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Kumble, Munaf bowl India to victory
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Pietersen fined
No change in team for third Test
BCCI confident of hosting 2011 World Cup
Mahendra demands probe
Bond stars in Kiwis’ win
Jubilant SA lauds historic win
Sports wings to be reopened
Sania in third round
Chopra slips in final round
Harpal down with chickenpox
Indian Airlines wins
Body building championship
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Kumble, Munaf bowl India to victory
Mohali, March 13 Needing to overhaul a target of 144 runs after bowling England out for 181 in the second innings on the last day of the Test, India raced to a facile nine-wicket victory losing the wicket of Wasim Jaffer. Virender Sehwag found his form at the opportune moment, hitting a strokeful unbeaten 76, while skipper Rahul Dravid remained unconquered on 42 as the hosts romped home at the tea break. Sehwag’s was a typical aggressive innings laced with his trademark bludgeoning strokes. The Delhi batsman hit nine fours and a six in his 89-ball stay at the wicket. England seamers failed to make much impression as Sehwag looked determined to make his contribution to the victory. He played fluently, while Dravid displayed the composure and solidity for which he is known. The way Sehwag batted should be alarming for the visitors in view of the crucial last Test beginning on March 18 and the one-day series soon thereafter. The visitors pressed into service young left-arm spinner Monty Panesar, who troubled Dravid on a couple of occasions but failed to get any breakthrough. In fact, the last day of the match turned out to be the one when everything fell in place for the Indians. Resuming from their overnight score of 112 for five, England lost the first wicket of Geraint Jones, who played on to a Munaf delivery in the first over of the day. The lanky seamer showed remarkable skill and temperament while bowling in his first Test. Pitching the ball in the right areas and bowling at a tidy pace, the 22-year-old seamer hastened a batting collapse, sending back Plunkett and Hoggard soon as England slipped to 139 for eight. Flintoff and Harmison then frustrated the Indians for some time, adding 42 runs for the ninth-wicket stand, which was good enough only to delay the inevitable. It was Kumble again who broke the partnership, having Harmison stumped out through Dhoni. Debutant leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, who did not get to bowl much in the match, then wrapped up the innings taking the prize scalp of Flintoff when the stand-in skipper went for an extravagant stroke and was caught by Munaf at deep mid-wicket. Flintoff scored 51, the second highest score from the side. Munaf took four wickets, taking his tally of wickets to seven in the Test. Kumble took four wickets in the second innings for a match haul of nine. The seasoned leggie, who did well with the bat in the first innings as well, was adjudged man of the match. For Harbhajan Singh, it again turned out to be a fruitless outing. He bowled 23 overs but had just one wicket in his kitty. In the first innings, the off-spinner failed to get any wicket in his 12-over spell. Both teams will now clash in the final Test at Mumbai starting on March 18. Scoreboard England (1st innings) 300 India (1st innings) 338 England (2nd innings) Strauss c Dhoni b Kumble 13 Cook c Dhoni b Munaf 2 Bell c Dhoni b Kumble 57 Pietersen c Dravid b Harbhajan 4 Collingwood c Dravid Flintoff c Munaf b Chawla 51 Jones b Munaf 5 Plunkett lbw Munaf 1 Hoggard b Munaf 4 Harmison st Dhoni b Kumble 13 Panesar not out 0 Extras
(lb-10, nb-6, w-1) 17 Total (all out, 76.1 overs) 181 Fall of wickets:
1-7, 2-50, 3-55, 4-88, 5-109, 6-116, 7-124, 8-139, 9-181. Bowling:
Pathan 6-1-16-0, Munaf 13-4-25-4, Harbhajan 23-5-52-1, Kumble 29-7-70-4, Chawla 5.1-2-8-1 India (2nd innings) Jaffer lbw Hoggard 17 Sehwag not out 76 Dravid not out 42 Extras
(b-4, lb-5) 9 Total (1 wicket, 33 overs) 144 Fall of wicket:
1-39. Bowling: Harmison 4-1-10-0, Hoggard 8-2-24-1, Panesar 11-0-48-0, Flintoff 5-0-11-0, Plunkett 2-0-22-0, Collingwood 3-1-20-0. |
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Dravid praises Kumble, Munaf
Mohali, March 13 “The victory margin does not reflect the true standing of the teams. England is a very competitive side, having an impressive bowling attack. We expect them to come hard at us in the last Test in Mumbai,” the stylish batsman said. “Kumble has been an inspiration. The 16 years that he has been at the international stage, Kumble has carried himself remarkably well. There have been so many ups and downs during his career. The tremendous record he has at this level is a tribute to his skills,” Dravid said about the performance of the man of the match Anil Kumble. Praising Munaf Patel, he said that the most important part of his bowling was that he pitched the ball in the right areas and troubled batsmen with reverse swing. Munaf took seven wickets in the match to play a key role in the Indian win. Defending the decision of the team management to play with five bowlers but Piyush Chawla getting to bowl a limited number of overs, Dravid said: “England adopted the policy (of playing five regular bowlers) successfully during the Ashes series and it worked for them. We need to be flexible while selecting the playing eleven. One bowler getting less overs to bowl will happen when five bowlers are included in the side. Moreover, experienced bowlers like Kumble were bowling well. So there was not much of need to induct a new bowler at the crucial juncture.” Asked about his own crucial knocks in both the innings, Dravid said it was satisfying to score runs under trying circumstances. Dravid, however, dismissed the idea that losing his wicket in the 90s was becoming a habit with him, saying that he was not bothered as long as the team won. Hailing the PCA wicket, he said the wicket had something for every player. “It had bounce for those willing to bend their back. It offered spin. For a batsman willing to stay at the wicket it had runs. I believe the BCCI should utilise the services of Daljit Singh in preparing wickets,” he observed. Stand-in England skipper Andrew Flintoff said: “Losing experienced players like skipper Vaughan, Trescothick and Giles before the start of the series was a setback. We have a young side which is learning. We expect to put up a better show in the last Test in Mumbai.” “The last evening session was a bit tricky with Kumble’s deliveries bouncing and doing something. In fact, it was this session which set us back,” the gangling all-rounder replied when asked about the reasons for the nine-wicket defeat. Defending young left-arm spinner Monty Panesar’s performance, the Leicestershire player said it was tough for any bowler to bowl to players like Sehwag, Dravid and Tendulkar. “Monty is young and has just started playing at this level. He will get better with experience. I am pleased with his performance,” he stated. Flintoff, however, said that the team was showing signs of improvement. “We have to combine together and try to do well in Mumbai,” he said. |
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Pietersen fined
Dubai, March 13 Pietersen was charged with breaching Level 1.3 of the ICC Code of Conduct by on-field umpires Darrell Hair and Simon Taufel and Television umpire A. V. Jayaprakash after he showed dissent upon being given out on day four of the match, a release said here today. He subsequently pleaded guilty to breaching the ICC Code at a hearing conducted today by ICC Match Referee Ranjan Madugalle. The hearing was attended by Pietersen, England captain Andrew Flintoff, coach Duncan Fletcher and the match umpires. Level 1 breaches carry a minimum penalty of an official reprimand and a maximum penalty of a 50 per cent fine of a player’s match fee.
— UNI |
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No change in team for third Test
Chandigarh, March 13 There were reports that the national selectors were not very happy with the performance of spinner Harbhajan Singh, who managed to get just one wicket in the Mohali Test. But finally Harbhajan Singh managed to retain his place due to the fact that the strip at the Wankhade Stadium at Mumbai would take turn and have something for the spinners and secondly, he generally performs well at Mumbai. Selection Committee Chairman Kiran More said the performance of each player during the second Test was such that it did not warrant any changes in the squad. “We are looking at the team balance, which appears fine at the moment. We don’t believe in making changes (just for the sake of it),” he said. More said the competition in the side for the fast bowling slot had intensified with Munaf Patel coming good in this match. “We tried Munaf as we did not want to take chances with Sreesanth, who was not 100 per cent fit. We have enough options now and the guy who is in the best form will play in Mumbai,” he said. More said debutant leg spinner Piyush Chawla also did well in whatever limited chance he got to bowl. “He did not get enough bowling which is normal if you are playing with five bowlers. But he did not bowl that badly. In fact, I was quite impressed with him,” he said. He admitted that the name of off-spinner Ramesh Powar also came up for discussion in the meeting, but since the squad already had enough spin options, he was not considered. Asked what had prompted the team management to call promising fast bowler Abid Nabi of Jammu and Kashmir and VRV Singh of Punjab to bowl in the nets, he said, “VRV is a local guy so we decided to call him and check on his fitness. As far as Abid is concerned, I had not seen him bowl although the other selectors had seen him. We wanted to see his fitness and his bowling. He has good potential.” The Joint Secretary of the BCCI, Mr M.P. Pandove, also secretary of the Punjab Cricket Association, who convened the selection committee meeting in the absence of the board Secretary Niranjan Shah, said the team physio John Gloster informed the committee that fast bowler S.Sreesanth, who was diagnosed with a bout of flu on the first day of the second Test had recovered and should be fully fit by the time the third Test starts. And once Gloster had given his report the selectors lost little time to opt for the same team which did duty at Mohali. Team: Rahul Dravid (captain), Virender Sehwag, Wasim Jaffer, Sachin Tendulkar, V. V. S. Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, S Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Rudra Pratap Singh and Piyush Chawla. |
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BCCI confident of hosting 2011 World Cup
New Delhi, March 13 Talking over the phone, Mr Shah said representatives of the cricket boards from Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh met BCCI President Sharad Pawar at his residence here last night and everything was finalised during the meeting. Clarifying that the Asian bloc was filing the Letter of Intent today, an assured Mr Shah said, “We have worked on every detail and filing it today. There is no hiccup and we are confident of hosting the World Cup.” The BCCI secretary seemed least concerned by the fact that the India-Pakistan-Sri Lanka-Bangladesh joint bid had missed the February 28 deadline and that could be a ground for its rejection by the ICC. “First of all, it is Asia’s turn to host the event, going by the earlier decision and hence we are not losing our sleep over the joint Australia-New Zealand bid. Missing the deadline was our concern as well but Asia is putting up a joint bid and hence there should not be any problem,” he explained. Asked whether ICC would buy this argument or not, Mr Shah said, “The ICC Executive Board Meeting is scheduled on March 20 and 21 and Mr (Sharad) Pawar will be present there. Let’s see what emerges out of the scenario.” Earlier, last night, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Shaharyar Khan, after meeting Mr Pawar at his residence, exuded confidence that ICC would uphold the appeal and award the event to Asia. On missing the deadline, Mr Khan said with four governments involved in the process, it was natural to be a time-bound exercise and he was also optimistic that ICC would relent. He also admitted that distributing the matches among the four aspiring host nations also took some time while the issue of tax exemption too figured in the meeting.
— UNI |
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Mahendra demands probe
New Delhi, March 13 “It is a very serious matter. How did the person enter the venue without any authorisation,” Mahendra, who was ousted as the Board chief last September, said. “The man had not applied for media accreditation for which passport details are needed in case of an overseas journalist. Neither was he handed over to the police. “The Board should look into this and conduct a high level probe. The new set of officials have been talking about transparency and this is an issue that cannot be taken lightly.” Mahendra said that India’s upcoming limited overs series in Abu Dhabi against Pakistan should not be held till the probe was completed.
— PTI |
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Auckland, March 13 The West Indies started the final day needing a further 45 runs with two wickets in hand, but added only 18 before Bond brought the innings to a halt. Man-of-the-match Bond ended the match with figures of five for 69, and was quick to acknowledge it was the big-hitting West Indian opener Chris Gayle who turned the tide in his favour. Scoreboard N. Zealand (1st innings) 275 W. Indies (1st innings) 257 N. Zealand (2nd innings) 272W. Indies (2nd innings) Gayle c Fleming b Astle 82 Ganga c How b Astle 95 Sarwan c Styris b Bond 4 Lara b Bond 0 Chanderpaul c Fulton b Vettori 15Bravo lbw Bond 17 Smith c Fleming b Bond 0 Ramdin c Franklin b Vettori 15Bradshaw c Fleming b Vettori 10Taylor b Bond 13 Edwards not out 2 Extras (b-1, lb-3, w-1, nb-5) 10Total (all out) 263 Fall of wickets: 1-148, 2-157, 3-182, 4-211, 5-216, 6-218, 7-221, 8-246, 9-247. Bowling: Bond 27.3-7-69-5, Franklin 14-1-46-0, Martin 16-5-39-0, Vettori 35-11-92-3, Astle 10-4-13-2. — AFP
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Jubilant
SA lauds historic win
Johannesburg, March 13 “438/9: Choke on this, Aussies!,” screamed the Johannesburg Star newspaper. The normally staid financial daily Business Day had a front-page photograph of South African players Makhaya Ntini and Herschelle Gibbs celebrating on the pitch under the caption: “On Top Of The World.” From morning radio shows to offices, the talk this morning in South Africa was dominated by the game. “Every person that has come in this morning has been talking about cricket. It’s all that matters at the moment,” said George
Glynos, a markets analyst at Johannesburg’s Econome-trix Treasury Management. South Africans are notoriously fickle sports fans and yesterday’s heroic win did much to lift their spirits after a spate of dismal performances on the field. The national soccer squad made an ignominious exit from the African Nations Cup finals earlier this year, failing to score a single goal, let alone win a match. It was another blow to soccer in South Africa, which will host the 2010 World Cup finals but failed to qualify for the event this year in Germany. South Africa’s cricket squad also had a disappointing test series and triangular ODI tournament in Australia recently.
— Reuters
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Sports wings to be reopened
Jalandhar, March 13 The players will be selected by an expert committee of the department through selection trials at the state-level and the trials are likely to be held in the month of April for schools and in June for the colleges. The schools and colleges with the required infrastructure for sports and a sports background are eligible to apply. The Department of Sports would provide the diet, equipment, and coaching to the selected players. The department has invited representations from the desirous institutions giving the details of hostel facility, available sports infrastructure, and sports achievement of the institution over the past five years. The representations have been invited latest by March 13 from all desirous institutions, said Mr Pargat Singh. The reopening of the sports wings has been widely welcomed by sportspersons of the city. Head of the Department of Physical Education, Lyallpur Khalsa College, Mr Jaspal Singh, welcoming the proposed step said the reopening of the sports wings would once again infuse fresh blood in sports. The process of closing down of sports wings had begun during the height of terrorism from 1986 and by end of 1990 all sports wings had closed down. Mr Pargat said the main aim of the department would be to open sports wings in schools and the department would focus on catching young talent so that they can be trained over a long period of time to bring better results. The focus on opening up wings in colleges will be in the next phase of the process, he added. The games chosen for selecting talent will be those, which are played at the international level.
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Sania in third round
Indian Wells, March 13 The 28th seed was given a tough fight by the American but managed to hold her own and move in to the third round where she will now take on fourth seed Russian Elena Dementieva. Meanwhile, the stage is set for a showdown between comeback queen Martina Hingis of Switzerland and American Lindsay Davenport in one of the most anticipated third-round matches here. The duo has faced each other 24 times with the American holding a 14-10 advantage.
— UNI |
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Palm Beach Gardens, March 13 Four bogeys on the front nine and another two on the 10th and 11th saw Chopra squander yesterday’s advantage and was at six-over at that stage. Chopra, who for the second week in row faltered in the final round, then hit two birdies on the 12th and 17th which saved him from further fall. Meanwhile, Luke Donald grabbed the title by shots over Geoff Ogilvy. It was his second PGA Tour win. Donald used back-to-back birdies midway through his back nine to take the outright lead at 11-under, made a great scrambling par on the difficult 16th to preserve the margin and beat Ogilvy to take the title. — PTI
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Harpal down with chickenpox
Melbourne, March 13 “It is unfortunate that we will be missing the services of Harpal, who is down with chickenpox,” Indian coach Rajinder Singh told PTI here today. “He was also adjudged as the best defender in the recently held India-Pakistan series,” he said. The coach said a decision on Harpal’s replacement would be taken soon by the Indian Hockey Federation. “He (Harpal) has gone to meet a doctor only this evening. A decision will be taken as to when he can be sent home. I have informed the federation and the IHF will take a decision on this”. Rajinder Singh ruled out the possibility of Dilip Tirkey or William Xalco joining the team. “Dilip and William Xalco are injured and have not recovered fully,” he said. Rajinder appeared disappointed about the team’s preparation for the games after India’s none-to-impressive performance against New Zealand in a practice match yesterday. “Senior players should be much more effective and show sharpness in their approach. In the practice match against New Zealand yesterday, Deepak Thakur muffed two easy chances and Tushar Khandekar missed one. However, Sandeep Singh converted two penalty corners. Though the match was drawn 2-2, India should have won that match by a bigger margin,” he said.
— PTI
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Ludhiana, March 13 Earlier, BSF, Jalandhar, routed PSEB, Patiala 5-2, to register their first win. Yesterday, the Jalandhar outfit lost to Namdhari XI 1-4. Manguru Tirkey of BSF put his team ahead in the 7th minute to the game through penalty corner conversion. PSEB men restored parity two minutes later through Kuljeet Singh. They surged ahead in the 25th minute when Kulwinder Singh sounded the board. M. Lakra of BSF, immediately levelled the score and Harbhajan Singh struck two minutes before the lemon break to help BSF take the lead. — OSR
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Body building championship Ambala, March 13 In 55 kg, Mr Amir Chand was first, Mr Amit secondand Mr Ravi Verma third. In 60 kg, Mr Sanjeev Kumar Jha was first, Mr Uttam Singh second and Sunny third. In 65 kg, Mr Hari Ram was first, Sharma second and Wahid third. In 70 kg, Mr Parmidh Tanwar was first, Sunil Kumar second and Devender Yadav third. In 75 kg, Amit Dhiman was first, Suresh second and Sahid Khan third. In 75 + kg, Ravi Kumar Yadav was first, Keshav Solanki second and Atul Kumar third.
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