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Wednesday,
May 8, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Pak look to wrap up series Holding blasts umpires WORLD CUP LEGENDS No place for Romario
Batistuta, Caniggia
in Argentina squad |
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‘Improved’ USA seek redemption World Cup pitch vandalised Betting on football JCT’s loss gain for Punjab Police
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Pak look to wrap up series Karachi, May 7 On the eve of the second Test against New Zealand, Waqar said he believes his squad are now good enough to beat the current top dogs in world cricket, Australia and South Africa. “We would like to wrap up the series and prove that we are the best team in the world after our home series against Australia in October this year and then a series in South Africa,” Waqar told reporters here. Led by an awesome 329 by Inzamam-ul Haq, Pakistan downed the Black Caps by an innings and 324 runs in the first Test at Lahore last week after their one-day series triumph by 3-0. “People do try to demean our recent victories by saying that we have beaten Bangladesh, the West Indies and New Zealand but (we) would also beat Australia and South Africa,” said Waqar. Fortunes changed dramatically for Waqar when he came in from the sidelines to be handed Pakistan’s captaincy in April last year. “I have learnt a lot and am satisfied with whatever results we have achieved; the only thing is to improve our consistency and record on home grounds,” he said. Pakistan has not won a home series since whitewashing the West Indies in 1997-98 and has lost six of its last seven home series since losing to Sri Lanka in 1995-96. England recorded their first series win in Pakistan for 38 years when they won 1-0 in 2000-2001, the last series played in Pakistan. Pakistan have since beaten minnows Bangladesh at home last year and lost their Asian Test champions title to Sri Lanka in March this year. “We want to make our own people happy who have been disappointed with our home series losses and it would mean a lot to us,” he said. Experienced opener Saeed Anwar returns to the Pakistan squad after being sidelined since November last year due to a wrist injury. The 33-year-old opener who is now a devout Muslim with a long beard is likely to replace Shahid Afridi in the final eleven to be announced tomorrow. “Anwar looks good in the nets and hopefully he would get runs. Shoaib Akhtar is also improving from an ankle injury but a final decision on him would be taken before the match starts,” Waqar said. Injury-plagued New Zealand lost leg-spinner Brooke Walker with a dislocated finger in the left hand and he is likely to be replaced by all-rounder Scott Styris. All-rounder Andre Adams, who helped New Zealand square the home series against England 1-1 two months back has also returned home after suffering a back injury. “Injuries to key players have been a major worry for us and Walker has dislocated a finger in his hand,” captain Stephen Fleming said. “We know we have a mountain to climb after a big defeat in the first Test but I hope we finish the tour on a high note with an improved performance in this Test,” he said. New Zealand lost all-rounders Chris Cairns (knee injury) and Dion Nash (back problem) before the tour began and opener Nathan Astle returned home after injuring his knee in the first one-day match in Karachi last month. Teams (From): Pakistan: Waqar Younis (capt), Inzamam-ul Haq (vice-capt), Shahid Afridi, Saeed Anwar, Imran Nazir, Younis Khan, Yousuf Youhana, Rashid Latif, Abdul Razzaq, Saqlain Mushtaq, Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar, Danish Kaneria, Shoaib Malik, Misbahul Haq and Mohammad Sami. New Zealand: Stephen Fleming (capt), Craig McMillan (vice-capt), Mathew Horne, Mark Richardson, Lou Vincent, Chris Harris, Brooke Walker, Daryl Tuffey, Daniel Vettori, Chris Martin, Mathew Sinclair, Robbie Hart, Ian Butler and Scott Styris. Umpires: Steve Bucknor (West Indies) and Rudi Koertzen (South Africa). Match referee:
Mike Procter (South Africa). AFP |
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Balancing cricket, Islam Karachi, May 7 Anwar is likely to open the batting in the Karachi Test against New Zealand starting tomorrow after almost six months out of the game following the death of his three-year-old daughter and a wrist injury. The 33-year-old computer engineer became a devout Muslim after his only daughter died following a brief illness in September, and now sports a long beard in the style of the Prophet Mohammad. “Turning to religion doesn’t mean I can’t play cricket I am ready to strike a balance between cricket and religion and want to play at least until next year’s World Cup,” he told AFP after a training session. “My whole life has changed after my beloved daughter Bismah died last year and I have turned to religion for solace.” A veteran of 55 Tests with 4,025 runs and 230 one-day internationals with 8,348 runs, Anwar holds the record for the highest one-day score of 194 made against India at Chennai in 1997-98. But cricket and his social life have taken a back seat since his personal tragedy and an injury to his left wrist in November, the last time he represented his country. “The whole meaning of my life was my daughter and I have still not recovered from her loss,” he said. Reports in the Pakistani media have suggested Pakistan Cricket Board was reluctant to include Anwar in the team, fearing he might distract other players with his preaching. “This is all rubbish and not true. I have never been a distraction and I would never be because I know my duties to religion and the team,” he said. “Islam is a flexible religion and doesn’t allow extremism It’s a peace-loving religion and I follow these lines.” Asked what he would do if prayer time arrived when he was batting, he said: “I would continue to bat because I can offer prayers after I get out, there is flexibility in the religion. “Even after I retire I would try to devote some time to cricket besides following the religion.” The new Anwar will provide a modern-day reminder of the great English all-rounder W.G. Grace, who played with a long beard a hundred years ago.
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Holding blasts umpires Bridgetown, May 7 “Looking at the way things have gone, I would say perhaps it is time to have an independent third umpire as well.” says legendary fast bowler Michael Holding. “I have been counting since the start of the first Test and can cite 14 decisions that can at best be termed doubtful,” Holding, now a commentator, wrote in his column. “I can understand the umpires in the middle, who make split-second decisions getting it wrong, but how on earth can the third umpire get a decision wrong after seeing so many replays and having so much time? “Such a decision would suggest he should not be umpiring and should be doing something else instead,” Holding blasted third umpire Eddie Nichols who ruled Shivnarine Chanderpaul not out on the last day of the second Test. With only a handful of runs to score, Chanderpaul guided a Javagal Srinath delivery into the gloves of Ajay Ratra but Nichols flashed the green light when the ground umpire asked to clarify whether it was a bumped ball or not. Nichols couldn’t be reached at the end of the match but referee Ranjan Madugalle came to his defence saying “the umpire couldn’t make out if the ball was bump or not”. Holding’s count of 14 was before the start of the third Test at Kensington Oval last week in which West Indies skipper Carl Hooper enjoyed the third umpire’s favour at a critical juncture. India played poorly to be all out for 102 on the first day of the Test but were convinced they had Hooper run-out at the non-striker’s end on the second day. Only, third umpire Wily Doctrove ruled in the batsman’s favour. Hooper was on 15 and the West Indies were 220 for four and Indians were left bemoaning the decision much after the final ball of the Test was bowled. What made matters worse for Doctrove was Hooper’s admission that he was out. “I had a look at the replay in the evening of the game and it looked to me as if I was short of crease,” Hooper wrote in his exclusive column for PTI. Doctrove himself offered a meek explanation when he said the pictures he saw on television were not conclusive. India’s captain Sourav Ganguly also could not hide his disappointment when he said after India’s 10-wicket thrashing that: “A few things have happened in this Test which I don’t want to comment upon but they could have still put the game back onto its course.” Ganguly was more forthright in his column when he echoed Holding saying “I could understand if umpires on the field of play made a mistake as they had to make a split second decision but for a third umpire to have a look at the replays 50 times and yet arrive at a wrong decision was awful”. “Some of the errors made here are so basic that anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of the game can see them,” wrote Holding. “Leg before decisions have been given when the ball has pitched well outside the leg stump and the decision concerning Chanderpaul can only be called ridiculous,” he said. Chanderpaul had a reprieve in the second innings of the Port of Spain Test but in the first innings he was downright unlucky when a ball pitched outside the leg stump was ruled by Australian umpire Daryl Harper good enough for an lbw verdict.
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WORLD CUP LEGENDS London, May 7 No other English player can match Charlton’s unique collection of winners medals - World Cup, European Cup, League title and FA Cup, and only a few can match his spotless reputation for sportsmanship. Born in 1937 into a famous football family - his uncle was the legendary Newcastle striker Jackie Milburn - he was soon spotted by Matt Busby and signed for Old Trafford at 17. As a youngster Charlton started out as a left winger, his searing pace, exemplary balance and ability to unleash ferocious shots with either foot making him perfectly suited to the role. Later he evolved into a midfield playmaker, operating for club and country as a goal-creator and goalscorer par excellence. He remains England’s record international goalscorer, with 49. The highpoint of Charlton’s international career came at the 1966 World Cup, where he was one of the key figures in England’s sole success in the tournament. Charlton and England had a jittery 0-0 draw with Uruguay in their opening match but recovered to beat Mexico and France. Against the Mexicans, Charlton opened his account for the tournament with a trademark goal, his right-foot rocket from outside the area flying into the central Americans’ net. In the semifinal against Portugal his thunderous shooting ability again set up England, Charlton scoring two fine long-range efforts in a match some regard as his finest ever. It was a measure of the fear Charlton induced in opponents that West Germany singled him out for special attention in the final, detailing a young Franz Beckenbauer as a man-marker. The tactic was not enough to stop England from lifting the title however, and later that year he received recognition of his input to the England cause by deservedly being named European ‘Footballer of the Year’. Two years later Charlton made a successful return to Wembley, this time with Manchester United for their 4-1 victory over Benfica in the European Cup. He remained a key member of England’s squad and with Gordon Banks and Bobby Moore, carried his team’s hopes into the 1970 World Cup. England started well and qualified through the group phase, before being paired with West Germany in the quarter-finals. Moore was his usual inspirational self as England surged into a 2-0 lead. England manager Alf Ramsey controversially substituted Charlton after the Germans had pulled a goal back, and Beckenbauer suddenly enjoyed more space in midfield. “When Charlton was taken off we couldn’t believe our luck,” Beckenbauer said later. Germany finished 3-2 winners and there was to be no World Cup repeat for Charlton. Charlton retired with 109 caps for England, quitting all football in 1973 to become manager of Preston North End. He was a director of Wigan Athletic, before becoming a director at Manchester United in 1984.
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No place for Romario Rio De Janeiro, May 7 The 36-year-old Vasco da Gama player - the hero of Brazil’s 1994 World Cup campaign - had harboured hopes of playing in Japan and South Korea after a superb season at club level. But coach
Scolari, who has not picked Romario since a World Cup qualifying match against Uruguay in July last year, has refused to bow to public pressure and excluded the forward here
yesterday. Scolari said he understood why fans had demanded Romario’s inclusion — but delivered a typically blunt response. “The supporters have to realise that the Brazilian team has a coach,” said
Scolari, known here as ‘Big Phil’. “On the other hand, we seem to have 170 million Brazilians as coach of the side. And that cannot be.” The other notable absentee from Brazil’s squad was Deportivo La Coruna’s
Djalminha, who hit the headlines last week after head-butting the Spanish club’s coach Javier Irureta in training. Elsewhere there were few surprises, with Scolari sticking largely to the squad which played against Portugal in a friendly last month. Barcelona star Rivaldo was named in the attack despite a persistent knee injury and erratic form at international level, while Inter Milan’s Ronaldo was also called up after a return to form and fitness.
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Batistuta, Caniggia in Argentina squad Buenos Aires, May 7 The others named include Jose Chamot (AC Milan), Walter Samuel (AS Roma), Javier Zanetti (Internazionale), Diego Simeone, Claudio Lopez and Hernan Crespo (Lazio), Mauricio Pochettino (Paris Saint-Germain), Marcelo Gallardo (Monaco), Claudio Husain and Ariel Ortega (River Plate). The rest of the squad will be announced when the Argentine, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Brazilian and German league seasons are completed. “It will be a very tough World Cup,” Bielsa said. “We’ll assume the role that people are giving us of favourites, but we aren’t the only ones. Now we have the obligation of living up to what people think if us.” Batistuta, Argentina’s best ever goalscorer with 56 strikes in 75 appearances, has had a dismal year, hit by injuries and poor form for his club side and playing just once in 12 months for Argentina. But Bielsa confirmed that “Batigol,” who played in the last two World Cups, will be in the final list, though he would not say whether Batistuta or Lazio’s Crespo will be his first choice for the center-forward position.
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‘Improved’ USA seek redemption Washington, May 7 A US squad split almost evenly between European-based players and homegrown Major League soccer talent will aim for the second round, matching the 1994 US showing and backing up their big talk of improvement since the embarrassment in France. “We learn from our experiences and hopefully we will be able to learn from the team that went to France and move on to better things,” US defender Eddie Pope said. “Hopefully some of the shock value wears off. Hopefully, we won’t be as bright eyed as last time.” US coach Bruce Arena is 29-15 with 13 drawn since taking over the programme six months after the Cup disaster. “We’re going to make believe it never happened,” Arena said. “It’s a clean slate in 2002. They’re going to be better than we saw in 1998. It’s a better team from top to bottom in experience. Hopefully, it will position itself to move forward.” About half of the 1998 roster returns with aid from such World Cup finals debutantes as forward Clint Mathis and midfielder Landon Donovan. “Our team spirit is better. I think that makes all the difference from 1998 to now,” Pope said. “That was a big issue for us. We had a team that was capable of doing some things but overall our chemistry wasn’t there. That’s such a major part.” Veteran English Premiership goalkeepers Brad
Friedel, outstanding this season at Blackburn, and Kasey Keller, who has taken a key role at
Tottenham, will vie for starting honours. “It’s like splitting hairs between Friedel and Keller,” said Arena, who vows to start “the goalkeeper who gives us the best chance to win.” The average age of the US team is 28.7 years and average experience is 51.7 caps, both modern high marks for a US World Cup roster. “We are still a developing country in terms of soccer,” Arena said. “Our players start at an older age. Hopefully previous experience will be a factor. It’s a reason they’re part of this. We think they’ll help us get through a difficult stretch.” The US team won the North American Gold Cup and has evolved from a defence-minded lot to a testy side on both sides of the ball. Finishing is not the problem it was in France.
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World Cup pitch vandalised Tokyo, May 7 The centre reported the incident to the police yesterday, just three weeks ahead of the international soccer tournament, in which Japan is slotted with Belgium, Russia and Tunisia in group H.
Groundsmen at the National Training Centre Shimizu noticed on Saturday that patches of the centre’s multi-purpose turf pitch had started to turn brown. By yesterday morning, yellowish, brown lines and spots of dead grass were clearly visible on the pitch, said Yoshifumi Totsuka, senior manager of the centre in Shimizu city, about 140 km southwest of Tokyo. One line of dead grass extended for more than 150 metres, and others zigzagged all over the field, he said. “The police and we ourselves are investigating the nature of the suspected chemical agent,” Totsuka said.
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Betting on football Singapore “That’s our expectations of what we can collect,” a spokeswoman said, adding that the soccer-mad public was also likely to punt $500 million on next season’s English Premier League. Last month, the government-run lottery operator announced it would allow betting on World Cup and European matches. Previously, betting had only been permitted on horse racing and local football matches.
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JCT’s loss gain for Punjab Police Chandigarh, May 7 With the management giving the go-ahead for fresh recruitment, including those of foreigners, some well-known players like international Hardip Sangha have decided to bid adieu to JCT after assisting the team for the past few seasons. Sangha has now opted for Punjab Police, who incidentally were relegated from the National Football League last month finishing last. Also moving over to Punjab Police, who once boasted of top players like Arjuna awardee Gurdev Singh and former East Bengal star Kuljit Singh, are medio Harinder Singh, stopper back Ranjit Singh, forward Sameer, and Shiraz. Two promising forwards, Jaswant Singh, son of former international G.S. Parmar, and Sukhjit Singh, have opted for Border Security Force, who played in the second division this season. Ruing the loss, JCT’s chief coach Sukhwinder Singh, who incidentally is also the national coach, is nevertheless determined to field a winning combination next season. “We hope to make an impact next season if things work out as planned,” said Sukhwinder Singh in an informal chat with The Tribune. The team management is reportedly in touch with some top players currently playing for well known clubs based in Kolkata, including East Bengal and Goa’s Salgaocar SC. However, it is JCT’s proposed hunt for talent in Senegal which has aroused interest in football circles not only in Punjab but also in the rest of India. Incidentally, Senegal will be playing in the World Cup scheduled to kick off on May 31. If JCT manage to sign up some top notch players from Senegal, the former NFL champions may indeed take the next edition by storm. With the experienced trio of Inder Singh, Parminder Singh and Sukhwinder at the helm, nothing should be impossible for the mill men, whose breathtaking exploits in the domestic circuit are part of the national soccer history. |
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