Sydney, January 2
South Africans Jacques Kallis and Ashwell Prince blunted Australia’s bowlers with a record century stand, supporting skipper Graeme Smith’s decision to bat in the final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground today.

After losing the wickets of AB de Villiers (2), Herschelle Gibbs (27) and Smith (39) in the first session, the Proteas, trailing 0-1 in the series, ground out three runs an over to build a solid first-innings foundation.

The entire morning session was lost to rain after Sydney’s New Year’s Day scorcher before Smith opted to bat first on a greenish pitch under cloudy skies conducive to swing bowling.

At stumps on a slow-moving opening day, South Africa were 230 for three with Kallis in sight of his 23rd Test century on 80 and Prince not out on 62.

Kallis, who was Test cricket’s top-ranked batsman before being supplanted this week by Ricky Ponting, chiselled out a risk-free innings off 181 balls in 226 minutes to work the Proteas into a strong position.

Prince, who was out to a poor umpire’s decision in the second innings of the Melbourne Test, batted for 128 balls over 191 minutes.

The pair broke their country’s fourth-wicket partnership record at the SCG with an unbeaten stand of 144, surpassing the previous 97 by Hansie Cronje and Gibbs in 1997-98.

Ponting stuck to his seamers under heavy skies, even preferring part-time medium-pacer Mike Hussey to 178-wicket leg-spinner Stuart MacGill.

MacGill, an SCG specialist, was given his chance after 51overs but conceded 12 runs off three overs and was replaced by speedster Brett Lee with 18 overs left in the day’s play.

MacGill swapped ends to try his luck against the immovable South African pair but finished the day 0-53 off 12 overs.

Test cricket’s leading wicket-taker Shane Warne bowled just seven overs for 24 runs on an unfavourable first day without any sun to help him.

Australia’s new-ball attack of Lee and Glenn McGrath troubled the South African top-order with plenty of swing and sideways movement in the delayed first session.

AB de Villiers was dropped by Ponting at second slip off McGrath on two before he was caught behind off Lee for no addition to his score in the sixth over.

Gibbs, who scored 94 in the first innings of the second Test, was bowled by McGrath in the 11th over of a 12-over first spell.

Smith yet again failed to carry on after getting a start and fell leg before wicket to Lee for 39 in 125 minutes to leave his team on 86 for three. It was Lee’s 190th Test wicket.

Australia lead the series 1-0 after their 184-run victory in the second Melbourne Test last week.

The South Africans gave a Test debut to off-spinner Johan Botha, who was preferred to left-arm spinner Nicky Boje.

Scoreboard

South Africa (1st innings)

Smith lbw Lee 39

De Villiers c Gilchrist b Lee 2

Gibbs b McGrath 27

Kallis not out 80

Prince not out 62

Extras (b-8, lb-3, nb-9) 20

Total (3 wkts, 74 overs) 230

Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-69, 3-86.

Bowling: McGrath 20-10-39-1, Lee 17-3-42-2, Symonds 16-3-49-0, Warne 7-1-24-0, Hussey 2-0-12-0, MacGill 12-1-53-0. — AFP

Bangalore, January 2
Indian skipper Rahul Dravid today said Pakistan’s ploy of targeting individuals in his side would not work as his team no longer depended on any one player to pull off victories.

Speaking in context of India’s trip to Pakistan this week for a Test and one-day series, Dravid felt it would be a fallacy if Inzamam-ul-Haq’s men depended too much on Shoaib Akhtar and targeted just a couple of batsmen in the Indian team.

Dravid said as far as India were concerned, they would focus on the entire Pakistani team.

“Pakistan have got some good players all round. I think if we focus on just one or two players in the team, we will be making a mistake and I think if they focus on one or two players in our team, they will be making a mistake because we have shown over the past month that a lot of our guys are performing,” he told reporters here.

“It is not just one or two players who do well. So, we are not going to focus on one or two individuals. It is going to be about the team,” he said.

Asked whether Shoaib would be a factor, Dravid said: “Well, no. The whole team is a factor. You can make a mistake of focusing on one or two individuals.”

Shoaib has reportedly said on TV that Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid were scared of his bowling.

Dravid also said he did not believe in all the talk about being favourites or underdogs.

“I don’t believe in these, someone being favourites and someone being underdogs. Both teams start even. Whichever team plays well, wins.”

He said when India and Pakistan started the series, the fact that Pakistan did well against England and India against Sri Lanka would count for nothing.

“It does not matter what you have done in the past. The series starts 0-0. It’s irrelevant really. You can get confidence from it (that you have done well in the recent series), and see positives. But once the match starts, it does not matter. It is really all about what you do on that particular day.”

Dravid said India’s last tour of Pakistan had been fantastic and the team learned that one has to play tough cricket to win in the neighbouring country.

He also said the morale of the Indian team was high after some recent good performances.

“The past couple of months have been really good. There have been good performances from all players.” — PTI

Jalandhar, January 2
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Punjab Police and Indian Airlines entered the semifinals of the 22nd All-India Surjit Memorial Hockey Tournament here today.

IOC routed Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) 6-0, Indian Airlines defeated Border Security Force (BSF) 2-0 and Punjab Police beat Central Industrial Security Force(CISF) 2-0 in the quarterfinals played at the Burlton Park Surjit Hockey Stadium.

In the women’s category, Western Railways, Mumbai, registered their first victory in the round-robin league defeating Pepsu XI 2-0.

For star-studded Indian Airlines, Delhi, the match against BSF was more or less a cakewalk. The first goal for the winners came in the 14th minute through a penalty corner by Sandeep Singh, while the second goal was scored by Sandeep Michael in the 45th minute off a pass from Olympian Dhanraj Pillay.

The Indian Oil and CRPF encounter was also a one-sided affair. International Deepak Thakur and Didar Singh scored two goals each, while captain Prabhjot Singh and Bharat scored one each.

In the third quarterfinal, Olympian Gagan Ajit Singh opened the account for Punjab Police with a field goal through a reverse flick from the left flank in the 14th minute. Kanwalpreet Singh scored the second goal in the 48th minute to knock out CISF (2-0).

The fourth quarterfinal will be played tomorrow between defending champions Punjab and Sind Bank and Bharat Petroleum Corporation. — UNI 

Chennai, January 2
India Davis cupper Prakash Amritraj overcame a first set loss to defeat higher-ranked Brazilian Ricardo Mello to enter the second round of the Chennai Open ATP tennis championship here tonight.

In a 140-minute duel, that came alive in the final two sets, Prakash, ranked 289, came up with a dazzling serve and volley display to win 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 in front a sparse gathering at the floodlit Nungambakkam Tennis Stadium.

It is perhaps the first time that the 21-year-old son of India’s top tennis player of the past, Vijay Amritraj, defeated a top 100 player in his short career, which would do his morale good. This was the second time in this prestigious event that Prakash, who got a wild card, had entered the second round after he beat fellow Indian Harsh Mankad in the first round two years ago.

In fact, Prakash looked totally out of sorts in the first set. He hardly got his first serves in and his groundstrokes had the power but lacked direction. Watched by his father and uncle Anand, Prakash struggled to adjust to the low bounce of the hard court.

Instead of playing the waiting game, he rushed far too often to the net and paid the penalty. There were several unforced errors in the first set as the Brazilian, who chose to slug it out from the baseline, won the set 6-2.

The southpaw from Brazil, ranked 92 at the end of 2005, thrived on Prakash’s errors and twice broke the Indian in the first set in the third and seventh games. Nothing went right for the Indian who messed up some easy volleys at the net.

Prakash appeared a better player in the second and third. Ricardo on the other hand struggled to keep pace with his rival, who executed some lovely cross-court winners and down the line passing shots.

Chandigarh, January 2
Chandigarh boy Kinshuk Sharma, the fifth seed, got past compatriot Rubal Shandilya in three tough sets in the first round of the ITF Junior (Grade 3) Tennis Tournament at the CLTA Stadium in Sector 10 here today.

Earlier, qualifier Chen Yu Wu of China upset seventh seed Shin Min-Wang of Korea in straight sets, while Gursher Harika lost to Ian Anikanov of Ukraine.

Top seed Rupesh Roy rallied brilliantly to down 13-year-old wild card Yuki Bhambri in the first round. Trailing 1-5 in the first set, Rupesh played superbly to win 7-5. In the second set, Rupesh raced to a 4-1 lead before winning 6-2.

Another Indian, fourth seed Akshay Bajoria, faced stiff resistance from Lim Seul-Ki of Korea before moving to the second round with a 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-1 win.

Results (First round): Boys: 1-Rupesh Roy (India) b Yuki Bhambri (India) 7-5, 6-2; Roman Petrunin (Russia) b Mark Fridaev (Isr) 7-6 (1), 7-6 (5); Navinder Pal Singh Sidhu (India) b Priyank Gangadharan (India) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2; Chen Yu Wu (China) b 7-Shin Mio-Woo (Korea) 6-3, 6-1; 4-Akshay Bajoria b Lim Seul-Ki (Korea) 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-1; WC-Arnav Jain (India) b Ashwin Vijayaraghavan (India) 7-5, 6-4; Siddharth Alapati (India) b Shiva Sangwan (India) 6-0, 6-2; 8-Xiao-Long Yin (China) b Agnel Gladwain Peter (India) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3; 5-Kinshuk Sharma (India) b Rubal Shandilya (India) 7-5, 5-7, 6-3; Tomer Hodorov (Isr) b Neil Rajpal (Canada) 6-2, 6-1; Antonio Comporto (Italy) b Li Jie (China) 6-4, 6-2; 3-Ivan Anikanov (Ukr) b Gursher Harika (India) 6-0, 6-0; 6-Tejesvi Rao (India) b Vijayant Malik (India) 7-6(4), 6-4; Jiang Chuan (China) b Deng Hong Bo (China) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; Shao Dong Lu (China) b Jeong Han Seo (Korea) 6-2, 6-4; 2-Sumit Prakash Gupta (India) b Kaushik S. Raju (India) 6-2, 6-2.

Girls: 1-Ksenia Palkina (Kyrgyzstan) b Eylul Benli (Turkey) 7-6 (7), 6-4; Liu Chang (China) b WC-Noor Paul (India) 6-0, 6-1; Wang Wen Bo (China) b Parija Maloo (India) 6-2, 6-4; Zhou Yi Mial (China) b Shweta G. Kakhandki (India) 6-0, 6-4; Bhavani Tirumurti (India) b Ratchaya Chaichanachai (Thailand) 6-3, 6-0; Nadine Fahoum (Israel) b 5-Elizaveta Titova (Russia) 6-2, 6-4; Zhong Yi (China) b 7-Tejaswini Datla (India) 6-0, 7-5; 4-Sanaa Bhambri (India) b Ashmita Easwaramurthi (India) 6-3, 6-3. 

Karachi, January 2
The final tour itinerary of Indian cricket team’s tour of Pakistan was announced here today.

The dates of all one-day matches have been readjusted taking into account the security requirements for Moharram but the dates of all three Test matches remained unchanged.

The new itinerary has reverted to Peshawar as the venue for the first one-dayer while Rawalpindi will host the second tie of the five-match series, according to a press release issued by the PCB.

Jan 5: Arrival in Lahore

Jan 7-9: Three-dayer at Bagh-e-Jinnah, Lahore

Jan 13-17: 1st Test at Lahore

Lahore, January 2
India defeated Pakistan 40-33 in the second match of a three-game netball series to level the rubber at 1-1. The teams were tied 9-9 at the end of the first quarter but after that the visitors pulled away from their rivals.

India led 23-12 after the second quarter. The hosts managed to stay in the game in the third at the end of which the score read 30-22. But the Indians wrapped up the match in convincing fashion in the last quarter of the match played yesterday. — PTI