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‘Sachin boosted my confidence’
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Fletcher a hypocrite: Aussie media
New cap De Lange claims three scalps
Pak recall Umar, drop Malik for England Tests
PM to decide on Bharat Ratna
India get past Greece as Harika wins
IAAF rules ignored for two athletes
Somdev reflects on tough job ahead of Chennai Open
Nadal looks to recover in 2012
Sania Mirza to lead Indian challenge in Fed Cup
Maken expects 100 to qualify for London Olympics
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India’s Tour of Australia: 1st Test — day 1
Melbourne, December 26 While Indian seamers bowled well in patches, a 113-run third wicket partnership between under-fire former skipper Ricky Ponting (62) and debutant opener Ed Cowan (68) and an unbroken 63-run seventh wicket stand between Haddin and Siddle that helped the home team recover after a mini-collapse. Talented Umesh Yadav (3 for 96) bowled fast touching 150.1 kmph on speedometer as he snared the wickets of David Warner (37), Shaun Marsh (0) and Ponting, but was also guilty of sending down too many boundary balls. The wily Zaheer Khan (2 for 49 in 23 overs) also bowled well within himself as he sent back Clarke (31) and Michael Hussey (0) off successive deliveries. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin should be given a lot of credit for removing the stodgy Cowan who played 177 balls hitting seven fours in the process. That Umpire Decision Review System is not being used has hurt both the teams. Australia was at the receiving end of two dubious decisions as both Michael Hussey (0) and Cowan didn't seem to have got any edge but were adjudged caught behind. India too must have felt a twinge of regret when Brad Haddin on 19, wasn't given out leg before off a Zaheer delivery even though he looked absolutely plumb at the fag end of the day's play. India got crucial breakthroughs against the run of play after Australia had raced to 46 for no loss in the morning session and later, in the final session, were cruising along at 205 for 3. After opener David Warner (37) provided a blazing start, Yadav dismissed both Warner and No 3 batsman Shaun Marsh (0) in a space of seven deliveries to reduce Australia to 47 for two. Later, in the final session, Australian slumped from 205/3 to 205/5 after Zaheer saw the back of captain Clarke (31) and Michael Hussey (0) off successive deliveries. Yadav struck the first blow when his well-directed bouncer saw the stockily built Aussie opener go for a mistimed hook shot. The resultant catch was easily taken by Dhoni. Yadav then angled a fullish delivery to Marsh who went for a drive only to be caught by Virat Kohli stationed at gully. In between these two strikes and the mini collapse suffered in the final session, Australia's batting had prospered and India had begun to look ragged in the field. Cowan and Ponting added 113 runs, batting in contrasting yet effective style. Cowan made 14 in nearly two hours but Ponting had already raced to 15 by lunch, even though he had a narrow escape when a Yadav bouncer nearly rolled on to his stumps.
— PTI Scoreboard Australia 1st innings Cowan c Dhoni b Ashwin 68 Warner c Dhoni b Yadav 37 Marsh c Kohli b Yadav 0 Ponting c Laxman b Yadav 62 Clarke b Zaheer 31 Hussey c Dhoni b Zaheer 0 Haddin batting 21 Siddle bating 34 Extras (lb-21, w-2, nb-1) 24 Total (6 wkts, 89 overs) 277 Fall of wickets: 1-46, 2-46, 3-159, 4-205, 5-205, 6-214. Bowling: Zaheer 23-5-49-2, Ishant 20-6-40-0, Yadav 20-4-96-3, Ashwin 26-2-71-1.
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# The 113-run stand between Ricky Ponting and Ed Cowan is Australia's second highest for the third wicket against India at the MCG. The best is 169 between Don Bradman and Lindsay Hassett in 1947-48 # Zaheer Khan, with Michael Clarke's wicket, has completed 600 wickets in first-class cricket - 601 at an average of 27.37 in 147 games.
# Hussey has registered 12 ducks in Tests - his second against India. # Hussey has recorded three ducks this year. In 2008, he had registered four - the most by him in a calendar year. # Peter Siddle (34 not out off 80 balls) has recorded his best knock against India. # Siddle's aggregate of 179 at an average of 17.90 in seven Tests this year is his highest in a calendar year in Tests. # Brad Haddin and Siddle have shared a stand of 63 (unbroken) for the seventh wicket, Australia's second highest against India at MCG behind the 66 between Greg Matthews and Ray Bright in 1985-86. # Shaun Marsh has recorded his second duck - in successive innings. In the Cape Town Test (second innings) against South Africa, he had posted a duck. # Ed Cowan is the 427th player to appear for Australia in Tests.
# Cowan's magnificent innings is the fourth highest by an Australian opener on Test debut during the last 30 years - the best innings being 162 by Kepler Wessels against England at Brisbane in November 1982. # Ricky Ponting (62 off 94 balls) has managed his 10th fifty against India - his 59th in Tests. # Ponting is the first Australian player to register 10 fifties against India. Three other batsmen have recorded 10 fifties or more in India-Australia Tests - Sachin Tendulkar (13), Rahul Dravid (12) and VVS Laxman (11). — PTI
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‘Sachin boosted my confidence’
Melbourne, December 26 Yadav was seen to get a lot of encouragement from Tendulkar at mid-off or mid-on and the young fast bowler said the Indian legend told him to bowl fuller length deliveries to get wickets. "Even against West Indies, at mid off or mid-on, he just boosts my confidence. He does not tell me anything particular, just asks me to bowl in my areas. He told me that in India you could get away by bowling back of length stuff. Here in Australia, it's important to bowl a fuller length," Yadav told reporters at the press conference after first day's play. Yadav said he was happy to have taken the most wickets for the visitors but was disappointed that he gave away far too many runs. "I took wickets but also gave away far too many runs. So I'm happy and I’m not happy as well," said Yadav who took three wickets for 96 runs for his day's effort. Yadav was pulled often by Australian batsmen, especially in the post lunch session when both Ponting and opener Ed Cowan had a go at him, and he said he bowled short balls to contain the batsmen. "It's not that I wanted to bowl short or the team has planned so. The two fielders in the deep, at fine leg and square leg, were intended to keep the scoring down more than to catch the batsmen off a pull shot," he said. One of Yadav's victims was Ponting whom he claimed caught in the slips off an outswinger and he admitted he was a bit nervous initially bowling at the Australian legend.
— PTI |
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Cowan rues absence of DRS
Melbourne, December 26 "As someone who loves his cricket and has watched a lot of cricket, I just don't understand why it can't be handed down by the ICC to be uniform in all the game. And that's me speaking as an outsider and not as someone who has been in the bubble for a long time," said Cowan after starting his career with an impressive 68 on day one of the first Test here. Cowan didn't seem happy after his debatable dismissal at a crucial time. Australia were 214 for five when Cowan was given out caught behind off Ravichandran Ashwin. Television replays, however, showed that umpire Ian Gould may have erred. "I was disappointed to get out. It was a bit of a lazy shot. You saw the replays, you saw my reaction, you can join the dots I guess. With the DRS, I'm an interesting perspective because I've been a consumer of the game for so long. This is day one on the job for me." Another decision which rubbed Australia the wrong way was the dismissal of Mike Hussey who was given caught behind off Zaheer Khan. "It's a bit of gut-wrenching experience, doesn't matter whether it's first ball or you're on 150. It was a massive movement in the game, a huge moment. We'd just had a 100-run partnership, wrestled back the momentum, almost a 50-run partnership.
— PTI |
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Fletcher a hypocrite: Aussie media
Melbourne, December 26 Mike Hussey (0) and Ed Cowan (68) fell to controversial decisions on the opening day on Monday leaving Australia on shaky grounds at 277 for six. India's refusal to use DRS meant there were no referrals for these decisions and Fletcher, who had been a vocal supporter of DRS during his coaching stint with England, drew the ire of an agitated media. "Duncan Fletcher hates hypocrites. The Indian coach must have trouble looking at himself in the mirror. For well over a decade, Fletcher has been a strong advocate for using technology to enhance umpiring decisions," said 'The Herald Sun'. "Now he is a mute stooge as the flat earthers who run Indian cricket refuse to embrace the Umpire Decision Review System (DRS) for the four-Test series, beginning in Melbourne on Monday," it added.
— PTI |
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New cap De Lange claims three scalps
Durban, December 26 Veteran Sri Lankan batsman Mahela Jayawardene became the ninth batsman and first Sri Lankan to reach 10,000 runs in Test cricket when he opened his scoring with a single. Jayawardene made 31 before he was bowled by Morne Morkel. The tall, strongly-built De Lange had opening batsman Tharanga Paranavitana caught behind by Mark Boucher for 12 with his 12th ball in Test cricket. He followed up two balls into his next over when Kumar Sangakkara was caught behind for nought. In mid-afternoon De Lange ended a promising fifth-wicket stand of 45 between Thilan Samaraweera and Angelo Mathews when he held a sharp, right-handed return catch to dismiss Mathews for 30. Samaraweera was unbeaten on 40 at tea with new wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal showing aggressive intent as he hurried to 26 not out. De Lange could not hold a chance, leaping at mid-on, by Chandimal against leg-spinner Imran Tahir when he was on 25 in the last over before tea. Tahir picked up a wicket when captain Tillekeratne Dilshan top-edged a sweep against a full toss and was caught at fine leg by Morkel for 47 - the highest score of the series so far for Sri Lanka. De Lange, 21, won his first cap when Vernon Philander failed to recover from a knee injury suffered while bowling in the nets on Saturday. Before Philander's injury, De Lange was due to be released to play for the Titans franchise in a domestic first-class match.
— AFP |
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Pak recall Umar, drop Malik for England Tests
Malik, who has not played a Test since August last year, has managed just 35 runs in six innings since his return to Pakistan ODI team in September this year. Apart from Malik, pacer Mohammad Khalil, who was part of the touring squad in Bangladesh, had also been left out. Illyas said that the selectors didn't pick Malik because of his recent poor form and wanted him to go back to domestic cricket to hone his skills. "He (Malik) has only been dropped because of poor form in the series against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and can always make a comeback," he added. Umar Akmal, meanwhile, returned to the Test side after being ignored for the last two series against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Left-arm pacer Wahab makes his return to the national side after being ignored by the selectors since the Test series against Sri Lanka in October due to questions over his involvement in the spot-fixing scandal in England last year. The Pakistan Cricket Board had advised its selectors not to consider Wahab after his name crept up along with wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal during the spot-fixing trial held in London three months back. Undercover reporter, Mazhar Mehmood told the jury during the trial that he was told by bookmaker Mazhar Majeed that Wahab and Kamran were among the Pakistani players who worked for him. — PTI |
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PM to decide on Bharat Ratna
“We would forward all the recommendations received by the Sports Ministry (from the federations) for the Bharat Ratna, to the Prime Minister’s office,” Maken clarified. He, however, ducked a question on whether he would also forward to the PM the name of any cricketer recommended by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Ever since the announcement, the names of Dhyan Chand and Sachin Tendulkar have been floating around for consideration, though the names of Abhinav Bindra, Viswanathan Anand, among others, are also being advanced as possible candidates. The BCCI had been steadfastly stonewalling the Ministry’s bid to bring cricket under the purview of the proposed National Sports Development Bill, particularly to make it accountable to the Right to Information Act (RTI), like all other National Sports Federations (NSFs). BCCI has argued that it could not be made accountable as it did not take any grant or help from the Sports Ministry for the conduct of its activities nor for fielding teams in international tournaments. The cricket bosses were the ones who vehemently opposed the first draft of the bill when it was put before the Ministerial committee. Maken said the redrafted bill was ready for approval before introducing it in Parliament. But this time, he is sparing no effort to ensure that the bill gets smooth passage, to make it into legislation. He revealed that he had been holding parleys with his senior ministerial colleagues on an informal basis to show them the salient features of the bill and get their approval. Meanwhile, regarding objection to the bill, Maken said not only ministers from his own Congress party and the coalition partners of the UPA have been voicing their reservations. Even two Chief Ministers — of Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh (both ruled by the BJP) — have written to him, objecting to it. Addressing the media after completing nearly one year in the Ministry, Maken said he would also keep up his efforts to unify the Indian Hockey Federation and Hockey India, to create a one single body. But he would not ruffle the feathers of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) any time soon, as his first priority would be to ensure that India hosts the Olympic qualifiers in Delhi in February, as he wants the Indian men and women to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics. Maken said Rs 25 crore have been set apart to create a Hockey Excellence Centre at the National Stadium, adding four more such centres of excellence are being would be set up in individual sports in association with the concerned NSFs at the Nehru Stadium (football), S.P. Mukherjee Complex (swimming) and Yamuna Velodrome (cycling) etc. He said these centres would be in addition to the 12 existing Excellence Centres in various Sports Authority of India facilities across the country, though they are basically for multi-sports. |
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Hockey aces eye Olympics
Chandigarh, December 26 Both are presently attending the National coaching camp in Bangalore for the upcoming Olympic qualifiers and feel that the team has lot of potential to win the top honours. “The recently held tournament in Johannesburg has proved to be a boost for the team and also for the players, as we got time to overcome the shortcomings we faced there,” said Sandeep. “I am very happy with my performance there and need to work more on playing attacking game,” he added. “I am also working on my flick as my aim is to strike the boards every time.” The backbone of the team, Sardara feels that the team will give the best. However he refused to comment on any controversial issues. “The team is on the right-track. All we need is to work hard on our deficiencies, which we are doing in the ongoing camp,” he said. “The players are not looking at any controversies and only focusing on the game.” On the issue of grass root level hockey in Haryana, the players feel that to promote the sport among budding players, the Government should announce financial awards or aid. “We applaud the State Government for providing jobs and feel that additional financial grants should be given to top-level players, like in other states,” said the duo. |
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Liberals Hockey: CRPF edge past J&K Police
Patiala, December 26 J&K Police failed to maintain their winning run and went down fighting 1-2 to CRPF in a fierce encounter. CRPF forged ahead in the 25th minute through P. Saini who combined with Parmod Kumar to enter the circle and push the ball into the goal. Undaunted, the J&K outfit made a couple of counter-attacks and equalised in the dying seconds of the first half. CRPF failed to utilise any of the four short-corners earned in quick succession in the last ten minutes of the game. A minute before the end, nippy forward Mandheer Singh scored a fine goal when he dashed into the circle from 25-yard line to give a well-deserved 2-1 win to his team. Sports Hostel continued their winning streak with a fluent 4-1 victory over SRC Ramgarh. In a fast-paced encounter, SRC scored the first goal in the 47th minute through their full-back, skipper Harvinder Singh, who converted a penalty-corner. E. Khan restored parity in the 54th minute with a solo run from the left flank. The Army men tried to come back into the game but Lucknow blunted their attacks with robust defence. Sports Hostel stepped up the pace and succeeded in forcing a penalty-stroke in the 65th minute, which was converted by Imran Khan to make the score 2-1The Lucknow lads swarmed the SRC citadel and scored two goals in the 66th and 67th minutes through forward Amit Kumar to post a win. In the last match of the day Hawks Ropar overcame a spirited WCR, 1-0, the goal being scored by Navjot Singh in the 45th minute. Tuesday’s fixtures: Air Force, New Delhi vs Sangrur XI (11.30 a.m.); Punjab Police, Jalandhar vs Sports Hostel Lucknow (1.00 p.m.); AOC, Secundrabad vs Hawks Ropar 2.30 p.m.). |
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India get past Greece as Harika wins
Mardin, December 26 On the top board for India, Grand Master Humpy in fact stood slightly worse against top Greek Yelina Dembo and on the other boards too the forms of the Indians was found wanting as both Tania and Padmini failed to make the most of their positions against lower ranked opponents. China remained in sole lead on 14 points from seven matches defeating Georgia by a 3-1 margin. Yifan Hou and Zhao Xue paved the way for another victory with fine performance on the first and third boards as white while the black games ended in draws to keep the team way high in the standings. Russia scored a 3-1 victory over hosts Turkey losing on the second board when Tatiana Kosintseva made a vital mistake against Kubra Ozturk while winning the remaining games. In other matches of the day, Vietnam blanked South Africa 4-0 while Armenia went down 1.5-2.5 to Ukraine. With just two matches to come, the battle for the medal is heating up. While China seems to be out of reach of everyone, the fight now remains for the silver and bronze medal for which India still remains a contender.
— PTI |
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IAAF rules ignored for two athletes
With rules bent to favour, at least two athletes, who escaped with a lighter sentence as per international norms, there is ample possibility of the IAAF challenging the verdict. Neither NADDP nor the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) bothered to follow in principle the IAAF rules in deciding the cases of Mandeep Kaur and Jauna Murmu while disposing of a set of seven doping violation decisions on Friday last. Since the Mandeep-Murmu cases were tried under the ‘exceptional circumstances’ rule, the IAAF should have been informed, but that was not done till the verdict was out. “Had the IAAF rules been applied, it was quite possible that these two athletes would have faced a harsher sanction at than the one-year suspension that they finally received from the panel,” claimed Athletics Federation of India
(AFI) official. Among the six cases of woman quarter-milers, Mandeep and Murmu’s samples were collected by an IAAF team at Patiala last May. The others were under the doping control of the NADA. The IAAF rules stipulate that the National federation would hold the hearings in such cases. However following the NADA’s intervention, AFI and the IAAF agreed to transfer the Mandeep-Murmu cases to the NADDP, following an assurance that the panel would apply the IAAF rules in both these cases. However during the hearings in Delhi, these IAAF rules were never applied, following which the IAAF brought this to the notice of NADA. Meanwhile an IAAF spokesperson has already told The Tribune that any approach by the NADA panel to bail out these athletes through lighter Another reaction is awaited from IAAF after the head offices of the world body reopen after the New Year break next week. |
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Somdev reflects on tough job ahead of Chennai Open
Chennai, December 26 Somdev had reached the final in 2009, losing the title match to Marin Cilic and then failed to move beyond second and first rounds the following years respectively. "Well, I certainly hope to do well and go one better than 2009. I love playing in Chennai. The atmosphere is great, the crowd is supportive, it's just awesome," Somdev said ahead of the ATP event beginning here January 2. "(However) it's not easy. You want to play well, the crowd wants you to do well. It's a charged- up atmosphere. So there is a lot of pressure. You just have to try and not let it get to you. That's easier said than done though," he added. Somdev had lost to Tipsarevic in the second round in 2010 and to Belgian David Goffin in the first round in the 2011 edition. "It's a very strong field. At this level it's rare to get easy wins," he said about the field, which features world number nine Tipsarevic and number 10 Nicolas Almagro. Talking about the 2012 season, Somdev said his prime target is competing at the London Olympics. "The focus is definitely on the Olympics, I'll just work at improving my game further, and breaking into the (world's) top-50 would be nice," he said. The 26-year-old Devvarman had a mixed 2011 - he moved up as high as 63 in the world ranking after beginning the year at 108 but slumped to 84. "The sudden rise (was) due to good matches and favourable outcomes (and the) sudden slump due to injury," he said, referring to his recurring shoulder injury.
— PTI |
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Nadal looks to recover in 2012
"With the years, you lose a bit of intensity. Intensity in your self-belief, concentration, being positive, believing things will go well - those are in the mind. With the years you lose that a bit," he told the Spanish daily El Pais in an interview published on Monday. The 25-year-old world number two led Spain to a fifth Davis Cup title in December and won the French Open this year. But he lost in the Wimbledon and US Open finals to Novak Djokovic and surrendered his number one spot to the Serb as a result. "My mind was good in the first half of the year, not perfect because I needed a bit more in the games against Djokovic. But it was fine," he told the paper. "I have started to work, fight again.. but clearly I lacked a bit in my level of tennis. When you have it, your mind responds better. I have needed to be less predictable playing. I have been too predictable many times during the season," Nadal said. "Those are things that I have to recover for 2012." AFP Nadal said he had to play more inside the court to overwhelm his opponents and take control instead of letting them dictate matches. "In 2011 there have been moments where I have lacked an extra something," he said." The Spaniard said he had a good 2011 overall but felt he was "bad" towards the end of the year and "very bad" when he crashed out of the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
— AFP |
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Sania Mirza to lead Indian challenge in Fed Cup
The selectors made wholesome changes as they included national champion Rutuja Bhonsle, old hand Isha Lakhani and young Prerna Bhambri in the four-member squad. The axe fell on Poojashree Venkatesha, veteran Rushmi Chakravarthy and Aishwarya Srivastava, who were part of the squad the last time around. The team was relegated to group II after losing all the three round-robin league ties and then the play-off rubber to Chinese Taipei. India had won only three matches and two of those were singles wins by Sania. Rohit Rajpal was named as captain and Enrico Piperno the coach of the team. The Group competition will be held in Shenzhen, China from January 30 to February 4.
— PTI |
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Maken expects 100 to qualify for London Olympics
New Delhi, December 26 He said India can hope to win more Olympic medals only if more sportspersons qualify, as the Government on its part was sparing no effort to provide all possible training and foreign exposure to the probables. So far, 21 sportspersons, including seven athletes, have qualified for the Olympics and the Government has borne the expenses for 95 foreign exposure trips for the sportspersons. Maken said so far Rs 111.19 crore have been spent for the coaching camps, foreign and Indian coaches, foreign exposure etc. for the Olympic preparations. A total amount of Rs 258 crore has been earmarked for OPEX LONDON 2012 (Operation Excellence-London) and ten sports disciplines have been identified as medal prospects. |
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#
Michael Hussey has posted two successive innings without scoring for the first time in Tests. At Hobart against New Zealand, he had posted a duck.
# Ed Cowan (68) became the second Australian player to make a half-century on Test debut against India at MCG. Sam Loxton had played an excellent knock of 80 in 1947-48.
Lahore, December 26
New Delhi, December 26
Patiala, December 26
Madrid, December 26
New Delhi, December 26
