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| Wednesday, March 8, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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Tendulkar, Jadeja, Kumble in Asia
XI |
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Shift focus to infrastructure
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Punjab
register outright win SAS NAGAR, March 7 — Former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh claimed four wickets and enabled Punjab to defeat Bihar by an innings and 20 runs on the last day in the third Ranji Trophy Super League match at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium here this afternoon. Punjab’s victory, in fact, had almost become certain yesterday, when the visitors, chasing the 259-run first innings deficit, had lost four wickets with just 94 on the board. And it was expected that it would be just a matter of time before Punjab garnered full eight points from the match. The script unfolded along expected lines as Bihar were bundled out for 239 just after the lunch break. Harbhajan Singh emerged as the most successful bowler claiming four wickets, while medium fast bowler Gagandeep and off-spinner Sarandeep took three and two wickets, respectively. Bihar, who had just three points in their kitty from as many outings in the earlier Super League matches, looked resigned to their fate. With nothing much at stake they preferred to use the long handle. They succeeded in this tactics to some extent. Skipper Sunil Kumar, who had shown his willingness to play his shots, started in the same vein as yesterday. Sunil and other overnight batsman Manish Sharma played some authentic strokes and added 88 runs for the fifth-wicket partnership before seamer Sarandeep sent Sunil’s leg stump for a walk as the batsman completed his half century. His 51-run knock included six well-struck fours and two sixes. Wicketkeeper M.S. Dhoni joined Manish at this stage and both striking well added 47 runs in 46 minutes for the sixth-wicket partnership before Manish’s innings was cut shorts by an alert Mongia. Mongia fielding at short silly point picked up the ball and upset the stumps in a flash after the batsman was drawn forward by an off-spinner Sarandeep delivery and was unable to regain the crease in time. Manish also scored 51 runs. With all the recognised batsmen back in the pavilion not much was expected from the tailenders. Bihar lost three more wickets in quick succession as the side slumped to 203 for nine. Number 11 batsman Dheeraj Kumar made 16 runs, including a six and a four before being claimed by Harbhajan to signal the end of the innings. Harbhajan emerged the most successful bowler from the side finishing with an impressive haul of nine wickets in the match, having claimed five wickets in the first innings , while medium fast bowler Gagandeep also did well claiming seven victims. Punjab’s tally has now improved to 18 from three matches. They now play their last Super League match against Railways in New Delhi from March 13, while it is the end of the road for Bihar as far as the current edition of the championship is concerned. Bihar (1st innings): 244 Punjab (1st innings): 503 Bihar (2nd innings): N. Ranjan c and b Harbhajan 21, Javed Khan lbw Gagandeep 3, Amir Hashmi b Gagandeep 0, Rajiv Kumar lbw Gagandeep 22, Sunil Kumar b Sarandeep 51, Manish Kumar run out D. Mongia 51, M.S. Dhoni c Ravneet b Harbhajan 26, Sanjeev Gupta lbw Sarandeep 0, Shahid Khan n.o. 30, Anil Kumar lbw Harbhajan 0, Dheeraj Kumar c D. Mongia b Harbhajan 16. Extras: (lb 9, nb 9, w 1): 19 Total: (all out in 75.1 overs): 239 Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-20, 3-46, 4-56, 5-144, 6-191, 7-191, 8-199, 9-203, 10-239. Bowling: Sandeep
17-5-50-0; Gagandeep 21-4-65-3; Harbhajan 23.1-4-68-4;
Sarandeep 14-3-47-2. |
Bowlers hold sway in Peshawar Test PESHAWAR, March 7 (Reuters) — Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan claimed four for 77 today before Pakistan made a spirited fightback, reducing the touring side to 129 for five in their second innings of the second Test. Pakistan, resuming on the third day at 67 for one, suffered a dramatic post-lunch collapse in the face of Muralitharan’s off-spin. They lost their last seven wickets for 45 runs and were bowled out for 199, 69 runs adrift on first innings. But Pakistani fast bowler Waqar Younis ignored back pain to take two early Sri Lanka wickets while Shoaib Akhtar, five-wicket hero of the first innings, grabbed one to leave the match evenly poised. Sri Lanka lead the three-Test series 1-0. “I don’t think we batted well, we could have scored more runs. But I am glad that the bowlers kept our chances alive by restricting Sri Lanka to a small score,” said Pakistan captain Saeed Anwar who topscored in the Pakistan first innings with 74. Muralitharan, playing his 50th Test, claimed four for 23 after lunch, including the wickets of Abdur Razzaq, Younis Khan and Arshad Khan in a space of nine deliveries. He dismissed Younis and Khan off successive balls but was denied his maiden hat-trick by last man Akhtar. Muralitharan’s dismissal of Rawalpindi Test centurion Younis was highly controversial. He was declared caught at silly-point by Mahela Jayawardena by English umpire John Hampshire after the bowler and the close-in fielders had appealed for a leg before. Television replays showed his bat was nowhere near the ball. Anwar’s 191-ball innings included nine boundaries and six. He was caught by Muralitharan off Sanath Jayasuriya third ball after hitting his fellow captain for a six. Inzamam-ul-Haq was unbeaten on 58 — his fourth half century in five matches. He struck seven fours and a six in his 214-minute knock and no other Pakistan batsman reached double figures today. When bad light forced an early closure, Russel Arnold, who had scored only 34 runs in his last three innings, was unbeaten on 63. His three-hour innings was studded with 10 boundaries. SCOREBOARD Sri Lanka (1st innings): 268 Pakistan (1st innings) (overnight 67-1). Anwar c Muralitharan b Jayasuriya 74 Sohail c De Silva b Jayawardene 22 Youhana c Kaluwitharana b Vaas 8 Haq not out 58 Y. Khan c Jayawardene b Muralitharan 8 Afridi c Arnold b Vaas 4 Razzaq c Jayawardene b Muralitharan 0 Zaman c Kaluwitharana b Wickremasinghe 1 Younis c Jayawardene b Muralitharan 3 A. Khan lbw b Muralitharan 0 Akhtar c Atapattu b Wickremasinghe 5 Extras (1b-1, nb-14, w-1) 16 Total (all out in 85.5 overs) 199 Fall of wickets: 1-54, 2-82, 3-137, 4-154, 5-165, 6-166, 7-174, 8-177, 9-177. Bowling: Vaas 20-3-44-2, Pushpakumara 11-2-36-0, Muralitharan 39-10-77-4, Jayawardene 5-3-7-1, Jayasuriya 3-1-9-1, Wickremasinghe 10.5-4-25-2. Sri Lanka (2nd innings): Atapattu c Sohail b Arshad Khan 29 Jayasuriya lbw b Younis 6 Arnold not out 63 Jayawardena lbw b Younis 10 Dilshan c Zaman b Sohail 7 Kaluwitharana lbw b Akhtar 0 A. De Silva not out 7 Extras (b-4 lb-3). 7 Total (for five wickets) 129 Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-69, 3-90, 4-108, 5-109. Bowling: Waqar Younis
9-2-22-2, Shoaib Akhtar 9-1-37-1, Arshad Khan 12-3-42-1,
Abdur Razzaq 9-5-14-0, Aamir Sohail 4-1-7-1. |
Tendulkar, Jadeja, Kumble in Asia XI NEW DELHI, March 7 (PTI) — Sachin Tendulkar, Ajay Jadeja, Robin Singh and Anil Kumble are the four Indians chosen in the Wasim Akram-led Asia XI that will take on the Rest of the World XI under Brian Lara in a one-day tie at Dhaka on April 8 as part of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) cricket week celebrations. Announcing the two 12-member teams, ICC President Jagmohan Dalmiya told a press conference that the game will be the highlight of the ‘‘ICC cricketnext.com cricket week 2000’’ to run from April 2 to 9. The teams were chosen by a panel of distinguished former players, India’s Sunil Gavaskar, Ian Chappell of Australia, England’s Tony Greig, Mike Proctor of South Africa and Asif Iqbal of Pakistan here today. Mr Dalmiya said an All-Stars XI will be chosen by another nine-member panel that includes former greats Gary Sobers of the West Indies and yesteryears Australian batting legend Neil Harvey, South Africa’s Barry Richards and India’s Bishan Singh Bedi and announced tomorrow. The ICC chief said the entire deliberations of the two selection committees have been filmed and will be televised during the celebrations and was expected to be an interesting programme. The Asian XI has five players from Pakistan, four from India and three others from Sri Lanka while the Rest of the World XI comprises three each from Australia and South Africa, two each from the West Indies and New Zealand besides one each from Zimbabwe and England. The other selection committee members for the All-Stars XI are John Reid of New Zealand, former England Test umpire Dicky Bird, Sri Lanka’s Duleep Mendis, Pakistan’s Mushtaq Mohammad and Andy Pycroft of Zimbabwe. Former India all-rounder Ravi Shastri will be the moderator of the panel. The ICC chief said four Australian players, skipper Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath were not available. Waugh has been advised rest for a hamstring strain and Ponting was out with an ankle injury while Warne and McGrath have opted out citing personal reasons. Asked whether Lara, who has quit as skipper and announced his decision to take a sabbatical from the game, will play, Mr Dalmiya said the player was expected though a list of three stand-byes has also been drawn up for both teams. Asia XI: Wasim Akram (Pak - cap), Sanath Jayasuriya (SL-vice-capt), Moin Khan (Pak-wk), Saeed Anwar (Pak), Sachin Tendulkar (Ind), Aravinda De Silva (Sri), Ajay Jadeja (Ind), Abdur Razzaq (Pak), Robin Singh (Ind), Anil Kumble (Ind), Muttiah Muralitharan (SLs) and Shoaib Akhtar (Pak). Rest of the World XI:
Brian Lara (WI-Cap), Mark Waugh (Aus-vice-capt), Adam
Gilchrist (Aus-wk), Jacques Kallis (SA), Michael Bevan
(Aus), Neil Johnson (Zim), Lance Klusener (SA), Chris
Cairns (NZ), Daniel Vettori (NZ), Curtly Ambrose (WI),
Allan Donald (SA), Andrew Caddick (Eng). |
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MUMBAI, March 7 (UNI) — Mumbai registered a 72-run victory over Rajasthan but not before getting a big scare in the group A Super League Ranji match on the fourth and last day at the Wankhede stadium here today. Rajasthan today picked up the gauntlet of achieving a target of 393 in right earnest with opener Nikhil Doru leading the charge with his maiden hundred (105) and ailing skipper Gagan Khoda with 70 and Saket Bhatia with 90 giving able support. But after being 288 for two and needing 105 runs off 24 overs they lost their nerve with the next seven batsmen collectively producing only 18 runs to get all out for 320 in the fourth mandatory over. Mumbai had taken a 107-run lead after making 336 and bundling out Rajasthan for 229 in the first innings. Yesterday, the hosts declared at 285 for five and got one early wicket too. But today Saket Bhatia and Doru put up 164 runs for the second wicket and then Doru and Khoda made Mumbai sweat more with another 124-runs-stand off 26.1 overs. There was plenty of time and wickets to record a fantastic win as no side chasing such big score had ever made it. Mumbai skipper Samir Dighe avoided his three medium pacers and relied on debutant off spinner Ramesh Powar and tiny leg spinner Rajesh Pawar. Once Doru left both bowlers pinned the rest and finished with three for 59 and four for 93, respectively, which gave Mumbai their third consecutive straight win in as many matches. They now face Bengal in an away match in the last league match and if Karnataka fails to qualify, then they will go straight into the finals. Mumbai, who failed to get into the Super League last year, recorded outright wins over Karnataka and Delhi away from home in their first two matches. Mumbai: 336 and 285 for 5 declared. Rajasthan (Ist innings): 229 2nd innings: A. Jain lbw S. Saxena 0; N. Doru c Muzumdar b Rajesh Pawar 105; S. Bhatia c Dighe b Kannan 90; G. Khoda c Kambli b Ramesh Powar 70; Krishna Kumar c Pawar b Ramesh Powar 1; S. Sharma st. Dighe b Rajesh Pawar 9; R. Kanwat run out 5; R. Jhalani c Paranjpe b Rajesh Pawar 3; Devender Pal Singh c and b Rajesh Pawar 0; Jai Sharma c Kambli b Ramesh Powar 0; Shamsher Singh not out 0 Extras: (14 b, 5 lb, 18 nb) 37 Total: 320 all out off 73.5 overs Fall of wickets: 1/0, 22/164, 3/288, 4/290, 5/302, 6/315, 7/319, 8/319, 9/320. Bowling: Saxena
17-2-73-1, Kuruvilla 8-1-29-0, Kannan 13-3-47-1, Rajesh
Pawar 31.3-5-93-4 Ramesh Powar 15-1-59-3. |
JCT hold East Bengal; Churchill shocked CALCUTTA, March 7 (UNI) — In a lacklustre match, Calcutta league champions East Bengal and JCT, Phagwara, played a goal-less draw in the crucial second leg of the National Football League here today. Both the teams bungled umpteen opportunities as their forwards failed to cash in on the chances and shared one point each. With this, 1997 champions JCT collected 31 points from 20 matches and remained at the fourth position, while East Bengal earned 26 points from as many matches. They had also shared one point in their last encounter. JCT won eight matches, drew seven, lost five and scored 19 goals and conceded 15, while East Bengal won six, lost as many and drew eight. They scored 19 goals and conceded 18. The Calcutta giants dominated the proceedings on both the occasions and could have won the match by at least two goals. JCT defender Surjit Singh manned the team’s defence brilliantly and saved both the goals at the fag end of the match. In the 84th minute, a sure goal-bound ball by East Bengal’s Willie Brown was saved for a corner by Surjit Singh. A few minutes later, a shot from Opoku was also saved by Surjit Singh. MARGAO: Second placed Churchill Brothers’ hopes to stay in contention for the title received a jolt today as they went down to spirited Mahindra and Mahindra, Mumbai, by a soliatry goal in the fourth edition of the National Football League at Nehru Stadium, Fatorda, here today. Mahindras secured the precious match winner in the 85th minute through substitute striker Manjeet Singh. The visitors thus avenged their defeat they suffered by 0-2 on the home ground in the first leg and with this win moved on to the fifth spot with 29 points pushing down F.C. Kochin to the sixth place with 28 points. Mahindras registered their seventh win with eight draws and four defeats. Churchill Brothers remained on the same second spot with 35 points from 19 outings. In a fast-paced match with a better share of exchanges Mahindras, could have won by much bigger margin had not their Jordanian striker Bassim Khatib missed four open chances. He was replaced by Manjeet Singh who scored the all-important goal in the 40th minute of the second half. He grabbed the ball from the rival defender Antony Mathews and unleashed a powerpacked shot which found the net when Churchill Brothers’ goalkeeper charged out to narrow the angle but he could not prevent the goal 1-0. Salgaocar thrash SBT MARGAO (PTI): Dominating the second half, Salgaocar thrashed State Bank of Travancore (SBT) 4-0 in their return match of the National Football League here on Monday. After a barren first half, Salgaocar — who had beaten SBT 1-0 in the away match — scored through Jules Alberto (53rd), S. Venkatesh (67th) and substitutes Ravichandran (85th) and Alvito D’Cunha (injury time). With this win, Salgaocar maintained their third position with 33 points and enhanced their hopes to finish in the top three. SBT, who suffered their 11th defeat, remained in ninth place with 20 points from 19 matches, having played one match more than Salgaocar. The Goans drew first blood in the eighth minute of the second half. Winger S. Venkatesh, accepting a pass on the left flank got the better of defender Paul Anthony and sent a measured cross into the box for Alberto to find the mark. Venkatesh and Alberto combined well along with medio Habib and Gbenga Lawal to control the midfield in the latter half. Lawal initiated the move from the centre which culminated in their second goal. He relayed the ball to Alberto on the right who, in turn, centered to Venkatesh. The last-named
controlled the ball and, after eluding defender Anthony,
uncorked a low angular drive to the far post and to the
right of keeper Sheriff. |
Shift
focus to infrastructure CHANDIGARH, March 7 — Who builds sports infrastructure in the country? How will the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) make use of Union Finance Minister Yaswant Sinha’s Budget proposal of 100 per cent deduction for donations made by corporate entities for the development of infrastructure and for sponsorship of games and sports? Both questions are interlinked and need a deeper study. In any case building infrastructure is not part of the activities of the Indian Olympic Association. Founded in 1927 the Indian Olympic Association has not built a single infrastructure. Also, the Indian Olympic Association has about Rs 4 crore in its kitty but it has no plans to build any infrastructure. It is only associations which run popular games like cricket, golf and to a certain extent tennis which have constructed stadia and other related facilities. All other sporting facilities in the country are built by the state machinery, including public sector units and the Sports Authority of India. The reason for this is simple. Associations running disciplines like cricket, golf and tennis make enough money through sponsorship to build infrastructure which is not the case with other sports disciplines which more often than not depend on government dole to conduct their activities. In any case the role of the Indian Olympic Association has been restricted over the years to sending teams to the Asian Games, the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics. The national sports federations send teams to all other international tournaments be it hockey, football, or athletics where again money is a big constraint. Cricket which is not an Olympic event faces no dearth of money given the highly successful marketing of the game which other sports bodies have been unable to emulate. Therefore, it would have been in the fitness of things if the Union Finance Minister’s offer to corporate bodies was extended to the state Olympic associations who in their own way are promoting sports in their respective states by not only paying for the coaching of youngsters but also sending squads for the National Games. The need of the hour is provision of infrastructure facilities — both outdoor and indoor — in all district headquarters and major towns in India to encourage youth of the country to take part in sport. What the Union Finance Minister could have done was to encourage the corporate sector to adopt say one district each and provide not only infrastructure but also equipment, clothing and training and in turn grant them tax deductions for conducting such activities. Also, national sports
federations find it difficult to conduct their national
championships in the senior, junior and sub-junior
levels. Here again, the corporate sector should be given
incentives to promote these activities of the national
sports federations. |
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CALCUTTA, March 7 (PTI) — Bengal garnered five valuable points by virtue of a 48-run first innings lead to remain on course for a quarterfinal berth as their group ‘A’ Ranji Trophy Super League exchange with holders Karnataka ended in a tame draw here today. With Mumbai making a last four berth a certainty garnering 24 points from three matches to sit pretty at the top of the group, Bengal are now placed second with 13 points from three exchanges. Karnataka, who managed only three points from the match, have taken their overall tally to 11. Resuming at the overnight score of 75 for one, Devang Gandhi, standing in for injured skipper Utpal Chatterjee, declared the Bengal second innings closed at 264 for nine, setting Karnataka a near-impossible task of scoring 313 runs in 30 overs for an outright win. Karnataka were 52 for one when the match was called off after the eighth mandatory over. The high point of the Bengal innings was a solid 88 by Devang Gandhi. Gandhi and Nikhil Haldipur (43) added 96 runs for the second wicket to provide the perfect launching pad for a slog but the later batsmen, with the exception of first innings century maker Saba Karim (55 no), failed to negotiate the guiles of Karnataka spinners Santosh Vadeyaraj and Sunil Joshi. Brief scores: Bengal: 316 and 264 for
9 decl (D. Gandhi 88, S. Karim not out 55, N. Haldipur
43, L.R. Shukla 37; S. Vadeyaraj 4/59, S. Joshi 3/108).
Karnataka: 268 and 52/1. |
Fazaluddin, Ghouse score facile wins CALCUTTA, March 7 (PTI) — India’s Davis Cupper and top seed Syed Fazaluddin and fourth seed Mustafa Ghouse carved out facile straight set victories to move into the men’s singles second round of the Senior National Grasscourt Championships here today. Lanky local boy Fazaluddin beat qualifier P. Vijaykumar 6-2, 6-3 in only 62 minutes while Maharashtra star Ghouse needed less than an hour to vanquish S.B. Keerthi 6-3, 6-3 in opening round matches at the CCFC lawns. Fifth seed Vishal Uppal of Delhi also had an easy first round outing, getting the better of Tamil Nadu’s Punna Vishal 6-3, 6-2 in 70 minutes. The best match of the morning was between qualifier P. Ravishankar and Andhra Pradesh’s Kamala Kannan. The intense 190-minute encounter saw Ravishankar come back from a set down to upset the higher ranked Kannan 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 and squeeze into the second round. In ladies singles, fourth seed S.K. Tara of Karnataka opened her campaign in style, breezing past Reedhina Parekh of the host state 6-0, 6-1. Maharashtra girl Sonal Phadke overcame initial hiccups before conquering statemate Chheda Krushmi 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. In men’s doubles, top seed Sourav Panja and Nitin Kirtane sailed into the second round by outclassing Benjamin Xavier and R. Narendran 6-4, 6-3. Fazaluddin, who entered the tournament at the last minute through a wild card, opened on a positive note breaking the qualifier in the very opening game, and then retained his serve to open up a 2-0 lead. The next four games went on serves, but Vijaykumar became a bundle of nerves in the seventh game, committing two double faults before dropping his serve in the seventh game to trail 2-5. Fazaluddin, who fired a
number of spectacular backhand volleys to fox his
opponent who constantly charged toward the net, then
retained his serve to pocket the set 6-2 in only 27
minutes. |
AFC for overhaul of Indian football NEW DELHI, March 7 (PTI) — The Indian football scene is all set for a total overhaul with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) today directing introduction of a six-month long league and appointment of professionals to run the game efficiently. AFC Secretary General Peter Velappan announced here that the continental body had taken a serious view of the way in which the All-India Football Federation (AIFF) was being run and said Indian football has “now gone into a limbo”. The AFC has asked the AIFF to extend the National Football League, now restricted to three months, to six months to revitalise the premier championship and also introduce a knockout tournament on the lines of the FA Cup in England, Mr Velappan told reporters after a discussion with top AIFF officials here. Mr Velappan said the AFC had asked the AIFF to centralise key activities in New Delhi by appointing three professionals to handle administration and communication, technical development and management of various national teams, including training and an accountant. AIFF finances will be audited and handled with total transparency to leave no room for any “suspicion”, he said. Saying it was important to bring about credibility in the running of the federation and the game, Mr Velappan said the personnel would be chosen through a top recruitment agency. The AFC official said the Uzbek coach Rustom Akramov would take charge of the entire youth development programme, scout for talent in states and introduce regional academies and help preparation of age group teams. “This will be in close cooperation with Indian coaches”, he said. Mr Velappan, who was here to attend the Afro-Asian Games Council meeting and used the opportunity to discuss the AIFF issues threadbare, said the game had turned professional and was an industry today. “We feel the AIFF needs to be helped professionally to maximise efforts. India has one billion population and 90 per cent of the population is still passionate about football and India had very good teams in the past. The AIFF will start a new era for Indian football,” he said. Today the media and sponsors were all active partners for good running of the game, he said, adding that the AFC had coined two slogans, “Football is the school of life” and “Football is world of peace” and India should live up to them. On the AIFF
administration, he said the president Mr P R Das Munshi,
was from Calcutta, the secretary (K N Mour) hailed from
Guwahati and the treasurer (A R Khaleel) was based in
Bangalore. “This creates serious logistic problems
and all have agreed that key functions will be
centralised in Delhi”. |
Stragglers
on Indian tour CHANDIGARH, March 7 — In order to celebrate its 75th anniversary together with the new millennium, players and other members of Stragglers of Asia Cricket Club are on a tour of India to play cricket matches and visit their roots in Chail in Himachal Pradesh. The club was founded by Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala at Chail, near Shimla hills, in 1925. Subsequently the club had to be shifted to England. According to Mr Shiv Dutt, chairman of the tour committee, during the hectic two-week tour the club members would play as many as 11 matches at Patiala, Chandigarh, Chail and New Delhi. He said the club plans a major oversees tour every three years. Before the current tour, the club members visited Cape Town in South Africa in 1997, while three years earlier the club played matches in Hong Kong. Tracing the history of the club he said in the early 1920s Maharaja of Patiala decided to take a cricket team to Chail every summer. The Maharaja arranged the cutting off of a peak top to make a cricket ground. Those who joined the Army and civil services came to India at a very young age before they had the time to join cricket clubs in England. The idea was to give such officers a place where they could play cricket. Finally in 1925 the Stragglers of Asia Club was formed and Maharaja of Patiala was made ‘honorary member for life’. Captain A. Coldwell of the Northamptonshire Regiment became Honorary Secretary. Under the leadership of Vemon Maynard, who came to be known as the founder, the club was immediately successful. Representatives were appointed all over the far East. The fixtures list rapidly developed and tours of Oxford Colleges and Cambridge colleges were organised. In 1939 as many as 18 fixtures were played. At the end of the year World War II broke out and the club ceased to function. In 1946 Stragglers met again and six matches were arranged for 1946. The club now has over 400 members and a fixtures list featuring 50 matches. The present part consists of 30 cricketers, 20 ladies and 10 seniors members of the club comprising umpires and scorers. The tour is being managed by Mr Devraj Sinh Jadeja, India international Ajay Jadeja’s cousin through his company D.S. Cricket Tours. Mr Devraj Jadeja’s association with the tour relates to a historical precedent set by his grand uncle the great Ranji Sinji of Nawanagar, who played much of his cricket with Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala in the early years of the club. The team has already played matches against Roshanara Club, New Delhi. Tomorrow a match is scheduled against the Punjab Cricket Club at PCA Stadium at Mohali. Two matches against the Yadavindra Public Old Boys XI and HH Patiala’s Invitation XI (March 7 and 9) are slated at Patiala. The rest of the matches scheduled during the current two-week tour are versus Lawrence School, Sanawar (March 11); Chail Military School, Chail (March 12); Mohan Meakin Breweries XI and United Breweries XI ( both March 14), Army XI at Harbaksh Stadium and UK High Commission XI at Air Force ground, Palam, New Delhi, (both March 15) and Delhi District Cricket Association XI at Ferozeshah Kotla on March 16. During the tour to India
the Stragglers of Asia Cricket Club intend to express
their gratitude by making an enduring gesture to promote
cricket in schools in Patiala, Kasauli and Chail. |
India, SA arrive for 1-day tie KOCHI, March 7 (PTI) The South African and Indian cricket teams arrived here today for the first Pepsi Cup one-day match to be played at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on March 9. Kapil Dev, left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi and Mohammad Kaif did not accompany the rest of the Indian squad from Bangalore, where India lost the second Test to suffer a 0-2 series defeat, while Robin Singh joined the team here from Chennai. Players of both the
teams left the airport for their hotel. Elaborate
security arrangements have been made in and around the
stadium where the match will be played. |
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