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Friday,
January 24, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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ICC to decide India’s fate today
Belgians fail to break Williams’ winning run
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Paes-Navratilova duo in semis
Journey to hell for Pollock’s men
Murali may follow Warne’s
lead Morale of team high: Harbhajan Veterans wish Indian team good luck Manchester United in final
Doping code may be delayed
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ICC to decide India’s fate today
New Delhi, January 23 The IDI’s executive board will decide on whether or not to accept the conditionally signed contracts submitted by Indian cricketers, who have continued to object to certain restrictive clauses in the player terms. The ICC has the option of debarring India from the World Cup for failing to honour their contractual obligation, or allow the team to participate while leaving the contract dispute to be settled later at an appropriate forum. Significantly, the meeting comes two days after the Delhi High Court ruling that no foreign exchange would be allowed to go to the ICC, either in form of sponsorship money or as damages by the BCCI, if India was debarred from playing in the World Cup. The interim judgement was likely to be taken into account when the executive board takes the decision, eagerly awaited by millions of cricket followers in the country. The Indian cricket board has not received any “conciliatory offers” from the ICC till now and the BCCI chief Jagmohan Dalmiya was unaware whether such an offer was “in transit”, saying that he had only been informed about tomorrow’s meeting. The BCCI’s working committee, which met here yesterday, deliberated on the contract issue at length and will decide its future course of action only after being intimated of the ICC’s decision. As per indications from sources in London, India will be allowed to play in the World Cup despite its players signing conditional contracts, but their share of the tournament money of over £ 5 million will not be released by the ICC until the dispute is resolved. If the BCCI failed to pay any compensation arising from its players altered contracts, it would be suspended from the ICC. The IDI’S executive board was expected to formally tell the ICC’s management board tomorrow that Indian players should be allowed to take part on their own terms, pending resolution of the dispute. At the BCCI’s behest, all the 15 members of the Indian World Cup squad had conditionally signed the player terms ahead of the January 14 deadline set by the ICC. The players had objected to the clauses that prohibit them from endorsing products of non-official sponsors.
PTI |
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Lanka settle dispute Colombo, January 23 “We wrapped it up this afternoon. All the players signed,” cricket board chief executive Anura Tennekoon told Reuters. The cricket board had initially offered 10 per cent plus an incentive fee, saying any more would jeopardise development activities. The dispute caused the board to miss last Friday’s International Cricket Council deadline for the contracts, but was resolved after it began direct talks with the players on Thursday, when they returned from a series in Australia.
Reuters
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Belgians fail to break Williams’ winning run
Melbourne, January 23 Williams looked dead and buried at 1-5 down in the final set, only to rally superbly as Clijsters’ game fell apart in a sea of jittery unforced errors. Clijsters had two match points on serve with the score at 5-2 in the decider but was unable to take either of them as the top seed produced a fabulous return and an instinctive volley to hang on and then break. Clijsters, the girlfriend of Australian world No 1 Lleyton Hewitt, had another opportunity to serve for the match in the 10th game, but nerves got the better of her. Two consecutive double faults from Clijsters put Williams in the driving seat and when the Belgian hit another return long the American had miraculously squared the final set at 5-5. After Williams held serve easily in the next, Clijsters looked shattered in the 12th game and crumbled as Williams bombarded her with returns to break for the match. “It was just an unbelievable battle out there,” said Williams. “I just kept fighting. I didn’t want to lose 1-6 and then I said I didn’t want to lose 2-6 and I picked up my game a lot for the last six games.” Clijsters had been put under pressure on her serve in the opening game, Williams blugeoning a brutal forehand winner to draw first blood. The Belgian held to take the lead but at the other end was unable to find a way to deal with Williams service. Though Clijsters was more convincing in her next two service games, Williams took a grip on the set in the seventh to score her first break. But Clijsters responded superbly to break back in the next, showing great movement and speed to restore parity. With the crowd firmly behind her, Clijsters began to find greater fluency in her groundstrokes in the next and had her opponent scrambling around the baseline with a series of relentlessly accurate forehands. She held serve well to put the pressure back on Williams, who suddenly found herself set point down at 30-40. The American managed to save that one, but two jittery double faults in a row gave Clijsters the set. Williams lifted herself by scoring an early break in the second, only to squander the opportunity as the relentless Clijsters broke back to level at 1-1. Three-time winner Andre Agassi took just 88 minutes to reach the final with an easy straight sets victory over South African Wayne Ferreira. The American second seed pounded the unseeded Ferreira 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 to make his fourth Open final in seven trips to Australia. Agassi will play the winner of other semifinal between compatriot and ninth seed Andy Roddick or German 31st seed Rainer Schuettler in the final. The seven time Grand Slam champion was in immaculate touch today, breaking 31-year-old Ferreira’s service six times and crunching 32 winners to 21. He served at a high 73 per cent. Agassi stretched his record over Ferreira to 11-0 and once again attacked the South African’s backhand to set up his comprehensive victory. The Las Vegan has now won 20 consecutive matches at the Australian Open. As the two-time defending champion, Agassi withdrew on the opening morning of last year’s Open with a wrist injury. His last defeat on the Melbourne rebound ace hardcourts was in four sets to fellow American Vince Spadea in 1999. Agassi has lost only 43 games on his way to the final and has been on court for a total of 10 hours 35 minutes. Agassi said that he was playing the best tennis of his career because he was “stronger, faster and had 17 years of experience. I’m ready to go on Sunday, my tennis is where it needs to be,” he said. Second seed Venus Williams brushed aside Belgian fifth seed Justine Henin-Hardenne to reach her first Australian Open final. Williams downed Henin-Hardenne 6-3, one hour 14 minutes. It will be her fourth consecutive Grand Slam final and she is looking to add to her two Wimbledon and two US Open titles won in 2000 and 2001. She took her record over Henin-Hardenne to 7-1, with her only loss coming on clay in the German Open in 2001. “I’ve struggled and failed and done everything to get to be in this position before. I’m so happy,” said a beaming Williams when asked about qualifying for her first Australian Open final. AFP
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Paes-Navratilova duo in semis
The much-awaited clash between estranged doubles partner Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi finished on expected lines with the senior partner
Paes, pairing legendary Martina Navratilova making it to the
semifinals. The fancied duo tamed Bhupathi, who partnered Iroda Tulyaganova in the quarterfinals 6-4, 6-3. In an another quarterfinals match, Todd Woodbridge of Australia and Eleni Daniilidou (Greece) beat Robbie Koenig of South Africa and Els Callens of Belgium 6-3, 6-2. Fifth seed duo of Kevin Ullyett (Zimbabwe) and Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) defeated David Adams (South Africa) and Wayne Prakusya (Indonesia) 7-6 (7-1), 7-6 (7-3).
UNI
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Aussies trounce England by ten wickets Sydney, January 23 Andy Bichel took four wickets and Brett Lee added three -including England’s openers in the first 15 balls. Bichel took care of the tail to finish with 4-18 off seven overs while Brad Williams was 2-22 and Shane Warne, returning from injury, was 1-28. In reply, Adam Gilchrist, who earlier effected six dismissals - five catches and a stumping - scored 69 runs from 37 balls, including 14 boundaries, while fellow opener Matthew Hayden belted 45 from 37. Australia scored 20 runs in the fifth over and had a run rate of nearly 10 per over in its quick reply of 118-0 in 12.2 overs. The second match in the series is Saturday in Melbourne, with a third, if necessary, on Monday in Adelaide. Australia finished first in the round-robin portion of the tournament while England was second and Sri Lanka third. The highlight for Australia was Warne’s return with a confidence-boosting performance. Warne took a wicket with the last ball of his 10 overs and looked comfortable in his first international appearance since dislocating his shoulder on December 15. He misfielded a couple of balls and, on one occasion, rather than duplicate the sideways dive which led to his injury, he let the ball sail past just out of reach. His wicket-taking ball was a leg-spinner which beat Paul Collingwood in the air and off the pitch and he was stumped by Adam Gilchrist for 43. Lee got openers Marcus Trescothick (0) and Nick Knight (5) on gloved catches to Gilchrist. Williams got rid of Nasser Hussain (1) when the England captain played on and then had Alec Stewart (12) caught behind. Bichel struck twice in one over, trapping Michael Vaughan (21) lbw and then having Ian Blackwell (0) caught by Ricky Ponting at second slip. Lee returned to dismiss Ronnie Irani (10) off a miscue. Collingwood was responsible for getting England to three figures — his 43 came of 71 balls and took nearly two hours. But he made sure England avoided being bowled out for less than 100 for the fifth time in its history. Scoreboard England: Trescothick c Gilchrist b Lee 0 Knight c Gilchrist b Lee 5 Vaughan lbw Bichel 21 Hussain b Williams 1 Stewart c Gilchrist
Collingwood st Gilchrist
Blackwell c Ponting b Bichel 0 Irani c Bichel b Lee 10 Caddick not out 12 Anderson c Gilchrist b Bichel0 Hoggard c Gilchrist b Bichel 0 Extras
(lb-7, w-5, nb-1 13 Total (all out in 41 overs) 117 FoW: 1-1, 2-11, 3-19, 4-33, 5-45, 6-45, 7-79, 8-115, 9-117. Bowling: B Williams 10-2-22-2, B Lee 10-1-29-3, A Bichel 7-2-18-4, S Warne 10-0-28-1, B Hogg 4-0-13-0. Australia: Gilchrist not out 69 Hayden not out 45 Extras (lb-2, w-2) 4 Total (no wkt, 12.2 overs) 118 Bowling:
A Caddick 3-0-31-0, J Anderson 4-0-35-0, M Hoggard 3.2-0-36-0, R Irani 2-0-14-0.
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Journey to hell for Pollock’s men
Cape Town, January 23 Three days of motivational and psychological preparations started with an orientation course, team spokesperson Gerald de Kock said in a statement. The 15 players were divided into four groups and blind-folded before being flown by helicopter into a forest. For Robin Peterson, Jacques Kallis and Makhaya Ntini, the chopper flight was a first and they were a little apprehensive given the overcast conditions. Each group was equipped with a set of instructions, a pencil, a balloon, a compass and, in case of emergency, a two-way radio. With their eyes uncovered, they set off at ten-minute intervals searching for the five checkpoint markers hidden in the forests and hills over the 10 km course by making use of the compass to get their bearings. For the first group of Allan Donald, Monde Zondeki and Gary Kirsten, the task was to prove too much as they saw just one of the marker flags during their two-and-a-half hour slog, eventually arriving back at the resort via a long walk along the main road. “The radio didn’t work!” claimed Donald, while Kirsten said, “We must have walked 20 Kms!” To their credit the three walked all the way to the hotel, turning down an offer of a lift from team manager Goolam Rajah within sight of home. The welcome was predictable, Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher giving them a rousing reception. “You guys must have failed geography at school,” quipped Kallis. The quickest of the lot was the last group to set out, that of Boucher, Lance Klusener, Robin Peterson and Boeta Dippenaar, who put in a massive effort and showed tremendous orientation skills in completing the course in 57 minutes. This, despite Klusener having said at the start that he had never run continuously for two hours! Captain Shaun Pollock, Herschelle Gibbs and Makhaya Ntini clocked 67 minutes, although they may still feel the wrath of team-mates and coach for hitching a lift on a golf cart just 500 metres from the finish at the golf clubhouse. Gibbs found the going extremely tough. “This doesn’t qualify as fun,” he said, before adding that although he was tired, he was in better shape than when he had to retire hurt due to exhaustion in the ICC Champions Trophy semifinal against India in Colombo in September. Kallis, Jonty Rhodes, Nicky Boje and Charl Langeveldt came in just five minutes behind the Pollock group. The first three groups also managed to preserve an inflated balloon for the duration of the course, earning bonus points for such care and attention, although Ntini looked as though he might have swallowed the balloon, having hidden it under his shirt. The day concluded with a drumming workshop, dinner and an evening of games before 15 exhausted cricketers hit the sack. PTI
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Murali may follow Warne’s lead
Melbourne, January 23 “I’m only 30 now, but I think in maybe one or two years after the World Cup I will do the same thing as Warnie (Shane Warne).” The Australian leg-spinner announced yesterday he would retire from one-day internationals after the World Cup starting next month. Muralitharan is the third-leading wicket-taker in Tests (437) and one-day internationals (304). At 33, Warne is second on the list in Tests, 28 behind retired West Indies paceman Courtney Walsh’s 519, and is the sixth-leading wicket-taker in the shorter version of the game on 288. Warne, who dislocated his shoulder in a one-day match against England in Melbourne last month, said the one-day games took a far greater toll on his body than Tests. Sri Lanka missed out on a place in the best-of-three match finals and Muralitharan has left Australia with the team, possibly for the last time on a tour of the country. “I will speak to my parents and some former Sri Lankan captains about it,” he said from Melbourne airport. It depends how I feel, but I think this is probably my last time (touring Australia). “I hope to put that (no Australia tours clause) in my next contract, and then that would be it.”Reuters
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Morale of team high: Harbhajan
Jalandhar, January 23 If we analyse the performance, the Kiwis also played bad cricket, although they won in the end,” he said. When asked about any technical changes he intended to make in his bowling keeping in view the fast tracks in South Africa for the World Cup, he told PTI in an exclusive interview that he would stick to same technique. The off spinner, who was very excited about his first World Cup appearance, said the hard tracks in South Africa would also be beneficial to batsmen. The Indian team, though placed in a tough pool, along with Australia, England and Pakistan, has a good blend of youth and experience, Harbhajan said. Reacting to comments by Navjot Singh Sidhu that master blaster Sachin Tendulkar should open the innings, Harbhajan said that it was the discretion of the captain and coach. Harbhajan rated Australia as a tough team but said India had beaten them in the past and hope to do the same, when they meet again. He further added that some of the matches were to be played in Zimbabwe which would also be a challenge and stressed that the first six matches would be very crucial. The said he was also concentrating on his batting and said that the batting of the tail-enders had improved in the recent past. PTI
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Veterans wish Indian team good luck
New Delhi, January 23 A galaxy of cricketing stars of yesteryears and current generation came together here last night to wish good luck but sounded unsure of India’s realistic chances at the cup. World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev’s heart and soul dichotomy continued as he wished and hoped that the team wins the coveted cup for the second time but not before saying “India have a long way to go.” Kapil had recently remarked that his heart said “yes” and mind “no” to India’s chances of winning the upcoming World Cup. India’s ‘cricketer of the century’ said miracles do happen in cricket and for that the team needed to work hard and believe in themselves. Former captain Bishen Singh Bedi was hard pressed for his comments on India’s chances. “I think we can pull it off if everything goes right,” Bedi said with a wink. Bedi said if India had to win the World Cup it needed to heal the wounds inflicted during the New Zealand series as quickly as possible. He had a note of caution for the team “Do not get into a shell...believe in yourself...give it your all,” the one liners came fast. The veteran leggie said India had the best batting line-up in the world and the big guns needed to fire when it mattered the most. On the quality of India’s spin bowling, he said it was important how the spinners were handled. Former India coach Madan Lal — a member of the World Cup winning team, was the most optimistic of the lot but observed that the team did not have a quality allrounder. When asked till how far India would reach at the cup, Madan Lal could not put India beyond the semifinals. “I will be happy if they reach the semifinals... that in itself would be a successful campaign,” he added. The former coach said India should continue with the left-right combination at the top. “Sachin Tendulkar or Virender Sehwag should open with skipper Saurav Ganguly...this is not the right time for too many experiments,” he added. “Apply yourself” was the key word from the former allrounder for India’s success. Kirti Azad, another member of the 1983 team, was busy narrating “funny” incidents and found everything alright with the team. “India is a good team and I do not see why we should not win the tournament,” he exhorted. Former seam bowler Atul Wasan observed that it was too late to make any changes in the team combination with regards to batting positions or wicketkeeping. “We should not depend upon one or two players... at least six to seven big players in the team should consistently perform at the cup,” he noted. UNI
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Manchester United in final
Blackburn, January 23 United’s victory gave them a 4-2 aggregate semifinal triumph and sealed a heavyweight meeting with their fierce north-west rivals at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium on March 2. In-form midfielder Scholes took his tally to seven goals in his last six games with strikes on 30 and 42 minutes after ex-United striker Andy Cole had given Blackburn a 12th-minute lead against the run of play. United’s Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, having been tripped by Rovers goalkeeper Brad Friedel, rammed in their third from the penalty spot 13 minutes from time. The comfortable victory secured United a place in the League Cup final. Reuters
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Good start by Jeev, Atwal Singapore, January 23 The Chandigarh-based golfer was one stroke off the pace when thunderstorms suspended play with half the field yet to finish their round. Jeev was tied for second place in the clubhouse behind Benn Barham of England. Barham, playing without the benefit of any practice round, shot a seven-under 65. Tied along with Jeev at six-under 66 were Paul Broadhurst and Simon Khan (both England). Defending champion Arjun Atwal also made a superb start before his round was cut short by the thunderstorm. Playing in the same group as world No Ernie Els, Atwal was five-under after 15 holes. Els made four birdies in the last five holes to join Atwal in tied fifth place on the leaderboard. Among other Indians, Jyoti Randhawa, playing his first event in Asia as the No 1 golfer of the continent, shot a two-under 70, which included a depressing double bogey on the final hole. Indian-born Swede Daniel Chopra birdied his first three holes and was three-under after six holes, while Amandeep Johl was level par after nine. Arjun Singh struggled to a four-over after nine holes, and Harmeet Kahlon made a triple and a double bogey on the third and fourth holes to finish the day at a forgettable five-over 77. Jeev, who is sponsored by Hero Honda Motors, played a solid round in which he made just one bogey and seven birdies. He began from the first tee and birdies on the par-five second and seventh and the par-three fifth saw him make the turn at three-under. On the back nine, he bogied the 10th and a birdie on the 13th saw him reach the 16th hole at same score. However, he blitzed the tough finishing holes of Laguna National and finished with birdies on each of the holes.
UNI
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Doping
code may be delayed Montreal, January 23 Under the code, professional athletes would face the same suspensions as Olympic athletes. “Some countries might ask for an 18-month delay to put legislation into place,’’ Mr Pound told a conference call from Montreal, the headquarters of the agency yesterday.
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