Testing time for Indian batsmen
Ashish Shukla

Kingston, May 14
Skipper Rahul Dravid's alert on West Indian fast bowlers is a reflection of how his men perceive the forthcoming battle against the quickies. No Indian cricket team has travelled to the West Indies and not got worried about their fast bowlers. The pounding of generations has left its scar.

Be it Nari Contractor's kiss of death, Mohinder Amarnath's bloodied mouth or Anil Kumble's broken jaw, almost every visit to the Caribbean has exacted an ultimate sacrifice on a cricket pitch.

This time around, the Sehwags and Yuvrajs, Dhonis and Rainas face the litmus test of handling the Carribbean quickies, who possess the firepower to cause discomfort to the batsmen.

The young Indian brigade face the stern test of critics as well as in their own eyes as they prepare themselves for the challenge to change India's fortune outside their den.

The shaggy West Indies of today could fool critics and make Indian fans drool in anticipation but Indian batsmen know better about the threat they perceive in Fidel Edwards and Jerome Taylor, the two pacemen who have the ammunition to rattle any side.

Both bowl upwards of 90 mph, are hostile and were talented enough to be picked up for international honours after just one representative match. So far a series of injuries have kept them from unleashing their terror on batsmen consistently. Now, they are ready.

Edwards is 24 years old to Taylor's 21. Both were plucked early in the season of 2003 during Brian Lara's captaincy. The similarity does not end here.

Both are also short which is a departure from the fast bowling dynasty of Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh, Andy Roberts and Joel Garner. They are also small in build-up which explains their strings of injuries. But Lara is determined to pull them through this season.

"The risk of overworking them is a major concern. Just look at them and you would wonder how they generate such pace with such small physiques. These guys bowl in the region of 90 mph and upwards, and surely the constant pounding will accentuate injury," Lara said.

"I must express how worried I am about the state of injuries to these young and very talented bowlers. Edwards continuously finds himself on the physio table and now has been sidelined at least five times in his brief career," the West Indies skipper said.

In three years of top cricket, injuries have allowed Edwards only 23 Tests and Taylor only four. There was a glimpse of what they could do together in Auckland in New Zealand recently before Taylor's hamstring pulled him up.

"Just to see him bowl a few overs in Auckland and you know the guy's got something to him," Lara said about Taylor.

No such issues prevented Edwards from leaving his mark.

He was greased lightning even on sluggish New Zealand pitches and in Wellington was rewarded with a five-wicket haul.

"I still believe in him and believe he's got the potential to go far," remarked Lara.

Now the rotation of these men have started in earnest.

Taylor has played three games against Zimbabwe in the ongoing series, picked up successive man of the match awards in the first two and was then cotton-wrapped for the Indians. Edwards too has been seen only in three games.

Lara believes that their experience of last few years would now come handy.

"Most of these guys have virtually learned at the highest level" and not through a strong regional domestic structure.

"10 or 15 years ago, that wasn't the situation. It's not the situation at present with the best team in the world (Australia)" Lara said.

For the moment, the biggest priority for Taylor and Edwards is to keep themselves injury-free.

"The start-stop nature of my career has been somewhat frustrating to me, but to be honest, you cannot prevent injuries. You can only minimise the chances of getting them.

Hopefully, now I can continue through the home series without injuries. This is another one of my goals," Taylor said.

Edwards has been doing his own homework on injuries as well.

"I am flat footed and the hard shoe base did not help. I have now got the insole done," Edwards said.

The word has got around that for the moment there is a fair bit of grass on the already quick pitch of Sabina Park for the first one-day international next Thursday. It might help explain why the Indians are returning from Montego Bay the same day after the practice match on Tuesday.

Taylor is in the local eleven which would face Indians in Montego Bay but he could be kept on hold for subsequent battles.

Coach Greg Chappell wants his batsmen to take more and more responsibility since he doesn't want anything less than five bowlers for the Tests.

If his batsmen can come through this test by fire, one suspects their process-driven coach would be happier than he would otherwise be by just a rare overseas triumph.

It seems neither Indian batsmen nor the fans will be able to take their eyes off from this rivetting battle ahead. — PTI

India can repeat history
Ajit Wadekar

Let me be frank with you. I never expected to lead the Indian team to West Indies in 1971! I always thought the fight was between two giants — Tiger Pataudi and Chandu Borde and that Tiger had better chances. When the selectors met for the purpose, I was busy shopping for my little new flat with my wife. I was really stunned when I saw a large gathering, some of them of course being reporters, for interviews. More responsibility and tension for sure! Likewise, when the team was announced, there were mixed feelings amongst the critics and public. The general consensus was that it wasn't a good side to combat the mighty West Indies and that too on their own soil.

It had no Tiger Pataudi who almost ruled the captaincy of the Indian team for about 11 years continuously, a record by any standard. He opted out himself. It had no batting genius like Chandu Borde. Instead, we had seniors who were not in dazzling form, the youngsters like Eknath Solkar, Gundappa Vishwanath, Sunil Gavaskar, Kenia Jayantilal, Devraj Govindraj, Rusi Jeejibhoy coupled with an inexperienced captain not much heard of.

No doubt, when we landed in Kingston, Jamaica, their skipper and my only idol as the best all rounder then, Gary Sobers had the same opinion at the airport which he expressed over the glass of welcome drinks.

I had of course no words to retort except that "let us wait and see" and that "we would like to be your foes on the field and friends outside". He might have been right as his team was one of the best amongst the three cricket nations in the cricketing world then.

He had a galaxy of superb batting line up in himself, Rohan Kanhai, Clive Lloyd, Roy Fredricks, Joey Carew, Charlie Davis, George Camacho and Alvin Kallicharan waiting in wings.

He also had considerably good pace attack in Keith Boyce, Grayson Shillingford, Vanburn Holder, John Shepherd and Uton Dowe who managed to rattle us with their barrage of bouncers with increasing intimidation as tour progressed.

Compared to that, our so called medium pace attack was in the hands of Govindraj, Solkar, Abid Ali and M L Jaisimha to certain extent. Their short-pitched delivery was not even knee-high. The only solace was that we were really better off in spin department with the wily Bishen Singh Bedi, deceptive E Prassanna, steady Venkatraghvan and moody Salim Durrani.

Yes, in addition, their umpiring wasn't that friendly to the guests with no TV to show the replays.

Our early showing in the first practice game against Jamaica XI was none too impressive. Because firstly, we hardly had any practice as we missed our flight from New York. We arrived in Kingston without our kits. We had to beg and borrow or buy the cricket clothing and equipment from the local shop.

To top it up, we had Gavaskar and his future brother-in-law Vishwanath on the injured list from day one. It was the same case in the second outing at Montego Bay against WI Board's XI.

It was high time to think of proper planning and strategy as the first Test was next. We decided to concentrate on fielding, more particularly in close-in-positions for two reasons -- one to provide support to our spinning trio and another to ensure that we don't drop catches of Sobers or Kanhai or Lloyd or otherwise they would get not less than two hundreds.

Rahul Dravid has a tremendous scope to repeat history after a gap of 35 years. It is really surprising that India have had to wait so long. May be, they might have come closer to the target but were unable to turn it into win. May be, West Indies' battery of pace attack might have gone berserk with short-pitched deliveries and bouncers to shatter the confidence of our main batters then. May be, our attack was not good enough to capture all the 20 wickets.

Dravid doesn't have to worry. He has perhaps the best and well balanced team at his disposal. He has a tremendous batting line-up starting with himself, Sachin if fit, Yuvraj, Sehwag if he gets cracking, Raina the most promising youngster, Dhoni with all the ability in the world to hit any ball if he so desires and Irfan Pathan with great potential.

He has a good seam attack in Pathan, Sreesanth and Agarkar to exploit the fast tracks and humid conditions like we have in Mumbai or Chennai. He also has good spin attack to go with.

The West Indies team is still in the process on rebuilding and if our bowlers contain their main batsmen like Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Saravan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and to certain extent Chris Gayle, the victory is on the platter like we had in 1971. — PTI

Lanka prosper on dropped catches

London, May 14
Sri Lanka kept alive their hopes of salvaging an improbable draw in the first cricket Test against England after batting through the fourth morning without losing a wicket.

At lunch the tourists, following on, were 258 for three — still 101 runs shy of making England bat again.

But Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene was 70 not out — his second fifty of the match — and nightwatchman Farveez Maharoof unbeaten on 38, with the duo's stand worth 80.

But England did not help themselves by dropping two slip catches shortly after taking the new ball with Sri Lanka 231 for three.

Three runs later Maharoof edged a drive off England captain Andrew Flintoff only for Paul Collingwood, at third slip, to just fail to hold what would have been a spectacular, leaping, one-handed catch.

But there was no excuse in the next over when Andrew Strauss put down a far easier third slip chance when Jayawardene, on 58, nicked Matthew Hoggard, who yesterday had become the tenth England bowler to take 200 Test wickets.

Sri Lanka, having seen Upul Tharanga (52) and Kumar Sangakkara (65) dismissed late yesterday by left-arm spinner Monty Panesar, resumed Sunday on 183 for three - still 176 behind England's first innings 551 for six declared.

That left the Lankans needing what wicketkeeper Sangakkara said would be "one of the great escapes in Test cricket," to deny England victory. But Jayawardene, who'd top scored with 61 in their meagre first innings 192, was still at the crease on 35 not out and Maharoof was unbeaten on five after the pair had put on 44 earlier in the opening match of this three-Test series.

Panesar, who'd been unlucky not to have Maharoof given out caught at silly point by Flintoff for nought yesterday, came on in just the 10th over of the day — an early introduction by English standards for a slow bowler.

But the stylish Jayawardene took a single off Panesar for a 98-ball fifty with six fours.

At the other end, luckless Durham quick Liam Plunkett several times beat the bat with some rearing deliveries outside off-stump.

England's total, their highest score against Sri Lanka, was built around hundreds from Kevin Pietersen (158) and opener Trescothick (106) while Alastair Cook, on his home Test debut, made 89 and Collingwood 57.

Scoreboard

England (1st Innings) 551-6 dec

Sri Lanka (1st Innings) 192

Sri Lanka (2nd Innings)

Mubarak b Hoggard 6

Tharanga c Jones b Panesar 52

Sangakkara c Jones b Panesar 65

Jayawardene batting 70

Maharoof batting 38

Extras (b-9, lb-13, w-2, nb-3) 27

Total (3 wkts in 93 overs) 258

Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-119, 3-178.

Bowling: Hoggard 21-4-40-1, Flintoff 21-3-58-0, Mahmood 12-1-45-0, Plunkett 14-4-47-0, Collingwood 6-1-12-0, Panesar 19-6-34-2. — AFP

Talukdar hits gold
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, May 14
Archery Association of India president Vijay Kumar Malhotra today congratulated Jayant Talukdar for winning the gold in the World Individual Olympic Event Recurve Archery Championship and the women's team for annexing the silver medal in the compound category in the FITA Meteksan Archery World Cup at Porec, Croatia yesterday. Prof Malhotra said cash awards will be presented to the Indian archers on their return home.

Jayant Talukdar, one of the most promising archers in the country, defeated Olympic silver medallist Marco Galiazzo of Italy in the semi-final by 109-108 and Magnus Peterson of Sweden in the final by 108-105 points. The Indian women lost the battle for the gold to France by a narrow margin of 114-112 after defeating fancied world champions United States in the semi-final at 220-240.

In the pre-quarter-finals, the Indian eves got the better of Italy with a score of 217-215. Altogether, 350 archers from 27 countries participated in the championship.

The AAI chief said the performance of the Indian archers have been highly praised by the European press and the FITA web-site. He said the series of international competitions lined up in the coming months will be an ideal preparation for the Indian archers for the Doha Asian Games to be held in Qatar at the end of the year.

Burhmann wins Asian Masters

One shot makes the difference in golf they say. And it was enacted exactly by both South African Hendrik Buhrmann and Englishman Simon Hurd after both were tied at 11-under coming on to the penultimate hole. Hurd duffed his second shot and made a double bogey while Buhrmann, although being in the rough on the left and unable to see the green, made par to gain a two-stroke advantage and also an end to an agonising 11-year wait for a first title in Asia at the inaugural Aamby Valley Asian Masters at Amby Valley, near Mumbai, on Sunday.

The 42-year-old Buhrmann carded a final round of one-under-par 71 for a winning total of 11-under-par 277 at the magnificent Aamby Valley Golf Club to win ahead of Simon Hurd, who closed with a 73 in the US$400,000 Asian Tour event. Australian Terry Pilkadaris finished third, a further stroke back, following a 70 while compatriot Marcus Both took fourth place on 283. India 's Ashok Kumar who had led on the back nine, faded badly with a 78 and settled for a share of fifth place.

A winner of eight titles in South Africa , Burhmann has always yearned for success in Asia which he regards as his second home and it took all his years of experience and fighting qualities to finally end his drought.

"I'm feeling great. I said earlier in the year to some people that you know what, my dream is to win on the Asian Tour before I die. They really laughed at me but I really meant it. A few months later, I've got my dream come true. I'm really happy," said Buhrmann, who picked up a cheque of US $63,400. Hurd, a former regular on the European Tour, took home a consolation cheque of US $43,400. — TNS

Kamsky stuns Anand

Sofia, May 14
Viswanathan Anand suffered a shocking defeat at the hands of Russian turned American Gata Kamsky in the third round of the Mtel Masters international chess tournament here.

After two black victories in the first two rounds, Anand did not use his first white in the event well enough and succumbed to what was the second defeat against Kamsky in under six months time.

The other two games of the category-20 super tournament ended in draws as Frenchman Etienne Bacrot opened his account by holding Russian Peter Svidler while World champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria took his second draw in three days signing peace with former World champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine.

With seven rounds still to come in the 6-players double round robin tournament, Kamsky snatched the lead from Anand after another brilliant endgame effort and took his tally to 2.5 points out of a possible three.

Anand slipped to joint second spot and now shares it with Svidler on 2 points while Topalov and Ponomariov share the fourth position jointly on one point. Bacrot is still in the cellar on a half point. — PTI

Chautala faction disbands DOAs
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 14
To further strengthen its control over the Haryana Olympic Association (HOA), the Abhey Singh Chautala faction today removed the Deputy Commissioners and District Sports Officers from the posts of District Olympic Associations (DOAs).

The decision was taken by the Executive Committee and the General Body of the HOA (Chautala), which met here today under the chairmanship of Mr Chautala.

Justifying the decision, Mr Chautala said the decision was taken after the association received a letter from the Indian Olympic Association(IOA) in this regard. He also announced a committee headed by the president of the Haryana Volleyball Association, Mr Gopi Chand Gehlot, to suggest how to reorganise the DOAs as well as to frame their constitution.

These steps have been taken after the Kurukshetra MP, Mr Navin Jindal, and the Additional Director-General of Police (CID), Mr P.V. Rathee, were "elected" President and General Secretary of the HOA on May 6 in place of Mr Chautala and Mr M.S. Malik, former Director-General of Haryana Police, respectively.

Terming the incidents of May 6 as a "farce", Mr Chautala said this was a naked attempt by the government to interfere in the affairs of the HOA, which was a non-political organisation devoted to the cause of sports.

He alleged "sarkari Goondas" had forcibly occupied Olympic Bhavan at Panchkula, against which he had faxed a complaint to the S.P., Panchkula.

If no suitable action was taken by the S.P., he would move court. He alleged that the ruling party wanted to convert Olympic Bhavan into "Congress Bhavan".

Mr Chautala claimed that today's meeting, which was already notified, was attended by 41 of the 73 organisations affiliated with the HOA. Of the 153 members, 103 attended the meeting.

The organisers of the May 6 meeting had claimed that out of 143 members, 102 members had participated in the election. 

Karun wins

Sepang, May 14
Indian racing star Karun Chandhok had a mixed bag at the Sepang F1 circuit today and while the Team E-Rain Racing driver zipped past his competitors to win first Sprint race of the inaugural Formula Renault V6 Asia, a technical error in the Race 2 robbed him off a certain podium finish. The 22-year-old Team E-Rain driver led every single lap of the race en route to victory at the Malaysian, Sepang F1 circuit. — UNI

Compiled by Pankaj Vasudeva; graphic by Gaurav Sood