 |
Friday,
February 8, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
|
Windies let Pak off the hook Punjab in
driver’s seat Riding on Bangar’s double ton, Railways gain lead
Fletcher hits back at Gavaskar |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Paes starts India’s campaign Gurpreet hat-tricks for Chandigarh college Churchill scrape past fighting Army XI Dingko enters
semifinal Qualifying tie: IWHF seeks more time Lack of practice worrying factor Team ‘well balanced’ Kunjarani Devi included in camp
|
|
Windies let Pak off the hook Sharjah, February 7 West Indian captain Carl Hooper’s amazing decision to field first on a perfect batting wicket, combined with a succession of missed chances, enabled a grateful Pakistan to post 344 for three by stumps. The hard-hitting Afridi, dropped three times before reaching 30 and then again on 79, made 107 in his first Test appearance in a year. Younis returned unbeaten on 131, his fifth century that was studded with 12 boundaries and a six. The pair smashed 190 runs for the second wicket in just 179 minutes after opener Taufiq Umer had fallen in the day’s seventh over with the score at 12. Younis then added a run-a-minute 70 for the third with Inzamam-ul-Haq, who clobbered four fours and two sixes in 36. Hooper made amends for an earlier lapse by taking a stunning catch at mid-wicket to remove Inzamam, but wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs dropped new man Yousuf Youhana first ball to deny the leg-spinner Dinanath Ramnarine two wickets off successive balls. Yousuf, who hit 146 in Pakistan’s resounding 170-run win in the first Test, took advantage of the lapse to slam 47 not out in an unfinished stand of 72 with Younis. The pathetic West Indians allowed Pakistan to wriggle out of a shaky start and reach a prosperous 91 for one by lunch. Pace bowler Marvyn Dillon got one to move in sharply to left-hander Umer (8) and the batsman edged it to Darren Ganga at short-leg. The early success in the day’s seventh over was, however, wasted as catches went down with alarming regularity. Ryan Hinds spilled a catch at third slip off left-arm seamer Pedro Collins when Afridi was on four. Seven runs later, Ramnarine at gully got his fingers to a hard slash off Dillon, but failed to hold the ball which raced to the third man fence. Hooper himself joined the list of culprits when, just before lunch, he put down a simple chance at second slip off Dillon, when Afridi was on 29. Afridi escaped for the fourth time after lunch when subsitute fielder corey Collymore failed to grasp a sharp chance at mid-off as the batsman attempted a big hit off Hooper. Fast bowler Cameron Cuffy finally ended his team’s agony when he bowled Afridi 30 minutes before tea. Afridi smashed 16 boundaries and three sixes in his second Test century, which included 16 runs in Ramnarine’s last over before lunch. The injury-hit West Indians, already without four top batsmen including Brian Lara, received a scare in the eighth over when Shivnarine Chanderpaul went off with a swollen thumb after trying to stop a hit at point. Chanderpaul, however, returned to the field after tea and has been declared fit to bat. Pakistan (1st innings): Umer c Ganga b Dillon 8 Afridi b Cuffy 107 Khan batting 131 Haq c Hooper b Ramnarine 36 Youhana batting 47 Extras:
(b-12, nb-3) 15 Total (for 3 wkts, 92 overs) 344 FOW: 1-12, 2-202, 3-272. Bowling: Dillon 17-5-36-1, Collins 19-4-71-0, Cuffy 17-2-40-1, Ramnarine 26-4-108-1, Hooper 7-0-41-0, R. Hinds 5-1-24-0, Gayle 1-0-12-0.
AFP |
|
Punjab in driver’s seat SAS
Nagar, February 7 After they had made a highly satisfying beginning to their second innings when they finished at 127 for one yesterday the hosts batsmen continued in the same vein throughout the day. And when the third day’s play in the five-day Ranji Trophy quarterfinal match at the PCA Stadium came to an early end due to bad light they had almost succeeded in putting the match beyond the visitors. The hosts were sitting pretty at a healthy 357 for six with middle order batsman Ankur Kakkar and India offie Harbhajan Singh going strong after having added 80-odd runs to the total for the seventh-wicket partnership. Though none of the Punjab batsmen could reach the three-figure mark they stayed in the middle for long enough and added valuable runs to the total. Their task was rendered easier by the rival bowling attack which palpably lacked bite and penetration. Barring former India seamer Debashis
Mohanty, who undoubtedly was the best bowler from the side, no other bowler could made much impression on the batsmen. Mohanty eager to earn a nod from selectors for the forthcoming tours of Zimbabwe and West Indies, bowled his heart out. Concentrating on a good line and length he had most of the batsmen in discomfort to claim three wickets. Besides, he was unlucky not to get the scalp of Kakkar towards the fag end of the day when the batsman got a reprieve as wicketkeeper Goutam Gopal was not quick enough to latch on to a sharp chance off the seamer. After the laborious day’s work the genial seamer finished with a haul of three wickets off 29 impressive overs. The other pacer Bipin Singh also bowled a marathon spell but remained wicketless during the day. After the fall of Munish Sharma and Yuvraj Singh, the two overnight not out batsmen rather early in the day Dinesh Mongia and skipper Pankaj Dharmani playing some beautiful strokes added 89 runs for the fourth wicket partnership, highest stand of the innings so far, before Dharmani was consumed by pacer P. Jayachandra when the batsman looked set for a big score. The Patiala batsman made 41. Mongia was going great guns and had already hit 10 fours in his 51-run knock facing 72 balls before he was sent back by Sanjay Raul.
Mongia, when on 24, completed 3,000 runs in the national
championship Kakkar, who was more subdued in the beginning, opened up later to play some lusty strokes in the company of
Harbhajan, who made a scintillating 43 studded with six scorching hits to the fence to add runs to the total which can prove decisive in the match. At close Kakkar was unbeaten on 50.
Scoreboard Punjab (1st innings): 207 Orissa (1st innings): 200 Punjab (2nd
innings): Munish c Parida b Mohanty 73, Ricky c Mullick b Bipin 9, Yuvraj c Gopal b Mohanty 50, Dharmani c Mahapatra b Jayachandra 41, Mongia c Mullick b Raul 51, Kakkar not out 50, Navdeep lbw Mohanty 12,Harbhajan not out 43 Extras (b1, lb 6, nb 21): 28 Total ( for 6 wickets) : 357 Fall of wickets: 1-49, 2-129, 3-153, 4-242, 5-242, 6-278 Bowling: Mohanty 29-11-65-3, Barik 16-2-76-0, Bipin 21-4-61-1, Satpathy 10-1-56-0, Jayachandra 19-3-60-1, Raul 13-3-32-1. |
|
Riding on Bangar’s double ton, Railways gain lead New Delhi, February 7 At close, Railways were 419 for nine with Bangar and Harvinder Singh (5) remaining unbeaten, in reply to Tamil Nadu’s 276 in the first innings. Bangar, who slammed his maiden double century in the first class cricket, bettered his previous individual highest score of 161 against Uttar Pradesh. In his marathon 610-minute stay at crease, Bangar faced 479 balls and scored 211 with the help of 19 boundaries and three skiers. Resuming their overnight score of 179 for five, unbeaten Bangar began on a stroking note with J.P. Yadav and notched up his century from 234 balls, containing nine fours and two sixes. Bangar and Yadav added 67 runs for the sixth wicket before Yadav was cleaned bowled by Balajee in his Individual score of 32 (71b, 3x4). With the team score reading 190 for six, S. Wankhede (16) joined Bangar to put up 47 for the seventh wicket before he was trapped lbw by tweaker Aashish Kapoor. New batsman Kartik and Bangar never allowed any bowlers to put pressure on them and the duo dominated the next two sessions which saw two landmarks. Bangar reached his 200 (566m, 448b, 19x4, 2x6) and compiled 167 runs for the eighth wicket with Kartik, who also hit his half-century with the assistance of two boundaries. Kartik made 58 (162b) before he was bowled by Ram Kumar and K Parida went for two off Kapoor. Balajee and Kapoor claimed three scalps each while Ram Kumar and Srinivas took two and one wickets, respectively. SCOREBOARD Tamil Nadu (Ist innings): 276. Railways (Ist innings): Sanjay Bangar batting 211, A. Pagnis c and b Srinivas 0, Tejinder Pal bowled Kapoor 29, Yere Goud ct Arasu b Balajee 21, Rajan Ali lbw Balajee 0, Abhay Sharma ct Robin b Ram 3, J.P. Yadav b Balajee 32, S. Wankhede lbw Kapoor 16, Murali Kartik b Ram 58, K. Parida st Arasu b Kapoor 2, Harvinder Singh batting 5. Extras 42. Total ( in 154 overs) 419 for 9. FOW: 1-4, 2-74, 3-115, 4-115, 5-123, 6-190, 7-237, 8-404, 9-407. Bowling: Balajee 32-5-91-3, Srinivas 12.3-3-39-1, Kapoor 42-10-116-3, Robin 11.3-1-33-0, Ram 33-6-82-2, Sriram 23-7-44-0. Zaheer wrecks Baroda Baroda: Baroda speedster Zaheer Khan’s deadly spell of five for 30 wrecked havoc on Hyderabad, restricting them to 84 for the loss of eight wickets in their second innings on the third day of the quarterfinal here. Hyderabad have to score 299 runs in order to make Baroda bat again. At close of play, Laxman (31) and S. Vishnu Vardhan (16) were at the crease. Earlier, resuming at 327 for three, Baroda made a mammoth 673 runs in their first innings. Jacob Martin, playing a captain’s knock, made 271 runs. Bengal take lead Kolkata: Spinner Sourashish Lahiri produced a dream spell to help Bengal clinch a vital 32-run first innings lead on the third day of their quarterfinal match against Gujarat at the Eden Gardens here. Lahiri virtually ripped through the Gujarat middle order to return with an impressive haul of six wickets for 73 runs as the Gujarat first innings folded up at 321 at the fag end of the day. Resuming at their overnight score of 161 for two, Kirat Damani struck a valiant 118 but none of the other Gujarat batsmen could hang around for long as wickets kept falling at regular intervals, spoiling all the good work the visitors had done yesterday. The lanky Lahiri turned the spotlight on himself with a fine exhibition of spin bowling and put the hosts in the driver’s seat by dismissing overnight batsman Hem Jashipura (63) without allowing him to add a single run to his tally. The departure of Jashipura triggered off the collapse as none of the other batsmen could negotiate Lahiri and some tight bowling from the seasoned Utpal Chatterjee from the other end put more pressure on the visitors. India captain Sourav Ganguly did not take the field due to a slight fever but did come to the ground after the tea break to see his team-mates secure the first innings lead. Bengal were two for no loss in their second innings at close with Amitava Chakraborty (1) and Deep Dasgupta (0) playing out the three overs.
PTI |
|
Fletcher hits back at Gavaskar Hamilton, February 7 Speaking to media in Hamilton today, Fletcher said: “There are two things I would like to comment on. “I think it’s very important that as he (Gavaskar) is on the ICC panel he is meant to have an unbiased opinion, and secondly, it’s very sad when a good wine goes sour.” Meanwhile on the field, all-rounder Craig White is likely to play in both one-day warm-up matches against Northern Districts tomorrow and Sunday after recovering from keyhole knee surgery on both legs. Fletcher said: “We will be looking at that. We want him to get as much practice as possible and there is a good chance he will play in both games.” Yorkshire fast bowler Matthew Hoggard underwent a medical examination in Hamilton today after being struck down by a stomach virus in India. The virus affected him so badly he passed out during an internal flight. An England spokesman said Hoggard was examined by a Hamilton doctor and was able to take full part in net practice in the afternoon.
Reuters |
|
Aussie colts enter final Christchurch, February 7 The result preserved Australia’s 100 per cent record in the competition and they enter Saturday’s final against South Africa as firm favourites after being a cut above the other sides throughout the tournament. “We are delighted with the way the tournament has gone,” said coach Wayne Phillips. “The boys played very well and they are going into the final feeling confident.”
AFP |
|
Paes starts India’s campaign Beirut, February 7 Harsh Mankad will play Lebanon’s top player Ali Hamadeh in the second singles, according to the draw announced today. In the doubles to be played on Saturday, ace combination of Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi will clash with the pair of Hamadeh and Patrick
Chucri. The reverse singles are scheduled for Sunday. India, who have been practicing on the hard indoor surface after reaching here on Sunday, start favourites with non-playing captain Ramesh Krishnan quite confident of the team getting past Lebanon. “We should come through. We are quite positive about it,” Krishnan told
PTI. “We have been practising here for the last few days and our preparation is good,” he said. Krishnan said the decision not to field Bhupathi in the singles was a collective one. “He hasn’t been playing much in the singles of late. I think, he himself will be more comfortable playing only the doubles match here.” The two countries had last met in Lucknow in 1999 when Lebanon had extended India into the fourth rubber after winning the doubles in the absence of
Bhupathi. PTI |
|
Gurpreet hat-tricks for Chandigarh college New Delhi, February 7 In another match, Lyallpur Khalsa College, Jalandhar beat LNIPE, Gwalior by 2-0. After a barren first half, Parmeet Singh scored the first goal in the 43rd minute while Satwinder Senior shot in the second goal in the 54th minute. St. Joseph’s College, Bangalore, beat UTD Rani Durgawati University, Jabalpur 4-1 in the third match. Pundalik (two), Chinnappa and Vinay V.S. scored the goals for Bangalore while Asraf Ali struck the lone goal for Jabalpur. |
|
Churchill scrape past fighting Army XI New Delhi, February 7 Zee Churchill, who seemed to be riding home to a comfortable victory on the strength of a fine brace scored by their Iranian import Mousavi Sayed Amin, found the Army XI changing gear to give them a run for their money, and the match took an unexpeced turn when the Army XI pulled off a goal through Lal Sangliana. But the Goan team managed to hung on to their slender lead in the remaining part of the match to earn full points. In the first match, former champions FC Kochin just could not produce their wonted form, and in fact, had to play second fiddle to BSF for the most part of the match. But BSF too did not have a striker to translate their territorial advantage into goals, and the match eventually petered out to a listless, barren draw. Zee Churchill, placed fourth in the National Football League, looked sueprior on paper, and they did create a few ripples in the midfield, but the Army boys played with determination to deny the Goan team a cakewalk victory. Zee Churchill were well-served by their foreign imports Mousavi Sayed Amin and Yusif Yakubu upfront, and the hefty, but surprisingly nible-footed Osumanu Husseni, in the defence. They also had in their ranks Indian internationals like Aqueel Ansari, Noel Wilson and Roque Barretto. But the Army boys were not intimidated by their rivals’ reputation and impressive line-up, and put up an enterprising dispaly to make it a close contest. Barretto tested the waters for Churchill when his powerful long volley hit the post and went over, in the fourth minute. Then, Mousavi Sayed Amin’s header, off a flag kick, was fisted away by custodian Abun Gobi of Army XI, in the 13th minute. But the dangerous Amin finally found his way to the target when he ran ahead with a pass, gave the slip to three defenders, stopped yards away from the goal, turned around and shot home, catching custodian Gobi by total surprise. The Churchill players got too physical when the Army boys put up a determined front, and as a result, Denzil Ferrao and Noel Wilson were booked with the yellow card by referee Bharat Mani of Karnataka when they fouled Amit Aich and A Thirunavkarsu, respectively. Thiru had to be carried off on a stretcher when Wilson stabbed his boot into his knee. Though the Army XI played assertively in the second half, Churchill scored yet again when Mousavi Amin headed in off a flag kick, in the 26th minute. Two minutes later, in a quick counter attack, Lal Sangliana deflected home a cross from the left by Debnath P (1-2). The goal inspired the Army players to mount a series of attacks, and they were unlucky not to have struck the equaliser seconds before the final hooter when substitute Naren Chandra Rai blazed over an empty goal a measured cross from the left by Saroj Gurung. East Bengal will meet Punjab Police while JCT, Phagwara, will clash with Mohun Bagan, in tomorrow’s matches. |
|
Dingko enters
semifinal
New Delhi, February 7 On one hand, boxing enthusiasts saw close encounters, for instance, the one in the light-flyweight category featuring Rosama Colney of Services, who edged out Maharashtra’s Girish Pawar 19-17. On the other, there were dull shows like in a lightweight category clash in which veteran international pugilist Birju Shah of SPSB bowed out to a younger and swifter international Ramanand Purushottam of Services. A confident Dingko today opted to guage his rival Kamal Mujtaba of Railways in the first three rounds before going for a last-minute kill. The Asian Games gold medallist made Mujtaba, a junior international, dance to his tunes and steadily increased his scoring from 6-4 in the second round to 9-4 in the third before closing the deal at 13-7. Though Mujtaba cornered Dingko on a few occasions, Dingko shrugged off his moments of anticipation by landing right-straight punches and left hooks by breaking open his opponent’s defences. Not a single blow of Railways’ boxer Mohammed Rasheed found the target as he was routed by international and current national champion Bhakiya Rajan of Services 11-0 in a welterweight category battle even as former national champion Sanjit Singh of Assam Rifles overcame Delhi’s international Manoj Pawar 22-21 in an edge-of-the-seat thriller. Despite being almost six inches shorter than his towering opponent, Andhra Pradesh’s P. Shrikant put up a valiant show by whacking left hooks on international Parveen Kumar of CISF. However, Kumar, with his better reach got the better of Shrikant 17-15 in a lightweight category encounter. Services had a casualty in A.L. Lakra, who ran out of steam in the last round and lost 9-12 to junior international champion Diwakar Prasad in a bantamweight category clash.
PTI |
|
Qualifying tie: IWHF seeks more time Chandigarh, January 7 It may be recalled that only top seven teams were to quality for the World Cup to be held at Perth (Australia) later this year on the basis of the qualifying meet in France in September. But the US team did not take part in the wake of the terrorist strikes on September 11. The FIH committee had recommended a four-nation tournament to spot two countries for the World Cup. The countries were the USA, India, Lithuania and Ireland. But Lithuania were disqualified as they had committed technical mistake in one match. Ireland were given the fifth place. The FIH then appointed an arbitrator who declared that India were positioned seventh since they had lost to Scotland for the sixth place. Finally India and the USA were left in the fray. She said the Indian girls were now in Kenya for the preliminary matches in order to prepare for the next major meet in South Africa named the Champions Challenge Cup, which was originally allotted to India and was postponed due to security reasons. Ms Stokes said the reason cited for postponement of the above tie was that our girls needed some rest after the meet in South Africa, since playing for the World Cup qualifying meet was also crucial. The men’s Champions Challenge again had been allotted to India but was later organised at Kuala Lumpur which India won. The women’s teams competing in this prestigious tournament include the USA, Russia, South Africa, South Korea and the UK. |
|
Lack of practice worrying factor New Delhi, February 7 Although the team underwent a three-week camp last month at Chennai, nothing can be a substitute for practice gained in a match situation. For a change, the problem was self-made as India withdrew from a six-nation tournament in Kuala Lumpur because Pakistan was one of the participants. Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) president K.P.S. Gill pulled the team out fearing an official backlash as the airfare was to be borne by the government. New Delhi and Islamabad are at loggerheads over terrorist activities in India for which Pakistan has been blamed. Before the 1976 Olympic Games, too, India declined to play in a tournament. The decision cost the country dear because it failed to win a medal at Montreal. This happened a year after Ajit Pal Singh led the team to victory at the 1975 World Cup. After declining the Malaysian invitation, the IHF invited Belgium and Argentina to play a few Tests in India on their way to Kuala Lumpur. After both declined, the IHF hoped to play a few matches against some countries, including defending champions Holland, at Ipoh in Malaysia. Now the only match practice that India is likely to get before the meet will be against New Zealand, one of the weakest teams in the 16-nation competition. The World Cup-bound players have been put up in a three-star hotel in a congested area of New Delhi. Since they were to stay in the capital for just one night, the IHF was expected to treat them better. Another issue the IHF needs to thrash out is the long-standing telecast imbroglio. Even after much criticism of the non-telecast of the junior World Cup India won last October, both Mr Gill and Doordarshan, the government-owned broadcaster, seem to have done little to rectify the situation. Doordarshan, which pays Rs 500,000 for every match it telecasts, has only promised to beam the semi-finals and the final on March 9. The only consolation for the players is that they are going to Malaysia two weeks in advance to acclimatise themselves to the hot and humid conditions. The team will first camp at Ipoh, before shifting to the Malaysian capital. The squad will be given a formal send-off by Mr Gill and the sponsors, Castrol, on Friday. All matches will be held at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil. Pool A: Argentina, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Spain. Pool B: Australia, Cuba, England, India, Japan, S. Korea, Malaysia, Poland. India’s fixtures: February 24: vs. Japan; February 26: vs. S. Korea; Feb. 27: vs. Malaysia; March 1: vs. England; March 2: vs. Cuba; March 4: vs. Poland; March 5: vs. Australia; March 9: final.
IANS |
|
Team ‘well balanced’ Mumbai, February 7 Speaking at the seminar “In hunt of a medal at Kuala Lumpur” here yesterday, former Indian skipper Somaiah, who played as a centre half for the country for a long time, said after lot of experimentations the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) has put up a strong combination and “there is no reason why we cannot do well in the World Cup this month”. “There is flexibility as the young players are versatile. The team has experienced players like Dhanraj Pillay, who will be playing in the fourth World Cup, Baljeet Singh Dhillon and Sabu Varkey and youngters like Sukhbir Singh Gill, Jugraj Singh, Thirumalvalavan, A Tirkey and Arjun Halappa,” he added. Fernandes said the team was united and in high spirits but the only concern was Baljeet Singh Saini’s fitness and if he is not fit he should not be taken.
PTI |
|
Kunjarani Devi included in camp Patiala, February 7 The ban imposed by the international body on Kunjarani Devi for testing positive in a dope test during the senior Asian women weightlifting championships held in July last year has now been lifted after the IWF paid $1200 to the international body as costs towards the dope test. The names of lifters for the camp are: Kunjarani Devi, Krishna Veni, N. Nandini Devi, Sanamacha Chanu, Suneina, Pratima Kumari, P. Mangraj, P. Harita, N.Lumi, K. Malleswari, Sonia Chanu, Sumati Devi, Bharti Singh and Geeta Rani. |
|
Guljara Singh dead Varanasi, February 7 |
|
Harbhajan, Gagan Ajit
made DSPs Chandigarh, February 7 |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 122 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
