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Tuesday,
December 10, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Ganguly dismisses Bond threat Nehra needs to lead from the front CONTRACT ISSUE Maiden Test ton by Sarwan |
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Hyderabad braces up to host Games Services win first gold Churchill hold
Tollygunge Sanil, Pritim win national TT titles Hamirpur College win trophy Himachal Police subdue Signals
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Ganguly dismisses Bond threat
Wellington, December 9 “We haven’t played him but he looks a good prospect for New Zealand. However, we have batsmen who have scored against all oppositions in all conditions,” the Indian captain said ahead of the first of the two-Test series starting on a lively Basin Reserve pitch here on Thursday. Ganguly didn’t need to overly stress the class of the lynchpins of his batting line-up - Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, V V S Laxman and himself who have 56 Test hundreds and over 20,000 runs between them - but made it a point to mention the emergence of openers Sanjay Bangar and Virender Sehwag as batsmen of true class. “Both Bangar and Sehwag have Test centuries to their names and both have played some quality innings,” said Ganguly as his team practiced at WestPac Stadium, some 15 km away from the Test venue. The visitors were quick to use the indoor facilities at WestPac Stadium, venue of the fifth one-day international later this summer, as Basin Reserve is still recovering from the heavy rains of the weekend. Bond, one of the fastest bowlers in world cricket, has to his credit the fifth fastest delivery in Test cricket at 153.1 km per hour which he bowled against Pakistan earlier this year. Bond, a policeman, has taken the world cricket by surprise emerging from nowhere to be the man of the series in the triangular VB series against Australia at the start of the year and then twice picked up five-wicket hauls against the West Indies who lost a series to New Zealand for the first time in home conditions. Ganguly was also unperturbed that the wicket at Basin Reserve is likely to be a green top to favour the New Zealand pace battery. “We expect to get such wickets while touring - it’s nothing new. But it is the same for both teams,” he said. The Indian captain said his team did well in England recently where the conditions were not different from what they expected to encounter in the current series. “We played in England in conditions which were seam bowlers friendly but gave a good account of ourselves,” said Ganguly about the series his side drew 1-1. He said the Indians must do well in the first Test to win the series as it was very difficulty to make a comeback in a short series. “Tests are more important than one-day internationals and it is crucial we do well in the first game itself as there is no time to recover in a short series.” Ganguly has only two Tests on the present tour to have another crack at his long-standing ambition to win a Test series abroad - a feat which would surely bring him on par with Mohammad Azharuddin’s record of 14 Test wins, if not take him past the former Indian captain. “We have been close to winning a series abroad - we have had our moments but we just haven’t been able to pull it off,” said Ganguly referring to the drawn away series against Zimbabwe and England and close losses to West Indies and Sri Lanka. He refused to believe his side was underprepared for the first Test as they had only one warm-up game and little practice since they arrived in New Zealand a week ago. “I am satisfied with whatever we have managed. We have played a lot of cricket in recent times so we are not short of practice. “In the three-day game (against Central Districts) the batsmen batted well and bowlers, especially Ajit Agarkar, looked good. We couldn’t get the tail out but it is no cause for worry. Still I feel the bowlers should have taken those wickets,” said Ganguly. He said Ashish Nehra had a head start over Tinu Yohannan going into the first Test. “Nehra bowled well even though Tinu Yohannan had good spells in patches.” Speaking on the Kiwis, the left-handed batsman said hosts were handicapped by the absence of their leading all-rounder Chris Cairns, who would miss both the Test matches due to injuries. “They are a good side and fresh but would miss Cairns as an all-rounder.” PTI
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Nehra needs to lead from the front
Wellington, December 9 According to coach John Wright India would field the pace quartet including Nehra - the most natural medium-pacer in the team - to make the most of a wicket said to be the liveliest seen in recent times at Basin Reserve. The conditions have largely been influenced by persistent bad weather in the last fortnight though vandals running away with covers and home captain Stephen Fleming’s not-so-subtle request to groundsman have contributed its bit to the state of the pitch. The visitors will be hoping Nehra to repeat the form he exhibited against Zimbabwe on his return from a three-year hiatus in 2000-2001 when he picked up 11 wickets at an impressive average of 19.73 in an away series. Since then the Delhi seamer has played in only eight of the 22 Tests India has been involved in the last 16 months, missing out on an away series against Sri Lanka and two at home against England and Zimbabwe because of a combination of fitness and poor form. Nehra hasn’t been outstanding in these eight matches either, picking up only 20 wickets as his career average nose-dived to an all-time low of nearly 40 per wicket (39.97). Nehra’s best in this spell was his 12-wicket return in four successive Tests against the West Indies this summer, including the scalp of Brian Lara no less than three times, but he still ended up at a high average of 37.75 at the end of the away series. Nehra’s fitness has often come in way for the left-armer to do justice to his talent as he either runs out of gas or is unfit to play reasons which explain why he is still searching for his first five-wicket haul. Javagal Srinath’s return in the home series against West Indies recently made Nehra sit out in the first two Tests and only Zaheer Khan’s absence in the third allowed him to play at Kolkata for figures of one for 66 from his 23 overs. The spectre of his poor form again raised its head in the recent three-day game against Central Districts where the speedster bowled his 18 overs for only one wicket and was unable to account for number nine, 10 or 11 batsmen as the hosts made an astounding recovery from a hopeless situation. But he received an encouraging vote of approval from captain Sourav Ganguly who termed Nehra’s bowling as decent in Napier. “He didn’t bowl badly at all,” said Ganguly as he looked back at the three-day game. Wright is impressed with the pacer’s “lovely use of wrist” while bowling and such faith by the seniors must goad the youngster to do his best in the first Test in what would be his 11th Test abroad to only one played at home. Nehra must look to lead from the front in the first Test as the visitors would be keen to halt the run of a hat-trick of defeats at Basin Reserve more so since Zaheer would be practically bowling without a decent nets because of a bad bruise, sustained in the Super Max game against New Zealand in Christchurch last week. The other two medium-pacers - Ajit Agarkar (34 wickets from 15 Tests ) and Sanjay Bangar (5 wickets from 10 Tests) at best have bowling skills which fill up the overs. India, like New Zealand, will go with only one spinner in the match. Harbhajan Singh and Daniel Vettori will be the lone spinners for their side in the Test and coincidentally, both have identical number of wickets 139 though Harbhajan at 31 has played 11 Tests fewer. Harbhajan was India’s man of the series against the West Indies recently though his overseas form (49 wickets from 21 Tests at 36.65) is not much to cheer about.
PTI |
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CONTRACT ISSUE Kolkata, December 9 “We are very close to resolving it (players contract issue). Significant progress has been made,” Jagmohan Dalmiya, BCCI President said after a marathon meeting with top ICC officials. Dalmiya along with senior Indian cricketer Anil Kumble represented the Indian board’s point of view during a four and half hour meeting with Justice Ahmed Ebrahim of Zimbabwe and Dave Richardson of South Africa representing the ICC. The Indian board chief said that the concerns of players were “well-representated and well-received” by the other side. Justic Ebrahim, who is also part of the six-member committee with Dalmiya to resolve the issue before the next year’s World Cup, also expressed happiness at the way the meeting progressed. “There were certainly encouraging signs and the concerns of players have been taken into consideration,” he said adding that, “we have narrowed down our differences to one or two issues which needs further discussion”. Though he refrained from divulging further details of the interaction, Justice Ebrahim said, “one positive outcome is that the best Indian team is very keen to be at the World Cup, the BCCI is also keen to send the best team and we are delighted at this.” Justice Ebrahim said the two sides were likely to hold further rounds of discussions in the next seven or 10 days to thrash out a solution to the vexed issue. He said while Dalmiya would now brief the Indian board members on what transpired at the meeting, he would discuss the matter with the ICC. Asked for his reaction, Kumble said that he was happy with the outcome. He also replied in the affirmative when queried whether the BCCI had adequately represented the case of the Indian players. Justice Ebrahim refused to term the pending issues as bottlenecks, commenting “I will only say that they need further discussions. But I don’t want to give more details on them, because if I do that then that will genrate unnecessary speculation and debate”. He also played down India’s failure to meet the November 30 deadline for naming a provisional 30-member squad for the showpiece event in South Africa. “When difficult issues have to be resolved, flexibility is needed, which the ICC is showing,” he said.
PTI
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Maiden Test ton by Sarwan
Dhaka, December 9 Sarwan scored a career-best 119 with 19 fours before being caught by Naimur Rahman off Talha Jubair. Sarwan and Marlon Samuels added 176 in the fourth wicket stand. Samuels was deprived of his second century of the tour when he was trapped lbw to Talha Jubair for 91 that contained 15 fours. Daren Ganga and Ridley Jacobs were at the crease with 34 and 14 respectively. Earlier, Chris Gayle and Wavell Hinds put on 131 for the first wicket before Gayle was caught behind off Tapas Baishya for 51, including eight fours. It was his ninth test half-century. Hinds followed his partner just three balls later as he lifted a catch to Naimur Rahman at mid-off from Baishya. He scored 75 with 12 fours. Scoreboard Bangladesh (Ist innings: 139 West Indies (Ist innings): Gayle c Mashud b Baishya 51 Hinds c Rahman b Baishya 75 Sarwan c Rahman b Jubair 119 Chanderpaul c Mashud
b Hoque 4 Samuels lbw Jubair 91 Ganga not out 34 Jacobs not out 14 Extra: (lb-2 w-2 nb-8) 12 Total: (for five wickets, 123 overs) 400 Fall of wickets: 1/131, 2/132, 3/150 4/326 5/377 Bowling: Tapas Baishya 27-3-92-2 (nb-8 W-1), Talha Jubair 23-3-101-2 (W-1), Naimur Rahman 27-4-75-0, Enamul Hoque 38-7-95-1, Mohammad Ashraful 8-0-35-0.
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Hyderabad braces up to host Games
Hyderabad, December 9 Eight stadia have come up for the Games, to be held in the city and Visakhapatnam in 31 disciplines and a mega hi-tech show blending laser technology and ethnic ambience topped with a fusion of cultural diversity is planned for the opening ceremony. Gachibowli, the main Games village was transformed from an arid land with bushes and dusty terrain into an architectural marvel in a span of one year at the southwestern tip of the city with the main sports complex for athletics, an aquatic complex and an indoor stadium. Marketing Games is a new concept tried by Andhra Pradesh government in this edition, but the success rate is yet to be guaged as state Industries Minister K Vidhyadhar Rao said: “We could get Rs 10 crore and are expecting sponsorship figure to go up to Rs 15 crore.” Besides upgrading some venues, new stadia have come up in yousufguda (volleyball, handball), saroornagar (archery, wrestling gymnastics), fatheh maidan (tennis, boxing), velodrome at Osmania University for cycling, Central University grounds (sepak takraw, fencing, shooting) and water sports would be held at Visakhaptnam. Gachibowli stadium, built at an estimated cost of Rs 20 crore, hosted the first leg of the Asian Grand Prix Athletics championship in May. The giant structure, with a capacity of 30,000 has a 10 lane competition synthetic track, a four lane practice track and flood lights. Indoor stadium here has imported maple hardwood flooring and can accommodate 4,000 spectators for the badminton and basketball matches it hosts in the Games. Jewel in Gachibowli crown is the 2000-seater aquatic complex which has temperature controlled pools through modern heating system and modern lighting system. The Rs 9.6 crore complex would be used for swimming, diving, water polo and synchronised swimming. The recently concluded international volleyball tournament for Shivanti Adityan Cup was held at Yousufguda Indoor Stadium which has a capacity of 2,000 while the Saroornagar Indoor Stadium at the eastern tip of the city would bustle with wrestlers, acrobats and sharp shooting archers. Tennis court, in heart of the city, has seven synthetic courts and a central court which can house 4,000 spectators while some events would be held at Goshamahal stadium, NTR stadium, Begumpet Hockey Stadium and Hussain Sagar Lake. Vishakhapatnam would host yatching, triathlon, netball, judo, weightlifting, taekwondo and roller skating at various venues including the picturesque Rushikonda and RK beaches. PTI
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Services win first gold
Mumbai, December 9 Kumar got the honour of bagging the first gold of the National Games when he finished first among the Indians in the Pune International Marathon on Sunday. The marathon is a part of the National Games. R Pujar of Karnataka bagged the silver, while Kumar’s team-mate K C Raman claimed the bronze. In the women’s section, H Sangini Devi bagged the gold for Manipur, while Sarabjeet Kaur of Punjab and Reena Das of West Bengal bagged silver and bronze, respectively. UNI
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Churchill hold Tollygunge
Kolkata, December 9 The match, which never rose to any dizzy heights, witnessed Churchill Brothers forging ahead when their foreign recruit Yaqub fired the first salvo converting a penalty in the fifth minute of the second half to make the scoreline 1-0. Tollygunge bounced back into the reckoning restoring parity just after two minutes when Ashim Biswas banged home a rebound off the woodwork (1-1). At the lemon break, the scoresheet read 0-0. Though Churchill Brothers dominated the proceedings from word go in the first half, their frontliners failed to combine well and lack of cohesion cost them dearly. While Kanta Singh’s snap shot was saved by Tollygunge goalie Arindam Ghosh in the 20th minute, Yaqub muffed chances galore as his right-footer sailed over the woodwork in the 40th minute of the first half. However, the second half saw umpteen attacks and counter-attacks by both the teams. Tollygunge fumbled a golden opportunity to take a lead when their striker Mehtab Hussein failed to convert a penalty in the 40th minute of the second half. With this draw, last year’s runners-up Churchill Brothers earned three points from four outings, while Tollygunge Agragami bagged four points from three matches. UNI
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Sanil, Pritim win national TT titles Sirsa, December 9 Pritim Bose upset Souvik Kar, both of Bengal, winning 8-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-8, 11-9. In the girls cadet group, G. Susan Maghi of Pondicherry emerged champion defeating Shreya Ghosh of Bengal 11-9, 4-11, 11-5, 11-8, 9-11, 11-4. Undefeated Soumi Mondal, a student of Tollyganj Girls High School, Kolkata, lifted the crown in the sub-junior singles outplaying Neha Aggarwal of Delhi 11-9, 4-11, 11-8, 13-11, 11-9. The Maharashtra
hero demolished the claim of L. Sachin of PSPB beating him 11-3, 12-10, 11-5, 11-4, in a one-sided final contest of sub-junior boys. He is a student of class VIII in Vivek Vidhaliya Goregaon, Mumbai. Former Chief Minister of Punjab Parkash Singh Badal gave away the prizes to the winners. The results: Cadet girls singles:
(Q-final): Murchana (Assam) b Sanya Sehgal (Dli) 14-12, 11-6, 11-8; G. Susan Magi (Pondy) b Supriya D. 11-7, 11-6, 11-3; Rashu (Hrn) b Mita Basak (Bng) 4-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-5; Shreya Ghosh (Bng) b Poona (Mhr) 11-8, 11-3, 11-9; Semifinal: G. Susan Magi (Pondy) b Murchana (Asm) 11-6, 11-5, 7-11, 6-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-8; Shreya Ghosh (Bng) b Rashu (Hrn) 3-11, 12-10, 11-0, 11-6, 15-13; Final: G. Susan Magi (Pondy) b Shreya Ghosh (Bng)11-9, 4-11, 11-5, 11-8, 9-11, 11-4. Cadet boys singles (q-final):
A Pritam G (Asm) b Anil Verma (UP) 6-11, 11-4, 11-3, 8-11, 11-9’ Pritam Bose (Bng) b Arkabrata K (Bng) 11-6, 11-9, 12-10; Souvik Kar (Bng) b Mayank Tondon (UP) 11-6, 7-11, 11-5, 9-11, 11-3; Tapas Sarkar (Bng) b Soumyajit G. (Bng) 11-6, 11-7, 11-2; semifinal: Pritam Bose (Bng) b A. Pritam (Asm) 11-8, 6-11, 7-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-7; Souvik Kar (Bng) b Tapas Sarkar (Bng) 11-7, 11-6, 11-6, 6-11, 6-11, 8-11, 11-7; final: Pritam Bose (Bng) b Souvik Kar (Bng) 8-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-8, 11-9.
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Hamirpur
College win trophy Hamirpur, December 9 The college girls also won two silver medals. Anil Sharma of Hamirpur College who had recently won the Best Player trophy at the HP state open athletics championship was adjudged Best Player of the meet. He won gold medals in 100m, 200m, 400m, 4x100m races. Rajneesh Sharma won silver in 100m, bronze in 200m and two gold medals in 4x100m and 4x400 races. Dinesh won gold in 800m, silver in 10000m and bronze in 1500m races. He also helped the team to win two Goldmedals in 3x100m races. Rajeev won silver medal in 800m and was also a member of the squad that won 4x100m race. |
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Himachal
Police subdue Signals Mandi, December 9 Six minutes later Munish of Himachal Police equalised. Police boys started dominating the game and Ashok fired another goal within five minutes taking a 2-1 lead. In the 32nd minute Madan netted the ball ensuring a 3-1 victory. Signals boys struggled hard to reduce the margin but failed. In the 53rd minute police boys lost an opportunity to increase the margin when Jetinder failed to convert the penalty corner. In the women’s section Yamaha XI and Sports Hostel Dharamsala had to settle for a goal-less draw. Both the teams toiled hard but failed to score. Himachal Police will take over BSF, Jalandhar, in the first semifinal match tomorrow. |
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