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Sunday,
August 11, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Vaughan hammers Indian bowlers Ganguly
‘a victim of umpiring error’ Chetan Sharma writes ICC
intervenes to prevent boycott |
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Tour
cancellation: Imran blames USA Jeev
slumps to tied 17th place India win LG Cup Ramesh
wins British Open Susanthika
earns 100m gold Cash
awards for C’wealth medallists Scolari
quits as Brazil coach Serena,
Capriati eliminated Irina
maintains lead
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Vaughan hammers Indian bowlers
Trent Bridge, August 10 The England opener
capitalised on a highly wayward bowling by the Indians to crack a
career-best 197 as the hosts reached within 16 runs of the Indian
first innings score of 357. However, Vaughan’s superlative effort ended in disappointment when he was caught by wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel off Ajit Agarkar just three runs short of a well-deserved double century. He fell in the penultimate over of the day after batting for over four and a quarter hours during which he faced 258 balls and hit 23 boundaries. It was a flawless knock from Vaughan, who hit his second successive Test hundred. He had scored 100 in the second innings of the first match of the series at the Lord’s which England won by 170-run. Vaughan got full support from the Indian bowlers who put up a dismal show today. The three fast bowlers, particularly Agarkar and Ashish Nehra, were extremely wayward and offered the batsmen a lot of width to play their shots. Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who earlier in the day had hit a fiery 54 off just 37 balls with 10 fours, was the only Indian bowler who posed some problems to the Englishmen. But even he erred in line sometimes and was suitably punished. Throughout the day, England scored at a very brisk pace, their 341 coming from only 83 overs. But it was particularly aggressive when Vaughan and Mark Butcher, who compiled a neat 53, were batting. The duo added 165 runs for the second wicket in less than 40 overs to lay a solid foundation for England after the Indian first innings had come to an end one hour into the morning session. England had lost the debutant Robert Key for 17 when the opener tried to hook Ashish Nehra but the ball took an inside edge and crashed into the stumps. It was hard toil for the Indian bowlers after that and they had to struggle for close to three hours for their next wicket. Butcher was slightly circumspect against Harbhajan Singh but Vaughan played a superb knock and looked in complete command throughout. The only faint chance the Indians had of removing Vaughan was when he edged Harbhajan Singh on the leg-side and Patel got a hand to the ball but couldn’t hold on. SCOREBOARD India (1st innings): Jaffer b Hoggard 0 Sehwag b White 106 Dravid c Key b Hoggard 13 Tendulkar b Cork 34 Ganguly c Stewart b Hoggard 68 Laxman c Key b Flintoff 22 Agarkar c Butcher b Harmison 34 Patel c Flintoff b Harmison 0 Harbhajan c Hussain
b Harmison 54 Zaheer not out 14 Nehra c Stewart b Hoggard 0 Extras: (b-1, lb-8, w-2, nb-1) 12 Total: (all out, 101.1 overs) 357 FoW: 1-6, 2-34, 3-108, 4-179, 5-218, 6-285, 7-287, 8-295, 9-356. Bowling: Hoggard 35.1-10-105-4, Cork 11-3-45-1, Harmison 20-7-57-3, Flintoff 27-6-85-1, White 8-0-56-1. England (Ist innings): Key b Nehra 17 Vaughan c Patel b Agarkar 197 Butcher c Dravid b Harbhajan 53 Hussain c Patel b Harbhajan 3 Crawley c Jaffer b Zaheer 22 Stewart batting 30 Flintoff batting 2 Extras (b-1, lb-1, w-3, nb-12) 17 Total (for 5 wkts, 83 overs) 341 FoW: 1-56, 2-221, 3-228, 4-272, 5-335. Bowling: Nehra 20-0-97-1, Zaheer Khan 13-3-46-1, Agarkar 10-0-42-1, Harbhajan Singh 31-3-115-2, Ganguly 2-0-23-0, Tendulkar 4-0-8-0, Sehwag 3-0-8-0.
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Ganguly
‘a victim of umpiring error’
London, August 10 A leading daily ‘The Guardian’ said: “The Indian captain — Lord Snooty himself — bristled and played with great style for his 68, from 149 balls with 11 fours, before an attempted hook at Matthew Hoggard was helped round the corner to Alec Stewart, who threw the ball high.” “In his previous innings the same bowler had claimed his wicket first ball at Lord’s with a duff lbw decision, and replays here (Trent Bridge) suggested he had again been victim of an umpiring error, the ball appearing to miss bat and glove and striking him instead on his upper arm.” Ganguly’s obvious distaste for Russell Tiffin’s decision caught the attention of the match referee Clive Lloyd, who had a word with him but took no further action. The umpire had earlier claimed the ball had first brushed the batsman’s glove, although it is hard to see how he could make such a judgement in the flurry of bat, hands and arms at the other end, the daily said. Another daily, The Times stated that Ganguly’s dismissal after tea owed more to luck. “A lifting ball under his ribs glanced his arm-guard rather than his gloves or bat as Tiffin thought it had”. “It was a desperately difficult decision that would have been corrected if replays had been taken into consideration. Ganguly’s brief expression of dissidence was pardoned by Clive Lloyd, the referee,” it said.
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Chetan Sharma writes Michael Vaughan stood between England and Indian bowlers today. He not only played a big knock for himself, he batted fluently and at a good rate, leaving England with little worries. As it looks this Test is heading towards a draw but I am not going to commit myself today. In fact, India are under more pressure than England because they want a win here so that they can level the series. I hope they don’t do anything silly now. The wicket wasn’t as easy to bat on as Vaughan made it look. Harbhajan Singh came back strongly after tea and the kind of turn he was getting could have got India more wickets but as I said earlier he was kept at bay by Vaughan. Vaughan knew the best policy is to attack Harbhajan as playing him defensively from the crease would have allowed the off-spinner to get the better of him. That’s why Vaughan played an innings of maturity and great skill. Vaughan is a very good driver of the ball. He is a front-foot player and likes to play forward all the time. He may get in trouble on wickets in Australia where the ball bounces more than usual but in English conditions, Vaughan had the best style to counter the bowling. I can see a good career ahead of him. India’s bowling was not upto the mark, except for Harbhajan. The fast bowlers were being driven or cut through the gaps with the result that runs came at a quick rate. They would have been better off by not giving loose deliveries to the batsmen but they showed no control. Maybe they were trying too hard, seeing the helpful conditions but in cricket you are no good if you have not finished your job. This was the same wicket where Matthew Hoggard had been swinging the ball so much while the Indians hardly got any swing at all. I also feel that Ajit Agarkar was underbowled earlier in the day. In the morning I was pleasantly surprised to see Harbhajan’s batting. It looked as if he had decided to chip in with the bat and though he played attacking strokes, not a single stroke was pre-determined. He only attacked when it was there to be hit. Players like Harbhajan should realise their potential and since they are young, they are the ones who have to serve Indian cricket for a long time. How good it would have been had India picked up early wickets and got in a winning position. But it was not to be. |
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ICC intervenes to prevent boycott
London, August 10 This is a sequel to Australia’s decision not to travel to Pakistan for the three-match Test series scheduled in October owing to security concerns. “The ICC will work alongside the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) to find an alternative venue,” its President Malcolm Gray said. Pakistan have already played a “home” series against West Indies in Sharjah this year and have switched a forthcoming one-day series to Kenya. India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan signed an agreement four months ago vowing to boycott any country refusing to tour any one of them and Tauqir Zia, PCB chairman is now considering whether to activate his allies. Mohammad Ali Asgher, President of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, said: “We may act according to the resolution signed at the Asian level, but I hope such a situation does not arise,” media reported here today. Australia’s decision was conveyed by its Prime Minister John Howard in a phone call to Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf, and it soon drew criticism from Zia. “Nobody in Pakistan would have hit the Australians. We are ready to take the risk — if any there is — by providing security. Now we will consider all our options, including a boycott,” Zia had reacted angrily. The ACB has emphasised that it is prepared to play elsewhere and Adam Gilchrist, the vice-captain, has identified Bangladesh as a possible alternative. The ACB had been told by the Australian Foreign Office as well as the country’s High Commissioner in Pakistan that the trip would be too dangerous to undertake while tension over Kashmir remains high. Gray and Ehsan Mani, his successor elect from Pakistan, agreed that Australia had no option but to follow that advice. The ICC is in the process of finalising a policy to allow countries affected by tour cancellations to draw against future revenue entitlements. Gray said he expected PCB to be the first board to take advantage. However, a proposal from Pakistan for an out-and-out system of compensation was rejected in June. Having agreed in principle last year that any country pulling out of a tour in certain circumstances will be liable to fines upto $ 2 million, ICC is still wording a legal document to appeal to all ten Test-playing countries.
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Tour cancellation: Imran blames USA
Islamabad, August 10 “Since joining the coalition, Pakistan’s suffering has increased... America’s ill-conceived campaign in Afghanistan has cost us dearly and cricket is the worst-hit,” The News today quoted Khan as saying. Reacting to the Australian Cricket Board’s (ACB) decision to pull out of October’s Test tour to Pakistan, the former all-rounder said, “Foreign exports and investments stopped last year and now no foreign team is prepared to tour Pakistan, which could mean bankruptcy for Pakistan’s cricket. “A country earns through a home series from TV rights, and if series after series are shifted, Pakistan cricket will be financially devastated,” he added. Imran pointed out: “Australia’s concerns are genuine and we should understand them and choose a neutral venue where proper funds could be generated.” He urged the world cricket governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), to help Pakistan through the current crisis. “It is in the interest of cricket for the ICC and other countries to help Pakistan, because it is not a good omen if Pakistan cricket suffers due to declining finances,” he added.
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Jeev slumps
to tied
17th place New Delhi, August 10 According to information received here, Jeev aggregated nine-under 207 after 54 holes and was tied for the 17th place. American Christian Pena shot his third successive round in the 60s, a six-under 66, to lead the field on the Japanese PGA Tour. Pena had rounds of 67 each on the opening two days and was 16-under 200 for the tournament. Overnight leader Hideki Kase and Naomichi Ozaki (both Japan) were two strokes behind the leader at 14-under 202. Kase shot a three-under 69, while Ozaki finished the day at four-under 68. Chandigarh-based Jeev started in solid fashion and made birdies on the par-5 first, par-4 second and the fourth hole to go three-under at that stage. A bogey on the ninth saw him make the turn at two-under. On the back nine, Jeev made bogeys on the 13th and 16th holes and birdies on the 14th and 18th.
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India win LG Cup
Ho Chi Minh City, August 10 The victory in the six-nation tournament earned the team $16,000 (about Rs 7.5 lakh). Trailing by two goals till a few minutes before half-time, India staged a superb rally through captain and star striker Baichung Bhutia, who scored on either side of the break, to level it at 2-2. With the match heading into extra time, Abhishek scored to give India their first major win in football in 28 years after the bronze medal win in the 1972 Asian Football Championship. Bhutia won the man-of-the-match award and Rajat Ghosh Dastidar was declared the most valuable goalkeeper of the tournament. Egged on by a packed crowd, Vietnam began in whirlwind fashion and their speedy forwards were soon all over the Indian defence. Le Hyunch Duc put the home team ahead and soon India were looking down the barrel conceding the second goal. Vietnam’s most promising player Phung Thanh made it 2-0 as nothing went right for the Indians. India’s newly appointed coach Stephen Constantine was a proud man after he got off to a jumpstart just three weeks into the job preparing for the Busan Asian Games next month. “The most pleasing aspect about the Indian team’s play was the fact that they could play attacking football for 90 minutes,” the Englishman said. “The team has definitely come a long way in this competition but we still have a long way to go,” he said looking back at victories over better ranked opponents. India beat defending champions Indonesia, ranked 13th in Asia, in the semifinals before today’s win over a team ranked 19th in the continent. “I hope this victory shows everybody in India that we have the potential to be amongst the best in Asia. Given the boys worked very hard this was a fantastic victory and I am confident India with its quality players and a quality coach could go a long way in Asian and world football,” said Constantine as the Indians walked up to collect the medals and the glittering trophy.
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Ramesh wins British Open
Torquay (England), August 10 In the 11th and final round late last night, Ramesh, who achieved his second GM norm here, beat GM Luke Mcshane of England to win the title accumulating 8.5 points. Ramesh who emerged as the dark horse in the final stretch finished in style beating four Grandmasters in the last four rounds to take home £ 10,000 (Appx Rs 740,000). Top seed GM K Sasikiran also finished the tournament on a high beating GM Peter Wells of England to tie for second place along with last year’s champion GM Joseph Gallagher of Switzerland on 8 points. Gallagher beat Stewart Haslinger of England in the final round. Other Indian GMs in the fray Abhijit Kunte and Dibyendu Barua found themselves in a five-way tie for the fourth place with 7.5 points apiece scoring resounding victories over GM Jonathan Rowson of Scotland and IM Aleksander Wohl of Australia, respectively. They shared the fourth place with Mcshane, Haslinger and GM Flenn Flear of France. Flear beat GM Jonathan Speelman of England in the last round. Playing with the black pieces Ramesh faced the Rossolimo attack against his Sicilian. The game was out of the existing opening theory very early and Ramesh capitalised on some reckless play by Mcshane to net a pawn. However, in a complex middlegame Mcshane found a brilliant attacking resource and caught Ramesh off guard. The Indian wriggled out of his problems with an exchange sacrifice and garnered two pawns in return. Soon the Englishman went awry with his plans and returned the extra material to find himself defending a clearly inferior heavy pieces endgame. Ramesh first exchanged the rooks and then calculated precisely to romp home after 59 moves.
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Susanthika
earns 100m gold Colombo, August 10 Her timing of 11.29 seconds was short of her personal best of 11.08, recorded at the recent Commonwealth Games in Manchester, but blamed shoddy organising for giving her barely 40 minutes to prepare for the final. “I didn’t know about the event till 4.00 pm,’ she said , after she gladdened the capacity crowd by pushing ahead of Qin Wangping of China and Lyubov Perepelove of Uzbekistan, who went back with the silver and bronze, respectively. The late announcement of the event gave her only 15 minutes of training, the 21-year-old Jayasinghe said, but was happy that she could win the gold medal. The Olympic bronze medallist promised to bag the gold again in tomorrow’s 200 metre final. Though thrilled at winning the 100 m in front of her home crowd, Jayasinghe was concerned that she could not erase the championship record of 11.26 sec.
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Cash awards for C’wealth medallists Chandigarh, August 10 “Ten sportspersons from Haryana participated in the Commonwealth Games and they returned with 12 medals,” Mr Chautala disclosed. These included eight gold, three silver and one bronze. He attributing the success to the new sports policy framed by the state government two years ago. The players would be honoured at a state-level function at a venue which would be finalised soon. Mr Chautala said four hockey players in the historic gold medal-winning women’s team were from Haryana and mentioned that Mamta Kharab who scripted a brilliant golden goal victory for the country in the final belonged to Rohtak. Pritam Siwach, Suman Bala and Sita Gossain were the other players from the state to figure in the team. Gossain, he clarified, though belonged to Himachal Pradesh had been playing for the state regularly. Two of the three wrestlers who won gold were from Haryana. They were Krishan Kumar (50 kg) and Ramesh Kumar( 66 kg). Mr Chautala disclosed that to give a boost to hockey players negotiations were going on with Punjab National Bank for setting up a hockey
academy. The PNB has agreed to spend a sum of Rs 5 crore on the project. An Astro-turf track would be laid out while all other facilities would be provided to players to hone their skills. There was also a proposal to set up similar academies in boxing, wrestling and athletics. He said that Seema Antil, who won a bronze medal in the World Junior Athletic Championship at Kingston, Jamaica, last month would be honoured with a cash award of Rs 1 lakh. Seema hails from Sonepat district. In an effort to check the outflow of talented sportspersons from the state, he said, the Haryana Government had decided to recruit 400 outstanding players in Haryana police. The players would be given jobs in keeping with their achievements in the field of sports, he said. The HOA, he said, had made a bid for holding National Games 2005 in Haryana. If the games were allotted to the state it would give further fillip to sports in Haryana as additional infrastructure would be created besides upgradation of the existing one. He was confident that during the National Games this year the state players would do better than the last year when they finished sixth. Preparation for the games were in full swing. The 18th Haryana sports Festival would be organised at Hissar from October 20 to 23 where competitions in 23 disciplines would be conducted. A rural sports policy had also been formulated for the development of sports. Mr M S Malik, secretary-general, HOA, said after the efforts made by the association a number of boards and corporations had decided to raise teams in various disciplines. The HSIDC, which had raised a volleyball team, had shown impressive results at the national level and qualified to play in the National Games at Hyderabad. He said Haryana had decided to focus its resources on the games for which rich potential existed in the state. Such games were wrestling, judo, weightlifting, athletics, boxing, hockey (women), volleyball and kabaddi. |
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Scolari quits as Brazil coach
Rio De Janeiro, August 10 “I want to tell you that I am no longer the coach of the Brazilian national team,” Scolari told a press conference citing family reasons for his decision to leave just five weeks after leading Brazil to a 2-0 win over Germany in the World Cup final in Yokohama. Scolari said that he was happy that the country’s top soccer bosses had wanted him to stay. “But I have done my work here and I have informed the president of my family reasons and it is to them that I want to devote more time.” Scolari added that, eventually, he would try and work as a coach in Europe but that he had no intention of seeking out a new club job before the end of the year and that he will see out his contract with Brazil which officially comes to an end on August 21 when the team faces Paraguay in Fortaleza. Scolari had told reporters two weeks ago that he wasn’t sure whether or not he wanted to stay on as coach and was scheduled to meet with Brazilian soccer bosses to decide his future. Despite the win over Germany, Scolari had endured periods of stiff criticism aimed at his coaching methods. Most of the flak came during the team’s tortuous South American qualifying campaign where they finished behind Argentina and Ecuador. On the eve of the final, Scolari had further added to the confusion over his intentions by saying that he wanted to step down regardless of the outcome of the match against Germany which was won by two Ronaldo goals. The 53-year-old, known as ‘Big Phil’ and who took over Brazil’s ailing qualifying campaign from Wanderley Luxemburgo in June 2001, said then that he would like to coach another national team at a World Cup finals in the future. “When the tournament finishes the squad will split up and my contribution will be over like my contract,” he said in June. “It is something I had already agreed with the federation president Ricardo Teixeira,” he added. Scolari was criticised for the ugly style of play during the qualifiers but turned them into the most exciting side at the World Cup finals. “I would like to go to another World Cup as a coach,” he said. “It’s a great stage which gives you the opportunity to analyse the styles of other teams. I don’t know if I would get the call but sometimes I think of coaching another national side,” he said.
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Serena, Capriati eliminated
Los Angeles, August 10 Williams was eliminated in her first tournament as the world’s top ranked women’s player, losing to fellow American Chanda Rubin 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 at the $ 585,000 hard-court event at the Manhattan Beach Country Club. Japan’s Ai Sugiyama cruised past No. 2 seed Capriati 6-3, 6-3, advancing to her second singles semi-final of the year. The loss ended Williams’ 21-match winning streak and marked the second straight year she has failed to advance past the quarter-final of the Los Angeles event. “I was frustrated,” said Williams, 20. “I didn’t play very well. “The whole match I couldn’t get my rhythm and technique. Maybe I was rusty or I didn’t practise hard enough.” This is just the fourth time since seeds were introduced in 1981 that the top two seeds will not play in the final. Rubin advances to play Jelena Dokic in today’s semifinals. The other semi-final will feature Sugiyama against American Lindsay Davenport who beat Greece’s Eleni Daniilidou 7-6, (7/2), 6-2. Williams, who won this event in 1999 and 2000, beat Rubin in their only other meeting in the fourth round at this year’s Wimbledon. “She had to play great tennis to beat me,” said Williams. “Anyone who beats me has to play great.” Williams lost last year to Monica Seles, falling 7-6 in the final set after holding six match points. Yesterday, Rubin used steady ground strokes to win the first set in just 23 minutes. “It is tough to beat the Williams sisters. This is a great step for me today,” said Rubin. “There was a lot of pressure. I still had to be on my horse and my toes.” Last month, Serena supplanted older sister Venus atop the women’s tennis rankings. Serena beat Venus in the finals of the French Open and Wimbledon. Serena has won five of nine tournaments she has played this year. Williams said she wasn’t surprised to hear the crowd cheering Rubin on. “People are tired of us winning,” she said. “I actually feel weird when people cheer for me. “People like to cheer for the underdog.” Rubin said this was the biggest win of her career.
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Irina maintains lead New Delhi, August 10 It was solid consistent golf from Irina two birdies going out for her one under par 35 and finishing off with her third birdie at the 18th to come home in par. She is now 9 over par for the four rounds. But although the rest of the top women players are well behind her, they are producing some of the best golf seen recently in the women’s game. Eight strokes behind Irina, at 17 over par, are Junior Mayali Talwar, putting up an impressively consistent performance, and Anjali Chopra. Anjali to-day shot her second consecutive one over par round of 73 while Mayali had a card of three over par. Just one stroke behind them is Parnita Garewal at 18 over par, with a card of 75 to-day. The “benchmark” expected of the golfers is a tough 18 over par for 6 rounds, an average of 3 over for each round. With two more days to go, over the weekend at the tough and demanding Golden Greens golf course, the benchmark is within reach of some.
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London, August 10
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