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| Tuesday,
April 3, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Indians keen to clinch series Rotation policy “to continue” CAPTAIN’S COMMENTS |
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Ganguly asks for simpler coin Sharjah organisers threaten to sue BCCI More games with Pak may be banned Pak
officials, players trade charges |
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Maiden Test ton by Jacobs Das named Orissa skipper Top players for
SRF Open Golf Malik contesting for WFI presidentship 11-member squad for world fencing meet CISF, SRC sail into q-finals
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Indians keen to clinch series Visakhapatnam, April 2
The resounding 118-run victory in the last match in Indore will no doubt boost the confidence level of the Indians who have not only been aggressive but have also shown that they can handle the pressure in crunch situations. Clearly, the pressure will be on the Australians who have failed to live upto their awesome reputation on the Indian tour so far and captain Steve Waugh will surely have a new strategy in place to counter the rampaging Indians. The Aussies, who seemed to be a tired lot, have been quite vulnerable to spin bowling and young off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who was a huge success in the Test series capturing 32 wickets, again posed problems in the last match. Barring captain Ganguly, who has been woefully short of runs in the series, most of the top order batsmen have been in fine nick which has helped the team to post huge totals and put pressure on their opponents. The Indians have put the Aussie bowling to sword by scoring 315 in the first match and 299 in the last match in Indore and even the best of the teams will find the going tough when asked to chase such mammoth targets. The poor form of Ganguly has been a worrying factor for the team’s think tank and the elegant left-hander has not helped his cause by getting out to rather poor strokes in the last two encounters. His contribution with bat in the first three matches has been total of just 10 runs. The captain, who opens the innings with maestro Sachin Tendulkar, demoted himself in the batting order to number four in Indore but the string of low scores continued as he was dismissed for a duck. Ganguly today said he will no more experiment with his batting slot and will be back as opener in tomorrow’s game. “I’ll open the batting. I tried it (demoting myself in the order) and it didn’t work out. So I will get back to the place from where I have got maximum of my runs,” he said after the nets this morning. With Tendulkar going great guns, the hosts will be looking to put up another huge total with fine contributions expected from other in-form batsmen - Rahul Dravid, V V S Laxman and Hemang Badani - too. Despite being in very good form, Tendulkar seemed to be a little too adventurous in the first one dayer and had to return to the pavillion in the 30s, but he seemed very determined to script a big knock in the last match. Tendulkar will be hoping to play a similar role tomorrow to guide his team to a good total while the visitors will surely have a strategy for him as well as the other Indian batsmen. Ganguly said he wanted to clinch the series in this match. “We have won the Test series and will try to win tomorrow to clinch the one-day series too. It would be great to win both series.” The Indians, who were plagued by run outs in the second and third matches, today practiced running between the wickets during the nets in a unique fashion. After being huddled around coach John Wright for ten minutes, the entire team took turns in batches of three to four to run around in circles. Wright said the team was in a good position and should win the series tomorrow. “We played pretty well in the last match. The performance was satisfactory though we need to improve on our fielding and running between the wickets,” he said. “If we play the way we can, we should go on to win tomorrow,” he said. The Australians have brought back opener Matthew Hayden, who sat out in the last match as part of the rotation policy despite his tremendous form, to strengthen their batting which has looked very fragile in the middle. The burly Hayden has been in devastating form ever since he landed in the country and has handled the Indian pacers and the spinners with ease. With a number of Australians joining the team for the one-dayers only, it may be difficult for them to come to terms with the conditions in the sub-continent, where the wickets are slower. Teams (from): Australia: Steve Waugh (capt), Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting, Michael Bevan, Damien Martyn, Darren Lehmann, Andrew Symonds, Ian Harvey, Damien Fleming, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Nathan Bracken, Shane Lee. PTI |
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Rotation policy “to continue” Visakhapatnam, April 2 “We see no reason to change the policy. We will carry on with it irrespective of the situation we are in,” team manager Steve Bernard told reporters after nets, adding that his team was fully capable of bouncing back and winning the five-match series. “We have got two more games. India are in a good position after winning the last match. (But) We can lift our game and hopefully win the next two games,” he said. Bernard said the selectors will meet tonight and discuss the composition for tomorrow’s game and the final eleven would be decided after taking a final look on the pitch in the morning. He refused to comment whether paceman Glenn McGrath, who was originally dropped for the third one-dayer at Indore but played after Nathan Bracken reported sick, would play tomorrow. “Again, it’s up to the selectors to decide.” Darren Lehmann has a hamstring injury and Bernard said the team physio was working on him. “His fitness will be assessed and then the selectors would decide whether he will play or be rested,” he said. The Australians, who arrived here yesterday, had a light workout at the Port Stadium, in the outskirts of the city, in the afternoon.
PTI |
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CAPTAIN’S
COMMENTS We come to Vizag with a good, solid victory at Indore behind us. I was happy with the way we played in all departments, especially while bowling and fielding. Fielding is one aspect we are trying to work on and it was heartening to see the boys field so well on a ground that was hard and uneven. To make matters tough, the outfield was also lightning quick. I lost the toss but was happy to be put in to bat. The toss created a controversy which I thought was unnecessary. I merely asked whether it was heads or tails because we have used a new coin in every match of the series. It just showed how this series has gone — with one controversy after another. But I thought too much was made about this toss. Unfortunately, controversy has become a part of Indian cricket and I’ve been really amazed and surprised at some of the write-ups in newspapers and magazines. I think people should be a bit more responsible and must clarify issues with those concerned because they should remember that the masses read these articles and believe them to be true. Coming back to tomorrow’s game, I have never played at this venue. We would love to win the series here, but we must not be over confident. We are playing against a good side that can come back from any situation. We need to maintain our standards especially in fielding. The pitch looks like a good, flat batting wicket. However, the outfield does not look in great shape. As far as the composition of the side is concerned, Sharandeep Singh has replaced Sunil Joshi. Sharandeep has been in good form right through this season and the selectors have given him an opportunity to prove that he is effective in the shorter form of the game too. I plan to open in tomorrow’s game. I had dropped down the order because Rahul Dravid was in very good form and I wanted him to face a maximum number of balls. I have not been in the best of form in this series, but I guess that this does happen in a player’s career. It’s happening to me for the first time in my five-year career in one-dayers and it is not the best of feelings. Having said that, I can tell you that there have been times when I’ve scored tons of runs and we have ended up on the losing side. So I don’t mind as long as we keep on winning. I hope we keep playing the way we did in Indore. On Saturday, the wicket kept a bit low when we were bowling and I knew that 300 was a big total on that track. Sachin Tendulkar and Laxman played well once again and I congratulate Sachin for scoring 10,000 runs in one-dayers. I am not at all surprised at that and I do wish him many more milestones in the future. The team celebrated Sachin’s achievement in Vizag on Sunday and I hope he continues to excel at both forms of the game. I thought he was superb in the way he paced his innings. He is the sort of player who can score runs at will and at any stage of the game. Laxman has been the find of the series. He batted superbly in the company of Sachin, but I feel he is too good a player to get run out every time. He has added tremendous solidity to our batting for he is the type of player who likes to dominate when he bats. We made a mess of the last 10 overs and should have actually scored 325-330 runs. Think we need some common sense batting towards the end of the innings. I am happy with the way the bowlers performed, especially with Javagal Srinath and Ajit Agarkar. On a fast outfield like the one in Indore, containing the batsmen was not easy. Adam Gilchrist looked in good touch, but once he went, their chase fell away. The ball had begun to reverse and Ajit used it very well. He has been a good exponent of reverse swing and that is why he bowls at one-change. Once I saw the ball was reversing I brought myself on and picked up the wicket of Steve. There has been some criticism of the fact that Robin Singh has been picked in the squad but not played in the eleven. I look to pick the best 14 and I don’t believe that you can’t pick a senior player. The 14 players are the 14 best available players at the moment. I feel this is the way a team should be picked and I may be wrong or right. I think there should be good players to back up if someone has to miss out due to injury or loss of form. In such eventualities I think the next best player available should play.
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Ganguly asks for simpler coin Visakhapatnam, April 2 Ganguly said “I picked up the coin in the third match and it had both the Ashoka Chakra and the Rs 2 denomination on the same side. So, I asked Smith whether it was head or tail’’. When asked if it was the mistake of the match refree or a confusion due to the coin, he replied it was confusing every time a new Rs 2 coin was used. On tomorrow’s match, the Indian skipper said: “Our aim is to win the series and in tomorrow’s game, we are confident of winning. Thus we will end all controversies’’. |
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Sharjah organisers threaten to sue BCCI Dubai, April 2 “We will consult our lawyers and the people concerned to know how we can proceed after this breach of contract by India,” CBFS chief executive Zahid Noorani was quoted in The Khaleej Times as saying. India’s three-year contract with the CBFS to play in limited overs tournaments was to expire this year. Mr Noorani downplayed the impact of the decision on the tournament which, he said, would be organised as usual. “There will be no great impact on our longterm strategy as organisers of international cricket. We will continue to play cricket here in Sharjah with or without India,” he said. “Our contracts and international commitments are not affected and we will continue with cricket,” he added. India yesterday officially announced its decision not to send its team for the tournament in keeping with its policy of not playing Pakistan after the Kargil conflict in 1999. The three-nation Sharjah tournament also featuring Pakistan and Sri Lanka, is to be held from April 8 to 20. New Zealand will replace India in the tournament now. Another key CBFS official, chief
co-ordinator Asif Iqbal came down heavily on India’s decision saying it was based on rumours of match-fixing and involvement of underworld that were entirely unfounded. “If the reasons are not given and it has something to do with the rumours of the underworld then there should not be any cricket in India. Because the allegations regarding match-fixing along with players’ suspensions (that of Hansie Cronje or
Azharuddin) all are linked to Indian bookmakers,” Iqbal told the Gulf News on phone from his London
residence. Iqbal also disagreed that Sharjah was a non-regular venue. “Sharjah is a different venue from Singapore and Toronto,” he said and added that it was established as a regular off-shore
centre. The Indian Government, in a statement yesterday, had expressed reservations about its team playing at ‘non-regular venues’ like
Sharjah, Singapore and Toronto for ‘at least’ three years. “I think now the onus is on the Board of Control for Cricket in India. They should inform the Indian Government what the CBFS has done for the cricketers, not only current but also those of the past”. The CBFS last night issued a statement regretting India’s decision, which it said, was ‘discriminatory and unwarranted’ and hoped it would be reversed in the ‘very near future’. “We regret that the Government of India has made this decision. The CBFS would like to thank the BCCI for their support and understand their
impediment due to this unusual breach of contract forced upon them.” “We are confident that this discriminatory and unwarranted treatment to the Emirates Cricket Board will not be allowed to continue and the Government of India will reverse their decision in the very near future,” the statement said, adding that New Zealand would replace India in the tournament which will go ahead as scheduled. “Regardless, the Coca Cola Cup will be held as per schedule with New Zealand replacing India as the third team and cricket in Sharjah will flourish as usual” it added.
PTI |
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More games with Pak may be banned Mirzapur, April 2 Talking to reporters after attending a religious ceremony here, Union Sports Minister Uma Bharati said the government would soon take a decision on the issue. She said the government would consider a ban on bilateral matches against Pakistan in hockey and other games besides cricket. The government had yesterday announced that the national cricket team would not participate in tournaments at non-regular venues like Sharjah, Singapore and Toronto for at least next three years. This put India out of the tri-nation tournament in Sharjah beginning on April 8 in which Pakistan and Sri Lanka are the other teams. India’s participation in the desert venue with Pakistan as one of the participants had remained in doubt with the government’s refusal to the team to travel across to the neighbouring country for a Test series in December-January due to Islamabad’s continued support to cross-border terrorism. As ties between New Delhi and Islamabad reached the lowest ebb in the aftermath of the Kargil war, the government refused permission for the team to cross the Atlantic to play in the annual Sahara Cup in Toronto between the two countries in 1999 and 2000. Lately, eyebrows were also raised about off-shore venues as match-fixing allegations gained ground last year. The government is also reported to have expressed concern over the presence of the underworld in the desert venue.
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Pak officials, players trade charges Islamabad, April 2 With the Pakistani team faring poorly yet again, losing the final Test at Hamilton against New Zealand on Saturday, Pakistan Cricket Board officials and team members have resumed trading of charges. With the team scheduled to arrive home today, media reports here said the board had sought an explanation from injured skipper Moin Khan for publicly alleging that the PCB officials had not shown enough concern for his injury. Moin Khan has said he would submit his explanation to the board on his return. The board has also asked for an explanation from stand-in skipper Inzamam-ul Haq for giving an interview, Pakistan daily “The News’’ said today. Moin Khan was reported to have informed the PCB Chairman Lt Gen Tauqir Zia about his inability to play in the Sharjah series due to injury. Meanwhile, another Pakistan newspaper Dawn criticised the PCB for “creating chaos and confusion by portraying the team members as villains.” It said board had selectively leaked team manager’s report holding senior players and coach Javed Miandad responsible for the poor performance in New Zealand. The manager had confirmed reports of growing resentment in the dressing room because of Miandad, the paper said. Seven Pakistani players, including former skipper Wasim Akram and Shoaib Akhtar had returned before the start of the test series presumably due to injuries. Some of them, including Akram, have reportedly expressed resentment against Moin Khan and Miandad. “No matter what investigations PCB would conduct now, the cat is out of the bag. It will surely create a lot of problems for the top hierarchy of the PCB which will be severely criticised for creating a situation of uncertainty in the team and conspiring against certain individuals,” it said.
PTI |
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Maiden Test ton by Jacobs Bridgetown (Barbados), April 2 After the home side were bowled out for 387 in their first innings, South Africa finished the fourth day on 52 for three — a lead of 119 runs yesterday. The West Indies started the day on 252 for five but lost captain Carl Hooper without putting on any runs in the first over of the day for 74 when he edged a perfect Jacques Kallis away-swinger to wicketkeeper Mark Boucher. At that point the West Indies were still three runs away from avoiding the follow-on but vice-captain Jacobs, who resumed on 14, came to the rescue. Having twice been stranded in the 90s in his Test career, once on 96 against Australia in Perth last year and again on 93 in the second Test of this series in Trinidad, the burly wicketkeeper made it third time lucky thanks to a couple of sixes. Left-hander Jacobs swung spinner Nicky Boje over square leg to move to 96 and then top-edged a hook against Makhaya Ntini in the next over which sailed over fine leg and into the packed Hall and Griffith stand. Jacobs’ century came from 161 balls with 10 fours and four sixes. He continued to bat with common sense after an emotional reception and was unbeaten on 113 when last man Courtney Walsh was bowled by
Kallis. Kallis carried the bulk of the bowling burden with Allan Donald not fit to take the field and his reward was a second five-wicket haul in Tests and a career-best of six for
67. Mervyn Dillon (14), Dinanath Ramnarine (6) and Cameron Cuffy (4) all batted for long spells with Jacobs and their efforts were rewarded when South Africa stumbled late in the day to make a win possible when a draw looked almost certain earlier. Gary Kirsten made the first pair of his 71-Test career when Cameron Cuffy squared him up with a fine off-cutter that flew from a leading edge to
gulley. Kirsten faced three balls in the first innings and just four in the
second. Herschelle Gibbs (19) edged a ball from spinner Hooper to Ramnaresh Sarwan at short leg and Neil McKenzie, batting at number three in place of Kallis after his 36-over bowling stint, nicked spinner Ramnarine to Jacobs to depart for 12. Scoreboard West Indies (Ist innings): Hinds c Boucher b Kallis 2 Gayle c Cullinan b Ntini 40 Samuels c McKenzie b Kallis 6 Lara c Boje b Kallis
83 Sarwan c Gibbs b Ntini 16 Hooper c Boucher b Kallis 74 Jacobs not out 113 Dillon b Boje
14 Ramnarine lbw b Boje 6 Cuffy lbw b Kallis 4 Walsh b Kallis 4 Extras: (b-4 lb-9 nb-12) 25 Total: 387 Fall of wickets: 1-37 2-49 3-57 4-102 5-218 6-252 7-316 8-353 9-381 Bowling: Donald 14-7-30-0, Pollock 35-11-84-0 (5nb), Kallis 36-17-67-6 (6nb), Ntini 28-7-93-2, Boje 28-7-67-2, Klusener 10-3-33-0 (1nb) South Africa (2nd innings): Gibbs c Sarwan b Hooper 19 Kirsten c Samuels b Cuffy 0 McKenzie c Jacobs b Ramnarine
12 Cullinan not out 12 Kallis not out 5 Extras: (lb-1 nb-3) 4 Total: (for three wickets) 52 Fall of wickets: 1-2 2-31 3-36 Bowling (to date): Walsh 6-1-12-0, Cuffy 5-2-11-1 (1nb), Hooper 13-6-11-1, Dillon 2-0-7-0 (2nb), Ramnarine 10-5-10-1.
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Das named Orissa skipper Cuttack, April 2 Das along with medium pacer Debasish Mohanty, both of whom did not play the quarter-final against Madhya Pradesh at Gwalior last month as they were on national duty in Chennai against Australia, have returned to the side for the crucial encounter. Another medium pacer Bipin Singh, who was injured earlier, has also been included in the team. The three players have been brought in place of batsman Rashmi Ranjan Das and medium pacers Sujan Mohanty and Sunil Das who were in the squad against Madhya Pradesh.
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Top players for
SRF Open Golf New Delhi, April 2 The SRF Open will be followed by a gala pro-am, hosted by a website, www.materialonline.com, on Saturday. Managed by Tiger Sports Marketing, the SRF Championship winner will pocket Rs 1,37,700 while the runner-up will get Rs 95,000. SRF Chairman Dr Bharatram said here today that some of the other prominent players who have confirmed their participation are leader of the ‘Order of Merit’ on the Wills Sport Indian Golf tour Vijay Kumar, and ‘Player of the Year’ award winner last year Mukesh Kumr, Shiv Prakash, Feroze Ali, Arjun Singh, Vivek Bhandari, Amritinder Singh, Indrajit Bhalotia, Ali Sher, Rahul Ganapathy, Uttam Singh Mundy, Basad Ali, Harmeet Kahlon, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia, Rohtas Singh and Sanjay Kumar. |
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Malik contesting for WFI presidentship Chandigarh, April 2 Mr Malik is also senior vice-president of the Wrestling Federation of India and president of Haryana Wrestling Association. He is also the Secretary- General of Haryana Olympic Association since November 1999. Mr Malik has played a significant role in the promotion of sports in the state. During his presidentship of Haryana Wrestling Association since 1986, Haryana achieved unprecedented success in various national and international competitions. A keen enthusiast of the sport himself, Mr Malik is responsible for setting up of six wrestling nurseries where all infrastructural facilities such as wrestling mats, multi-gym, hostel facilities, free food, accommodation and education are provided. Setting up of akharas in the rural areas and residential sports schools at Nidani village in Jind district both for boys and girls separately spread over about 20 acres of land are his other achievements. This school has the required infrastructure and provides free board and lodging and education to outstanding sportspersons, specially wrestlers. Wrestlers of this school have won nearly 120 medals in national competitions and 35 medals in international competitions. During his tenure as Secretary-General, H.O.A., the state government took various measures for promotion of sports in Haryana like job-reservation and 75 per cent concession in Haryana Roadways buses to sportsperson, allotment of three acres land to H.O.A. for building Olympic Bhavan complex and laying hockey Astroturf, besides setting up sports nurseries. Mr Malik said here that failure of Indian players in winning medals in various international competitions was not due to dearth of talent but because of
mismanagement in the sports affairs and lack of accountability. He stressed on merit-based selections, incentives and awards to wrestlers, sports managers and coaches who do well. He favoured refresher courses for the coaches. If elected, he said he would endeavour for the promotion of a long-term and short-term policy for development of wrestling in the country as well as autonomy in day-to-day functioning of the Wrestling Federation of India by constituting different committees. The WFI would bear all participation expenses of wrestlers for international meets. |
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11-member squad for world fencing meet Chandigarh, April 2 The Indian team will participate in individual events of the cadet category both in foil and in epee events. Among Juniors the team will participate both in team and individual event in epee and only in individual event in foil. The Indian team at present, is undergoing coaching at NIS, Patiala and will leave for Poland in April 8. A meeting of the general assembly of the FIE will also be held at Gdansk (Poland) on April 16 to finalise the international calendar and budget proposals for 2001-2002. The teams: Cadet: Th. Sivananda Singh (Manipur) - foil; Seram Ranjeet Singh ( Assam) foil; Anil Kumar (Haryana) foil; Bhupinder Singh (M.P.)- epee; Jayantha Singh (Manipur) - Epee; S. Sumeet (Karnataka ) - Epee. Junior : A. Romlyo Meitei (Manipur) - foil; Amandeep Verma (Punjab) - foil; A.Sanatomba Singh (Manipur) -epee; Sauravh Raj (Punjab) - epee; Somesh K.Gupta (U.P.) - epee. Coach: Hemjit Meitei Manager: K.S.Sahota. Fencing Association of India (FAI) president Arvind Khanna said here today that this is the first time country is participating in this
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CISF, SRC sail into q-finals Kolkata, April 2 The CISF-Calcutta Customs match saw the local outfit going ahead though Ajay Prakash Thapa in the 11th minute. But CISF, who took some time to settle down, reversed the
position in the second half scoring three goals in a succession after the breather. While Harish Sharma scored the equaliser a couple of minutes after the lemon break, Sunil Kumar took the lead scoring two minutes later. CISF sealed their victory when G.B. Xaxa found the target in the 57th minute. Earlier, Sikh Regimental Centre maintained their supremacy right from the start and took a 2-0 lead scoring in the 16th and 21st minute through Rajpal Singh and Suman Kumar. Having forced a 2-0 lead in the first half, SRC did not show much urgency in the second half and remained contented with a two goal victory.
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