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Saturday,
November 9, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Injury worries haunt India, Windies
Expert comments — Vivian Richards Chetan Sharma writes England breathe new
life into Ashes |
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SA restrict Lanka
Tour of New Zealand meaningless! Punjab cops win; PSB held
Harinder wins golf
title
Sridhar, Ramaswamy in title clash Chandigarh win Haryana take on MP today Chandigarh boys beaten PPS in lead
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Injury worries haunt India, Windies Nagpur, November 8 Dravid had developed cramps in his legs during the first match in Jamshedpur and wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel, who is not a part of the 14-member one-day squad, has been asked to join the team for the next two matches as a contingency measure. Sehwag is suffering from a mild fever and sore throat and did not participate in the nets today but was quite confident of playing in tomorrow’s match. With Sachin Tendulkar already out of the one-day series due to a hamstring strain, the fresh injury worries threaten to jeopardise India’s chances of levelling the series tomorrow. West Indies were also not free from such problems, with three players, including skipper Carl Hooper, having fitness worries. Hooper has a knee problem on his right leg while Cameron Cuffy was suffering with a hamstring injury. Pedro Collins was yet to recover fully from his back injury. In a bid to provide maximum time to their players to declare themselves fit, both the teams held back the announcement of their final eleven until tomorrow morning. But there was a strong possibility of Javagal Srinath and Sanjay Bangar being included in the Indian team in place of J P Yadav and Ashish Nehra. “We will not announce the playing eleven now as we would like to see how Dravid shapes up during the nets and then we will have a team meeting before declaring the team tomorrow,” Ganguly said, hoping that both Dravid, who also has a stiff back, and Sehwag would be fit to play tomorrow. With the newly-laid track at the Vidarbha Cricket Association ground sporting a lot of grass, the hosts were likely to go in with three pacemen - Srinath, Bangar and Ajit Agarkar. This combination will also give a greater strength to the batting line-up as all the three have been among the runs recently. The inclusion of three pacemen means that either of the two spinners - Anil Kumble or Harbhajan Singh - will have to sit out tomorrow’s game and an indication to that effect was available from Indian coach John Wright who felt that these two seasoned bowlers must be held largely responsible for India’s defeat at Jamshedpur. “The two spinners gave away 116 runs from 16 overs and that was a bit too much. We need to improve in that area if we have to win tomorrow’s match which I am sure will be tough,” wright said. Insisting that Srinath was not dropped for the first game but “only rested”, Ganguly said, “I had made it very clear after thev first tie at Jamshedpur that we all know what Srinath is capable of and we wanted to try out J.P. Yadav as an allrounder as we knew very little about him”. Ganguly, who was scheduled to arrive here last evening but reached only this morning along with Patel, was also aware that he himself was due for a good score here. “I need to score runs and I hope I will get a big score over here,” said the skipper whose 130 and four for 21 against Sri Lanka in 1998-99 are the best batting and bowling performances by an Indian at this ground. His West Indian counterpart was also confident of leaving behind his lean trot on this tour but said his bad form did not really matter as long as the team was winning. Teams (from): India:
Saurav Ganguly (capt), Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, V.V.S Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammed Kaif, Dinesh Mongia, Harbhajan Singh, Sanjay Bangar, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, Ajit Agarkar, J.P. Yadav, Ashish Nehra and Parthiv Patel (wk). West Indies: Carl Hooper (capt), Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Pedro Collins, Corey Collymore, Cameron Cuffy, Mervyn Dillon, Vasbert Drakes, Darren Ganga, Chris Gayle, Ryan Hinds, Wavell Hinds, Ridley Jacobs, Mahendra Nagamootoo, Ricardo Powell, Marlon Samuels and Ramnaresh Sarwan.
PTI |
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Expert comments — Vivian Richards The West Indian batsmen used the momentum they had gained in Kolkata to win the first one-dayer of the TVs Cup. Both Wavelll Hindus and Marlon Samuels showed that they had gotten into the groove, and hopefully the team will see more useful contributions from them in the rest of the series. Of course, Ramnaresh Sarwan played the most crucial innings, and it was nice to see him prove both his talent as well as his ability to keep his head in a tough situation. I thought we did make heavy weather of reaching the target after the forced break, but I can’t be too harsh on the guys since such unforeseen stoppages can break the rhythm, and in this case, the light had also deteriorated by the time the players returned to the field. As far as the crowed misbehaviour was concerned, enough has been said about new disappointing it was. I take this opportunity to say that during my playing days, Indian crowds had the reputation of loving their cricket, and applauding even visiting players. I have scored a few runs in these parts, and I remember crowds applauding me whenever I reached a personal milestone. Sadly, the current spectators don’t seem to love cricket, they only seem to love Indian cricketers. I am saddened to note that no one claps when a west Indian reaches a 50 or takes a wicket. One would not have guessed that Sarwan had reached a half-century at Jamshedpur because the crowd simply ignored it. Indians have a reputation of being cricket-crazy and well-mannered at the same time. However, if they continue to behave like they did in Jamshedpur, they are in danger of losing that reputation. Coming back to the Nagpur game tomorrow, there are some areas in which the West Indians must tighten up. The bowling can be tighter, and the fielding must be a lot sharper. It was great to see Vasbert Drakes get into his rhythm immediately. His dismissal, of Virender Sehwag was a highlight for me. It was a well-thought-out dismissal, and proved that there are chinks in the youngster’s defences that can be sorted out by thinking bowlers. One of the golden rules of team selection is that you don’t change a winning combination. So if the players are fit, the same eleven should play for the West Indies. On the Indian side I think their main problem in Jamshedpur was that both their spinners, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, did not get their line right. This can happen to bowlers when they come out of Tests into one-dayers. However, it is to the credit of the West Indian batsmen that they got on top of the spinners and did not give them any margin of error. The West Indies have drawn first blood, but will have to keep up this form for the rest of the series. The number of one-dayers and the travelling makes that a tough ask, and the visitors are aware that the Indians will come hard at them tomorrow. We move from eastern India to the west, and hopefully the West Indians will carry their good form.
Gameplan |
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Chetan Sharma writes Tomorrow’s second one-day international will be a needle match as both the team’s will be desperate for a win. The Indians will be keen on a revenge and the West Indians will be wanting to take a 2-0 lead in the seven match series. After the first defeat at Jamshedpur, India will be wary of West Indies and I am sure would not repeat the mistake of taking them lightly now. The Indians won the Test series convincingly but who could imagine the loss in the one-dayer? It was a pretty disappointing performance by the Indian players, more so their spinners, and nothing less than a victory at Nagpur tomorrow will do. I think the Indians will go in with the same eleven here. JP Yadav deserves another chance to show his ability and no captain will ever drop Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble. But what we need from them is an improved performance as India’s fortune depend heavily on them. Without Sachin Tendulkar this Indian team loses the thrust in the middle order. Another mistake the Indians made was by not giving the No. 4 slot to Rahul Dravid. He is in form and should get maximum overs of batting and could be followed in the order by VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif and JP Yadav. With Ajit Agarkar batting so effectively at one drop position, India can carry on with the experiment for at least a few more matches. West Indians must have been happy with the first match’s performance. Their batting was excellent with Wavell Hinds, Marlon Samuels and Ramnaresh Sarwan treating the Indian bowlers with disdain. The more I see of Samuels the more impressed I am with him. How could the West Indians drop such a fine batsman for the first two Tests? He is a very talented batsman and has to be persisted with at any cost. One thing I would like to add here is that the crowd at Nagpur would be watched with interest with all the
unruly scenes of Jamshedpur. I am afraid if India lose same thing might happen at Nagpur and if it indeed does, it will set a bad precedent. |
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England breathe new life into Ashes Brisbane, November 8 In an amazing turnaround, England fought their way back into the match as mistakes began creeping into the Australians’ game, the touring side ending on 158 for one in reply to the home team’s first-innings 492. England’s bowlers led the unexpected recovery when they ripped through the Australian batting order, mopping up the last eight wickets for 114 runs just after lunch. Left-arm spinner Ashley Giles captured four wickets and fast bowler Andy Caddick three after Australia resumed on 364 for two. England’s batsmen followed up the excellent work of their bowlers by making a flying start to their reply, still 334 runs behind at the close. Australia (first innings) (overnight 364-2) Langer c Stewart b Jones 32 Hayden c Stewart b Caddick 197 Ponting b Giles 123 Martyn c Trescothick b White 26 Waugh c Crawley b Caddick 7 Lehmann c Butcher b Giles 30 Gilchrist c Giles b White 0 Warne c Butcher b Caddick 57 Bichel lbw b Giles 0 Gillespie not out 0 McGrath lbw b Giles 0 Extras: 20 Total (all out, 130.2 overs) 492 Fall of wickets: 1-67 2-339 3-378 4-399 5-408 6-415 7-478 8-478 9-492 10-492 Bowling: Caddick 35-9-108-3 (nb-1), Hoggard 30-4-122-0 (w-1, nb-1), Jones 7-0-32-1, White 27-4-105-2 (nb-5), Giles 29.2-3-101-4, Butcher 2-0-12-0 England (first innings): Trescothick not out 63 Vaughan c Gilchrist b McGrath 33 Butcher not out 51 Extras: 11 Total (1 wicket, 47 overs) 158 Bowling:
McGrath 16-4-57-1 (1-nb), Gillespie 3-1-5-0, Bichel 11-1-40-0 (4-nb), Warne 13-3-46-0, Waugh 4-2-5-0.
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SA restrict Lanka Johannesburg, November 8 Sri Lanka were all out 192 for seven in their first innings, in 75.3 overs. In reply, South Africa were 51 without loss at close. Kallis first produced a superb outswinger to Mahele Jayawardene which took the edge through to wicketkeeper Mark Boucher. Jayawardene made 39 in an entertaining partnership of 51 for the fourth wicket with captain Sanath Jayasuriya. Jayasuriya (32) followed in the next over, only able to fend a Kallis bouncer to Graeme Smith at third slip, and debutant Hasantha Fernando lasted just three balls before he top-edged a pull and was caught by Gary Kirsten running back from short leg. Tea was taken at the fall of the wicket of Chaminda Vaas, the left-hander offering Kallis a routine slip chance off the bowling of Andrew Hall. Earlier, Shaun Pollock claimed the first wicket to fall after lunch, Marvan Atapattu wasting a patient start when he drove expansively and edged on to his stumps for 34. Sri Lanka reached lunch on 68 for two after a probing morning session from the South African bowlers looking to make the most of a pitch offering substantial bounce and seam movement. Scoreboard Sri Lanka (first innings): Atapattu b Pollock 34 Arnold c Smith b Ntini 0 Sangakkara c Smith
b Elworthy 26 Jayawardene c Boucher b Kallis 39 Jayasuriya c Smith b Kallis 32 Tillakaratne run out 24 Fernando c Kirsten b Kallis 0 Vaas c Kallis b Hall 1 Fernando b Pollock 7 Muralitharan c Ntini b Hall 10 Perera not out 11 Extras:
(b-4 lb-2 w-1 nb-1) 8 Total: (all out, 75.3 overs) 192 Fall of wickets:
1-2, 2-46, 3-86, 4-137, 5-138, 6-140, 7-141, 8-152, 9-165, 10-192. Bowling: Pollock 18-8-45-2, Ntini 14-5-45-1 (w-1, nb-1) Elworthy 15.3-3-42-1, Kallis 17-8-35-3, Hall 11-6-19-2. South Africa: (1st innings): 51 without loss.
Reuters |
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Tour of New Zealand meaningless! Chandigarh, November 8 The President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Mr Jagmohan Dalmiya, has already gone on record to say that ‘‘the team would be happy to play against any team fielded by the hosts’’. But could somebody explain what type of team the New Zealand board will field since the top 120-odd cricketers of the country are contracted to various state associations and are the players who are projecting the strike call. In fact, it would be a sensible step if the International Cricket Council steps in and solves the current impasse so that New Zealand can field their strongest possible team. There are reports that the New Zealand board will have to scrap the bottom of the barrel to put up a team against the Indians. Although Mr Dalmiya is of the view that any international victory will boost India’s confidence prior to the World Cup but is his approach correct? The Indian captain Saurav Ganguly should approach Mr Dalmiya, with whom he has an excellent personal equation, and tell him that touring New Zealand at this juncture and playing against a substandard team would not do Indian cricket any good and instead India should look around for some more meaningful competition in their run-up to the World Cup. Even playing against Bangladesh would be a better move. Such a move will be more beneficial for the Indian cricketers as they fine-tune their game-plan for the biggest cricketing extravaganza rather than playing international cricket against some club-level cricketers who will probably be asked to do duty for New Zealand if the Indian tour really takes place while the issue of payments for the New Zealand cricketers is not solved to the satisfaction of all. |
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Punjab cops win; PSB held Jalandhar, November 8 Though PSB made some hostile attempts to open the account, it was only in the 14th minute that Baljit Singh Chandi, struck a field goal. The second half witnessed some impressive hockey as both the teams were seen in an offensive mood. In 37th minute, BSF’s Marious Lakra made no mistake in scoring the equaliser. Mandip Singh of PSB improved the lead to 2-1 by scoring a field goal in 39th minute. BSF’s Marious Lakra and Peter Tirkey scored field goals in the 58th and 64th minute. Jatinder Pal Singh of PSB made no mistake in converting a penalty corner in the 62nd minute. In another match, Punjab Police, last years runners-up, crushed rivals Bharat Petroleum 3-0. The victory mission for Punjab Police started in the 12th minute when Baljeet Singh successfully converted a short corner. Baljeet once again converted a penalty stroke in 29th minute to further improve the tally. In the second half, the policemen made hostile attempts, but Bharat Petroleum managed to counter the attack. Punjab Police’s Gabbar Singh, displayed some fine techniques and scored an impressive field goal in the 51st minute to make it 3-0. |
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Harinder wins golf
title Chandigarh, November 8 A cut was applied for the open category after play on day one yesterday and the top 15 players took part in the competition on the second and concluding day today. There was close contest in the open category between Harinder Gupta, Girish Virk and Sujjan Singh. Harinder Gupta played a steady round and finished with 74 today to win the open category with a total of 145. Girish Virk came second because his today’s second round score was better than the third-placed golfer. Kanika Minocha was the only girl to take part among the juniors. She played consistently and came second in the ‘B’ category. She also won the nett prize in her category. The following are the results:- Category ‘O’: Harinder Gupta (145) 1; Girish Virk (151) 2; Sujjan Singh (151) 3.
Category ‘A’: Sagar Bhatia (153) 1; Dinesh Kumar (155) 2; Ajeetesh Sandhu (159)
3. Category ‘B’: Ajeetesh Sandhu (159) 1; Kanika Minocha (173) 2; Rohan Bakshi (181) 3. Category ‘C’: Fatehbir Singh Dhaliwal (159) 1; Rahul Baishi (185) 2; Dilsher Sukhija (191) 3. Category ‘D’:
Raghav Bhandari (98) 1; Zubin (108) 2; Dhruv Neil Banerjee (109) 3. The prizes were given by Mr Ashwani Luthra, Chief Commissioner of Income Tax Kolkata. |
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Sridhar, Ramaswamy in title clash New Delhi, November 8 In the semifinals here today, Vinod Sridhar made short work of second-seeded Juraj Hasko of Slovakia 6-4,6-3 while Ajay Ramaswamy arrested the winning streak of Jaco T Mathew, with a 6-2, 6-3 victory. The stockily-built Ajay Ramaswamy had no problem taming giant-killer Jaco Mathew in straight sets. Mathew had created a big impression when he stunned Yew Ming Si of Malaysia and Rishi Sridhar on way to the semifinal-his best-ever feat after graduating to the senior league. But the Britannia Amritraj Tennis academy trainee was found wanting when pitted against the solid tennis of Ramaswamy. Ramaswamy’s powerful and consistent serves and searing ground strokes were too much for Jaco to handle. Jaco was broken in the second and eighth games of the first set and second game of the second set, as Ramaswamy cruised into the final without much ado. Vinod Sridhar, who had won the DSCL Open Tennis title at the DLTA court a fortnight ago, to break into the senior league in a big way, played with a new-found confidence, and there was verve and variety in his game. It was no mean feat to overwhelm the fighting Hasko, who himself has a very powerful serve and return game. But Sridhar operated from the back court with such consistency and felicity that some of the points he blasted home after breath-taking rallies, were dream-like, though it was by no means a cake-walk victory. Sridhar and Hasko traded brakes in the second and third games, and then again in the sixth and seventh games, before Sridhar clinched the set by breaking Hasko in the tenth game. But in the second set, it was smooth-sailing for Sridhar who broke the Slovak in the fourth game to forge ahead never to look back, though he faced some hiccups on his serves a couple of occasions. “I played really well today”, remarked the soft-spoken Sridhar. “I expected it to be a tough match. But I was prepared”, added the left hander. He expects a tough encounter against Ramaswamy in the title clash tomorrow. Sridhar had beaten Ramaswamy a few years ago when they played in an Under-14 match. But during the last National Games in Punjab, Ramaswamy returned the compliments, beating Sridhar at Chandigarh. With both the players in good nick, the fight for the title is expected to spark a lot of fire workds. Doordarshan will telecast live the final from 3 p m. Vijay Kannan and Vishal Uppal annexed the doubles title beating Nitin Kirtane and Sourav Panja 6-2,6-4. |
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Chandigarh win Patiala, November 8 On a day when quality fare was at a bare minimum, the only matches that had an element of suspense till the very end were the pool ‘C’ Kerala versus Haryana and the pool ‘D’ Himachal Pradesh versus Karnataka matches. Both these matches rose to the level of intense contests with Kerala just about managing to pip the Haryana challenge by two goals while HP scampered past with a solitary goal margin against their much fancied rivals in the most enthralling match of the day. |
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Haryana take on MP today Rohtak, November 8 Passing through the phase of rebuilding, Haryana appears to be a young and less experienced side though the team enjoys the presence of skipper Ajay Ratra and right arm leg spinner Amit Mishra. Both of them have been in the national team and are being considered role models for many young cricketers who have been inducted to the side as a reward for their laudable performance at junior level. The recall of opener Jitender Singh has given strength to the Haryana side. Shafiq Khan and Ishan Ganda have proved their worth in the previous years with use contribution of runs. Skipper Ajay Ratra feels that the team is capable of
performing well. The Haryana skipper said “Fielding is our main strength.” |
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Chandigarh boys beaten New Delhi, November 8 In other matches, S.K.C.A.S.V Inter College, Varanasi, outplayed Government Model High School, Chandigarh, 6-1 while Government Model Senior School defeated Baba Farid Public School, Faridkot, 4-0. Government Model School, Jalandhar, overpowered Baba Farid School 4-0 in the last fixture of the day.
UNI |
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PPS in lead
Patiala, November 8 Modern school, New Delhi were placed second while Yadvindra Public School (YPS), Patiala took the third spot after the first day, events. Results: boys: Pole vault:
Simranjit Singh (PPS- A)-1, Simar (Doon School)-2, George Taspreet (PPS- B) -3. Shot put: Amrinder Singh (PPS-A)-1, Gurpartap Singh (PPS-B)-2, Varun Whig (Modern School)-3. 1500m: Kalyan Shivpuri (Doon School)-1, Sukhpreet Singh (PPS-A)-2, Jagjit Singh (PPS-B)-3. Broad jump: Gagandeep Singh (YPS)-1, Hardip Gill (Scindia School)-2, Karan Singh (Doon School)-3. Javelin throw: Sajen Barhma (Modern School)-1, Jaskaran Singh (PPS-A)-2, Karamdeep Singh (YPS)-3. Girls: Javelin throw: Charvi Mehta (Modern School)-1, Ananya Aggarwal (Whelham School)-2, Anshupreet Kaur (PPS)-3. 400m: Devika Bakshi (Modern School)-1, Anchal Chandel (Lawrence School)-2, Gininder (YPS)-3, 4 into 400m relay: Modern School-1, Lawrence School-2, YPS-3. Earlier the meet was declared open by Lt Col B.S Ahluwalia, Executive Director of the National Institute of Sports (NIS), Patiala. Mr M.S Bedi, Headmaster of PPS, Nabha welcomed the chief guest. |
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Brisbane, November 8
