Skipper Sourav Ganguly told reporters after the nets that Rahul Dravid may be asked to keep wickets in order to accommodate an extra all-rounder in the team.

Though he was non-committal on the final composition of the team, Ganguly said left-arm spinner Murali Kartik and dashing batsman Yuvraj Singh, two of the three players inducted into the squad for the final two one-dayers, might be included in the playing eleven since both can bat as well as bowl.

“However, the final decision would be taken later and the team would be announced before the commencement of the match tomorrow,” Ganguly said.

Asked about the middle-order, he said: “We are trying to find out where we are going wrong.”

“The team is a balanced one with a good blend of experience and young blood and we will come roaring back into the series,” Ganguly said.

The Indian team, which arrived here last evening, had a strenuous three-hour session at the nets this afternoon. With the selectors’ threat of “drastic changes” hanging on their heads, the Indians are expected to arrest the slide in their performance with the induction of some new blood As if the shocking six-wicket drubbing in Kochi was not enough, the national selectors have threatened to bring about major changes in the team for the tour of the West Indies if India fail to win the one-day series against Zimbabwe.

As it is, India are going in with the handicap of the absence of star leg-spinner Anil Kumble and nothing but a marked improvement in the performance of the entire team would be able to stop the Zimbabweans, who are on a high being just a win away from clinching a memorable series.

The defeat in Kochi was more of India’s own making, with at least three of the frontline batsmen including skipper Sourav Ganguly being guilty of getting out to rash strokes. As such, a major part of India’s problems can be solved if they are able to get over their suicidal instincts.

The top order, which fired in unison in the first two matches at Faridabad and Mohali, will be keen to prove that their failures in Kochi was an aberration.

Punjab youngster Dinesh Mongia, Ganguly, V.V.S. Laxman, who would be playing on his home ground tomorrow, and Rahul Dravid have looked in good touch in this series, and they will be required to ensure a healthy total for the team because that is where India’s best chances lie.

Both Yuvraj and Bhardwaj have been rewarded for their fine performances in the domestic circuit and the team expects they continue with their good work. Yuvraj, in fact, is fresh from a double century he hit only yesterday in the Duleep Trophy match against South Zone at Faridabad.

In the absence of Kumble and Sarandeep Singh, Murali Kartik is sure to get the nod and, after a long time, India would be attacking with a left-arm spinner. Kartik has had an excellent Ranji Trophy season this year and with Zimbabwe never having faced him, he can prove to be the trump card for the Indians. In fact, the Indian team still looks more balanced and formidable than the Zimbabweans, the only problem being their inconsistency. If they are able to apply themselves tomorrow, a victory should not be too much of a problem.

Zimbabwe captain Stuart Carlisle said he would like to change the perception that every win of his team is due to the weakness of their opposition. “Every time Zimbabwe win, people say there is something wrong with the opposition,” Carlisle said, and hoped that a series win will definitely get the credit to his team.

There was some good news for Zimbabwe with their star batsman Andy Flower being fit for tomorrow’s match. “He is fit. The physio has to certify him and the team would be selected tonight,” Carlisle said while dropping enough hints that either Dion Ebrahim or Craig Wishart will make way for the veteran batsman.

Teams (from):

India: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Rahul Dravid, V.V.S. Laxman, Dinesh Mongia, Mohammad Kaif, Yuvraj Singh, Sanjay Bangar, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartik, Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar, Ajay Ratra, Vijay Bhardwaj and Tinu Yohannan.

Zimbabwe: Stuart Carlisle (captain), Alistair Campbell, Dion Ebrahim, Andy Flower, Douglas Marillier, Travis Friend, Grant Flower, Heath Streak, Tatenda Taibu, Gary Brent, Craig Wishart, Pommy Mbangwa, Charles Coventry, Douglas Hondo. PTI 

Thorpe blasted an unconquered double-century, Flintoff claimed his maiden Test hundred and both shared in a record 281-run sixth-wicket stand to set up an England declaration at 468 for six late on the third day.

At stumps, New Zealand were 28 without loss with Mark Richardson on 20 and Matt Horne not out three.

Play was stopped 11 overs before the end of the extended day’s play by failing light.

As soon as Thorpe brought up his 200, his highest Test score, England captain Nasser Hussain waved his players from the field mercifully ending a desolate day in the field for the New Zealand team.

Thorpe cracked 28 boundaries and four sixes in his five hours 35 minutes at the crease, delighting the travelling Barmy Army fans, and showcasing his rich array of strokes.

But it could have been all over after just his second delivery when he was dropped by Nathan Astle at second slip on four.

Thorpe’s imperious innings took centre-stage but Flintoff greatly impressed with his rumbustious 137, which was studded with 23 fours and three sixes, in 215 minutes. The pair’s partnership surpassed the 240 scored by Peter Parfitt and Barry Knight against New Zealand in Auckland in 1963 as the highest sixth-wicket stand against all Test-playing nations. It was 32-year-old Surrey left-hander Thorpe’s highest score in Test cricket, beating his previous best of 138 against Australia at Edgbaston in 1997.

England’s scoring rate was a blistering 5.5 runs an over — Thorpe and Flintoff blasted 165 runs off 28 overs in the middle session — and with each scoring shot drove another nail into the demoralised Kiwi team’s coffin.

The pair came together after the tourists lost three wickets in the extended morning session.

Scoreboard

England 1st innings: 228.

New Zealand (1st innings): 147.

England (2nd innings):

Trescothick c Vettori b Butler 33

Vaughan b Butler 0

Butcher hit wkt b Butler 34

Hussain c Parore b Drum 11

Thorpe not out 200

Ramprakash b Drum 11

Flintoff c McKenzie b Astle 137

Foster not out 22

Extras (b6, lb4, nb10) 20

Total (6 wkts declared) 468

Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-50, 3-81, 4-85, 5-106, 6-387.

Bowling: Drum 32-6-130-2, Butler 23-2-137-3, Cairns 4-0-8-0, McMillan 10-0-66-0, Astle 5.4-0-20-1, Vettori 22-3-97-0.

New Zealand (2nd innings):

Richardson batting 20

Horne batting 3

Extras (lb-2, nb-3) 5

Total (no wkt in 10 overs 28

Bowling: Caddick 5-1-20-0, Hoggard 4-2-5-0, Giles 1-0-1-0. AFP 

Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting both fell short of centuries as Australia were dismissed for their lowest total against South Africa this season. Ponting made 89 and Gilchrist 91.

South Africa were 48 for one at close of play, with Gary Kirsten falling to fast bowler Brett Lee in fading light to spoil what had been the host nation’s most successful day in six Tests against the world champions this season.

The tourists, sent in to bat on an easy-paced pitch, looked set for a big total before Herschelle Gibbs cut short Ponting’s innings with a direct hit from cover.

Scoreboard

Australia (Ist innings):

Langer c Kirsten b Terbrugge 11

Hayden c McKenzie b Kallis 28

Ponting run out 89

M. Waugh c Smith b Kallis 45

S. Waugh c Boucher b Adams 7

Martyn b Terbrugge 11

Gilchrist c Smith b Adams 91

Warne c Boucher b Ntini 26

Lee b Ntini 0

Gillespie c Boucher b Hall 1

McGrath not out 4

Extras: (w-2) 2

Total: (all out) 315

FoW: 1-11, 2-61, 3-169, 4-178, 5-182, 6-230, 7-287, 8-289, 9-311.

Bowling: Ntini 20-3-87-2, Terbrugge 16-2-61-2, Kallis 20-3-95-2 (w-2), Hall 9.1-2-35-1, Adams 9-0-37-2.

South Africa (Ist innings):

Gibbs not out 24

Kirsten c Gilchrist b Lee 21

Adams not out 0

Extras (w-1, nb-1, lb-1): 3

Total (For 1 wicket): 48

FoW: 1-48

Getting some compensation for having to play the home series against West Indies in Sharjah will be a key issue for Pakistan, PCB chief Tauqir Zia said.

“This is a very important issue for us. Because we lost revenues after shifting the series to Sharjah. We will press the ICC members to give us compensation for our losses,” The News, quoting Zia, reported.

West Indies in January refused to tour Pakistan citing security hazards for its players following border tensions with India and only agreed to play a modified series of two Tests and three one-dayers in Sharjah in February.

Pakistan have claimed that by being forced to host the series at a neutral venue, it suffered loss of revenues from sale of television rights and sponsorship deals.

Zia pointed out that Pakistan would seek compensation as the series against West Indies was part of the ICC’s 10-year programme.

The PCB chief said. “The ICC members have agreed in principle that penalties up to $ 1 million can be imposed on teams pulling out of confirmed tours. Our situation against the West Indies is no different.”

Zia said: “We will seek compensation under the penalties rule. Because our stand has always been that West Indies could have played in Pakistan without problems. Nothing has happened in Pakistan since September 11 to suggest otherwise.”

He pointed out that Sri Lanka had come and played in the Asian Test Championship final at Lahore without problems. While the Sri Lanka under-19 team also played last year at different venues without any security problems. “This is one of our main proposals for the executive board meeting this weekend. We will seek some compensation for West Indies insisting on playing our home series in Sharjah.”

The two-day ICC executive board meeting will discuss some contentious issues facing world cricket. The ICC has said that its executive board members can only decide the issue of compensation to Pakistan, since they would provide the funds.

Zia said, “We will also be pressing the ICC to have its bowling action review panel or commission take a final decision on Akhtar’s bowling action once for all.”

“We feel that the review panel should meet and study the medical report of the University of Western Australia and also view his latest video tapes and then make a final decision on his action,’’ he added.

“Akhtar is in stage two by ICC review process standards. We want the panel to take a decision before stage three,” he said.

Pakistan are also likely to table a proposal at the board meeting calling for a change in the ICC’s bowling action review process. UNI

South, after collapsing to 168 in the first innings, rediscovered their batting form to post 422 for six, and thereby salvage a draw on the fourth and final day’s play.

North’s huge first innings lead of 390 posed no threat to the visitors as Sharath, first in the company of Hemang Badani and then by the captain M S K Prasad, guided them to safety.

Indeed, the coming together of the South middle order was in stark contrast to the previous essay when they dug their own grave with indisciplined batting.

Sridharan Sriram (77), Vinay Kumar (76), Badani (59) and Prasad (30) all played their supporting roles to perfection while Sharath (102) produced some vintage batting. Ashish Nehra, wrecker in chief in the first innings, was once again the leading bowler with three for 93. He once more claimed the crucial wicket of Sharath as he did in the first innings but it came bit late in the day.

South Zone (1st Innings): 168

North Zone (1st Innings): 558 for 9 decl

South Zone (2nd Innings):

Sriram st Dahiya b Sanghvi 77, Ramesh c Dahiya b Nehra 31, Vinay lbw b Nehra 76, Badani c Rathore b Manhas 59, Sharath c Dahiya b Nehra 102, M S K Prasad c Manhas b Sanghvi 20, R V Ch Prasad not out 14, Shahabuddin not out 3 Extras (b-18, lb-8, nb-11, w-3) 40 Total (for nine, in 125 overs) 422 Fall of wickets: 1-53, 2-164, 3-268, 4-288, 5-375, 6-407. Bowling: V Sharma 36-6-61-0, A Nehra 40-19-92-3, R Sanghvi 30-8-119-2, V Bhatia 17-4-76-0, M Manhas 15-3-48-1. PTI

After West declared their second innings close at their overnight score of 213 for two, Pathan along with leg spinner Sairaj Bahutule (3/67) ran through the Central batting like hot knife through butter to reduce them to 227 all out off 73.4 overs in their second innings.

In fact, getting 389 runs for a win on the last day of the four-day tie was never going to be easy for Central especially against some sustained accurate bowling by Pathan, Bahutule and offie Ramesh Powar, who got the prize wicket of Central skipper Gagan Khoda for a well made 56.

Despite a fighting unbeaten 115 off 162 balls by middle order batsman Jayprakash Jadav, the Central fell short by 161 runs.

West Zone (Ist innings): 416

Central Zone (Ist innings): 241

West Zone (2nd innings): 213 for two declared

Central Zone (2nd innings):

Jyoti Yadav b Pathan 05, Khoda c Jaffer b Powar 51, T.P. Singh b Pathan 06, Gaud c Merchant b Bahutule 14, Raja b Bahutule 07 J.P. Yadav not out 120, Jhalani c Mongia b Pathan 01 Parida lbw Pathan 01, Harvinder c Jaffer b Pathan 12, Srivatsav lbw Pathan 00, Hirwani c Mongia b Bahutule 00 Extras: (3b, 4lb, 3nb) 10 Total: 227 for all out in 73.4 overs Fall of wickets: 1/9, 2/23, 3/44, 4/60, 5/122, 6/129, 7/141, 8/187, 9/187, 10/227 Bowling: Lalit Patel 14-3-25-0, Irfan Pathan 19-5-72-6 (3nb) S Bahutule 22.4-5-68-3 V Buch 6-0-24-0 H Kanitkar 2-0-10-0 R Powar 10-3-21-1. PTI

In an interview to UNI, national champion Gupta spoke about his form and chances of defending the title.

Giving a measured assessment on singles entries in this year’s Open, he said, “It is much stronger than last year; for example the semifinalist at the All-England Open from China, Luo Yigang, is playing and so is Wu Yugang, who may play me in the second round.

“I first have to defeat Amir Ghaffar of England and he is also a tough player.’’

Drawing attention to Arvind Bhatt, who had qualified at All-England, Gupta referred to his defeat yesterday in the last qualifying rounds and reiterated, “It is not an easy championship.’’

To a specific query about his individual form and prospects for the event, he said, ‘’Well, I did everything right at the All-England last week ... I defeated Malaysian Sairul Ayub Amar who is world No. 14 and then I lost to a top Korean, who went on to defeat sixth-seeded Indonesian Mainaky.’’

He added that he had managed to get some good practice sessions in Paris and feels satisfied with his form.

On being asked about the chances of the other Indian players here, he said, “Players like Aparna Popat, Nikhil Kanitkar and Chetan Anand are experienced but one has to look out for the Chinese players, who are also playing in ladies’ singles.”

He also hoped that Diju and Sanave Thomas, who are top-seeded in men’s doubles, perform well as “For the very first time we have a men’s doubles pair which is top-seeded in any international event.’’

Gupta also expressed the need for players to design their own resting season as they were playing matches round the year. He indicated that the Thomas Cup was too close to the national championships.

But there are good chances that at least two of the Indians could land up in the semifinals of this increasingly popular championships, which this year has attracted entries from 23 countries. It is really remarkable the way badminton has been popularised in France and Germany.

In both the countries there are over 90,000 registered players making the game of badminton the fastest growing sport.

Germany has virtually dethroned England and Sweden as top badminton playing country.

Aparna Popat will open her account against Welsh player Kate shuddler and Jwala, a doubles specialist, will play English player Elizabeth Cann while BR Meenakshi will play Lebuhanic from France. UNI

It was Sherwood, ranked 709, who had demolished another Indian Vishal Uppal in the quarters yesterday with a good exhibition of all round game, performed an encore against Srinath, the higher ranked player. The British set up a title clash with Slovak Branislav Sekac, who edged out in straight sets Czech Jakub Hasek 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 in the other semifinal, breaking Hasek in the third game of the first set and triumphing in the tie break after Hasek broke him in the tenth to level 5-5.

In the second set, however, Sekac stroking with better accuracy, broke Hasek in the fourth and ninth games. Hasek broke Sekac in the eighth game but it was too late in the contest.

Srinath came up with some sparkling stuff in between but his many forced errors in the second set in which Sherwood outplayed him, cost him the match ultimately as he was down psychologically.

It was easy for the Karnataka lad in the first game, breaking the boy from Britain in the seventh and ninth games after drawing level 3-3.

But Srinath’s game fell apart in the second set with Sherwood outplaying him with deceptive placements and volleys on the big points. Sherwood was up 4-0 breaking Srinath, struggling to get his first serve in and returning poorly in the first and third games. He broke Srinath again in the ninth after the latter managed to hold serve in the fifth game (1-4).

However, Srinath managed to raise his game in the third set finding his strokes again. The contest going on serves, Srinath levelled 3-3. Sherwood survived a break point in the seventh and managed to force a 4-3 lead. Srinath levelled again 4-4 and 5-5.

But committing two double faults, Srinath went down 5-7 Sherwood breaking him in the 12th game after holding serve in the 11th. UNI

The visitors were trailing till the dying minutes of an action-packed encounter which saw some unruly crowd behaviour after Hussain fetched the equaliser at the stroke of the long whistle, shattering the home team’s hopes of garnering full points and consolidating their position on the points table.

The Bangalore outfit shot into the lead as early as the second minute of the contest through Mike Okoro but Abdulateef Seriki and the irrepressible Jose Barreto struck a goal each in quick succession to give the local giants a 2-1 lead at the interval.

With this drwan encounter, two-time champions Mohun Bagan have secured 29 points from 16 matches while ITI have logged 26 points from as many outings.

The police was forced to make a lathi charge to control a section of the home crowd which turned violent after ITI scored the equaliser. The spectators, incensed by the referee’s decision to award a free kick to ITI, also hurled brickbats and other missiles on to the ground.

The home team received a jolt as early as the second minute when Mike Okoro, collecting a loose ball, broke through the defence and lobbed the ball over on rushing Bagan custodian Rajat Ghosh Dasdidar.

Bagan, however, did not allow the early setback to upset them, as they unleashed a flurry of raids from both the flanks giving some anxious moments to the ITI defenders. PTI

Vijay was the sole leader at 136, a stroke adrift of the seasoned Andrew Pitts of the USA who is at seven-under 137. One stroke further behind are Dean Alaban of Australia and Thai Sriroj Thammannoon, who with cards of 69 and 68, respectively, are at six-under 138 each.

In the tied fifth place at five-under 139 were four players, including one of the overnight leaders, Singaporean Mardan Mamat, Alex Oh of Korea, Craig Kamps of South Africa and little-known Myanmarese Soe Kyaw Naing.

Four others including the other overnight leader, Mexican Pablo del Olmo, who shot a 74 after his first round 66, were at four-under 140. With Olmo were Akio Sadakata of Japan, Mike Cunning of the USA and Rick Gibson of Canada.

Iran won the first set with strong blocks on the net and smashes by Monazami Amir and Mohammed Rad. India came back strongly in the second set with Ashish Arora and Tom Jozeph smashing well to reel off points backed by good defence to put them level.

Then it was all the way Iran’s game as Amir and Monzami lifted their game with powerful smashes to which the Indians had no answer.

Indian coach Chander Singh said the team was too erratic and that proved their undoing. “The players did not do well and were faltering in all departments of the game making too many mistakes,” he said.