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Pakistan overcome fighting India 3-2
Paes-Navratilova enter
semis
Davydenko takes on Puerta in semis |
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Ganguly makes county debut
Crucial BCCI panel meeting from today
Srinath feels need for bowling coach
Australian coaches making their mark
Sinclair, Butler not on Kiwi contract list
Team Rai Virendra Singh win rally
Hot weather cricket
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Pakistan overcome fighting India 3-2
Kuala Lumpur, June 1 Pakistan initially fired on all cylinders as their strikers exhibited flair and fluency, coupled with supreme athleticism, to ring circles around the Indian defence, taking a commanding 3-0 lead in the first session. But the Indians fought back in the second period, scoring two goals and missing a penalty stroke, to redeem themselves and give the scoreline some respectability. In the match of the day, played between the traditional rivals, India again left wide open gaps in the midfield as both Bimal Lakra and Devinder Pal Singh became easy pickings, as was Len Aiyappa in the deep. Pakistan relished these conditions as they picked and chose their attacks from all directions. If it was Rehan Butt and Shabbir Husain on the wings, then Shakeel Abbasi and Tariq Aziz moved in tandem down the centre, well fed by midfielders captain Muhammad Saqlain and Dilawar Husain. Pakistan made their intentions clear from the beginning and should have shot into the lead in the first minute after Butt received a long overhead, but could not control his shot within the circle. They earned three penalty corners in the first half, taking the lead from the second in the 8th minute when forward Adnan Zakir deflected a soft Mohd Imran flick. The Indians looked jaded and disjointed and had hardly a noteworthy attack. There was no teamwork as most players put in individualist efforts. Rajpal Singh again tried on the right flank, but his tendency to overhold the ball made matters worse for the eight-time Olympic winners. Pakistan went further ahead in the 11th minute as skipper Dilip Tirkey and Aiyappa were caught in no man’s land, with unmarked Rehan Butt taping in a Shabbir set-up. The Indians tried in vain to reduce the margin as Prabhjot Singh was found wanting on two occasions, first missing a sitter and then finishing meekly for an easy save by Pakistan goalkeeper Salman Akbar. Inside forward Deepak Thakur muffed an easy chance to reduce the margin, but shot wide from a Rajpal cross. Pakistan, breathing down heavily on their rivals’ neck, found their third goal in the 29th minute when Akhtar Ali drew goalkeeper Devesh Chauhan out and then neatly angled it past him. Rajpal Singh was the victim of a harsh decision by umpire Tim Pullman of Australia when he was shown the yellow card for stick locking with Dilawar just before the breather, thus reducing India to 10 men. After crossover, Pakistan looked as if they had lost their sheen a bit as relaxation tendencies crept into their play. India, during this period struck their golden patch of the game, first getting a penalty stroke in the 37th minute. To the disappointment of the big crowd support, Arjun Halappa hit the upright to keep the Pakistan lead intact. It was Deepak Thakur who reduced the margin to 3-1 after he hit home from India’s third penalty corner. Propelled by this success, India’s attack eventually found some rhythm as Pakistan faltered with unforced errors from defenders Zeeshan Ashraf and Mohd Imran as they conceded four penalty corners in the last session. India, for the first time, seemed to have the upper hand and scored their second goal in the 53rd minute when Sandeep Michael deflected a Ignace Tirkey cross. Excitement mounted all around as India went all out for the equaliser, but the Pakistan defence stood out stoutly to deny their arch-rivals a draw. Pakistan were now on the brink of playing the final, having collected 13 points so far. They only needed a draw in their last fixture against hosts Malaysia on Friday to go through to the Sunday final. In an earlier match, Holders Australia came one step closer to the final, scoring a fluent 8-3 victory against bottom-placed South Africa in their penultimate preliminary game. The Olympic champions, who led 5-1 at the break, scored through Jamie Dwyer (two) and El Matheson, Robert Hammond, Travis Brooks, Michael McCann, Grant Schubert and Brent Livermore. The South African goal getters were Emile Smith, John McInroy and Ricky Gay. The Aussies, unbeaten in the competition so far, who had split points in drawn fixtures against South Korea and Pakistan, played with a gameplan, focusing on scoring as many goals, just in case of being stuck with an equal number of points with some other team after the first stage. Their swift attack moved clinically on either flank and the constant switching of positions had their opposition caught on the wrong foot. In another match, New Zealand triumphed over hosts Malaysia 3-1 and moved into the joint third position alongside South Korea. The winners, who led 1-0 at the breather, were far superior in all departments. Their attacks were punctuated with fluency and flair and the midfield defence combination had the tenacity to hold Malaysia, who were backed the home crowd. New Zealand took the lead in the 2nd minute when Philips Burrows picked up a long loose ball and banged home past the onrushing Malaysia goalkeeper Roslan Jamaluddin. The Kiwis dominated the proceedings in this session, though they conceded two penalty corners, to their rivals, which were aborted. Malaysia found the equaliser in the 43rd minute from their third penalty corner attempt as skipper Kuhan Shanmuganathan made no mistake this time. New Zealand increased the tempo of the game and took the lead again in the 50th minute from an indirect penalty corner conversion by David Kosoof. The Kiwis put the issue beyond doubt when they scored their third goal in the 55th minute after Bryce Collin collected a diagonal pass from the right midfield and beat Jamaluddin from the edge of the circle. With this win, New Zealand had seven points. — PTI
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Paris, June 1 The sixth seeded pair defeated the American duo of Corina Morariu and Jared Palmer 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 in a quarterfinal match. Paes’ quest for the men’s doubles title at the French Open proved abortive as the Indian tennis ace and his Serbian partner Nenad Zimonjic were handed a straight-set defeat by the American Bryan brothers in the quarterfinal of the tournament. Pitted against third seed Bob and Mike Bryan, sixth seeds Paes and Zimonjic put up a gritty show in the first set to stretch it to tie-breaker even though the Bryan siblings had the last laugh. The second set turned out to be more or less a one-sided affair with the American duo dictating terms. A jaded Paes and an off-colour Zimonjic’s resistance fizzled out before some percentage tennis by the Bryans who won the match 7-6(7/5), 6-3. Paes’ defeat marked the end of Indian challenge in this event as Mahesh Bhupathi and his Australian partner Todd Woodbridge lost in the first round. In the first semifinal, the Bryans will take on top seeds Mark Knowles (Bahamas) and Daniel Nestor (Canada) while in the second, the Chilean duo of Fernando Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu will battle it out against second seeds Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden and Belarussian Max Mirnyi. — UNI
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Davydenko takes on Puerta in semis Paris, June 1 Puerta won the battle of Argentines when he beat ninth seed Guillermo Canas 6-2, 3-6, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a quarterfinal match here today. Puerta reeled off the first five games of the match, but Canas battled back to lead two sets to one. As the rallies grew longer and more punishing, Puerta’s greater firepower began to pay dividends and he levelled the match. Canas saved two match points when Puerta served at 5-4 in the decider. The 26-year-old held his nerve to clinch victory at the third attempt when Canas netted a forehand. In the other quarterfinal played today, Davydenko defeated 15th seed Tommy Robredo of Spain 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.
— Reuters |
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Ganguly makes county debut
London, June 1 Ganguly made his debut for Glamorgan in a match against Sussex, while off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, cleared over his bowling action, kicked off his season for Surrey with a match against Warwickshire. The start of the Glamorgan-Sussex tie was delayed due to rain. Fast bowler Irfan Pathan and allrounder Dinesh Mongia have already begun playing for their respective counties, Middlesex and Leicestershire, respectively. Leicestershire played Somerset today while Middlesex’s next match is on Sunday, Pathan having been rested for today’s tie against Cambridge University. Pathan and Mongia have made impressive starts in their county fixtures, figuring both among runs and wickets. Mongia was a hit with the bat and ball in the last season and Pathan, who made his debut last week, was described by one newspaper as “undoubtedly an allrounder.” Ganguly and Harbhajan strode into their county matches on a slightly different note. Ganguly is struggling to rediscover his batting form and Harbhajan will look to work his magic with the ball, having been cleared by the International Cricket Council over his bowling action. Ganguly, who will bat at number five in county matches and open in one-dayers, was optimistic ahead of his debut. “ I enjoy the British conditions,” he said. “I did pretty well in my Test debut in the 1996 series in England, then when I came back in 2002, and I had an outstanding World Cup here in 1999.” “It will be a challenge after a poor start, but I’m very happy to be part of a young team,” Ganguly told BBC Sport, Wales. “There’ll be a lot of expectation, but I’ve been around for 10 years, I’m an established international cricketer and I have to put the performances on the board.” Glamorgan skipper Robert Croft shared Ganguly’s assessment. “Sourav’s a special cricketer, everyone knows what he can do at the highest level,” said Croft. “He’ll score a lot of runs and will also pass on his experience to the youngsters coming through.” Ganguly said the Glamorgan call came as quite a surprise. “I was in England for a family holiday and was going to Paris for the French Open, but when this chance came I said I’d love to do it,” he said. “I only had a tourist visa and had to fly to Brussels to sort out a working one, and now I’m in Wales for the first time. Harbhajan said he wanted to put complaints about his bowling action behind him and enjoy his season in the English county. “I’m happy with the way things started out. I was very confident about it and I’m glad that everything is right now. I just want to play my best and I want to give everything I can to the team,” he told BBC. Harbhajan said he was always confident “because I knew there was nothing wrong with it. I completed all the tests and I was glad the second time I didn’t have to go anywhere.” “In Australia, they put 12 cameras around you; they make a record of where you bend and how much you bend. But really I don’t want to keep mentioning it. I would just like to concentrate on playing for Surrey as this will be my first cricket for a long while.” “I would like to thank my cricket board for supporting me and I hope this is sorted out for the rest of my life,” he added.
— IANS |
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Crucial BCCI panel meeting from today
Kovalam, June 1 The meeting is likely to be a stormy affair as several contentious issues, including suspension of financial assistance to the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA), are expected to come up for discussion. Top BCCI officials are tight-lipped about the controversial issues. Sources in the BCCI have acknowledged that the TNCA issue will dominate the working committee meeting, being held in Kerala after a gap of 24 years. The charge against the TNCA is that it failed to act against its affiliated clubs, that dragged the top BCCI officials into contempt of court cases. Apart from ratifying the approval of the six-member BCCI committee’s decision to appoint Greg Chappell as the new Indian coach, a plethora of issues, like finalising the coming cricket tours, merger of women’s and men’s cricket bodies, conduct of the ICC Champions Trophy and television rights, will come up for discussion, BCCI Secretary S.K. Nair has said. The meeting will be attended by BCCI president Ranbir Singh Mahendra, Secretary S.K. Nair, Joint Secretary Goutam Dasgupta, Treasurer Jyoti Bajpai, vice-presidents C.K. Khanna, M. Ranga Reddy, Rajeev Shukla, Chirayu Amin and Kamal Morarka and representatives of 14 associations. Delegates have started arriving at the resort. One of the much-awaited issues that will come up for discussion is the proposed integration of the Women’s Cricket Association of India with the BCCI. Women cricketers will have to wait for some more time to realise their long-cherished dream if the BCCI Secretary’s remarks are any indication. Nair has said at a press conference that the BCCI will take up the issue of merger as per the policy of the International Cricket Council (ICC), but an understanding will have to be reached on several organisational issues and conduct of tournaments. The sources have said though a final decision is unlikely at the Kovalam meeting, the BCCI cannot hold it back for long as the ICC has asked all its member countries to have a unified national body. The ICC has led by example and merged with the International Women’s Cricket Council in April. The other issue on the agenda will be the holding of the ICC Champions Trophy next year in view of a favourable decision from the Central Government, which decided to amend the Income Tax Act to give tax exemption for international sports events. The working committee will also approve the tour programme of the Indian team for the coming season, beginning with a Sri Lanka tour to take part in the three-nation tournament, with the West Indies as the third team. Among the other programmes on the anvil is a tour to Zimbabwe, where it will play a tri-nation tournament also involving New Zealand. The requests of the Sri Lankan board to play three Test matches and five ODIs in November and December, the South African board’s proposal to play five ODIs in December and the Indian team’s proposed visit to Pakistan in January and February to play three Tests and five ODIs will also be discussed at the meeting. The meeting will chalk out long-term strategies on the telecast rights issue in the backdrop of the board obtaining favourable decisions from court.
— UNI
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Srinath feels need for bowling coach
Mumbai, June 1 “The team should have a bowling coach, irrespective of whether he is an Indian or a foreigner,” Srinath said on the sidelines of a sports symposium held here. “I think the Indian bowling department can improve a lot if a bowling coach is appointed, who can contribute by sharing his experience and skills with the players,” Srinath said. However, he categorically denied that he was in the race for the post (of bowling coach). Chappell had recently said the Indian team did not need a bowling coach, instead he was in favour of having a fielding coach. “Despite having good facilities, our medium-pacers lack in self-belief, which is because they are frequently dropped due to some reason or the other,” Srinath said, while singling out Zaheer Khan as the best medium-pacer the country currently had. “If properly groomed, we will have good fast bowlers in future, but
for that, we need to adopt the latest technological advances, as fast bowling is all
about energy,” Srinath added. — PTI
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Australian coaches making their mark
Sydney, June 1 Greg Chappell and Tom Moody have recently taken to four the number of Australians coaching international teams. Former Australian captain Chappell was last month given the onerous role as India’s new cricket coach and entrusted with masterminding the country’s campaign through to the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies. Moody, who was interviewed and rejected by India, subsequently replaced another Australian John Dyson as the Sri Lankan coach. They join other Australian incumbents, Bennett King in charge of the once-mighty West Indies and Dav Whatmore, who guided Sri Lanka to the 1996 World Cup title, with Test strugglers Bangladesh. The successful structures in Australian cricket have ensured a rich conveyor belt of cricket coaches, who with limited opportunities at home are looking overseas for their chance. “The thing about Australian cricket is we keep everyone in the game,” said former Australian and Zimbabwe coach Geoff Marsh this week. “There’s a lot of guys who enjoy coaching — Greg Chappell wanted to get into it and Tom Moody has been coaching (English county side) Worcestershire for five or six years and coaching an international side is something they aspire to because people see it as a challenge. Marsh said just as it was setting the benchmark on the field, Australia had also raised the bar for specialist cricket coaching — such as issues focused on team management, practice and opposition analysis. Australia has a strong pedigree in cricket coaching with Bob Simpson revolutionising the coach’s role at Test level and taking Australia from an easybeat in the mid-1980s to the champion side at the 1987 World Cup. Simpson instilled discipline into Allan Border’s struggling team and pushed them relentlessly in fitness and fielding drills and batting technique in a decade at the helm. When English cricket finally established a much-needed cricket academy to nurture their future Test cricketers in 2001 they turned to another Australian taskmaster Rod Marsh. “You look at Bob Simpson and Rodney Marsh at the (Australian) cricket academy and then the English one — those guys set the standard,” Goeff Marsh said. “Rodney was in charge of academy sides that were regularly beating touring sides.” India and Sri Lanka are now looking to Chappell and Moody to instil that Australian regimen into their cricketers and challenge for the top. “I am honoured because this is the most exciting job in cricket,” one of Australia’s greatest batsmen, Chappell, said of his Indian appointment. “I want to make India the best team in the world. That’s my job and I pledge to work towards that,” Chappell said. The Australian has some wonderful talent to work with: Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, V.V.S. Laxman, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh. Moody is similarly ambitious and has the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies as his primary target with Sri Lanka. “Our main focus obviously will be on the World Cup,” said the 39-year-old all-rounder who played in two successful Australian World Cup campaigns in 1987 and 1999. “I would like to think that the journey between now and 2007 is a process towards a successful campaign in the West Indies.” “We as a team should achieve one of the top three positions in Test standings and in order to get there we need to improve on our form at home and away from home. That will be one of my main areas of concern.” But it is not all plain sailing in the international cricket arena as Whatmore can attest to. Whatmore is fending off calls for Bangladesh to lose their Test status after his team was pounded by an innings and 261 runs inside three days in the first Test against England at Lord’s last week. Bangladesh endured the 10th largest Test innings defeat and have won just one of their 37 Tests.
— AFP |
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Sinclair, Butler not on Kiwi contract list
Wellington, June 1 Harris, a 35-year-old one-day specialist, with one shoulder held together by titanium bolts, was a surprise inclusion among the players placed on retainers today by New Zealand Cricket (NZC). Under its contract system, the NZC annually selects 20 players, who receive annual payments and make themselves available for Test and one-day matches. In a selection strongly influenced by New Zealand coach John Bracewell, Harris was seen to have more value than Sinclair, who had scored two double centuries in Tests, and Butler, who was once the young hope of New Zealand fast bowling. Butler, (23), said his omission from the contract list had serious financial implications, but it was more worrying that he was not seen to be among the top 20 players in New Zealand. The young right-armer was the target of strong criticism last summer from Bracewell’s brother, former international fast bowler Brendon Bracewell. In a leaked e-mail, Brendon Bracewell described Butler as “pea-hearted” and said he was not the sort of player John Bracewell wanted in his teams. New Zealand’s contracted players: Nathan Astle, Shane Bond, Chris Cairns, Craig Cumming, Stephen Fleming, James Franklin, Chris Harris, Brendon McCullum, Craig McMillan, Hamish Marshall, James Marshall, Chris Martin, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Michael Papps, Scott Styris, Daryl Tuffey, Lou Vincent, Daniel Vettori, Paul Wiseman.
— AP
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Team Rai Virendra Singh win rally
Mumbai, June 1 The winning team was felicitated here today with the winner’s cheque of Rs 30 lakh, in addition to Rs 1 lakh for winning the Unstoppable Trophy, instituted by Apollo Tyres. The first runners-up position was won by Team Kathirvel S from Coimbatore and they were rewarded with Rs 15 lakh, while Team Aswin Pandit from Nasik won the second runners-up trophy, along with a cash prize of Rs 8 lakh. The best women’s team award, worth Rs 1 lakh, was won by the team of Ami Khecaria from Hyderabad. The longest rally in India was organised by Airtel to commemorate its presence in all 23 telecom circles. All the winners were felicitated by Rajan Bharti Mittal, Joint Managing Director, Bharti Tele Ventures. The teams from the fourth to 10th spots were richer by Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 50,000, while all those teams finishing the rally were given Rs 10,000 per
team. — UNI |
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Hot weather cricket Patiala, June 1 Kanpur Nursery : 221 all out (Aditya Dingar 63, Sushant 52, Mehtab Singh 16, Tushar 10, Jatin 3 for 20, Arush 2 for 24, Rohan 2 for 29, Danish 1 for 20, Mehtab 1 for 41). Amritsar
NGH: 165 all out (Raman 50, Suraj 12, Sapan Kumar 24, Kamal 10, Danish 16, Angad 3 for 29, Mayank 2 for 11, Aditya Dingar 2 for 22, Akash 1 for 11). |
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Paris,
June 1
