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Sunday,
July 21, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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England recall White, Cork Indians flounder against Hampshire Flaws seem to grow bigger in Das’ technique Els, Harrington joint leaders
IA lift Murugappa Gold Cup Harmeet Kahlon emerges sole leader |
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Arjuna Awards to be announced in August Punjab
cagers for NZ camp Swimming meet
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England recall White, Cork London, July 20 The pair owe their recall to the fact that Surrey fast bowler Alex Tudor withdrew yesterday because of shin splints. Another contender for a fast bowling berth, with Andrew Caddick (rib injury) also sidelined, is Glamorgan’s uncapped Simon Jones, who was named in the squad for the third Test against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford. Caddick’s Somerset colleague Marcus Trescothick was another player ruled out earlier this week when he sustained a fractured thumb fielding against Worcestershire in a Trophy quarter-final. The opening batsman’s injury led England to delay their scheduled squad announcement on Thursday and in a new look batting line-up there could be a place for John Crawley, who retains his squad spot from Old Trafford. England’s chairman of selectors, David Graveney, said: “John Crawley came into the side for the first Test against Sri Lanka and acquitted himself well. “There is no reason why he should be overlooked now as we want to be consistent in our selection policy,” explained Graveney no doubt trying to deflect criticism over the non-selection of talented Warwickshire youngster Ian Bell. Squad: Nasser Hussain (capt), Mark Butcher, Dominic Cork, John Crawley, Andrew Flintoff, Darren Gough, Ashley Giles, Matthew Hoggard, Simon Jones, Alec Stewart, Graham Thorpe, Michael Vaughan, Craig White. Looking at England’s bowling, Graveney added: “The injury to Alex Tudor means that we need someone with batting capability in the number eight position. “Depending on the balance of the side and the nature of the wicket, there could be an opportunity for either Dominic Cork or Craig White in this position. “Craig played well in India in the winter, making his first Test hundred, and although he had a few injuries that affected his bowling, he is now back to fitness and bowling well again. “We feel his ability to reverse swing the ball could be useful if the Lord’s wicket is as flat as it was against Sri Lanka whilst Dominic will give us another option if the wicket is more seamer-friendly. “Simon Jones is also an option for us as he has express pace and has been bowling well for Glamorgan in recent weeks. “The injury to Marcus Trescothick means that we will have to readjust our batting order and Michael Vaughan will open the innings with Mark Butcher — preserving the right/left combination which has served us well in the past. “We have had some injury problems ahead of this match — but we are fully aware of how important it is to start this Test series well as this is an area we have sometimes fallen down on previously.” In the three match series against Sri Lanka England won 2-0.
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Indians flounder against Hampshire Southampton, July 20 Indian batting, which had floundered in the second innings of the drawn three-day match against West Indies ‘A’ at Arundel on Thursday, once again appeared shaky with only vice captain Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag coming up with decent totals. Dravid made a solid 78 and was associated in a 60-run second wicket partnership with Sehwag who replaced an out-of- form opener Shiv Sunder Das and made a good-looking 41. Others — Wasim Jaffer (13), Sachin Tendulkar (3), Saurav Ganguly (21) and Ajay Ratra (1) — got out cheaply as the batsmen wasted another opportunity to get in shape ahead of the first Test against England starting at Lord’s on July 25. At tea break, V.V.S. Laxman was batting on 14 in the company of Sanjay Bangar, who was not out on four. Sehwag and Jaffer gave the Indians a fairly decent start before the latter perished while trying an ambitious stroke against James Thomlinson at the total of 39. Sehwag flourished during his 95-minute knock, studded with five boundaries, before he played on to his stumps. Dravid was in a scintillating touch, though blessed with two chances, as he hit 10 boundaries and a six in his 150- minute knock. Indians (1st innings): Jaffer c Ames b Thomlinson 13 Sehwag b Udal 41 Dravid c Aymes b Mascarenhas 78 Tendulkar c Mascarenhas b Udal 3 Ganguly c Aymes b Udal 21 Laxman batting 14 Ratra lbw b Hamblin 1 Bangar batting 4 Extras:
(b-2, lb-4, nb-3) 9 Total: (six wkts, 63 overs) 184 Fall of wickets: 1-39, 2-99, 3-103, 4-154, 5-164, 6-175. Bowling: Dimitry Mascarenhas 11-6-26-1, James Thomlinson 15-1-55-1, James Hamblin 9-2-30-1, Neil Johnson 6-2-20-0, Shaun Udal 20-3-44-3, Lawrence Prittipaul 2-0-3-0.
PTI |
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Flaws seem to grow bigger in Das’ technique Southampton (England), July 20 Das, who has opened in every Test Saurav Ganguly has captained for india since late 2000, saw the door slammed shut on him after he scored 29 and 0 in his two innings against the West Indies ‘A’ at Arundel ealier this week. With a disastrous West Indies tour behind him, the poor outing at Arundel has forced the team management to leave out the diminutive opener from the three-day match against Hampshire, starting today, in a bid to try out a new opening combination ahead of the first Test at the Lord’s next week. The Indians are aware openers are the key to keep the pace-based England attack at bay in the forthcoming Test series for the batting aristocracy of Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly and VVS Laxman to blossom in the middle order. Coach John Wright refuses to be taken in by India’s sterling performance in the NatWest triangular series and emphasises openers, along with the batting of the tailenders, were the key to India’s chances in the Test series. “Openers have to be extremely consistent and must give the platform for the rest of the batters. Similarly, we need runs from the tail in this series,” coach John Wright said. The Indians are unwilling to take any chances at the Lord’s which is seen along with Headingly as the only two venues of the four-Test series where result is more of a possibility. The pitches at the Oval and Trent Bridge, by common consensus, should be a batsman’s delight in the hot second half of England summer. Das, it would appear, hasn’t been able to come out of the shell-shocked experience of facing the West Indian pacemen in the Caribbean recently. The Orissa batsman was seen as India’s long-awaited answer to the opener’s issue as he made an impressive start to his Test career and even bagged the man-of-the-series award in Zimbabwe where India drew 1-1 in the two-Test series in 2001. Das was viewed as compact and fearless and appreciated for his powers of concentration before chinks in his batting technique began to appear bigger and bigger. He got himself into a tangle against pin-pointed bouncers from Glenn McGrath and company when the Australians toured India in early 2001. Then it became a regular issue with him to get bowled via an inside edge from his bat. It was so painful for India’s opening legend Sunil Gavaskar, an early admirer of Das, that he gave him batting instructions at Trinidad recently. “He has been out in this fashion in quarter of his Test innings and it is not funny,” remarked Gavaskar after he had spent over an hour with the little opener in the nets. Gavaskar’s observation was simple — Das was bringing his bat too far ahead of his body and consequently wasn’t able to control the entire movement of a delivery on to his bat — hence the unintended edges. As if this was not enough, Das developed a few more complications in his technique in the West Indies. He started to regularly get out by way of being bowled or trapped leg before wicket leading West Indian captain Carl Hooper to remark that the little opener seemed intimidated by the towering height of pacemen Mervyn Dillon and Cameron Cuffy. “He obviously is not prepared to come in front. And then he also doesn’t have a long stride,” Hooper had remarked. The West Indians capitalised on it and regularly pitched the ball up, moving it into him, to find him either in front of the stumps or it going past his defence. Captain Saurav Ganguly too was a bit irritated to find Das consulting everyone about his technique and methods. “As a Test cricketer you need to back yourself most of the time rather than run to anyone and everyone,” Ganguly had remarked. Das’ failure in the Caribbean saw India off to a poor start in most of the innings and was seen as a main reason India squandered the advantage of a Test win to go down 1-2 in the five-Test series. Das’ omission in the lead-up game to the first Test is an indication that the Indians are beginning to make accountability a byword of their policy. Captain Ganguly and Wright are impatient to secure the first Test series win outside the subcontinent in 16 years and see this series as the best chance to achieve it. “I have no doubt the Test series against England will be a very, very tough one. The one-day series is behind us but the Test series would not be easy,” Wright said. The Indians are not prepared to let things drift indefinitely and then find it is too late to make any profitable change in the side. Das, in all probability, will be asked to recover his poise and confidence during the tour as the Indians look set to go into the first Test with Wasim Jaffer, Sanjay Bangar or Virender Sehwag as openers. Jaffer and Bangar have only 10 Tests between them and not all as openers but the Indians are risking an almost new opening pair against the pace-based England attack in familiar conditions. Sehwag has never opened a Test innings. Bangar wasn’t very impressive at Arundel but he bowled his swinging medium-pacers beautifully and is seen as a stock third paceman if India were to field both the spinners, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, in the playing eleven at the Lord’s. That accountability will finally have a place in the Indian set-up was apparent with the way Anil Kumble and Laxman were dealt with in recent months. Kumble was dropped in two of the Tests in the Caribbean as Indians finally found it hard to ignore his poor record on away pitches and Laxman, despite topping the Test series with 474 runs at an average of 79.00 per innings, was not considered for the ensuing one-day series. Indians are bringing accountability to play only because the side is brimming with talent as Dinesh Mongia, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif are all seen to possess technique to play the longer format of the game. Such a competition for places could only augur well for Indian cricket.
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Els, Harrington joint leaders
Gullane (Scotland), July 20 Els carded a five-under-par 66 and Japan’s Maruyama a second successive 68, with the pair ending a damp day at Muirfield on six-under totals of 136. They were later joined by Ireland’s Padraig Harrington, who picked up his sixth shot of the day at the par-five 17th to get to six under before parring the last for a round of 67. South African Els, who had moved two strokes ahead after completing his front nine in just 29 shots, bogeyed two of the last eight holes to surrender his advantage. But he saved his par at the last, despite finding a fairway bunker off the tee, to stay one ahead of Sweden’s Carl Pettersson (70), and Denmark’s Soren Hansen and Ireland’s Des Smyth, who both produced rounds of 69. Also at four under was 1986 US PGA champion Bob Tway, after 13 holes. Woods, bidding for his third major title of the year, fired a bogey-free round, although he struggled with his putter for the second day in a row, again taking more than 30 putts in all. “I didn’t make many putts but I felt comfortable about my lines and comfortable about my speed,” the world No 1 said. “I hit the putts well, they just didn’t go in — those were tough pins to get.” The US Masters and US Open champion birdied the 378-yard third after hitting a wedge approach to within four feet of the flag and picked up another shot at the par-five fifth, despite missing the fairway off the tee. Although occasionally errant off the tee, he then produced nine successive pars before narrowly missing out on birdies at the 15th and 16th holes to stay three under for the tournament. The 26-year-old American then birdied the par-five 17th, after holing an 11 ft putt from a hollow just off the green, and parred the last. Els, the world No 3, had begun the day three shots off the pace but charged to six under when he rolled in a 30 ft putt to birdie the par-four sixth. The twice US Open champion also secured birdies on the eighth and ninth greens to match eight other players with the second-best nine-hole score in Open history. Only Englishman Denis Durnian, who took 28 shots to complete his front nine at Royal Birkdale in 1983, has done better. Earlier, Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie fired a seven-under-par 64 to vault up the leaderboard into a tie for eighth at four-under 138. The Scot was level with eight other players, including Zimbabwe’s Nick Price and Trinidadian Stephen Ames, who carded matching rounds of 70, 1998 winner Mark O’Meara (69), Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn (70) and co-overnight leader Duffy Waldorf, after 14 holes. Price, who had birdied three of the first five holes to move two clear of the field, lost momentum around the turn and collected a birdie and two bogeys on the second nine. Montgomerie, who struck five birdies and an eagle, celebrated his lowest round at a British Open. Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke also produced some superb attacking golf on a course softened by steady
drizzle. Reuters |
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IA lift Murugappa Gold Cup Chennai, July 20 Airlines went into the lead through Dhanraj Pillay (7th minute). Lazarus Barla (14th) found the equaliser for Karnataka. Virender Singh (23rd) and Ravinder Singh (46th) were the other scorers for Airlines. Airlines became richer by Rs 60,000 and Karnataka received Rs 40,000. Airlines played to their billing against a team with more of youth than experience. IA would have won by a bigger margin had it not been for the excellent performance of Karnataka goalkeeper Bharath Chetri, who made three fine saves. Karnataka were up to the task and were not overawed by the prospect of playing against one of the best teams in the country, boasting of many Olympians and internationals. After initial probings by Dhanraj Pillay and Mukesh Kumar, IA got their first penalty corner in the fifth minute, which came to nought. IA shot into the lead in the seventh minute. Bimal Lakra made his way inside the circle and despite being challenged by Ronald Kiran and K.P. Roy, shot goalward from almost top of the circle. The ball went in, off a deflection by Pillay. Karnataka counter-attacked well, but the IA defence, led by Dilip Tirkey and Ashish Ballal at the goal, held firm. IA almost scored in the 11th minute. Chetri made two good saves from successive penalty corners by Mohammad Riaz and Dilip Tirkey. Karnataka scored in the 14th minute. Sandeep Michael sped down the right and passed to Arjun Hallappa, whose cross was well taken by Lazrus Barla, before he slammed it home. IA now showed their experience, with Mukesh Kumar and Pillay working in tandem. Mukesh Kumar flicked to Y.S. Yawat on the right. The latter dodged defenders, went to the edge of the back line and passed to Virender Singh, whose feeble shot went through the legs of Chetri. Crossing over, Karnataka changed tactics, with better passes. But they wasted two penalty corners. In between, Mukesh Kumar was shown yellow card for hitting Arun Rawat in the groin after a hard tackle. Playing with 10 men, IA increased the lead. Pillay wove into the circle and shot goalward for Ravinder Singh to complete the job.
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Harmeet Kahlon emerges sole leader Srinagar, July 20 Thus so far the three rounds have seen as many leaders, with Digvijay Singh leading the opening round, Shamim Khan led the second and today Harmeet Kahlon led the pack of 52 golfers. Kahlon, tallied 12-under 204 in three rounds. His nearest rival Uttam Mundy scored a second successive four under 68 to be eight-under 208 and was in the second place. Chandigarh’s Ranjit
Singh matched Kahlon’s best effort of the day, a 67 to jump up to the tied third place at seven under 209 along with first round leader Digvijay Singh. Overnight leader Shamim Khan had a terrible day with his putters as he shot a two-over 74 to drop down to tied fifth place at six-under 210 along with Gaurav Ghei (67), Jaiveer Virk (71) and Feroz Ali (72). Jyoti Randhawa shot a level-par 72, while Mukesh Kumar added a one-under 71 to be way back on the leaderboard. Kahlon began the day one stroke behind Shamim, but caught up with the leader with a birdie on the second hole from eight feet. After that Kahlon played consistant golf and pulled ahead with a confident 20-feet eagle putt on the seventh and eight-footer downhill putt on the eighth. Ten-under at the turn, Kahlon added birdies on the 14th,15th and 18th holes and his second bogey of the day on the par-3 12th. Shamim and Feroz failed to put any pressure on Kahlon as they struggled with their putters. Both made successive bogeys on the fourth and fifth holes and virtually went out of reckoning when Kahlon made the eagle on the seventh. However, tomorrow, Kahlon will have to be wary of big-match player Mundy, who benefited immensely by going back to his old putter. Mundy, who started with a bogey before making six birdies and another bogey in a round of 68.
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Arjuna Awards to be announced in August Bangalore, July 20 The former badminton ace who won the All-England Championship in 1980 said the 13-member committee, comprising former Olympians and Arjuna awardees, would meet by the end of this month with the government announcing the names later next month. “We hope to recommend the names by the middle of next month,” he told PTI. The government had issued guidelines to the committee under which one award each was to be given under 15 sport disciplines and only international performance of a candidate in the last four years to be taken into consideration, he said. “Our endeavour is to stick to the guidelines”, he said.
PTI |
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Punjab cagers for NZ camp Ludhiana, July 20 These cagers are part of the 24-member contingent selected from each zone. They have been spotted by the federation under its scheme to hone the skill of promising players. According to a communique received by Mr Teja Singh Dhaliwal, general secretary, Punjab Basketball Association, the selected cagers are: Girls: Sakshi Sharma of Muktsar, Rajpal Kaur of Jalandhar, Karanbeer Kaur of Gurdaspur, Jagroop Kaur of Amritsar, Ankita Sharma of Kapurthala and Arti Sharma of Gurdaspur. Boys: Jagnadan Singh of Bathinda, Gurjinder Singh of Mansa and Sukhmander Singh of Bathinda. The coaching camps for north zone and west zone will be held at Mumbai while Guwahati and Pondicherry are the venues for east zone and south zone camps. |
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Swimming meet Ropar, July 20 The results: Senior group: 100 m freestyle (boys): Devinder Pal Singh (Ropar) 1, Harpreet Singh (Rpr) 2, Anupreet Singh (SAS Nagar) 3; 100 m freestyle (girls): Prabhdeep Kaur (Rpr) 1, Gurveen Kaur (Rpr) 2, Jaspreet Kaur (SAS Nagar) 3. Junior group: 100 m freestyle (boys): Sanjit Singh (Rpr) 1, Gaganpreet Singh (Rpr) 2; 100 m freestyle (girls): Samita Virdi (Rpr) 1, Gurveen Kaur (Rpr) 2, Manpreet Kaur (SAS Nagar) 3. |
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