rd: Gaurav Verma (Jind) b Rahul (Hsr)15-1, 15-0; Kritesh (Bhw) b Rahul (Knl) 15-0, 15-6; Prateek (Roh) b Saurabh Bhatia (Fbd) 15-9, 15-7; Rasik (Pkl) b Anurag (Sir) 15-5, 15-3; Sahil Pawar b Puneet (Roh) 15-5, 15-3; Ashish (Bhw) b Arjun (Pkl) 15-8, 15-2; Nikhil (Ktl) b Rahul (Bhw) 15-10, 17-15; Prateek (Hsr) b Dhruv (Pkl) 6-15, 15-4, 15-7; Preeak (Pkl) b Sumit (Snt) 15-7, 15-4; Gaurav (Roh) b Mayank (Snt) 15-13, 15-10; Saurabh (Bhw) b Mohit ( Pkl) 15-8, 15-2; Deepak (Snt) b Vivek (Fbd) 15-5, 15-2. Doubles 1st rd: Prateek/Puneet (Roh) b Rahul/Piyush (Knl) 15-1, 15-2; Mayank/Deepak (Snt) b Ashish/Deepanshu 15-4, 15-8; Narender/Nikhil (Ktl) b Abhishek/ Nishu (Knl) 15-7, 15-10; Mohit/ Arjun (Pkl) b Pulkit/Vikranjit 15-4, 15-10; Gaurav/Prateek (Jind) b Karan/Gaurav (Knl) 15-0, 15-0; Gaurav/Abhishek (Roh) b Vivek/ German (Knl) 15-1, 15-5.
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CAMPBELL
DISQUALIFIED ENGLISH
JRS ON TOP GOUGH
RULED OUT TENNIS
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Nottingham, August 9
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Bathinda, August 9
