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Wednesday,
February 12, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Symonds slams ton as Aussies humble Pak Pakistan made tactical blunders Cricketing world shocked Steve Waugh devastated over Warne’s exit |
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Kenya gear up for SA clash
Olonga banned for outburst Andy Flower defied a ruthless system Fleming erred in inviting Lanka to bat first Kiwis performed below par Kiwis did not read pitch properly
In the first three games played in this World Cup, the big guys have taken centre-stage, which not only speaks something about big-match temperament but has also made the games very exciting.
North 123 for 2 Brazil football team gets bomb threat
Salgaocar hold Vasco in NFL
Hockey tourney
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Symonds slams ton as Aussies humble Pak Johannesburg, February 11 Playing like true champions, the Aussies made a remarkable recovery from 52 for 3 to smash their way to an imposing 310 for eight, largely due to an unbeaten 143 in 125 balls by Symonds. They then bundled out Pakistan for 228 in 44.3 overs to emerge winners by 82 runs. The anxiously-awaited pool A game, dubbed as ‘the match of the tournament’ by many, turned out to be a no-contest as the Aussies repeated the result of the previous World Cup final even with a depleted team. Neither the absence of key batsmen Michael Bevan and Darren Lehmann nor the shocking news on Warne, who was returning home after testing positive for a banned drug, could deter the Aussies who stunned the big-talking Pakistanis into silence. Symonds exposed the chinks in the celebrated Pakistani bowling line-up by launching an assault on the part-time bowlers while Pakistan’s brittle batting order was no match for the awesome firepower of the Aussie bowling. Australia lost their three mainline batsmen, Adam Gilchrist (1), Matthew Hayden (27) and Damien Martyn (0), to veteran Wasim Akram even before the 11th over but Australia fought back admirably through their captain Ricky Ponting and Symonds who struck 18 fours and two sixes. Ponting, who made a fine 53 with seven fours, started the recovery exercise with Jimmy Maher but their fourth wicket association could add only 34 runs. At 86 for four, Australia were in dire straits before Ponting and Symonds launched their selective counter-attack. They picked on Pakistan’s fourth bowler, Abdur Razzaq, hammering him for three boundaries in his very first over. Razzaq went for 42 runs from his six overs. Similar treatment awaited Shahid Afridi who took pounding from Symonds. Symonds was associated in a 66-run partnership with captain Ricky Ponting, the only notable contributor with 53, before single-handedly taking on the much-vaunted Pakistani attack in a belligerent show of batting. Australia: Gilchrist c Waqar b Wasim 1 Hayden b Wasim 27 Ponting c Taufiq b Shoaib 53 Martyn b Wasim 0 Maher c Latif b Waqar 9 Symonds not out 143 Hogg run out 14 Harvey c Waqar b Shoaib 24 Lee c Inzamam b Waqar 2 Gillespie not out 6 Extras:
(b-3, lb-9, nb-7, w-12) 31 Total: (for 8 wkts, 50 overs) 310 Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-52, 3-52, 4-86, 5-146, 6-216, 7-270, 8-292. Bowling:
Wasim 10-0-64-3, Shoaib 10-0-45-2, Waqar 8.3-1-48-2, Razzaq 6-0-42-0, Afridi 9.3-0-63-0, Younis 6-0-36-0. Pakistan Umar c Hogg b Lee 21 Afridi c Gilchrist b Elahi c Lee b Harvey 30 Haq c Gilchrist b McGrath 6 Youhana c Symonds b Younis Khan c Ponting b Razzaq c & b Hogg 25 Latif b Hogg 33 Akram c Ponting b Younis c McGrath b Akhtar not out 0 Extras:
(b-3, lb-9, w-10, nb-5) 27 Total: (all out, 44.3 overs) 228 FoW: 1-9, 2-38, 3-49, 4-81, 5-103, 6-125, 7-147, 8-201, 9-223. Bowling:
McGrath 10-2-39-1, Gillespie 8-1-28-1, Lee 7-0-37-1, Harvey 9.3-0-58-4, Hogg 10-0-54-3.
PTI
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Pakistan
made tactical blunders It was expected to be a pacy showdown but in no way it meant that spinners should be negated into the background. Both Shane Warne and Saqlain
Mushtaq did not figure in yesterday’s match and it does not augur well for the game. Yes, pitches in South Africa do favour the seam
bowlers but the world should learn from Sri Lanka’s tactics. Play your best bowler, irrespective of whether he is a spinner or not. While Shane Warne’s absence is equally sad as it was baffling, Ponting certainly missed his master-crafter but why Waqar chose to refuse
Mushtaq’s services is another mystery. Pakistan need variety in their bowling, what with the side packed with four fast bowlers, there was nothing much to bother the Aussies but keep feeding on the same diet. When you have three world class seamers, you need someone to slip in the overs quickly and Saqlain can do the needful in much more attacking way but surely he has a bigger role to play than this. As if this was not enough, Pakistan dug their own grave, maintaining an atrocious over rate and skipper Waqar ‘pulled’ for his naughty beamers. Nothing went right for Pakistan on Tuesday, they made tactical blunders, fielded poorly, bowled badly and when they batted, the performance only worsened expectedly. An 82 run defeat is definitely morale shattering. Still, don’t rule out the former world champs, capable they are, to measure up well in future course of the tournament. Australia truly gave a ‘Warne-ing’ to their supposedly heir successors even without Shane. McGrath, Gillespie and Brett Lee were at their usual self, accurate and deadly. But the core performance for Australia came from a person, who realised his actual worth only yesterday and what a time he chose to play that innings. Andrew Symonds was always known for his big hitting abilities and Pakistan came to know the reality in a very harsh manner. From a position of relative vulnerability to the pinnacle of absolute strength, Symonds drew the chart for them, showing exemplary maturity after skipper Ponting terminated his innings after a watchful half century. Australia have proved that they are not one man team and every player can answer the ‘call of the hour’. Though, the world will miss Warne, Aussies have taken it in their stride and it will not remain a hurdle between them and the 2003 cup. India open their campaign with Holland today and although it is an easy match, a lot of things in terms of combination, fielding, bowlers line and length and importantly their batting order will go through a close scrutiny. All the best India!
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Cricketing
world shocked
Johannesburg, February 11 Indian captain Saurav Ganguly, practicing at Paarl with the team ahead of their tournament opener against Holland tomorrow, said the news had stunned him and all the players assembled in South Africa for the gala event would miss him. “It’s really a sad news for world cricket.... I do not know on what basis he has been banned but obviously he will be missed,” said Ganguly adding that his own team-mates were very careful about the new drug policy put in place for the World Cup. “We are strictly following the instructions in this regard,” he said. All the 15 members of the Indian squad have cleared a dope test conducted on them before they left for South Africa. The news which came hours before Australia’s crucial game against Pakistan left the team totally in shock. Australian captain Ricky Ponting admitted as much but said the team had to get ahead with the job on hand. “Yes, the team is quite shocked to hear the news,” Ponting said. “But we have got the guys to put the situation out of our mind and concentrate on the game.” Former Australian Test player Tom Moody said he was quite hopeful that Warne would be cleared once the results of his B-sample are declared. Legendary Australian wicketkeeper Ian Healy said Warne should not be held guilty until his B-sample results were known. PTI
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Steve Waugh devastated over Warne’s exit
Johannesburg, February 11 “I know how much it meant to him this last one-day tournament,” Waugh added. “He wanted to make an impact on the world stage. I hope it works out for him because he’s been great for cricket and great for Australian cricket. “I personally want to remember all the great things he’s done
Despite his great admiration for his former team-mate, Waugh does not think the loss of Warne will hit Australia’s hopes of retaining the World Cup too hard. “They have got enough experience to get through and enough quality players to cope and I’m sure they’ll see this as another challenge,” said Waugh, who was sacked as Australia’s one-day captain last February. “I’m sure they will try and remain focused on the cricket, react positively and play as they always do, aggressively.” The 37-year-old Waugh said he was ready to fly to South Africa if the selectors decided to call him into the World Cup squad as a replacement. “I’m still available if needed but, at the moment, my thoughts are just on this terrible news,” Waugh said.
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Canada defeat Bangladesh Durban, February 11 Although Canada slumped after a positive start to be bowled out for a modest 180, their bowlers cashed in on a bouncy pitch to dismiss Bangladesh for just 120 in 27.2 overs. Hannan Sarkar and Sanwar Hossain, who both made 25, were the only batsmen to offer sustained resistance as the Canadians backed up accurate outswing bowling from the dreadlocked Austin Codrington, who took five wickets, and Davis Joseph with superb fielding. Scoreboard Canada: Maraj c Sanwar b Baisya 24 Davison b Mortaza 8 Chumney run out 28 Billcliff run out 42 Harris c Mashud b Sanwar 4 De Groot c Kapali b Sanwar 0 Sattaur lbw b Kapali 13 Bagai b Mortaza 7 Thuraisingam lbw b Rafique 6 Codrington c Baisya Joseph not out 9 Extras
(lb-7, nb-2, w-14) 23 Total (all out, 49.1 overs) 180 FoW:
1-18, 2-47, 3-70, 4-92, 5-104, 6-130, 7-134, 8-146, 9-159. Bowling: Manjural 8.1-1-30-1, Mortaza 8-0-38-2, Baisya 3-0-26-1, Rafique 10-2-34-1, Sanwar 10-0-26-2, Kapali 10-0-19-1. Bangladesh: Hannan Sarkar c Bagai Al Sahariar c Samad Habibul Bashar c Bagai b Thuraisingam 0 Ehsanul Haque c Bagai Sanwar Hossain Alok Kapali Khaled Mashud c Samad Mohammad Rafique Tapash Baisya c Sattaur Mashrafe Mortaza c Sattaur Manjural Islam not out 0 Extras:
(lb2, nb 0, w14, b 0) 16 Total: (all out, 28 overs) 120 FoW:
1-33, 2-44, 3-46, 4-76, 5-106, 6-108, 7-108, 8-119, 9-119, 10-120. Bowling:
Joseph 8-1-42-2, Thuraisingam 6-0-34-1, Codrington 9-3-27-5, Davison 5-1-15-2.
Reuters
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India eyeing emphatic win Paarl, February 11 Once tipped as World Cup favourites but now reduced to anxious starters, ideally India should not face much problem against the minnows who have come here through the ICC qualifiers. But India have been served a warning against complacency by way of upset results in the opening games. In the tournament opener, South Africa were stunned by three runs by a resurgent West Indies at Newlands and next day Sri Lanka proved too good for Stephen Fleming’s New Zealand side. It is crucial for India to strike big tomorrow if they hope to do well against other heavyweights sin their group. India will square up against Australia, England and Pakistan in subsequent league matches and in between there is a tie against Zimbabwe who looked in cracking form against Namibia on Monday, thumping their highest one-day score of 340 in Harare. Skipper Sourav Ganguly insisted the team will not take Holland lightly and wily off-spinner Harbhajan Singh echoed the sentiments of his other teammates saying, “we were casual in our practice match but since then we have sat down and discussed and decided that we will treat every game as the most difficult one of the tournament.” India’s biggest concern starts at the very top where captain Sourav Ganguly has made just 58 runs from his last seven one-day innings. Sachin Tendulkar, with just two runs in his last three games after missing 11 matches against West Indies and New Zealand due to injuries, and Rahul Dravid with 116 runs from last seven games, only add to India’s growing batting concern. To compound miseries for India, young guns Dinesh Mongia and Mohammad Kaif also have little going their way in the past few months, scoring 14 and 55 runs in their three and seven matches.
PTI |
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Kenya gear up for SA clash
Potchefstroom (South Africa), February 11 Since being granted one-day status after the 1996 World Cup, when they caused one of the tournament’s great upsets by defeating the West Indies, the Kenyans have played only 51 matches. “That is very little compared to the other teams,” said Quraishy. In the year leading up to the World Cup, Kenya have played nine matches, losing eight and having one no-result against Zimbabwe. One of their defeats was by 176 runs against South Africa at the ICC Trophy, extending their record against tournament hosts to eight losses in as many matches. “We would like to improve on our previous performances,” said Quraishy, who pointed out Kenya had defeated two South African provincial teams, Border and Eastern Province, in warm-up matches last week. AFP
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Olonga banned for outburst Johannesburg, February 11 The club said they were suspending the player because he had brought disrespect to the country. Olonga and Flower had said they were concerned about the lack of democracy in Zimbabwe and the suffering faced by hundreds of thousands of Zimbabwean citizens. They said they feared hundreds of people would die because of poverty and hunger. The two players also wore black arm bands during the match to register their protest and said they would wear the armbands during the entire duration of the tournament. Olonga and Flower said they were protesting as individuals and not on behalf of the entire team. The Zimbabwean Cricket Union said they were also investigating the incident.
PTI
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Andy Flower defied a ruthless system CAPE TOWN: Zimbabwean Andy Flower’s stance against the political leadership of his country is the singular most defiant gesture ever seen from a cricketer. The breakaway of Packer had reasons of lucre behind it, match-fixing was only a subversion of the game and court-battles against country’s board have only been with an intention to prolong a few careers. Here, an individual has sought to take on a ruthless system and is indicative of the high conscience with which Flower is endowed. Flower has had his run-ins but it’s only been with cricket establishment in the past. He has resisted politicisation of cricket in his country and time and again taken on the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) on poor monetary doleouts. In the highly commercialised world of cricket, it would surprise many to know an uncontracted Zimbabwean cricketer gets only 100 US dollars to play a Test match. There is a famous story about Flower which his critics in Zimbabwe love narrating in order to paint him a mercenary. It so happened Flower was to lead Rest of World against an Asia Eleven in a game in Dhaka in 2000. At the last minute, it was learnt Mark Waugh of Australia, and not him, would lead the side in the field. Waugh, embarrassed at this development, approached Flower to express his sympathy. But he was astonished to see Flower, smoking merrily, cracking jokes and exchanging pleasantries with other cricketers. “Aren’t you upset at leading the side,” asked Waugh, completely bewildered. “It doesn’t matter as long as I am counted (USD) 5000 on the table.” Till now, the only stubbornness of Flower one was familiar with was at the crease, in front and behind it. He has had a remarkable career and before Adam Gilchrist took his international guard, was rated the best wicketkeeper-batsman in the world. He has smashed 4794 runs in 63 Tests at an average of 51.55 and claimed 149 victims behind the stumps. His extreme fitness was best illustrated during the 1999 Nagpur Test when he stood for nearly 11 hours behind stumps and conceded no byes in India’s staggering total of 609 for 6 declared and then batted for over 11 hours in raising 277 runs from two innings, including a marathon 232 not out in the second, the biggest individual innings ever played by a Zimbabwean batsman. Indeed, he was the world’s best batsman in 2001, outscoring the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, Steve Waugh and Inzamam-ul Haq, and averaging in the high 60s. It is common knowledge that Flower plans to retire from international cricket after the World Cup to concentrate on playing county cricket in England. However, his simple gesture, to wear black armbands in protest at what he sees as the death of democracy in Zimbabwe, is a provocative act that could lead to treason charges. Zimbabwean captain Heath Streak and the other Zimbabwean players were apparently unaware that Flower was making his public stand until just before the start of the game, and none of the other home players joined him, or Henry
Olonga, in their on-field protest of wearing black armbands to symbolise their “mourning for the death of democracy in our beloved Zimbabwe”. |
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England
not to play
Cape Town, February 11
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Fleming
erred in inviting Lanka to bat first For one team, it was like playing in its own backyard. For the other, it was a test of its adaptability. Quite inevitably, Sri Lanka came into its own in the congenial environs that Bloemfontein offered and ran out winner by 47 runs of its World Cup group B league match against New Zealand in Bloemfontein. Sri Lanka’s thrives in conditions, straight out of the sub-continent. Its performance is directly related to the nature of the track. During its recent trip to Australia, Sri Lanka struggled on the seaming tracks, even losing twice in a day to an Australia B team in warm-up games. Its batsmen struggled to put bat to ball in alien conditions. But when the caravan shifted to Sydney, which houses the pitch that is conducive to slower bowlers, it was a dramatic turnaround, the team renewing its acquaintance with victory. It was no mere coincidence that the team blossomed in helpful conditions in Sydney. On Monday, the Sri Lankans found that playing in Bloemfontein was like playing at home, roses, rose all the way, a strewn with co-operation and success. New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming blundered in inviting Sri Lanka to bat first. He was living in cloud cuckoo’s nest. Asking the opposition to bat first was good strategy in seaming conditions back home when his bowlers could bend the ball like a banana and take the early wickets to exert pressure on India but not in Bloemfontein where the track did look like it would not afford the seamers much help. Left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori’s omission was also shocking, particularly on a track that had all the signs of being slow and low. It just shows that the best of mortals can err and Fleming will have ample opportunity to rue these mistakes. Sri Lanka seized the nettle through Sanath
Jayasuriya. The captain flowed like a rampaging river against the Kiwi attack. He is the centrifugal force of the Sri Lankan team. His batting is not orthodox, the willow slicing the ball from underneath to give the elevation as it races away. Clearly, as far as Jayasuriya is concerned, his policy is better be the hammer than the anvil. Besides, he picked the gaps as if he were threading a needle. Yet, Sri Lanka finished at least 20 runs short of what seemed likely. It was disappointing, for Hashan Tillekeratne stayed till the very end after having replaced Marvan Atapattu at the crease. He should have put his skating shoes on and shouldered the responsibility of accelerating the scoring rate so that the Sri Lankans could dictate terms. When chasing a target like 273 on a pitch that was progressively becoming slow, it was imperative for New Zealand to get to a good start since strokeplay was always going to be difficult after the ball lost its shine. When the ball became soft, it started holding on to the surface, and made it hard for the batsmen to manoeuvre it as easily. Losing early wickets took the wind out of New Zealand’s sails. It was always on the cards that the slower Sri Lankan attack would thrive in these conditions and
tighten the screws on the Kiwis. Scott Styris did play a fine innings but he was ploughing a lonely furrow, particularly after Aravinda de Silva lured the dangerous Chris Cairns. It is hard not to recall that the Black Caps were blazing on all cylinders back home against the Indians last month but were exposed as an ordinary side when the conditions did not suit their bowlers. They learnt that it is difficult to dance on a crooked floor. Perhaps, they were paying the price for choosing to play India on grassy tracks in the recent one-day series - not the ideal preparation for a World Cup where scores in excess of 260 seem to be the order of the day. Make no mistake, teams from the sub-continent will come into their own in the World Cup. And Sri Lanka has just fired the first salvo.
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Kiwis performed below par We could not have had a worse start to our World Cup campaign than our match against Sri Lanka. Sanath Jayasuriya once again proved that a century from him invariably translates into a win for his team. The rub of the green went the other way, and we performed well below par to make matters worse. We got things terribly wrong when we decided to leave out Daniel
Vettori, and then opted to field first. I had thought that the moisture on the wicket would liven things up for our seam bowlers, but that evaporated in less than 10 overs. Subsequently, it was a wicket that was very different from what we expected, and very similar to the ones Sri Lanka play on at home. There was very little pace and bounce, so our bowlers really struggled to make any impression earlier on. We did not help our cause early on by providing too much width to batsmen who thrive on scoring square of the wicket. After the 15th over itself, it was evident that we would have to work on minimizing the damage and we did peg them back a bit because at one stage it looked like the Sri Lankans would end up with 300-plus. Our batting also floundered because in our desire to get off to a good start, we forgot the basics for the first few overs. Thanks to Scott
Styris’ effort, we finally did not fall to far behind in the net run rate, but other than that it was a very ordinary effort from our team.
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Kiwis did not read pitch properly The Kiwis forgot one thing. They may have believed they were playing in New Zealand. It was a virtually automatic response from Stephen Fleming when, on winning the toss, he said he would field first. Fleming is rated one of the more intelligent captains in contemporary cricket. His cerebral approach has been well recognised. But his conditioned response undermined his team’s chances at Bloemfontein yesterday. Surely the very intelligent cricketer Fleming must have known this was not a pitch prepared by a Kiwi ‘curator’ as they tend to call pitch makers in the Antipodes. This surface was prepared by a South African groundsman. The gods also helped fool Fleming. The weather was cloudy after a couple of days of rain and the men from the Met office even predicted rain in the afternoon. The illusion of playing at home must have been complete. No wicket in South Africa is going to be deliberately prepared with excess moisture content as they did in New Zealand when the Indians were touring. The Kiwis may have had their great revenge on Indian cricket and the dust bowls it offers visitors. They have had their comeuppance. It was a routine tactic to ask the rival to bat on winning the toss. Win the toss and win the match was invariably the theme of one of the worst series for batsmen in recent times. Asking Sanath Jayasuriya to take strike is akin to inviting a camel into the tent. The trail blazer of 1996 is still meeting them in the meat, only he is a shrewder and wiser customer now. He knew the pitch would dry out and he would wait. This was not the Jayasuriya of 96 with his combustible strokeplay that challenged many common assumptions of cricket. In his coruscating run seven years ago, Jayasuriya helped change the game forever. He lent new meaning to the word attack. It was in the 92 edition of the World Cup that artificial attacking fields were introduced for the first 15 overs. Mark Greatbatch, Brian Lara and Ian Botham had helped find ways to exploit the huge untenanted areas of the outfield.
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Windies
could be the surprise package In the first three games played in this World Cup, the big guys have taken centre-stage, which not only speaks something about big-match temperament but has also made the games very exciting. Brian Lara, Wasim Akram and Sanath Jayasuriya rose to the occasion as only players of extraordinary calibre can. This is an event of huge hype and expectations which means there is enormous pressure on players to deliver. It is never easy in such situations, but Lara, Akram and Sanath seemed to thrive under the pressure. Their performances were memorable. For me personally, the highlight of the first couple of days has been the masterful batting of Lara against South Africa, arguably the best side in the tournament. He was in glorious touch and pulled the West Indies out of disaster with sensible and spectacular batting. The younger West Indies players also came good, which will be heartening for Carl Hooper, and will sound warning bells for the opponents. If the bowlers adjust to the conditions better, the West Indies could be the surprise package of the World Cup. There was something for India to learn from West Indies performance. If a man who has not played for six months can be trusted to bat at number three in trying conditions, why should we hedge in sending our best man out to get the maximum overs? In fact, I would not be surprised if Tendulkar is back as opener as the tournament progresses. The other important lesson from the first couple of days in the World Cup is about team compositions. Most teams have gone in packed with batsmen, but including guys who can turn their arm over. Given the kind of weather that prevails here and the fact that there have been good batting tracks as well as turners, it gives teams from the subcontinent a decent chance. I would say that it might be a good idea to play two spinners too. It is important to get the right combination in place early because the first match is against Holland. After that, there are three tough matches, and chopping and changing later can be detrimental.
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North 123 for 2 Rohtak, January 11 Earlier, weather played spoilsport as only 160 minutes of play was possible due to dense fog. East Zone won the toss and put North in to bat first. North lost their skipper Manvinder Bisla on 17 when his team had made 38 runs. Bisla was caught by H. Dass off the bowling of Saurav Sarkar. His dismissal was followed by second wicket partnership of 75 runs between Shikhar Dhawan and S. Oberoi. Oberoi contributed 44 before being trapped leg before wicket by Tushar. Sarkar and Tushar bagged one wicket each giving away 39 and 9 runs only. Play had to be suspended before schedule when batsmen appealed against light.
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Brazil
football team gets bomb threat
Guangzhou, February 11 For several hours ahead of yesterday’s arrival of the Brazilian team, including superstars Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho, Guangzhou police had cordoned off and evacuated large parts of Baiyun Airport, the Information Daily reported. The anonymous caller told airport authorities mid-afternoon yesterday that three bombs had been placed in the airport, resulting in a widespread search of airport facilities, the report said. After locating several “suspicious objects”, the police cordoned off and evacuated several departure zones and a garden area at the exit of the airport. Investigation and removal of the objects by the bomb squad continued until last evening, but normal airline traffic was not interrupted due to the threat, it said. No public announcement of the bomb scare was made. Journalists covering the arrival of Brazil, who play a friendly against China tomorrow, complained of the team’s delay, but Chinese football officials told AFP they were unaware of any “bomb scare.” China’s airways have been under increased security following a February highjack attempt by a 39-year-old Chinese man, who demanded to be taken to Taiwan after lighting a fire in the cabin of a flight from Beijing to Fuzhou city, southeastern Fujian province.
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Salgaocar hold Vasco in NFL Margao, February 11 It was a tale of missed chances for both the teams in both the halves, but Salgaocar had an edge and could have won outright had they utilised the chances before them, especially in the second half. In the first leg, Vasco had defeated Salgaocar 1-0. With this draw, Salgaocar took their tally to 24 points below table-toppers East Bengal with 30 points, while Vasco remained on the same third spot with 23 points from equal number of outings. Tollygunge beat IB Kolkata: Ashim Biswas scored a brace as Tollygunge Agragami got past Indian Bank 4-2 in a seventh National Football League outing here today. The locals, who stamped their authority from the outset with a cohesive display, took an early lead through Moses Owira before Biswas struck twice to make the scoreline 3-0 at the break. Nigerian import Akeem made the scoreline 4-0 in the 67th minute before the visitors reduced the margin through veteran striker Sabbir Pasha and Basheer Ahmed in the 73rd minute and 87th minute of the Salt Lake stadium match. With this, Tollygunge improved their tally to 17 points from 13 matches while the Bankmen, conceding five consecutive losses, remained at 11 points from 13 outings. Moses, who had scored twice against ITI, broke the ice for the hosts with a 25 yarder that rammed into the net past a helpless Bank goalkeeper in the 18th minute. Three minutes later, Biswas got a ball from a Amitabha Chanda freekick and fired a power packed right footer from top of the box that swung into the goal. The talented youngster, who has been delivering the goods upfront on regular basis, scored his second in the 34th minute with a long ranger from 30 yards that stunned the entire rival defence giving no chance to Bank custodian Sebastian Netto. UNI,
PTI
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Hockey
tourney Ludhiana, February 11 |
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Johannesburg,
February 11
