 |
|
|
Race for cricket coach begins
Panel for spicing up ODIs
Mumbai bookies go
underground
‘Mehta was active in Indo-Pak series’
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
West Indies go down to resilient Pak
Monaco ready for clash of the stars
Inter Milan in final
Manav bags a double
|
|
Race for cricket coach begins
New Delhi, May 19 The interview began at a city hotel, with Mohinder Amarnath, the lone Indian in the fray, being the first to present his candidature before the committee, headed by BCCI President Ranbir Singh Mahendra. After his session with the committee, Amarnath said he was satisfied with his presentation. “I had a friendly conversation. I am satisfied with my presentation,” Amarnath said. Former Australian captain and one of the top contenders for the job, Greg Chappell, said he was pleased with his presentation before the six-member committee. “I am very pleased about being given the opportunity. I had an enjoyable presentation session with the committee,” Chappell told reporters after his interview. Asked about his compatriot Tom Moody being tagged as hot favourite for the job, Chappell said he only concentrated on his part and did not worry about anyone else. “All I can do is to do my presentation and I cannot worry about other things too much. It is up to the committee to give the decision. I hope they will give the right decision,” he said. The Australian, one of the most experienced among the four shortlisted by the BCCI, refused to comment on the selection process. “Not much can I can say (about the process) at this point of time. But it is a great honour to be given the opportunity to make the presentation,” he said. Three former Indian captains — Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and Srinivas Venkatraghavan — were in the committee, which also included former BCCI President Jagmohan Dalmiya and BCCI Secretary S.K. Nair, who was the convener.
— PTI |
|
Panel for spicing up ODIs
Dubai, May 19 The suggestion of the committee, which met in Dubai under the chairmanship of Sunil Gavaskar and comprised 12 other international players, means that a team can bring in an extra player for batting while leaving him for a bowler at a later stage of the match and vice-versa. Gavaskar said the innovations would introduce a new tactical dimension to ODI cricket. “I think the changes to the way the fielding restrictions work will enliven the game and introduce a new element of unpredictability throughout the course of an innings,” said Gavaskar. “It is recommended that this be introduced in time for the Johnnie Walker Super Series in Australia this October.” The meeting also made a series of recommendations in relation to the playing of the game, which would now be considered by the ICC Chief Executives’ Committee at its next meeting in England on June 24 and 25. The committee also recommended a change to the way fielding restrictions apply in one-day cricket. It said restrictions should apply for the first 10 overs of every innings with two additional blocks of five overs to be applied through the course of an innings at the discretion of the fielding captain. Giving respite to Ricky Ponting, the ICC allowed the Australian captain to use his bat, at least for the time being, pending a final decision from the game’s law-makers on the bat’s legality. The committee asked the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and bat manufacturers to review the laws and regulations governing the manufacture of bats. “The committee recommended that an expert panel should be established to review the matter in conjunction with the MCC, bat manufacturers and select universities with the necessary research facilities,” ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed said. Gavaskar, Angus Fraser, Tim May, Arjuna Ranatunga and David Richardson have been recommended for appointment to this panel. To assist the panel in its deliberations, the committee made a number of recommendations in relation to the composition of bats to be used for international cricket. It said the dimensions of the bat should remain the same, it should have a conventional shape, the splice and handle be clearly defined, the blade of bat should be made of a single piece of solid wood, the practice of injecting substances such as cork is to be illegal and any cover should be used to protect, strengthen and repair the bat and not to improve its striking power. The committee also favoured a technology trial to be undertaken at the Johnnie Walker Super Series to allow on-field umpires to consult with the TV umpire on any aspect of any decision. The final decision after these discussions, however, would remain with the on-field umpire. The only exceptions to this would be line decisions, which would be dealt with by the TV umpire in the same manner as at present, and catches, where the existing process would also be retained. The current practice for catches is that they are only referred where both umpires are unsighted as this is one area where TV replays have proved inconclusive. ICC General Manager, Cricket, David Richardson, said the trial would build on a similar trial at the Champions Trophy 2002 in Sri Lanka. The committee also rejected a proposal that called for two neutral umpires in all international one-day matches.
— PTI |
|
Mumbai bookies go
underground
Mumbai, May 19 According to police sources, bookies have moved to Gujarat and even New Delhi to prevent being caught. There is apprehension that Mehta may reveal the names and modus operandi of several top bookies during his police remand, which will continue till May 21. Mehta, who is said to be the kingpin of the bookies in Mumbai, is now being probed for his links with the underworld. Maharashtra home department sources say Mehta may be booked under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act for conspiring with the Dawood Ibrahim gang to fix matches. Mehta’s name had cropped up in the match-fixing scandal involving Mohammad Azharrudin. He is also suspected to have been a guest at the wedding of Sachin Tendulkar some years ago. The police said Mehta, who headed the betting syndicate, was also linked to hawala operators for transferring money in and out of the country. Mehta’s associates Hitesh Samrat and Laxmikant Thane too were on the run. According to the sources, the Mumbai police was cooperating with the ICC in cracking down on the cricket bookmaking syndicate. Malcolm Greece, who heads ICC’s anti-corruption cell, had met city police officials last year for assistance in cracking down on betting syndicates. |
|
‘Mehta was active in Indo-Pak series’
New Delhi, May 19 The sources, who played a key role in Mehta’s arrest in Mumbai on Tuesday on charges of running an illegal telephone exchange devoted to betting, said Mehta had placed huge bets in the first one-day international at Kochi on April 2 which India won. Transactions of the wager during the match surfaced after the Visakhapatnam police in Andhra Pradesh busted a three-member gang while accepting bets during the course of the match. “After seizing laptop computers, voice-mail assembling boxes, mobile phones and electronic junction boxes, similar to what the Mumbai police unearthed, we found that Shobhan Mehta’s name figured in the betting transactions,” a senior police official told IANS. Four other gangs were busted in Kanpur, New Delhi and Visakhapatnam during the two weeks that the one-day series was played in India, until April 17. “We will now get in touch with the police in each of these cities and find out if Mehta’s name figures in the gambling transactions,” said a police officer in Mumbai. “We are yet to question him on his links with Indian cricketers, which we will know in a few days, and of his contacts in Dubai.” Senior officials of the International Cricket Council’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) said they had provided to the Mumbai police a dossier on Mehta’s activities in August last year, warning them to keep a check on his activities. The arrest of Mehta has brought back the ghost of India’s links with match fixing — a spectre that haunted cricket when the Hansie Cronje affair rocked the world in 2000 following the efforts of the Mumbai police. The ACSU’s investigations revealed that Mehta, who has been active taking bets for 15 years, had amassed huge sums running into millions. At one point, he was keen to shift his operations abroad, but decided against it on the advice of his family members, police sources said. Clearly, Mumbai was the hub for illegal betting and Mehta was the ringleader, said the sources. Other known Mumbai bookies such as Hitesh Bhaigala, alias Samrat, Virender Borivilli, Jayanti Phuria from Malad, Devendra Kothari from Andheri, Kishore Soni from Mahalaxmi and Jagdish Sodha from Vile Parle did not run such huge operations like Mehta during international cricket matches. ACSU sources said they had informed Mumbai’s former Joint Commissioner, Crime, S.P. Singh, about Mehta while investigating the links of another bookie, Jagdish Sodha, with former Kenyan captain Maurice Odumbe. Odumbe had travelled to Mumbai four times in 2002, and Sodha had paid for his stay at five-star hotels. Odumbe, who was subsequently suspended from international cricket in August last year, reportedly confessed that he had received $28,000 to fix matches. It had also come to light that Mehta was among a group of 23 bookies picked by the police during a raid at the Bageecha restaurant in suburban Malad in January, 2003. The bookies had apparently got together to work out a Rs 5 million ‘hafta’ (weekly payout) to the police in return for being allowed to operate freely during the World Cup in South Africa. It was alleged that the bookies were let off on instructions from Joint Commissioner Shridhar Wagal — now in jail for his alleged links with Abdul Karim Telgi, the mastermind behind the counterfeit stamp paper racket that was busted in 2003. ACSU sources said Mehta’s arrest was long overdue. “Now it is up to the police how they handle the probe and dig out more details.”
— IANS |
|
West Indies go down to resilient Pak
Kingstown, May 19 Scoreboard
Pakistan Butt c Marshall b Bravo 43 Afridi run out 24 Malik c Browne Youhana run out 30 Inzamam b Gayle 23 Younis c and b Gayle 9 Razzaq c Sarwan Akmal c Browne Naved lbw b Gayle 1 Iftikhar not out 8 Shabbir run out 1 Extras:
(lb-2, w-10) 12 Total: (all out, Fall of wickets: 1-27, 2-55, 3-97, 4-133, 5-152, 6-153, 7-168, 8-173, 9-190. Bowling:
Bradshaw 8-1-27-2, Powell 7-0-38-0, Collymore 7.4-1-24-1, Hinds 4-0-22-0, Chanderpaul 0.2-0-0-0, Bravo 7.3-0-31-1, Gayle 10-0-48-3. West Indies Gayle c Akmal b Naved 22 Marshall c Akmal Sarwan c Inzamam Morton c Akmal Chanderpaul c Akmal Hinds b Razzaq 11
Bravo c Afridi
b Shabbir 27 Browne c and b Afridi 0 Bradshaw c and Powell b Razzaq 6 Collymore not out 1 Extras
(1lb, 2w, 8nb) 11 Total (all out, Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-26, 3-43, 4-58, 5-74, 6-76, 7-77, 8-116, 9-127. Bowling:
Naved 9-0-23-2, Iftikhar 7-1-30-0, Shabbir 9.2-2-19-2, Afridi 10-0-28-2, Razzaq 9-1-29-4, Malik 1-0-3-0.
— AP |
|
CSKA Moscow create history
Lisbon, May 19 Carvalho later sent a through ball to Yuri Zhirkov, who ran into the area and shot the ball through the legs of Ricardo in the 66th minute. Vagner Love made it 3-1 in the 75th minute, scoring into an open net after a deft pass from Carvalho on a counterattack. Carvalho, who came to Sporting from Brazilian club
International last year, was named man of the match. CSKA became the first Russian team to win a European final. Dynamo Moscow came close, reaching the 1972 Cup Winners’ Cup final, but lost to Rangers.
— AP |
|
Monaco ready for clash of the stars
Monaco, May 19 Kimi Raikkonen helped McLaren’s empire strike back at the last race in Barcelona as he outgunned championship leader Fernando Alonso to end the four-race rule of Renault. With world champions Ferrari desperate to fight back fast following a disastrous start to the year and Toyota also improving fast, there are plenty of contenders for one of the biggest prizes of the season. Raikkonen, who has started the last two races from pole, is confident of continuing his run in engine partners Mercedes’ 200th race. But while Monaco is guaranteed to attract the cream of celebrity stardom, with Star Wars creator George Lucas and his costumed cast guests of Red Bull Racing this year, the action on the twisty barrier-lined track is less predictable. Last year’s race saw the first career victory for Italian Jarno Trulli, who was then driving for Renault, and there have been an astonishing four different drivers claiming the winner’s trophy in the last four years. Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, who is now Raikkonen’s team-mate at McLaren, took the spoils in 2003 when driving for Williams while Scot David Coulthard and Michael Schumacher have also won in recent years. Schumacher, who crashed out of last year’s race, is facing a difficult challenge to secure his first Monaco win since 2001 this time, however, having only finished once on the podium this season. Renault, however, are determined to improve after Alonso, who still has an 18-point lead over second-placed Trulli in the championship, was outclassed into second place by Raikkonen at the last race.
— AFP |
|
Inter Milan in final
Rome, May 19 Vieri opened the scoring in the 26th minute with a left-footed strike before doubling his tally near the hour mark. Cagliari gave themselves a lifeline when Diego Lopez nodded in Gianfranco Zola’s chipped free-kick to the back post in the 64th minute. Inter, who have already secured third place in Serie A, had to endure some nervous moments before Obafemi Martins put the result beynd doubt in the last minute.
— AFP |
|
Manav bags a double
Amritsar, May 19 Mandeep Gill of Chandigarh outclassed Gaurav Inder Toor 6-2, 6-2 in the boys’ under-14 singles final. In the doubles final, Mandeep and Digvijay outgunned Akshit and Gaurav 6-3, 6-3. Isha Toor outplayed Simer 6-1, 6-0 in the girls’ under-18 final. In the girls’ under-14 final, Mehak (Chd) beat Heena Ahuja (Dli) 6-2, 7-5. |
|
Mickey Arthur is SA coach
Johannesburg, May 19 |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
