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Friday,
August 23, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Unbeaten ton by Dravid
Chetan Sharma writes |
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Robin Singh likely to lead
second-string squad New structure for domestic cricket
Australia to send full-strength team English players ‘close to agreement’ Scolari bids farewell with poetic flourish
B’ball star Parminder (Sr) among Arjuna awardees India 4th as Rai stripped of medals
Gossain, Jung do HP proud Bopanna, Sunil enter semifinals India Seniors lift
Sivanthi Gold Cup Top players for
Haryana b’minton Atwal stars in BSF win Gopi crashes out
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Unbeaten ton by Dravid Leeds (England), August 22 Rahul Dravid led the sterling batting performance with a gritty unbeaten 110, his second successive hundred in this series following the 115 in the second innings of the second Test at Trent Bridge. India’s performance was admirable coming as it did in hostile conditions on a pitch tailor-made for fast bowlers and under the shadow of the raging controversy over International Cricket Council’s sponsorship policy which has seen the players engaged in bitter row with the cricket board.
Indian captain Sourav Ganguly made two crucial decisions - selecting Sanjay Bangar ahead of Shiv Sunder Das to replace an out-of-form Wasim Jaffer and electing to bat first on a pitch considered to be a seamer’s paradise. Both his decisions were justified by Bangar who hung in for five hours to carve out a fine 68-run knock and provide a sound platform for the team. Bangar was associated in a 170-run partnership for the second wicket with Dravid after opener Virender Sehwag’s early dismissal, that put India in total command on the first day. When stumps were drawn, Sachin Tendulkar was giving Dravid company on 18. Bangar was out midway through the final session when he gave a catch to wicketkeeper Alec Stewart while trying to run down Andrew Flintoff to fine-leg. But Bangar, who struck 10 boundaries in his innings, had done his job. He did exceptionally well in the morning session, guarding his wicket stubbornly when the ball was moving around considerably.
With the more celebrated Sehwag back in pavilion for just eight runs, the team required Bangar to play a long innings. And he did just that, trying to tire down the English bowlers with his knock. Bangar had an ideal partner at the other end where Dravid was enacting another of his rescue knocks. The two batted sensibly and defensively, never trying to attempt anything ambitious.
Scoring was slow in the morning session with just 58 runs being scored in the 28 overs bowled till lunch. It was a similar tale in the first half of the second session as well though the batsmen looked far more comfortable than they were earlier. The English bowlers, Matthew Hoggard and Andrew Caddick who is making a comeback after an injury lay-off, did their bit to help the Indians by bowling way outside the off-stump. But Alex Tudor did trouble the batsmen with his sharply rising deliveries, many of which Dravid took on his body. When he scored his 30th run, Dravid reached a personal milestone by completing 5,000 runs in Test cricket. India (1st innings) Bangar c Stewart b Flintoff 68 Sehwag c Flintoff b Hoggard 8 Dravid batting 110 Tendulkar batting 18 Extras: (b-13, lb-7, nb-12) 32 Total: (2 wkts, 90 overs) 236 Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-185. Bowling: Hoggard 22-8-48-1, Caddick 21-5-51-0, Tudor 21-10-49-0, Flintoff 14-3-34-1, Giles 12-2-34-0.
PTI |
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Chetan Sharma writes When I heard of Sanjay Bangar’s selection first, I thought the Indians had made a mistake by sacrificing a specialist opener’s place in the Test. Going by the overcast conditions and the fact that Leeds normally is a seamer’s paradise, I wished for Shiv Sundar Das to walk out to open with Virender Sehwag. However, as it transpired, Bangar showed remarkable guts and determination to fight it out and he would have to be my hero of the first day’s play, even if it was Rahul Dravid who scored a century. But for Bangar’s steady approach and his willingness to adapt to the situation, India could have been under problem, especially after Sehwag’s early dismissal of a rash stroke once again. Bangar’s partnership with Dravid was an example of how batsmen should approach Test cricket. The first hour or so was spent mostly leaving balls outside the off-stump and even though the runs didn’t come at a fast rate, India consolidated by not losing any more wickets. Both the batsmen were cautious and by cutting down on extravagant strokes, they minimised the risks in their batting today. When the opportunity came to score runs in the afternoon session, Bangar and Dravid flourished. Bangar was ultimately dismissed when a century seemed in sight but Dravid’s hunger for runs got him to the magic figure. I have little doubt in my mind that this must be Dravid’s best century, going by the conditions in which he got the runs. What a batsman he is, that’s why people call him Mr Reliable. Of the England bowlers I was very impressed with the movement Alex Tudor had been getting but today was just not their day. Sachin Tendulkar also looked solid in his stay at the wicket and a score of 236 for two on the first day, is very good by any standards. From here, India can actually hope to dictate terms to the English side. It must be surprising for the critics but this is the reward for the manner in which Dravid and Bangar battled it out. I must say I was shocked to learn that India went into the Test match with just two seamers, though playing Bangar allowed them to use his gentle medium-pace bowling too. But two spinners on this wicket would remain a luxury unless both Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh show glimpses of their real form. What they must try is to bowl tight and not give away runs. They need to apply pressure on England’s batsmen by being consistent.
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Robin Singh likely to lead
second-string squad New Delhi, August 22 According to the grapevine in Delhi, veteran all-rounder Robin Singh of Tamil Nadu, for whom it seemed all over bar shouting for staging a comeback into the national team, may find himself leading the Indian team, if the senior players continue to resist the fiat of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to make themselves available for the ICC Champions Trophy to be held in Sri Lanka next month. It is learnt that Robin Singh, and half a dozen other players from the 25 shortlisted by the senior national selectors, have agreed to sign on the dotted line of the BCCI. Robin Singh and his Tamil Nadu team-mates Sadagopan Ramesh, Hemang Badani and L. Balaji are learnt to have confirmed their participation and 10 others have given their “verbal consent”. They include Srinath, Venaktesh Prasad, Gautam Gambhir, Sharandeep Singh (both Delhi), Deep Dasgupta, Rohan Gavaskar (Bengal), MSK Prasad (Andhra), Daniel Manohar (Hyderabad) and Debashish Mohanty (Orissa). The working committee meeting of the BCCI held in Bangalore recently, had decided to obtain the oral confirmation of the 25 shortlisted players, before making the final selection. The BCCI has asked the state associations to get the consent of the players before making public the final composition of the team. The list of the probables: Sadagopan Ramesh, Gautam Gambhir, Gagan Khoda, Daniel Manohar, Connor Williams, Hemang Badani, Rohan Gavaskar, Jacob Martin, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, JP Yadav, Vijay Bharadwaj, Rakesh Patel, Sharandeep Singh, Murali Karthik, Ramesh Power, Sairaj Bahutule, Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad, Robin Singh, Irfan Pathan, L Balaji, Debashish Mohanti, Deep Dasgupta and MSK Prasad. |
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New structure for domestic cricket
Bangalore, August 22 The 27 teams featuring in the senior national tournament will now be divided into two divisions — Elite Division and Plate Division, BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya told reporters after the board’s working committee meeting here. The Elite Division will consist of 15 teams (the first three teams in the Ranji Trophy League of 2001-02), while the Plate Division will consist of the remaining 12. The Elite Division will be further divided into two sub-groups ‘A’ and ‘B’, consisting of eight and seven teams, respectively. As per the draw of lots, sub-group ‘A’ comprises Railways, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Andhra, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bengal. The sub-group ‘B’ has Baroda, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Assam, Orissa and Tamil Nadu. The teams in the sub-groups will play each other on league basis with the top two in each of them qualifying for semifinals. The winner of the final will be the Ranji Trophy champion. Similarly, the Plate Division will be further divided into sub-group ‘A’ — Goa, Saurashtra, Kerala, Services, Vidarbha and Tripura — and sub-group ‘B’ — Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Bihar. The winner will be declared Ranji plate champion. The team featuring last in the elite group ‘A’ and elite group ‘B’ will feature in the plate group in the next season, while the winner and the runner-up of Ranji plate will feature in the elite group in the next season. Mr Dalmiya said the senior one-day tournament would now be on national basis. After zonal league, the top five teams in each zone would qualify for a super league. The champion and the runner-up would be determined on the basis of the points earned in the super league. The winner would take part in the club championship proposed to be conducted by the ICC, he said. From this year, he said, the Duleep Trophy would not feature zonal teams. Instead, the five teams would have mixed combinations — three teams would be selected from the players in the elite division and two teams from the players of the plate division in Ranji championship. The board has also introduced the ‘A’ teams’ tournament that would initially feature three-day matches on league basis in the respective zones. Thereafter, the champion team of each zone would feature in a knockout competition. Changes were also effected in some of the junior tournaments. The Vinoo Mankad Trophy (under-19) would now be an inter-zonal knockout competition. The M.A. Chidambaram Trophy (under-19) has now been converted to a full-fledged one-day tournament featuring all the affiliated units. The Vijay Hazare Trophy (under-17) would now be a three-day inter-zonal tournament on knockout basis. The erstwhile Polly Umrigar Trophy (under-17) had been converted to a full-fledged national championship for under-15 cricketers. The working committee decided that the retirement age of the Umpires would be 60 for those who have officiated in Test matches, 58 for those who have officiated in ODIs but not in Tests and 55 for others, subject to medical examination every year.
PTI
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Australia to send full-strength team
Melbourne, August 22 The 14 Australians selected for the Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka agreed to sign a participation contract, subject to the ICC formally agreeing to consult with players before concluding future commercial arrangements, the Australian Cricket Board announced today. But the threat of boycott by Indian and England players still hangs over the Champions Trophy and next year’s World Cup in South Africa is also under threat due to the ICC restrictions on player endorsements during major events. The union representing the Aussies, the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA), helped devise a resolution between the players and the ACB that will be sent to all other national associations as a possible benchmark. Only the New Zealand and Pakistan teams and certain Zimbabwean players had agreed to the same terms as the Australians. The ICC signed a multimillion dollar commercial agreement that required all players to sign contracts preventing them from promoting sponsors which rival the governing body’s sponsors for a month either side of its premier tournaments. “It made the players pretty frustrated and angry,” ACA chief executive Tim May said. The ICC “has got to consult with players before selling their rights.” Australian limited-overs skipper Ricky Ponting said the players were “very disappointed that they weren’t consulted at what was in the contracts because they were the ones that were going to be left in the lurch.” “(The ICC) realise now that they’ve probably done the wrong thing and got themselves into a bit of a muddle and that was the thing we were most disappointed about.” ACB chief executive James Sutherland said acceptable solutions had been found that address the concerns of the players. “Our solution involves a common sense approach towards a number of matters that have to date delayed the players’ and the ACB’s ability to sign ICC documentation for these events,” he said. International Cricket Council president Malcolm Gray said the national and international governing organisations had worked with the Australians to develop a resolution that guaranteed player consultation. “I do not expect any problem obtaining (ICC) board approval, which will be done at a meeting to take place next week,” Mr Gray said. “The importance of hearing the players when making decisions is well recognized” Mr Gray, former head of the Australian Cricket Board said the resolution brokered in Melbourne was “sensible and pragmatic.” “It protects the ICC’s commercial partners by accepting the proposed terms of the contract, including the critical ambush marketing protections, while also ensuring that players concerns over the use of their images are addressed.” Sutherland said none of the Australians travelling to Sri Lanka had personal endorsements that conflicted with the ICC’s commercial partners for the Champions Trophy, but it was something that could arise in future. The ACB would work with players for future tournaments and compensation was an option for those who were prevented from continuing their endorsements, he said. AP
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English
players ‘close to agreement’ London, August 22 Australia announced today it would send a full-strength cricket team to the ICC Champions Trophy, but it warned an ongoing dispute over sponsorship still threatens next year’s World Cup. Players have argued the agreements could endanger their deals with their own sponsors. England players’ representative Richard Bevan, managing director of England’s Professional Cricketers Association, said: “Australia have not actually signed but have agreed to sign based on a number of points and a new template. “That template has been forwarded to associations around the world. We are very close to sorting out the situation”.
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Scolari
bids farewell with poetic flourish
Fortaleza (Brazil), August 22 Scolari, nicknamed ‘Big Phil, told his players and the football-mad nation “let yourselves be carried along by life” as he said goodbye two months after leading Brazil to a record fifth World Cup. “We were born in difficult circumstances and we worked to achieve what we wanted. We were world champions for the fifth time,” he said. Scolari played down the defeat to Paraguay, who won with a 27th-minute goal from Nelson Cuevas as Scolari made a series of substitutions at the Castelao stadium in the northern city of Fortaleza. “The match was a celebration,” said Scolari. “You cannot expect much from a Brazilian team which used 20 players. “We began my time with defeat to Uruguay and we’ve ended it with defeat to Paraguay. But in between we won the World Cup and I think these two defeats will quickly be forgotten, while that fifth world title will always remain in people’s memories.” Scolari, who has hinted he would like to coach a major European club, admitted that the weight of public expectation in Brazil was one of the reasons he had stepped down. The burly 53-year-old coach had endured severe criticism of his coaching methods before the 2-0 win over Germany in the World Cup final in Yokohama on June 30 which came courtesy of two goals from Ronaldo. Most of the flak came during the team’s troubled South American qualifying campaign where they finished behind Argentina and Ecuador. On the eve of the final, Scolari said he would step down regardless of the outcome. He took over Brazil’s ailing qualifying campaign from Wanderley Luxemburgo in June 2001. AFP
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B’ball
star Parminder (Sr) among Arjuna awardees Chandigarh, August 22 Though Sajjan Singh Cheema, now a Deputy Superintendent of Police, was also chosen for Arjuna Award a couple of years ago, it was on the basis of lifetime achievements . Arjuna Award was given to outstanding sportsmen and women who could not be honoured with the national award
earlier for one reason or the other. But Parminder Singh (Senior) is still an active basketball player and continues to play for Punjab Police, Punjab and India. Suman Sharma also got this award while she was still an active player. Parminder Singh (Senior) is the only second Punjab basketball player chosen to lead India. The earlier one was Ranbir Chopra, who led the country in 1981. The Punjab Basketball Association has decided to felicitate Parminder Singh (Senior) suitably at a state-level function to be organised shortly, says Mr Rajdeep Singh Gill, president of the asociation. Mr Gill, who himself was honoured with the President’s Police Medal for distinguished service on Independence Day, while congratulating Parminder Singh (Senior) said he richly deserved it. “It is better late than never,” remarked Mr Teja Singh Dhaliwal, secretary, Punjab Basketball Association, saying that Parminder had been one of the outstanding cagers not only of Punjab but of the country for the past several years. Incidentally he is the only Punjab player to figure in the Arjuna Award list this time. Parminder Singh’s name was erroneously missed from the news report which appeared in these columns yesterday. In the last National Games held at Ludhiana, it was Parminder Singh (Senior) who played a stellar role in the home team’s gold medal winning performance. In fact, if Punjab occupies a top position in the national cradle it is because of some outstanding players like Parminder Singh (Senior) and Parminder (Junior) in the team. |
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India 4th as Rai stripped of medals
London, August 22 The Karnataka lifter, who claimed two gold medals and a bronze in the 77kg category, tested positive for strychnine, a prohibited substance under the International Olympic Committee’s class of stimulants. With Rai’s disqualification, India have slipped behind Canada to the fourth position on the medals table. The Indians had completed their engagements in Manchester with a record haul of 32 gold medals, one more than traditional powerhouse Canada. But with two gold medals taken away, they now go down to the fourth position with 30 gold. Rai thus became the second Indian to fail the dope test after weightlifter Krishnan Madasamy had tested positive for the banned nandrolone and was promptly stripped of his three silver medals in the 62kg category. An initial interview was conducted with the athlete and his representatives on August 4, the final day of the games. The athlete was subsequently invited to present any submissions he wanted to make to the Commonwealth Games Federation, which has now revised the results in the men’s 77 kg category. The ruling means that Dave Morgan of Wales receives the gold medal in both the overall and the clean and jerk. In the clean and jerk competition, Renos Doweiya of Naora is upgraded to the silver medal and Scott McCarthy of Canada to bronze. In the snatch, Damien Brown of Australia retains his gold medal and Morgan the silver, but Australia’s Craig Blythman receives the bronze medal. In the overall competition, Doweiya is now awarded the silver and McCarthy the bronze. The Sports Minister, Ms Uma Bharati had said stringent punishment would be given to the two weightlifters if their B-samples also tested positive since it had been a ‘slur’ on an otherwise impressive performance by the Indian contingent. Indian shooters did the bulk of the medal hunting in the Games by claiming as many as 14 gold medals while the weightlifters account has now been reduced to 11. PTI |
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Gossain, Jung do HP proud Nahan, August 22 Sita Gossain was a member of Indian hockey team who won gold medal in the Commonwealth Games. She scored the second goal as India registered a 3-2 victory over hosts England. Samresh Jung won two gold and three silver medals in shooting at the Commonwealth Games. Sita Gossain belongs to Nahan and Samresh Jung comes from Ganguwala village of Paonta tehsil. Gossain and Jung were both honoured by Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, Himachal Pradesh on the Independence Day function at Nahan by the district administration. The family members of both the awardees have satisfaction and honour as they feel that services to the nation rendered by their children have been recognised by the nation. Col Shalesh Jung, Samresh Jung’s father, expressed his happiness and said his family wanted to give much more to the nation by bringing more and more laurels for the country. Sita Gossain had captained the Indian hockey team twice and had done a lot to bring honour to women’s hockey, said her brother-in-law. Shimla (TNS): Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, in a press note today congratulated shooter Samresh Jung and hockey player Sita Gossain for being selected for the ‘Arjuna Award’. In his felicitation message to them, the Chief Minister said the people of the state were proud of them for their splendid achievements and expressed the hope that they would bring more laurels to the country and the state in the future. |
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Bopanna, Sunil enter semifinals
New Delhi, August 22 Bopanna’s first serve, which had him in trouble against Rohan Gajjar the other day, was back as he belted ace after ace, a dozen of them in all, to blow away the seventh seed 6-2, 6-1 in an hour and 18 minutes to reach the semifinals. Bopanna will take on Vijay Kannan, the fourth seed, who beat Ireland’s Stephen Nugent comfortably 6-4, 6-0 in another quarter- final match. Sunil Kumar Sipaeya, the Asian junior champion, too had an easy outing as he overcame South African Ciaran Moore 6-4, 6-2 in less than an hour. Chennai: Upsets continued at the Adidas-AITA Junior Tennis Circuit Championships as second seed Sourabh Kohli and eighth seed Sandra Sashidharan (U-18) and second seed Tejasvi Rao, third seed Siddharth Alapati and eighth seed Keetgan Quadros in the under-14 bowed out in the quarterfinals here. In the under-18 singles at the Krishnan Training Centre here, Delhi’s Sourabh was shocked by seventh seed V.M. Rajeet (TN) in straight sets 2-6, 4-6. Top seed Chhatwinder Singh (Chandigarh) beat Siddarth Gulati (Del) 6-3, 6-1, third seed Rupesh Roy (Bengal), who was extended to three sets by V. Vignesh (AP) before winning 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 and fourth seed M.V. Abhay Prakash (Karnataka), who managed a 6-1, 6-2 win over qualifier Indra Kumar Mahajan (MP), entered the semifinals. PTI, UNI
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India Seniors lift Sivanthi Gold Cup
Hyderabad, August 22 Earlier, Myanmar defeated Indian Colts in a 83 minute gruelling encounter 16-25 20-25 25-22 25-18 17-15 to take the second slot with six points and were richer by Rs 1 lakh while Indian Colts (four points) had to be content with Rs 50,000 for winning the third place. Of the four matches played in the five-day tournament India Seniors won four, followed by Myanmar (three), India Juniors (two) Thailand (one) and Kazakhstan (nil). Making a clean sweep by winning all the four matches India senior spikers, led by Ravikant Reddy, Y Subba Rao and Tom Joseph, proved too good for the Thai team as hosts took first set with a four point lead. The meek challenge by Sriphum Supachai, Nimawan Pomsakorn and Buatuan Thanasit was sternly put down by Tom Joseph, skipper Ravikant Reddy and Y Subba Rao and India took the second set at 25-16. It was a rollercoaster ride for hosts in the third set to win with a nine point margin and take the coveted cup with a clean slate. PTI
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Top players for
Haryana b’minton New Delhi, August 22 Haryana State Badminton Association (HBA) secretary Manjeet Singh announced here today that defending men’s champion Sukhvinder Singh Jakhar and women’s singles champion Nita Ohlan (both of Bhiwani) have confirmed their participation. Defending boys and girls champions in the under-19 event, Umesh Kumar of Sonepat and Roma of Faridabad, have also confirmed their participation. HBA president Devender Singh said the Haryana team to participate in the North Zone Badminton Championship scheduled to be held in Chandigarh in September, will be selected during the state championship. |
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Atwal stars in BSF win Chandigarh, August 22 Gurjit Atwal put BSF ahead in the 10th minute and later buttressed the lead with his second goal in the 50th minute. Team-mate Dharminder Singh made it 3-0 in favour of BSF towards the fag end. However, PSEB managed to pull one back in the dying seconds through Gurdish. This was the fourth defeat for PSEB in five outings. Tomorrow, Punjab Police will clash with JCT at the PAP Stadium, Jalandhar, at 4.30 p.m.
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Gopi crashes out
New Delhi, August 22 The unseeded Gopichand, who caused a major upset on the opening day yesterday prevailing over third seed China’s Lin Dan in the first round, failed to carry on the impressive work as he bowed out of the $170,000 tournament with a 8-15 12-15 loss to Singapore’s Susilo in the Indoor Stadium, according to results provided by the AFP here. Nikhil Kanetkar, another Indian in the fray, also failed to get past the third round following a 11-15 8-15 loss to 15th seeded James Chua of Malyasia. PTI
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Jaspal Rana’s petrol pump allotment cancelled
Dehra Dun, August 22 Rana was allotted the petrol station in March this year. The shooter’s father and former Uttaranchal Sports Minister Narayan Singh Rana said here that his son’s petrol station, situated in Nainbagh area near Dehra Dun, had been cancelled. PTI
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BBK DAV College claim title Amritsar, August 22 Later, DIG Border Zone Gurdev Singh Sahota honoured a member of the victorious Indian women’s hockey team, Amandeep Kaur, with a scooter. |
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