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Langer’s century puts
Aussies in command
BCCI probe finds ‘evidence’
against Kale Giles spins England back into Test
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Cairns eyeing win against Pakistan Ranji Trophy: Delhi, Punjab settle for draw Six-wicket haul by Sahu
Crowd disrupts
Ranji tie Confusion marks opening of school games BSF beat Karnataka,
enter semis
Mahindras down Bagan PU, DU enter semifinals Inter-College Table
Tennis Championship from Dec 8
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Langer’s century puts
Aussies in command
Brisbane, December 4 Steve Waugh’s farewell series began on the right note for the Aussies as they finished the first day at 262 for two with Langer on 115 accompanied by Damien Martyn on 36 before poor light brought halt to the extended post-tea session. Overcast conditions in the morning and a couple of rain interruptions failed to clamp down the Aussie onslaught, negating Saurav Ganguly’s advantage of winning the toss and opting to bowl under a dark cloud cover. A perfect century stand for the third wicket between Langer and Martyn helped the hosts take firm control even as the Indians found timely breakthroughs with the dismissals of Matthew Hayden (37) and Ricky Ponting (54) earlier. Not that Hayden and Ponting were subdued any bit in their batting. The two put on 73 and 89 runs, respectively, for the first two wickets with Langer and succumbed only to their own over confidence rather than to the opposition bowling. After a loss of 77 minutes of play due to rain in the opening session, the tourists were submerged in the Aussie run deluge. Hayden waded into the Indian bowling in disdainful manner, driving and chopping the left arm pace duo of Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan. Langer, who survived a catch by Aakash Chopra at forward short leg on eight as Nehra’s delivery was ruled ‘no ball’, settled down to play the anchor role and left the damage doing to his more buccaneering partner. When the Australians were flying at well above 4.5 runs an over, India claimed the prized scalp of Hayden. Hayden’s dismissal came against the run of play as he uncharacteristically flashed his bat outside the off-stump and the edge was taken neatly by VVS Laxman at second slip off Zaheer Khan. Ponting announced his intentions with three sparkling boundaries in the very next over from Agarkar before playing a rasping pull off Zaheer Khan. The Australian captain’s charge helped the hosts sustain the brisk scoring rate and the 100 came in the 24th over. But Agarkar returned to bowl a tight second spell and in particular tied down Ponting with his away moving deliveries. Ponting survived a loud appeal for caught behind which TV replays showed to be noise of bat hitting the ground. At the other end, Langer was repeatedly rapped on the pads as he went for sweep shots against offie Harbhajan Singh. Chopra was again in action when he got his fingers under a Harbhajan ball gloved by Langer but he failed to hold on to it. This particular phase marked the slowing down of the Aussie juggernaut as the run rate dipped to 3.97. But Ponting broke the shackles with a huge six into the long-on stands off Harbhajan and then square drove Agarkar for his half century which came in 72 balls. In all, his knock consisted of seven fours and a six. Ponting ultimately fell while trying to pull a Zaheer delivery from outside the off-stump and top edged a simple catch to wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel. Earlier, India stuck to Aakash Chopra and Virender Sehwag as their opening batting combination and left out Anil Kumble. Scoreboard Australia 1st innings Justin Langer batting 115 Hayden c Laxman b Zaheer 37 Ponting c Patel b Zaheer 54 Martyn batting 36 Extras
(b-4, lb-4, w-2, nb-10) 20 Total (2 wkts in 62 overs) 262 Fall of wicket:
1-73, 2-162. Bowling: Zaheer Khan 15-1-53-2, Ashish Nehra 15-4-51-0, Ajit Agarkar 17-2-74-0, Harbhajan Singh 14-1-68-0, Saurav Ganguly 1-0-8-0.
— PTI |
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BCCI probe finds ‘evidence’ against Kale
Mumbai, December 4 The Inquiry Commissioner D.V. Subba Rao, who heard Kale and the three selectors in Visakhapatnam last week, has said in a report that “the totality of circumstances appeared to indicate a prima facie case to proceed further.” “In order to convince myself that there is a prima facie case, I have set out reasons elaborately and if the Board decides to refer the matter to the Disciplinary Committee, the committee would have to assess the material placed before them uninfluenced by the views given by me to conclude that there is a prima facie case,” Rao said in his report, portions of which were submitted before the Bombay High Court hearing Kale’s petition challenging the Board’s order of suspension against him. The report’s contents were submitted to the High Court by the BCCI counsel and Maharashtra Advocate General Goolam Vahanvati. The report found that Kale had contacted selector Kiran More five times on his cell phone and during one such conversation he had allegedly offered him a bribe of Rs 10 lakh. On August 5, Kale called up another selector Pranab Roy five times and even met him at the Mumbai airport where he allegedly offered him bribe of Rs 10 lakh to be included in the Indian team to tour Australia. Roy turned down the offer, Vahanvati submitted. Earlier this May, Kale’s mother allegedly met More at the latter’s residence in Baroda and offered him Rs 10 lakh bribe to include Kale in the team, the court was told. The BCCI counsel’s submission was made during a hearing on Kale’s petition against his suspension by the Cricket Board. Justice Dilip Bhonsale of the High Court asked Kale to go back to Pune Civil Court on the issue of his suspension. He had originally filed a suit in the Pune court challenging the BCCI action. Kale filed the appeal in the High Court challenging the order of Pune District Court upholding his suspension by the BCCI on the charge of allegedly offering bribe to selectors. — PTI
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Former Kerala player
alleges bribe demand Thiruvananthapuram, December 4 Mohammed Ali Fatahu, a former Kerala under-19 schools team captain, claimed that those who ran the selection camp at Ludhiana in April 1995 had approached him for the money. The camp and trials were held at the Punjab Agricultural University ground. Fatahu’s allegation comes after national selectors Kiran More and Pranab Roy alleged on November 20 that Maharashtra batsman Abhijit Kale had offered them Rs.10 lakh each for a berth in the national team. While Kale has denied the allegations, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has launched an inquiry into the affair. Fatahu (25) said when those who had asked for money realised there were no takers, they started bargaining. The cricketer said he did not pay the money and was dropped from the team, but added that he was not aware about the others. “Since I did not pay, I was not selected. I am told that a few who paid were selected for the tour,” Fatahu told IANS over telephone from Kasargode. “Dinesh Mongia was the captain of the team.” Among those who were there for the trials and not selected included Virender Sehwag, said Fatahu. “I remember him weeping on not being selected,” he recalled. Fatahu led the Kerala under-19 schools team in 1995, 1997 and 1998 and later went on to represent the state under-22 team. “Looking back, I am really disappointed at not being selected despite performing very well in the selection trials and also in the warm up matches,” he said. Fathau, who still plays club cricket, said one good outcome of the Kale controversy was that it exposed the malpractice going on in Indian cricket for years. “I am happy that the controversy has broken out, revealing the hidden things in the game,” he said. “I am now planning to quit the game and am looking to enter into business.”
— IANS
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Giles spins England back into Test
Galle, December 4 Sri Lanka, who posted 331 and then dismissed England for 235 in the first innings, have a lead of 195 going into the fourth day with Mahela Jayawardene batting on 14 and Chaminda Vaas on six. Sri Lanka’s batsmen wasted a chance of seizing the initiative after ace off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan’s seven-wicket haul mesmerised England, giving him five or more wickets for the 39th time in 83 matches. England’s batsmen failed to read Muralitharan (7 for 46), who turned another Galle Test into a celebration of his prodigious spinning to take five wickets for the seventh time in nine Tests here. Muralitharan dismissed Paul Collingwood (1), Andrew Flintoff (1), Chris Read (0), Ashley Giles (18) and Richard Johnson (26) as the batsmen were caught in two minds trying to read his sharp turners. Scoreboard
Sri Lanka (1st innings): 331 England (1st innings): (overnight 97-2): Trescothick c Sangakkara b Murali 23Vaughan b Murali 24 Butcher c Sangakkara b Jayasuriya 51Thorpe lbw b Vaas 43 Collingwood c Jayasuriya b Murali 1Flintoff lbw b Murali 1 Read c Tillakaratne b Murali 0 Batty c Jayasuriya b Dharmasena 14Giles c Atapattu b Murali 18 Johnson c Atapattu b Murali 26 Hoggard not out 6 Extras: (b12, lb8, nb8) 28 Total: (all out, 100.4 overs) 235 Fall of wickets: 1-56, 2-67, 3-142, 4-143, 5-151, 6-155, 7-177, 8-183, 9-208 Bowling: Vaas 12-2-25-1, Fernando 3-1-21-0, Dharmasena 24-6-55-1, Muralitharan 31.4-15-46-7, Chandana 13-2-24-0, Jayasuriya 17-2-44-1. Sri Lanka (2nd innings): Atapattu st Read b Batty 35 Jayasuriya c T’thick b Giles 17 Sangakkara run out 19 Jayawardene batting 14 Tillakaratne lbw b Batty 1 Samaraweera c Trescothick b Giles 1Vaas batting 6 Extras: (lb6) 6 Total: (5 wickets, 44.3 overs) 99 Fall of wickets: 1-26, 2-72, 3-72, 4-78, 5-85 Bowling: Hoggard 6-1-24-0, Johnson 2-1-6-0, Flintoff 3-1-9-0, Giles 19-8-24-2, Batty 13.3-4-28-2, Vaughan 1-0-2-0. — AP  |
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Cairns eyeing win against Pakistan Rawalpindi, December 4 “Everybody is trying his best out there and if we can pull off a victory it will be fantastic,” said the 33-year-old Cairns, whose side lost the first three encounters and the five-match series. All-rounder Abdul Razzaq displaced the Black Caps with a whirlwind 46 off just 22 balls to help Pakistan achieve their second best target of 292 in Lahore for a three-wicket win.
— AFP |
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Ranji Trophy: Delhi, Punjab settle for draw Chandigarh, December 4 Former international batsman Ajay Jadeja, who failed to play any worthwhile innings for his side in his earlier outings, finally looked to have found his touch and scored an unbeaten half century. Opener Rajat Bhatia was the other notable contributor with 75. Stand-in skipper Mithun Manhas, who scored a superb century in the first innings, contributed 31. Jadeja, who came in to bat at No 5, was into his groove straightway. Though the unbeaten knock of 54 runs scored by Jadeja was largely inconsequential as the fate of the match had virtually been sealed earlier, it would certainly act as a morale booster for the star batsman and put him in better frame of mind for the battles ahead. Former India one-day batsman batted with confidence and gave glimpse of his fluent batting during his stay at the wicket. He played some scintillating strokes from the middle of the bat and was at ease rotating the strike. The knock includes eight hits to the fence. Jadeja faced 103 deliveries. His earlier highest score of the season was 31 that he made against Mumbai. From Punjab seamer Vineet Sharma was the most successful bowler and took two wickets, while Gagandeep, Uniyal and Sodhi took one wicket each. Delhi now find themselves in an unenviable situation. With just two points in its kitty after four matches, Delhi would desperately need all the experience of Jadeja in the remaining matches if they have to stage a recovery in the championship. Delhi suffered two successive defeats against Mumbai and Railways before this drawn match. They have just two points they took on account of the first innings lead against Uttar Pradesh. The match again highlighted the lack of penetration in Punjab bowling attack. Punjab have been hampered by the failure of its bowlers to bowl out the opposition within a manageable totals. Delhi, who went into the match without its key batsmen like Virender Sehwag, Dinesh Chopra, Gautam Gambhir and skipper Vijay Dahiya, managed to put 310 on the board in the first innings. In the second innings also their batsmen were in sight of putting a decent total on the board. In the earlier matches in the season also Punjab bowlers struggled to keep the opposition within the manageable total. In the first match Kerala had the scores of 344 and 131 for two in two innings. Then Uttar Pradesh piled up huge 471 runs against Punjab in the second match, while Baroda managed 369 in the third match. Punjab have four points after four matches and will now take on Railways in the next league match in New Delhi.
Scoreboard Delhi (1st innings): 310 Punjab (1st innings): 385 Delhi (2nd innings):
Salil Oberoi c Dharmani b Vineet 26, Rajat Bhatia c Mongia b Vineet 75, Rajan Gupta lbw Sodhi 22, Mithun Manhas c Mongia b Uniyal 31, Ajay Jadeja not out 54, Pradeep Chawla c Mongia c Mongia b Gagandeep 30, Varun Kumar not out 4.
Extras: (b 3, lb 6, nb 11, w 2): 22. Total: (for five wickets in 96 overs): 264. Fall of wickets: 1-74, 2-122, 3-155, 4-183, 5-255. Bowling: Gagandeep Singh 27-7-72-1, Vineet Sharma 18-4-48-2, Amit Uniyal 21-5-50-1, Reetinder Sodhi 18-5-38-1, Navdeep Singh 10-0-36-0, Dinesh Mongia 2-0-11-0. |
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Six-wicket haul by Sahu Rohtak, December 4 However, the final day gave enough opportunity for the two Haryana youngsters to prove their mettle. Leggie Pradeep Sahu bagged six wickets, including that of
centurian Tirtha Roy. It was his effort which ultimately restricted Tripura from surpassing Haryana’s first innings lead. Haryana now have 6 points from two matches . Haryana (Ist innings):
461 for 6 declared. Tripura (Ist innings): Tirtha Roy c Ganda b Sahu 118, Ritesh Joyswal c Rawat b Vashisht 14, Timir Chanda c Rawat b Virmani 11, Sandeep Dahad c Jitender b Sahu 55, Chetan Sachdev not out 67, Arindam Sarkar lbw Vashisht 8, Aashish Kapoor b Sahu 10, S. Mahesh b Sahu 0, T.R. Arasu c Chetan b Sahu 6, Tushar Saha lbw Sahu 4, Sonu Sharma b Joginder 6. Extras: (b-15, lb-8, nb-2, w-1) 26. Total 325 all out in 158.5 overs. Fall of wickets :
1/30, 2/53, 3/180, 4/257, 5/272, 6/285, 7/289, 8/297, 9/305. Bowling : Joginder Sharma 23.5-10-45-1, S.Narwal 12-2-27-0, Gaurav Vashisht 57-29-97-2, S.Virmani 16-4-29-1. Pradeep Sahu 43-10-96-6, Ishan Ganda 7-3-8-0. Haryana (2nd innings) :
Jitender Singh c Sachdev b Sonu Sharma 13, Chetan Sharma c Joyswal b Dahad 1, Sunny Singh not out 61, Mahesh Rawat not out 24. Extras: (b-4, lb-2, nb-5) 11. Total: 110 for 2 wickets in 36 overs. Fall of wickets: 1/17, 2/29. Bowling : S. Dahad 5-3-14-1, S. Mahesh 4-1-10-0, Sonu Sharma 14-5-39-1, Tushar Saha 7-0-34-0, Timir Chanda 6-1-7-0. |
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PANAJI: The ongoing Ranji Trophy match between Goa and Services saw police being summoned to control the crowd which turned hostile after three doubtful decisions against the hosts here on Thursday. Goa, chasing a target of 251 runs for victory against Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) on the last day of the Ranji Plate ‘B’ match, were 44 for no loss at one time. However, they were reduced to 75 for 4 at lunch due to allegedly ‘wrong’ decisions taken by umpires Suresh Dev from Pune and Dr Shekar Chowdhury from Kolkata, which sent Swapnil Asnodkar, Sagun Kamat and Vivek Kolamkar back to pavilion. The fans turned violent and started abusing the umpires during lunch time, and both umpires refused to go on the field for the fear of being attacked.
— UNI
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Punjab restrict Haryana Ludhiana, December 4 Haryana
(Ist innings): 243 all out in 84.1 overs (Harish Garg 38, Dharmender 52, Kamal Sheel 36, Vaibhav Chauhan 8; Varun Khanna 4 for 45, Sandeep Sanwal 2 for 57). Punjab
(Ist innings): 8 for 1 ( Amardeep batting 3, Binwani Singh 2, Sandeep Sanwal 2 bating). |
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Confusion marks opening of school games Patiala, December 4 Sportspersons from only five states — Punjab, Pondicherry, Assam, A.P and Maharashtra — could be seen during the opening ceremony. This development forced the panic stricken organisers to send a message to various local schools to send groups of children to make up the numbers. One such school was the local Modern Senior Secondary school whose delegation stood next to the contingents of participating states. The ‘Nationals’ were formally inaugurated by Education Minister Khushal Behal in the forenoon. The organisers, led by Mrs Rupa Saini, a Deputy Director in the state education department, and Mr C.L Negi, President of the School Games Federation of India (SGFI), cried foul and alleged that the games were sabotaged by a former Secretary-General of the SGFI. When contacted Mr P S Chabbra denied having sent any fax message to any SGFI unit and added that Mr C.L. Negi had ceased to be president of the federation since 2001. Mr Chabbra claimed that the constitution of the SGFI stipulated that person can remain in office president for only two terms and Mr Negi was flouting this norm by claiming that he was the president since this would have been his third term. Mr Chabbra informed that the ‘real’ national school games while scheduled to commence at four centres spread across Gujarat, TN, Delhi and West Bengal from December 11. Later, the organisers released a set of documents in order to prove their claims that Mr Chabbra had sent facsimile messages to all SGFI affiliated units in which he had ‘misinformed’ them that the nationals had been cancelled. Mr Negi released a letter written by the Collector of Kolapur, who was the chief organiser of the football meet, to the Punjab Education Minister in which the Collector had written that “Mr Chabbra, the suspended Secretary General of the SGFI had sent misguiding messages to all states informing that the tournament stands cancelled.” The Kolapur meet assumed significance as it was to act as trials to select the Indian team for the Asian Schools Football Championship, slated to be held in China later this month. |
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BSF beat Karnataka,
enter semis Jalandhar, December 4 Defending champions BSF finally outclassed Karnataka 3-2. In the first half, Karnataka players displayed some fine techniques to keep their rivals on
defensive. Harbhajan Singh of BSF was the first to breach Karnataka’s defence in the 13th minute as he took control of the ball and netted the ball to sound the board (1-0). Changing strategy, Karnataka players made some good moves to score an equaliser but the luck sided with them only in the 27th minute, as Oliver Rubdi made no mistake in converting a penalty corner (1-1). They further improved the tally in the 31st minute through an impressive field goal by R. Satish from the left flank (1-2). In the 38th minute, BSF got the opportunity in the shape of a penalty corner and Marianos Lakra easily converted it to sound the board (2-2). Finally, Hobil Topno of BSF scored a field goal in the 51st minute (3-2) to secure a place for his team in the semifinal. Meanwhile, CISF trounced ITBP 1-0 whereas CRPF registered an impressive victory over rivals Jammu and Kashmir 4-1. |
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Mumbai, December 4 It was a timely win for the Mahindras against a lacklustre Bagan, who played both their new Brazilian recruits medio Leondro Monerat D’Almedia and forward Eduardo Pereira Leal Ribeiro but to no avail. All the three goals came in the second half of the match. Mahindra’s fleet footed mid-fielder James Singh put his team ahead in the 55th minute with a fine floater following a free kick from the top of the box. Twenty minutes later Bagan captain and striker Jose Barreto equalised off mid-fielder Rocus Lamare. However, the visitors joy was shortlived, as just four minute later Mahindra striker Felix Aboagye put his team ahead again with an opportunistic goal. — PTI
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PU, DU enter semifinals Ludhiana, December 4 In their last league fixture, Panjab University beat Delhi University 3-1 to advance into the last eight stage. Chandigarh lads shot into the lead in the 17th minute through Satwinder Singh. Delhi University restored parity through Hari Dass just two minutes before the lemon break. Rajinder Singh of Panjab University struck immediately after the change of ends to put his side ahead again and Raghubir Singh converted a penalty corner into a goal to complete the tally 3-1. In an exciting match, Mumbai University pipped Punjabi University, Patiala, 3-2 to enter the
semifinal. The winners led leading by a solitary goal at the interval. Hardev Singh of Punjabi University scored a field goal in the 25th minute and Harjinder Pal Singh struck in the 55th
minute. For Mumbai, Jaisap Jaidev scored the first hat-trick (46th, 59th and 62nd minutes) of the tournament to steer his team to the last four stage. |
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Inter-College Table
Tennis Championship from Dec 8 Patiala, December 4 The inter college yoga event for both boys and girls will be held at the university campus on December 19 while trials to select the men and women university archery squad will be held at the Polo grounds.
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