S P O R T

Kristin of South Africa sweeps a ball. He was the highest scorer from his side in the third one day match in Faridabad today. — Photograph by Sondeep Shankar

Kirsten, Cronje power South Africa to win
FARIDABAD, March 15 — In spite of losing some quick wickets South Africa kept their nerves under control and fashioned an exciting two-wicket win over India in a thrilling encounter at the Nahar Singh Stadium here today.

Pak down Lanka by 222 runs
KARACHI, March 15 — Pakistan downed Sri Lanka by 222 runs to restore some pride on the fourth day of the third and final cricket Test here today.

8th consecutive Test win for Aussies
AUCKLAND, March 15 — Australia won a record-equalling eighth consecutive Test match and spin-king Shane Warne became his country’s greatest wicket-taker as New Zealand were beaten by 62 runs in the first cricket Test here today.

Mohun Bagan NFL champs
CHANDIGARH, March 15 — It’s celebration time in Calcutta as favourites Mohun Bagan regained the coveted National Football League title today, 11 days prior to the scheduled end of the high-profile championship.

REGIONAL SPORT BRIEFS

Jr wrestling meet

Kirsten, Cronje power South Africa to win
From Abhijit Chatterjee
Tribune News Service

FARIDABAD, March 15 — In spite of losing some quick wickets South Africa kept their nerves under control and fashioned an exciting two-wicket win over India in a thrilling encounter at the Nahar Singh Stadium here today.

South Africa owe their win, which helped them to remain in contention in the five-match series with India winning the first two matches at Kochi and Jamshedpur, to opener Gary Kirsten and their skipper Hansie Cronje, who together put on 113 runs for the fourth wicket after the visitors, chasing the Indian target of 248 for eight off 50 overs, were reduced to 91 for three.

Kirsten, who saw the departure of Gibbs, caught by Sachin at mid-off off Anil Kumble, Nicky Boje, caught by Ajit Agarkar off Sachin— who today went on to claim a total of four wickets for 56 runs — and Jacques Kallis who was bowled by Sunil Joshi after he had scored just 10, found a resolute partner in Cronje, who so far has had an indifferent series.

The two South African batsmen never let the asking rate climb beyond six, tackled the Indian bowlers with a fair amount of ease. Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly used as many as seven bowlers in an effort to curb the South African run chase, without much success as the visitors were not posed much problems. Kirsten, unlucky to miss his century, posted his personal 50 with a single off Agarkar and all his four fours had the stamp of authority, barring the first one which came in the very first over of the innings when an Agarkar delivery took a thin edge and went past the gloves of Sameer Dighe to the ropes. In all Kirsten, who had scored a scorching century in the first match of the series at Kochi, faced 68 balls for his 50.

At the other end Cronje reached his personal 50 in grand style as he hammered Sunil Joshi for two consecutive fours to put the hosts totally on the defensive. The South African skipper faced just 56 balls and had six hits to the ropes, all stamped with class. The hundred of the stand came soon after as Saurav Ganguly shuffled his bowlers around in an effort to get a breakthrough.

But just when it seemed that the tourists would run away with the match Sachin got India the much-needed breakthrough by bowling Kirsten with his personal score reading 93 and the South African total 204. Kirsten faced 111 balls and had eight hits to the ropes and at that time Cronje was on 58.

And at this stage the game took a dramatic turn as South Africa lost four wickets for the addition of only 15 runs. First it was Benkenstein, bowled by Kumble round his legs for zero, then it was Cronje himself who was trapped in front of the wicket by Sachin after he had reached 66 (seven fours, one six, 71 balls) with the total reading 217 and when two runs later, at 219, Klusner fell to Sachin the Indian felt that a possible victory was on the cards. But with Pollock wielding the long handle with great effect the game slipped out of the hands of the Indians. The visitors coasted to win with an over to spare after they were docked one over.

Earlier in the day, the hosts, after being sent in to bat after Cronje called correctly, put on a total of 248 largely due to the efforts of Ganguly, who scored a quickfire 56, and Rahul Dravid, who found his touch with a solid 73 compiled off 109 deliveries.

The Indians got off to a good start as Ganguly and Sachin took early control over the South African bowlers. Steve Elworthy came in for some very rough treatment as the South African bowler conceded a total of 32 runs in his first four overs. His third over saw the Indians picking up 14 runs with Ganguly cracking three fours and in the next Elworthy conceded 12 more runs with Ganguly picking up a four as well as a six, a huge shot to the deep midwicket region. The Indian 50 came off just 55 balls as the hosts help sway. And just when it seemed that the Indians would get off to a rollicking start, Sachin, who today was more than willing to play second fiddle to his skipper, was trapped by Pollock after the maestro had scored just 12 (one four, 28 ball).

Ganguly reached his 50 in style, lifted four off Hansie Cronje who had come in place of the erratic Elworthy, but was out soon after, caught by wicketkeeper Mark Boucher and the bowler to prosper was Elworthy whose second spell was much better. This Indian wicket fell at 80 and when five runs later Mohammd Azharuddin, playing his 300th one-day innings, was caught behind off Kallis it was left to Ajay Jadeja and Rahul Dravid to carry out the repair work.

The two put on 62 runs for the fourth wicket but with Rahul very tentative in the beginning of his innings the run rate dropped dramatically. And this probably cost India the match as the late flourish, first by Joshi and then by Dighe, was simply not enough to take India towards 280, which might have turned out to be a match winning score.

SCOREBOARD

India:

S. Ganguly c Boucher b Elworthy 56

S. Tendulkar lbw b Pollock 12

R. Dravid run out 73

M. Azharuddin c Boucher b Kallis 2

A. Jadeja c Kallis b Cronje 31

S. Joshi run out 23

R. Singh run out 9

S. Dighe not out 17

A. Agarkar b Kallis 8

Extras (B-1, LB-4, NB-3, W-9) 17

Total (for eight wickets, 50 overs) 248

Fall of wickets: 1-61, 2-80, 3-85, 4-147, 5-182, 6-208, 7-238, 8-248.

Bowling: Pollock 10-1-36-1 (NB2), Elworthy 10-1-44-1 (NB1,W1), Cronje 10-0-69-1 (W2), Kallis 10-0-37-2 (W2), Klusener 2-0-11-0, Boje 4-0-22-0, Benkenstein 1-0-9-0, Strydom 3-0-15-0 (WB4).

South Africa:

G. Kirsten b Tendulkar 93

H. Gibbs c Tendulkar b Kumble 19

N. Boje c Agarkar b Tendulkar 14

J. Kallis b Joshi 10

H. Cronje lbw Tendulkar 66

D. Benkenstein b Kumble 0

L. Klusener c Ganguly b Tendulkar 6

S. Pollock b Dravid 14

M. Boucher not out 17

P. Strydom not out 1

Extras: (B-1, NB-2, W-8) 11

Total (for eight wickets,

48 overs) 251

Fall of wickets: 1-42, 2-63, 3-91, 4-204, 5-205, 6-217, 7-219, 8-244.

Bowling: Agarkar 8-0-36-0 (W1), Kumaran 5-0-31-0 (W1), Joshi 10-0-56-1 (3W), Kumble 10-0-39-2 (NB1, W1), Tendulkar 10-0-56-4 (W1), Ganguly 3-0-16-0 (W1, NB1), Dravid 2-0-16-1.

Pak down Lanka by 222 runs

KARACHI, March 15 (AFP) — Pakistan downed Sri Lanka by 222 runs to restore some pride on the fourth day of the third and final cricket Test here today.

Sri Lanka, however, clinched the series 2-1 after their two wicket win in the first Test in Rawalpindi and 57-run victory in the second at Peshawar.

In the final Test Pakistan set Sri Lanka a daunting target of 451 to win and skittled them out for a low score of 228.

Sri Lanka won their third consecutive Test series after beating Australia 1-0 at home last August and Zimbabwe by the same margin in the away series.

Pakistan came back from five successive defeats after they were whitewashed 3-0 in Australia.

Pakistan (1st innings) 256

(Inzamam-ul-Haq 86, Shahid Afridi 74, M.Muralitharan 4-89)

Sri Lanka (1st innings) 227

(R.Arnold 48, R.Kaluwitharana 42, Shoaib Akhtar 3-52)

Pakistan (second innings) overnight 375 for seven

Naveed lbw Muralitharan 27

Afridi b Pushpakumara 34

Ijaz Ahmad c Dilshan b Muralitharan 3

Inzamam c Wickramasinghe b Muralitharan 138

Shoaib Akhtar lbw Vaas 0

Youhana c Kaluwitharana b Pushpakumara 11

Younis Khan c Kaluwitharana b Wickramasinghe 61

Moin Khan c Arnold b Pushpakumara 70

Waqar Younis c Dilshan b Muralitharan 39

Irfan Fazil c Jayasuriya b Pushpakumara 3

Mohammad Akram not out 1

Extras (lb-16 nb-18) 34

Total (all out) 421

Fall of wickets: 1-70, 2-70, 3-84, 4-106, 5-159, 6-283, 7-320, 8-408, 9-419.

Bowling: Vaas 34-8-107-1 (nb8) Pushpakumara 20.5-3-66-4 (nb5) Wickramasinghe 26-6-82-1 (nb5) Muralitharan 40-6-107-4 Jayasuriya 9-1-28-0 Arnold 4-0-15-0.

Sri Lanka (2nd innings):

M. Atapattu c Moin b Akram 23

S. Jayasuriya lbw b Younis 10

R. Arnold c Moin b Younis 8

M. Jayawardene b Fazil 29

T. Dilshan run out 5

I. De Saram lbw b Afridi 18

R. Kaluwitharana b Akhtar 33

C. Vaas c Shoaib b Afridi 28

R. Pushpakumara c Fazil b Afridi 44

P. Wickremasinghe run out 0

M. Muralitharan not out 5

Extras (b-1, lb-7, nb-17) 25

Total (all out in 46 overs) 228

Fall of wickets: 1-27, 2-41, 3-41, 4-59, 5-86, 6-121, 7-145, 8-191, 9-199

Bowling: Younis 11-4-32-2, Akhtar 13-1-64-1, M. Akram 10-1-44-1, Fazil 4-0-30-1, Afridi 8-1-50-3.

8th consecutive Test win for Aussies

AUCKLAND, March 15 (AFP) — Australia won a record-equalling eighth consecutive Test match and spin-king Shane Warne became his country’s greatest wicket-taker as New Zealand were beaten by 62 runs in the first cricket Test here today.

Australia dismissed New Zealand for 218 runs at Eden Park after the Kiwis were chasing an improbable 281 runs in the fourth innings to win the Test.

The victory gave Steve Waugh’s team an eighth consecutive Test victory equalling the record set by Warwick Armstrong’s Australian team in 1920.

It was also a record day for master legspinner Warne, who passed fast bowling great Dennis Lillee’s 16-year-old Australian record with his dismissal of Kiwi tailender Paul Wiseman to clinch the Test with his 356th dismissal.

Warne, playing in his 82nd Test, finished with figures of 2-80 and it looked as though he would not get the chance to break the record in this Test with wickets falling to his teammates.

Off-spinner Colin Miller captured career best Test figures of 5-55 and express bowler Brett Lee took 2-36.

But skipper Waugh threw the ball to Warne in a bid to take off the pressure of breaking the record.

The blond-headed tweaker broke through with his third ball of his 21st over after Wiseman, attempting to sweep, got a top edge to wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist for an easy catch.

The Australian players rushed to the celebrating Warne and clapped him from the field.

It was Australia’s first win at the Eden Park in 23 years after losing their last three Tests at the Auckland ground. Greg Chappell’s team last won here by 10 wickets in 1977.

New Zealand set out on the final day after the fourth day had been washed out without a ball bowled at 151 for five and requiring 130 more runs to pull off an amazing victory.

The odds were stacked on Australia’s side and they got a quick breakthrough in the day’s second over when Chris Cairns hit Miller to Steve Waugh head-high at mid-wicket and he was out for no addition to his overnight score of 20.

Craig McMillan played a determined innings and he and Adam Parore temporarily gave New Zealand faint hope of overhauling Australia with their 44-run partnership before Parore was dismissed 12 minutes after lunch for 26.

Breet Lee was brought into the attack and he induced Parore to hit to a diving Steve Waugh for his second catch of the day and leave the Kiwis at 195 for seven and still 86 runs short of the target.

But the game was all but over when Australia removed McMillan, who hit the highest score of the Test of 78 before he edged Lee to Warne at first slip with the score at 204.

Daniel Vettori, who was later named Man-of-the-Match for his match haul of 12 wickets, was out for a duck, snapped up by Warne low down at slip giving Miller his fifth wicket.

The hosts faced a forlorn task with the last two batsmen at the crease and still needing 77 runs to win. And in typical dramatic Warne style, he had the last word snaring Wiseman for his record and prolong Australia’s winning sequence.

SCOREBOARD

Australia (1st innings): 214

New Zealand (1st innings): 163

Australia (2nd innings): 229

New Zealand (2nd innings): (151 for five resumed)

Horne c Langer b Miller 11

Spearman lbw b McGrath 4

Sinclair lbw b Miller 6

Fleming c Gilchrist b Miller 8

Astle b Warne 35

McMillan c Warne b Lee 78

Cairns c S. Waugh b Miller 20

Parore c S. Waugh b Lee 26

Vettori c Warne b Miller 0

Doull not out 5

Wiseman c Gilchrist b Warne 9

Extras: (b7, lb7, nb2) 16

Total: (all out, 73.3 overs) 218

Fall of wkts: 1-15, 2-25, 3-25, 4-43, 5-121, 6-151, 7-195, 8-204, 9-204, 10-218

Bowling: McGrath 23-8-33-1 (2nb), Lee 12-4-36-2, Miller 18 -5-55-5, Warne 20.3-5-80-2.

Mohun Bagan NFL champs
By Amardeep Bhattal
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, March 15 — It’s celebration time in Calcutta as favourites Mohun Bagan regained the coveted National Football League title today, 11 days prior to the scheduled end of the high-profile championship. The 0-2 defeat of Goa’s Salgaocar Sports Club at the hands of FC Kochin at Thrissur today put the title in the lap of Subrata Bhattacharya’s green and maroon brigade. Incidentally this is the second title for Bagan in the league after they had emerged champions in the second edition of the championship in 1997-98.

Although Mohun Bagan were comfortably placed on top of the table with 44 points, only Salgaocar had an outside chance of pipping the favourites provided they won the remaining three matches. However, the defeat today at Thrissur put the issue beyond doubt and even if Salgaocar, who were closest to the front-runners till yesterday, manage to win the remaining two matches, they will not be able to catch up with Bagan by the time the gruelling three-and-a-half month long league comes to an end on March 26.

Mohun Bagan, in their quest for the title, notched up 13 victories while drawing five ties. They also lost the least number of matches, two to be precise. With two more rounds to go, the glamour outfit are likely to snatch a few more points to make their title win truly memorable.

The following are the latest standings of the teams in the National Football League (read under teams, matches played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, and points)

Innings victory for Punjab

NEW DELHI, March 15 (UNI) — Riding on the brilliance of spinners Sarandeep Singh (5 for 22) and Harbhajan Singh (3 for 37) who ripped through the batting line-up, Punjab inflicted a humiliating innings and 64-run defeat on Railways just an hour after lunch on the third day of the group‘B’ super league to storm into the knockout round of the Ranji Trophy Championship here today.

Punjab had scored 355 in their first innings and in reply Railways were all out for 195 and after the follow-on the hosts were bundled out for a mere 96 runs in 45 overs as the match ended with one and half day to spare,.Punjab ended their super league assignment with 24 points from four matches while Railways finished with 14 points from four outings.Needing 29 to avoid follow on, Railways resumed their innings with a score of 176 for nine, but fell short of 10 runs to make Punjab bat again. The overnight pair of Kulamani Parida and Murli Kartik could add only 19 runs when Harbhajan terminated their innings getting Kartik stumped by Harminder Jugnu.

The Railways resistance to prevent follow on lasted only for 6.1 overs. Of the 19 runs scored this morning Kartik chipped in 18 runs and went back to the pavilion with 24 runs to his credit(4x4,33m) Parida remained unbeaten at 35 (5x4,1x6,87m)

Harbhajan ended the innings with 3 wickets for 64 runs.

scoreboard

Punjab (1st innings): 355 all out

Railways (1st innings): Balaji Rao b Gagandeep 6, Sanjay Dangar c Mongia b Navdeep 8, Vishal Sharma LBW Navdeep 2, Abhay Sharma c Dharmani b Gagandeep 11, Yere Goud c Harbhajan b Navdeep 64, Prahlad Rawat c Dharmani b Sarandeep 18, Devender Singh st Jugnu b Harbhajan 14, Sudhir Wankhede LBW Navdeep 1, Zakir Hussain c Navdeep b Harbhajan 1, Kulamani Parida batting 35, Murli Kartik st Jugnu b Harbhajan 24, Extras: (b3,lb5,w2,nb1) 11.

Total: (in 69.1 overs) 195 all out

Fall of wkts:1-10, 2-14, 3-29, 4-42, 5-87, 6-116, 7-117, 8-118 ,9-164

Bowling: Gagandeep Singh: 12-5-31-2,Ravneet Ricky:01-0-5-0, Navdeep Singh: 24-5-59-4, Harbhajan Singh:20.1-4-64-3 Sarandeep Singh:12-3-28-1.

Railways (2nd innings): Vishal Sharma c Harbhajan b Mongia 9, Sanjay Bangar LBW Harbhajan 3, Abhay Sharma b Sarandeep 15, Yere Goud c Rathore b Navdeep 3, Prahlad Rawat c Jugnu b Sarandeep 23, Devender Singh c Sanjay b Sarandeep 0, Sudhir Wankhede c Mongia b Harbhajan 11, Kulamani Parida c Mongia b Harbhajan 13, Murli Kartik c Sanjay b Sarandeep 6, Zakir Hussain c Navdeep b Sarandeep 1, Balaji Rao not out 0.

Extras: (b8,lb1,w1,nb2) 12

Total: (in 45 overs) 96 all out

Fall of wkts:1-17, 2-27, 3-34, 4-46, 5-46, 6-63, 7-84, 8-94, 9-95

Bowling: Gagandeep Singh: 7-3-8-0, Dinesh Mongia: 5-2-10-1, Navdeep Singh: 9-4-10-1, Harbhajan Singh:14-3-37-3, Sarandeep Singh: 10-5-22-5.

Pak qualify for Olympics

OSAKA, March 15 (AFP) — Pakistan took their expected spot in the Olympic field hockey competition with a convincing 5-2 win over Malaysia here today.

The three-time Olympic champions were forced to go through the qualification route for the first time after arch-rivals India won the Asian Games title in Bangkok two years ago.

Pakistan, however, overcame the embarrassment by ensuring one of the top two places in group B even before their final league match against Argentina tomorrow.

Their third win in four games came without any goals from penalty corner specialist Sohail Abbas, who compiled hat-tricks in the previous two matches.

Mohammad Nadeem put Pakistan ahead in the 22nd minute, the lone goal in the first-half, and scored one more seven minutes before the final whistle.

In a furious second-half which produced six goals, Kashif Javed, Mohammad Sarwar and Imran Yousuf scored for Pakistan. Mirnanwan Nawawi and Kuhan Shanmuganathan chipped in for Malaysia.

“I am happy and relieved that we have made it to the Olympics,” Pakistani coach Islahuddin Siddiqui said. “I can now start planning for the Games. I think this young team is good enough to win the gold.”

Pakistan last won the Olympic gold medal at the Los Angeles Games in 1984, but finished sixth at Atlanta four years ago.

Pakistan join South Korea and Spain as the first three qualifiers from the 12-nation event here, with the other three spots hanging in the balance.

Malaysia, who ended their league engagements with seven points from five matches, will feature in the play-offs for the fifth and six qualifying berths on Saturday.

But their opponents for the crucial clash will not be known till the league matches end on Thursday.

Six qualifiers from here will join the six direct entrants — holders Holland,"hosts Australia and the continental champions India, Germany, Canada and South Africa — at Sydney.

GND varsity to award BA (Sports) degree
From Our Sports Reporter

AMRITSAR, March 15 — Guru Nanak Dev University will award B.A. (Sports) degree from the next academic session commencing from August 2000. This was announced by Dr H.S. Soch, Vice-Chancellor, while presiding over the 29th annual sports prize distribution function for the year 1998-99 here today.

Dr Soch said a committee for this purpose has been constituted which will submit its report shortly. He said exclusive sports curriculum will be formulated for the proposed degree and sports students would not be required to study subjects not related to sports.

The Vice-Chancellor also announced that henceforth admission fee of the sportspersons who contribute in the university winning the coveted Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad trophy would be reimbursed. The university, he said, has decided to award university colour to at least five college Principals every year who make special efforts for promoting sports.

Dr Soch also expressed his concern over the degradation of sports standard at the international level. He exhorted Principals, coaching staff and players to make sincere efforts in achieving the desired results.

Earlier, more than 180 outstanding sportspersons for the year 1998-99, including internationals Gurmit Kaur (football) and Varindha (jodo), were honoured with cash awards and track suits at the function .

In the women’s section, Khalsa College, Amritsar, bagged the Sardar Teja Singh Samundri overall trophy for “A” division securing 79 points, while DAV College, Jalandhar, got Pandit Mangat Ram Sharma memorial overall runners-up trophy with points.

The “B” division overall general championship was awarded to SPSK Khalsa College, Begowal, with 23 points, Amardeep Singh Shergill Memorial College, Mukandpur, received runners-up trophy with 17 points and Baba Budha College, Bir Sahib, got the third position with eight points.

In women’s section, Kanya Maha Vidyalaya, Jalandhar, won the overall general championship in “A” division, Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya, Jalandhar, bagged the runner-up trophy and BBK DAV College for Women, Amritsar, remained third. The “B” division overall general championship trophy was annexed by Shaheed Darshan Singh Pheruman College for Women, Rayya.

Dempo, Mahindras split points

MUMBAI, March 15 (PTI) — Goa outfit Dempo Sports Club held Mahindra and Mahindra, Mumbai, to a goal-less draw in a dull and drab National Football League encounter here today.

Dempo, who are at the bottom of the table and are in danger of being relegated, have 10 points from 20 matches. They have two more matches, against Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) and State Bank of Travancore (SBT) to play.

The jeepmen, with 33 points from 21 matches, are in the fourth position behind table toppers Mohun Bagan (44) and the two Goan outfits Salgaocar and Churchill Brothers. They will be playing their last match against Salgaocar on March 20.

The first 20 minutes of the match at the Cooperage were confined to mid-field and the home team got their first chance to score in the 22nd minute when striker M. Najeeb’s angular shot off medio Khalid Siddique went wide.

Soon after Dempo winger Levy Coelho’s try was well collected by Mahindra custodian Virender Singh.

In the next 10 minutes the jeepmen came close to scoring twice but Najeeb, instead of passing the ball to an unmarked winger Abbas Ali Rizvi or Manjit Singh, tried to score on his own and messed up the chances.

Salgaocar lose

THRISSUR (UNI): FC Kochin downed Salgaocar by two goals to nil in the second leg of the National Football League here today at the Municipal Stadium.

Striker Issac Tondo put FC Kochin in the lead in the 18th minute and medio Noel Wislon converted a penalty four minutes before close of play.

The outcome of the match has put paid to the aspirations of the holders Salgaocar to retain the title while it ensured the crown for Mohun Bagan. It also ensured a promotion to FC Kochin from sixth place to the fifth in the league table. Both FC Kochin and JCT now have 31 points, but FC Kochin have a better goal average and have played a match less.

Karnataka in sight of victory

BANGALORE, March 15 (UNI) — Champions Karnataka are in a commanding position reducing Delhi to 182 for seven in their second innings, after taking a slender 17-run lead in the first innings on the penultimate day of the group-A Ranji Trophy super league match here today.

A win appears certain for the home team on the morrow with Delhi ahead by just 165 runs with only three wickets in hand. Ashish Nehra (11) and Harinder Choudhury (eight) were at the crease at close. Left arm spinner Santosh Vadeyaraj spun a web around the Delhi batsman in the second innings.

Delhi (first innings) 342:

Karnataka (first innings):

J. Arun Kumar c Dahiya b Harinder 127, Mithun Beerala c Dahiya b Robin 22, Barrington c Dahiya b Rohit 04, Vijay Bharadwaj c Harinder b Nehra 14, Thilak Naidu c Dahiya b Nehra 36, A Vijay c Dahiya b Nehra 19, B. Akhil lbw Rohit 59, Dodda Ganesh c Sehwag b Akash Malhotra 23, Venkatesh Prasad c (sub) Sohail b Rohit 12, Santosh Vadeyaraj (run out) 00, G.N. Umesh not out 05.

Extras (b-4, lb-6, w-1, nb-27) 38.

Total in 108.3 overs 359.

Fall of wickets: 1-72, 2-77, 3-108, 4-182, 5-234, 6-254, 7-303, 8-341, 9-341.

Bowling: Ashish Nehra 30-9-89-3 Robin Singh (jr) 17-6-40-1 Akash Malhotra 6-0-38-1 Rohit Mehra 9.3-3-103-3 Virender Sehwag 10-0-33-0 Harinder Choudhury 16-4-46-1.

Delhi (second innings):

Akash Chopra b Vadeyaraj 36, Ashu Dani c Arunkumar b Vadeyaraj 52, Gautam Gambhir c Vadeyaraj b Bharadwaj 30, Akash Malhotra c Thilak b Vadeyaraj 20, Virender Sehwag c Akhil b Vadeyaraj 01, Mithun Minhas c Thilak b Prasad 17, Vijay Dahiya c Thilak b Prasad 02, Ashish Nehra batting 11, Harinder Choudhury batting 08.

Extras (lb-2, nb-3) 05.

Total for seven wickets in 59 overs 182.

Fall of wickets: 1-81, 2-94, 3-133, 4-134, 5-159, 6-161,7-164.

Bowling: Venkatesh Prasad 14-5-29-2 Dodda Ganesh 10-2-34-0 G.N Umesh 5-0-17-0 Santosh Vadeyaraj 23-5-71-4 A Vijay 3-0-16-0 Vijay Bharadwaj 4-0-13-1.

Hyderabad beat Baroda

HYDERABAD, March 15 (UNI) — Hosts Hyderabad playing like a cohesive unit scored a 71-run victory over group leader Baroda and qualified for the knock out round of the Ranji Trophy.

Hyderabad despite conceding a 12-run first inning lead rallied to score an outright victory over Baroda in their last Ranji Trophy super league match which concluded here at the Gymkhana Ground 15 minutes before tea.

Baroda, who needed 211 runs for a victory on the last day of the match with eight second innings wickets in hand, were bowled out for 163 runs. Thus Hyderabad, who gained eight points from this outright win, ended the super league with 21 points for a berth in the quarterfinal round.

Baroda resuming from their overnight score of 24 for 4 could not not tackle the pace and spin attack of Hyderabad bowlers — Parth Satwalkar, skipper Venkatpathi Raju and veteran Kanwaljit Singh.

Indian stumper Nayan Mongia top scored with 34 runs as tailender Zaheer Khan remained unbeaten with 20 runs.

Parth Satwalkar picked up four wickets as Raju and Kanwaljit claimed three wickets each.

Brief scores: Hyderabad (first innings) 204, second innings 246.

Baroda (first innings) 216, second innings 163.

Srinath, Karim in Indian team
Tribune News Service

FARIDABAD, March 15 — Paceman Javagal Srinath, Tamil Nadu opener S. Sriram and wicketkeeper Saba Karim have been included in the Indian squad for the rest of the one-day series against South Africa with Venkatesh Prasad coming in when the team leaves for the tri-nation tourney at Sharjah later this month. The national selectors decided to drop wicketkeeper Sameer Dighe and speedsters T. Kumaran of Tamil Nadu and Amit Bhandari of Delhi from the team for the remaining two matches. The team was announced by the BCCI secretary, Mr J.Y. Lele at the end of the third one-day international against South Africa here today.

Mr Lele said Rahul Dravid would be Saurav Ganguly’s deputy during the Sharjah tourney starting on March 22.

The team was selected after deliberations of the national selection committee which met here under the chairmanship of Chandu Borde in the presence of Ganguly and coach Kapil Dev.

While Bhandari did not play any match after coming into the Indian squad during the current series, Kumaran made way for senior cricketer Srinath.

The squad: Saurav Ganguly (captain), Rahul Dravid (vice-captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Robin Singh, Ajay Jadeja, Mohammed Azharuddin, Sunil Joshi, Nikhil Chopra, Javagal Srinath, Saba Karim, Ajit Agarkar, Mohammed Kaif, Anil Kumble and S. Sriram. Venkatesh Prasad will join the team for Sharjah.

Two national records established

LUCKNOW, March 15 (UNI) — Two new national records were set and four meet records created on the inaugural day of the 6th Federation Cup Athletics Championship here today.

Sunita Rani (Punjab) created a new record in the 1500 metres in women’s category, bettering her own national record. She clocked the distance in 4:07.78 minutes. Madhuri A Singh (PSCB) covering the distance in 4:16.76 minutes took the second position while the third place went to Geeta Mamral of CRPF (4:16.76).

The second national record was broken by Karamjeet (Pun) in pole vault. She vaulted 2.82 metres.

Anupama, also from Punjab came second,she vaulted 2.15 metres. Hosts’ Shail Tewari by vaulting 2.05 metres stood third.

Rachita Mistry of Maharashtra equaled the national record of P.T. Usha (11.39 seconds) in the 100 metre race. This was the new meet record today.

Bahadur Singh of Punjab Police pushed Shakti Singh of Haryana to the second spot in the men’s shot put. Bahadur created new meet record throwing the hammer 19.64 metres.

Gurmeet Kaur of Delhi by throwing the javelin 54.56 metres won the gold in the women’s section.

AITA to sponsor 6 juniors

NEW DELHI, March 15 (PTI) — All India Tennis Association (AITA) will be sponsoring six junior players, including two girls, for three ITF tournaments in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Bangkok to help them garner enough ranking points to get direct entries in the main draws of the junior Grand Slams.

National hardcourt champion Sunil Kumar of Chandigarh, Parantap Chaturvedi and Shivang Mishra of Delhi and Calcutta’s Vinod Sewa besides Sonal Phadke and Radhika Tulpule (both Maharashtra) are the players selected for the three events, a release said here today.

T. Chandrasekharan of Tamil Nadu will accompany the team as coach.

Haryana in command

PARADIP (Orissa), March 15 (UNI) — Two defiant half centuries by Jasbir Singh (82) and Sanjay Dalal (62) put Haryana in a commanding position as the visitors piled up 279 for eight in their second essay on the penultimate day of their four-day Ranji Trophy group ‘C’ super league match against hosts Orissa at Gopabandhu Stadium here today.

Having taken a vital 41-run first innings lead over Orissa yesterday, the Parinder Singh-led Haryana team thus took their overall lead 320 with two wickets in hand. At stumps, allrounder Vineet Jain and Feroz Ghayas were batting with 2 and 4 runs, respectively.

Haryana, resuming their second innings from 93 for three, further consolidated their position when Jasbir Singh and Ishan Ganda (40) added 92 runs for the fourth wicket stand that broke at the total of 169.

Airlines, PSB in last four

LUCKNOW, March 15 (UNI) — Runners-up Indian Airlines, Delhi and Punjab and Sind Bank, Jalandhar entered the semifinals of the 20th All-India K.D. Singh “Babu’’ Memorial Invitation Prize Money Hockey Tournament here today.

In the quarterfinal, Punjab and Sind Bank defeated Central Reserve Police Force by a second-half goal and Indian Airlines defeated Corps of Signals. Jalandhar, by a first-half goal.

REGIONAL SPORT BRIEFS

Jr wrestling meet

JALANDHAR, March 15 (FOSR) — Junior Punjab (under-17-20) wrestling championship will be organised at Anandpur Sahib from March 19 to 21 on the occasion of Hola Mohalla, according to Mr Kartar Singh, president, Punjab Wrestling Association.

The weighing of wrestlers will be at Khalsa college Anandpur Sahib, on March 19. Wrestlers representing Punjab who will participate in junior national wrestling championship at Bangalore will be selected during the championship.