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Wright favours Sourav’s return
Lanka wants tri-series matches
back to Dambulla
Pollock’s return boosts South Africa
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Nadeem shines on day one
Eves take on Malaysia in opening tie
Punjab promotes coaches
BSF beat
Pbi varsity 3-1
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Wright favours Sourav’s return
Dubai, August 2 “I believe he is a great cricketer with more than 15,000 international runs and one who has given Indian cricket a certain direction. It will be great if he can make it,” Wright told ‘GulfNews’ here. “We worked for more than four-and-a-half years and I believe we had a steady relationship. We are in a position where if he (Sourav) comes to Christchurch, he can think of having dinner at my residence while I can think of the same when I am in Kolkata,” the former coach added summing up his equation with Ganguly during his stint. Speaking about ‘Indian Summers’, which has created a stir in India, Wright said the book should be taken in the right spirit and people should react only after reading the contents. “I think people should first read the book and then comment,” he said. Elaborating further on his relationship with Ganguly, the Kiwi said as the captain of the team Ganguly was the person, who conveyed his suggestions and opinions to the team. “I have always believed that my role was to try and improve the performance of the whole team, and the captain was the one who led it. At the end of the day, he is the hands-on person while I had to pass on a few things that I thought was necessary to improve the team’s performance,” he said. “In those four-and-a-half years, we followed this strategy without any problem. There may have been the odd difference of opinions, but when you are working towards the same goal, such differences can be easily sorted out,” he added, ruling out any major friction between the duo. On his criticism of the Indian selection policies, Wright said his observations were not new and he had raised them earlier. “My view was simple: the existing selection system needs a change. It should be done on a professional basis where the performance of the selectors would be evaluated and he should be allowed to continue if he had done a decent job,” he said. “I had said it and again put those words in the book. I wanted to portray an honest picture of Indian cricket as a whole and I did just that. When you read the book, I think one will realise what I wanted to say,” he added.
— UNI
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Lanka wants tri-series matches
back to Dambulla
Colombo, August 2 The first four games of the August 14-29 series were originally scheduled to be held in Dambulla and the remaining three, including the final, at the Premadasa stadium in Colombo. The Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) last month brought all matches to Colombo following a dispute over payments with the authorities of the Rangiri International Stadium in Dambulla. The SLC now says it has resolved the dispute and has requested both India and South Africa to revert back to the original schedule. SLC chief executive Duleep Mendis said, “We are in touch with the Indian and South African boards and expect to hear from them soon.” South African team sources told AFP they were not in favour of a late change and would be putting their point across. The Indian board has not stated if it was ready for a change in venues. The Indian team, led by Rahul Dravid, is scheduled to reach here on August 10 for the series, in which each team plays the other twice in the league before the final on August 29.
— AFP
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Pollock’s return boosts South Africa
Colombo, August 2 The 33-year-old missed the first Test, which Sri Lanka won by an innings and 153 runs, to be by wife Trish’s side for the birth of their second daughter. Pollock, who needs six wickets to become the first South African to join the 400-club, said he was raring to play and lend the necessary experience in the absence of the injured Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis. “We can either wallow or swallow,” he told reporters. “Wallow in self-pity or swallow the bitter bill and get on with it. “One should not think too much about what happened. There is one Test left and not much time before it starts. “You should draw a line through the previous performance and look ahead.” Sri Lanka’s big win in the first Test was built around captain Mahela Jayawardene’s brilliant 374, his world record stand of 624 with Kumar Sangakkara (287), and Muttiah Muralitharan’s 10-wicket haul. But Pollock believed the defeat at the Sinhalese sports club was not without its silver lining. “There were some positive aspects,” he said. “We had them two wickets down for 20 runs, it could have been three for 30. Then, we could have put some pressure on their inexperienced middle order. “Take away Muralitharan and the rest of the Sri Lankan bowlers would have struggled to take wickets on the slow track,” he said. Pollock, a veteran of 101 Tests, said he was geared for a tough contest at the Sara Oval and believed his side could fight back. “From all reports we’ve heard, the wicket for the second Test is going to be even lower and slower than it was for the first Test,” he said. “But there’s no point dwelling on the negatives. We just have to get on with it. “Test cricket on the sub-continent can be the opposite of the way it is at home, where a team can be 100-5 half way through the first day, both teams are dismissed by the end of day two and then the wicket becomes flat. “But here the ‘flat’ part comes first. We need to prepare ourselves for a hard, patient fight going right down to the final session on day five.” With Makhaya Ntini and Dale Steyn likely to share the new ball, Pollock will be the stock bowler required to keep one end tight — something nobody managed to do in the first Test. “It’s going to be even more of a holding role than usual but that’s fine,” he said. “From a bowling perspective, having a batsman caught at cover is just the same as caught at slip. It doesn’t really matter.” Pollock, who has scored 3,444 Test runs at an average of 31.59 with two centuries, is also expected to prop up the middle-order. The former captain, whose father Peter and uncle Graeme are household names in South African cricket, said retirement had not yet crossed his mind. “I still enjoy every moment of my cricket,” he said. “It is hard to leave one’s family at home, but I still enjoy the game as much as I ever did. “The day when I don’t enjoy it, it will be time to pack up and retire.”
— AFP
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‘Warne thrives on scandals’
Sydney, August 2 Paul Barry, an award-winning journalist, defended his controversial tell-all and said Warne probably needs scandals to get motivated. “I think he almost needs, or likes, the notoriety and he likes the exposure,” Barry the Nine Network’s Today. “You see time and again when he gets into some scandal or other that he comes out and plays better than he ever has done and I think it goads him to greater heights. “It’s as if he needs to establish that we need him, and that we’ll still love him,” Barry buttressed his point. His comments in the unauthorised biography of the leggie raised hackles with some quarters dubbing it sloppy journalism. But majority of the people, however, seems on Barry’s side and according to a new poll, 69 per cent of the Australians don’t believe Warne is a great Australian. Barry, meanwhile, was undaunted by threats by Warne and his estranged wife Simone, to sue him over some of the claims. “Simone says she’ll sue and she says Shane will sue as well. I’m not quite sure what Shane’s going to sue for as the suggestion he’s been unfaithful is hardly new,” Barry said. According to “Spun Out”, Warne has had sex with at least 1000 women and the leggie had his first affair barely four months after his tumultuous marriage to estranged wife Simone in 1995. Barry also claims that the Aussies adhere to a code of silence which encourages promiscuity by Warne and other team members and apart from their “coffins”, carrying gears, they ensure they never run short of condoms. Barry quotes one of Warne’s team-mates described his marriage to Simone as a wedding between a naive “suburban girl” and an accidental hero. “There’s no rocket science going on. He’s a spin bowler, she was a promotions model. They have both got blonde hair... If she hadn’t married she’d still be putting on a red lycra suit when According to his friends, Warne loves to “collect” women, especially the blondes.
— UNI
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Nadeem shines on day one
London, August 2 England skipper Varun Chopra led from the front with a fine century (123) at the top of the order but the middle order fell to the guiles of left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem (3-55) before Adil Rashid struck an unbeaten half-century (59) to ensure the hosts were placed strongly by stumps
yesterday. Chopra put on a 121-run stand with Billy Godleman (40) for the opening wicket to give England a solid start. Chopra’s 206-balls innings contained 20 boundaries. Nadeem got the first breakthrough when he picked Godelman. He then went on to take the wickets of Michael Shea and Adam Lynth within a space of six runs, leaving England at a shaky 165 for four. Abu Ahmed then cleaned up Chopra, who was playing patiently at the other end. But Rashid and Mark Nelson (31) added 60 runs for the sixth wicket before Nelson hit his own stumps.
— PTI
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Sania in 2nd round
New Delhi, August 2 Sania, whose ranking has slipped to 44, posted a crisp 6-3, 6-1 over
Shaugnessy, who has four career titles to her credit, to sail into the second round of the US hard court event yesterday. The 19-year old Indian next plays Katarina Srebotnik of Slovakia in the second round. Shikha goes down
Shikha Uberoi proved no match for her Thai opponent Tamarine Tanasugarn and the US-based Indian eventually retired hurt, making an early exit from the Legg Mason Women's Pro Circuit in Washington. Shikha was trailing 2-6, 0-2 in the second set when she threw in the towel. Earlier, Shikha and her sister Neha had crashed out of the doubles event as well, with a 5-7, 2-6 defeat against Canadian Marie-Eve Pelletier and Sunitha Rao.
— PTI, UNI
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Hockey teams for SAF, World Cup on August 16
Chennai, August 2 IHF Secretary K Jyothikumaran told PTI from Coimbatore that the selection committee members headed by Federation President K.P.S Gill would witness the performances of the probables in the Independence Cup. Besides the seniors and the SAF probables, the Indian under-18 team that is presently competing in a tournament in Singapore and a Tamil Nadu state team will play in a round-robin format to decide the winners. Meanwhile, 23 SAF probables coached by Clerance Lobo and Olympian Mohd. Riaz have already arrived here. The Indian seniors, presently honing their hockey skills in Hyderabad, would reach here on August 11. The IHF has also proposed to hold clinics for coaches and umpires during the Independence Cup. Kuku Walia of the FIH Committee for Umpires will hold the clinic, while West Australian physical trainer Derick Knox, who joined the physical conditioning camp in Bangalore for the seniors last Sunday, would address the coaches. The SAF Games is to be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from August 18 to 27 and the World Cup from September 6 to 17 in Monchengladbach, Germany.
— PTI
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Eves take on Malaysia in opening tie
New Delhi, August 2 The event opens with hosts Singapore taking on Malaysia followed by India clashing with Malaysia on Friday. Seven players from Gifu tournament, which India won last month, are in the present team. The 17-member team led by goalkeeper Marita Tirkey, trained for about a fortnight at Bhopal under coach G.S.
Bhangu, a press release from IWHF said today. Schedule: August 3: Singapore vs Malaysia; August 4: Malaysia vs India, Japan vs Singapore; August 5: Japan vs Malaysia, Singapore vs India; August 6: Japan vs India.
— PTI
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Chandigarh, August 2 Among those who have been promoted is Gursharan Singh, international Badminton umpire. Others who have been promoted are: Ravinder Kumar Rishi, Harpal Singh, Charanjit Singh, Hazari Lal, Sohan Lal Lote, Ravi Kant, Amritpal Singh, Hardev Singh and Kailash Kumari. These promotions will be subject to the decision of the Supreme Court with regard to the petition regarding 85th Amendment of the Constitution. — TNS
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BSF beat
Pbi varsity 3-1 Patiala, August 2 The Jalandhar outfit opened the scoring when Gurjit Atwal shot in a rebound from close range and minutes later he added another goal to his team’s credit when his header found the back of the netting. The BSF landed themselves in a comfortable 3- 0 position when midfielder Navdeep Singh scored off a goal mouth melee. Desperate to be in the reckoning, the students coach Dalbir Singh effected a couple of quick substitutions but the University boys could not match the speed of the agile BSF attack. The University lads scored a consolation goal through Gurpreet Singh in the last minute, an effort which came too late in the match.
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With more then 15,000 international runs under his belt, Sourav Ganguly certainly deserves a place in the Indian team, believes former coach John Wright, who also insists that he had a steady relationship with the former captain and never had any trouble working with him.
