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Friday,
January 3, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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The Kiwi recipe for Indian disaster Indians thoughtless, indisciplined Harris, Styris for 4th 1-dayer Cairns back in World Cup squad Butcher steadies England
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Smith, Gibbs in record
stand Windies go for youth as
back-ups PSEB escape with
draw Swimmers back after 60-hour bus
drive Debjit to lead football team
Ferozepore, Bathinda in last
8 Haryana, Punjab register
wins IA thrash NR; Punjab cops
win
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The Kiwi recipe for Indian disaster Queenstown, January 2 “You have to have that extra bounce in your armoury to make it difficult for Indian batsmen and keep them in two minds,” said Daryl Tuffey, who has troubled the visitors with his bowling in the Test series as well as the first three one-dayers. Tuffey gave away only 11 runs from his quota of 10 overs and took two wickets including that of captain Saurav Ganguly to win the man-of-the-match award in the Christchurch one- dayer which the hosts won by five wickets yesterday. New Zealand’s three-pronged pace attack, consisting of Tuffey, Jacob Oram and Kyle Mills, has accounted for 19 Indian batsmen in the first three one-dayers at the cost of just a little over 13 runs per wicket. Richard Hadlee, Chairman of the New Zealand selection committee, said the physical presence of these three bowlers were playing no less role in routing the Indian batting. “These are the bowlers who have physical presence. They are big, they are strong and they are intimidating to look at and of course they are getting the ball to bounce off a length,” he said. Tuffey, whose form this season has been sensational, said bowling along the wicket was not an accepted option these days. “The Indian batsmen, for instance, can hit through the line so well. If the ball is not going sideways, they can take you on and hit reasonably good balls for four as we saw the other day with Virender Sehwag.” Sehwag, the Indian opener, has been reduced to a shadow of his aggressive self in the current series though he struck a fine hundred in the second one-day international at McLean Park on Sunday. The three fast bowlers are thriving on the rule of one bouncer per over in one-day games losing little opportunity in making the Indians hop at the crease. The pacers revealed they have not relied on the coaching programmes of the New Zealand Cricket (NZC) to have such a devastating effect on the Indians. “While the group did weight-work during the off-season under NZC programmes, it was not all about developing strength,” said Oram. “We do general strength work, but concentrate on some muscles that are specific to bowling like the shoulder. We do a lot more specific training rather than just work on our muscles,” he said. Mills spent a major part of last season rehabilitating after an injury prevented him from taking the place in the New Zealand team for the tri-series in Australia. “It’s not all about building strength, flexibility is the key,” he said. The Auckland player also had some questions raised about his bowling action. But he worked on that and home captain Stephen Fleming said yesterday he did not believe the bowler had a suspect action. “He’s played enough one-dayers now, and is bowling well with good control,” Fleming said. Hadlee praised his fast bowlers for their consistency in maintaining the pressure on the Indians. “You can have bowler-friendly conditions and not actually bowl well. You can bowl too short on them for example. But our blokes consistently, day in and day out, particularly Daryl Tuffey and Jacob Oram, have been outstanding,” he said. “The key for any strike bowler is to beat batsmen off a length irrespective of whether the pitch is bouncing or keeping low. “The bowlers have made a tremendous stride forward and that has to be good for our game whereas in the past we have struggled a little bit,” Hadlee said. But the three have not had a crack at Sachin Tendulkar in the one-day series as yet because the little master is nursing a twisted ankle. Tendulkar, in all probability, will be missing the fourth match on Saturday as well and the three pacemen can look forward to a field day once again. Navjot Singh Sidhu, former India opener and now a television commentator, said the Indians will have to tread carefully now onwards if they intend to make a comeback in the seven-match series which they are trailing 0-3. However, the Indians hardly appeared serious about the task at hand as they arrived in the afternoon today and promptly went airborne on a helicopter to soak in the beauty of this scenic holiday resort in south of New Zealand. The fourth match of the series, the first cricket international ever to be staged here, is absolutely vital to the Indians as a defeat would lead to New Zealand clinching the one-day series as well.
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Indians thoughtless, indisciplined India’s batting plunged into further despair in the third match of this series. Bowled out for a measly 108 again, there was no way India could have saved this match, and with three losses on the trot, the confidence of this side will now be very, very low. Right through this tour, India’s batting has been exposed on the seaming tracks. My reading of the situation is clearcut: if you fail to prepare, be prepared to fail. All the batsmen, even those with hefty averages and high placings in the ratings game, have been shown up on this tour as lacking in technique to play the seaming delivery. In the third match, only Rahul Dravid showed the ability to play the moving, seaming ball. The other batsman who has shown this ability, Sachin Tendulkar, is still to recover from injury. His absence was sorely felt. But surely even without him this team should be capable of getting 180-200 runs. As I have mentioned earlier, on these wickets a total of 200 can be a match winning one. The New Zealand batting does not have the depth to chase a biggish score, and their two main batsmen — skipper Stephen Fleming and Craig McMillan — are both struggling for form. But the Indian batting team has shown no planning for these contests. They have gone into each match believing that they can score 250 or thereabouts, played big shots, and been bundled out for half that total or less. By doing that, they have played straight into New Zealand’s hands. Fleming must be thanking his luck that the opposition seems so thoughtless and indisciplined. All his players have had to do is stick to the fundamentals and wait for the Indians to falter. New Zealand have been extremely well served by their seam attack. But the Indian bowlers haven’t done badly either. It’s just that they have very little runs in the kitty to defend. The onus for the failures rests squarely on the batting. After an impressive run for almost 12 months, the Indian team ended the year poorly, being whipped by New Zealand in the two Tests and the first two one-dayers. The New Year has not shown significant improvement in performance, but there are still four matches to be played and the series is not yet dead. This is where character counts, and the Indian players have to summon both cricketing ability as well as mental resolve to reverse this trend of failure. That would be a good tonic in preparing for the World Cup.
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Harris, Styris for 4th 1-dayer Christchurch, January 2 Harris, Scott Styris and Andre Adams have been given a place in the team while Paul Hitchcock, who missed a berth in the World Cup squad, Lou Vincent and Michael Mason are out of the 12-member side, chief national selector Richard Hadlee said here. “With four matches to go in the series against India, the focus is now on trying out combinations and strategies with the 15 players selected for the World Cup,” Hadlee
said. PTI |
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Cairns back in World Cup squad Christchurch, January 2 Both Cairns, recovering from a knee injury, and Harris, out of favour with the selectors in recent times, missed the Test series against the touring Indian side which the hosts won 2-0. While Cairns is doubtful for return to the side during the current one-day series, Harris was today included in a 12-member New Zealand squad for Saturday’s fourth one-day international against the visitors. Though the selectors retained Stephen Fleming as the captain and accommodated most of the players currently playing against India, they left out medium pacer Paul Hitchcock and wicket keeper Chris Nevin keeping their faith on Kyle Mills and Brendon
McCullum. Cairns, 32, has played in 151 one-day internationals and scored 3614 runs besides picking up 154 wickets. He has not played a representative game for New Zealand since turning up against England at Dunedin early last year. The 35-year old Harris, the most experienced of all New Zealand players, has turned up in 216 matches, scoring 3955 runs besides picking up 192 wickets during his long career. Chairman of selectors, Richard
Hadlee, said the selection had been the culmination of three years of analysis by the selectors. He said it had been a very challenging experience due to injuries, lack of form for some players and some easy wins the side had been having against India.
Hadlee said Hitchcock’s and Nevin’s absence was a result of “17 not being able to go into 15.” “Paul Hitchcock had a very good tour of the West Indies and hasn’t let us down. But there are a number of reasons why he wasn’t included. “He had had very limited opportunities to bowl at the death and we feel we will get more out of Kyle Mills.” However, it was not yet clear whether Chris Cairns would play as an all-rounder in the tournament or as a batsman only.
Hadlee said the selection was the unanimous choice of the selection panel which includes Ross Dykes, Brian McKechnie and the team coach Denis
Aberhart. Coach Aberhart said they were not going to rush anything with Cairns. “The most important place for him is on the plane to South Africa,” Aberhart said. New Zealand, who would be meeting 1996 World Cup winners Sri Lanka in their opening match at
Bloemfontein, will leave for South Africa on January 29. PTI |
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Butcher steadies England Sydney, January 2 Butcher, dropped twice and survivor of two vociferous appeals, bounced back from an underachieving series to claim his sixth hundred in his 50th Test for England to savour one of their best days on tour before a 44,000 full house at the SCG. Supported by a 166-run third-wicket stand with skipper Nasser Hussain (75), Butcher provided the tourists with a slow-scoring but nonetheless steady start to opening day of the fifth Test. Butcher was finally out four overs before stumps when he dragged a Brett Lee thunderbolt on to his stumps for 124. Butcher batted for 337 minutes, faced 276 balls and hit 19 boundaries. At stumps, England had crawled to 264 for five with Crawley on six and Alec Stewart ending the day with successive fours to be not out 20 off 13 balls. Australia were shooting for only the second Ashes clean sweep in history, but doing it without their bowling trumps, Glenn McGrath (422 wickets) and Shane Warne (491), and for long periods were up against it. But the cause of Steve Waugh’s team was not helped by woeful catching. Butcher looked out lbw off his first ball from Lee and was dropped in a hard chance on 13 by Damien Martyn in the gully off Andy Bichel and on 43 by Adam Gilchrist off Jason Gillespie not long after lunch. Gilchrist got his left glove to the chance but the ball bobbled out to the groans from the home crowd. Nearing his century on 95, Butcher appeared to have another escape when television replays showed that he bottom-edged a sweep on to his pads off legspinner Stuart MacGill for Matthew Hayden to take a close-in catch. But South African umpire Dave Orchard turned down a mass appeal and Butcher went on to raise three-figures in 271 minutes off 221 balls. Hussain was another to take advantage of a dropped catch, on six when MacGill fumbled an easy-looking two-handed caught-and-bowled chance before lunch, but he was caught off his gloves giving Gillespie his first wicket. It was Hussain’s third half-century of the series and 26th overall. The pro-Steve Waugh home crowd gave the Australian skipper a mighty ovation when he came on to help the bowlers and snared the wicket of Robert Key for three. Waugh, who could be playing in his 156th and last Test, trapped Key leg before inside the final hour to have England at 210 for four in the 76th over. Lee, Australia’s most impressive bowler, thundered down a sensational five-over opening spell full of ferocity and magnificent outswingers and troubled Vaughan in his opening maiden over before getting him to faint edge to wicketkeeper Gilchrist off the first ball of his second. Scoreboard England (1st innings): Trescothick c Gilchrist b Bichel 19 Vaughan c Gilchrist b Lee 0 Butcher b Lee 124 Hussain c Gilchrist b Gillespie 75 Key lbw b Waugh 3 Crawley batting 6 Stewart batting 20 Extras: (b-6, lb-3, nb-8) 17 Total: (for 5 wkts, 90 overs) 264 Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-32, 3-198, 4-210, 5-240. Bowling: Gillespie 21-7-48-1, Lee 20-5-66-2, Bichel 14-3-58-1, MacGill 31-5-81-0, Waugh 4-3-2-1.
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Smith, Gibbs in record
stand
Cape Town, January 2 The pair smashed South Africa’s previous best Test opening partnership of 260 set by Bruce Mitchell and Jack Siedle against England in Cape Town in 1930-31. When they reached 342 they passed South Africa’s best for any wicket of 341 set by Eddie Barlow and Graeme Pollock against Australia in 1963-64. The partnership was finally broken on 368 when Mohammad Zahid bowled Smith for 151. Gibbs was on 203. The stand was the fourth highest in Test history by any country for the first wicket. The all-time first-wicket record remains at 413, set by India’s Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy against New Zealand in Chennai in 1955-56. But both batsmen survived chances. Gibbs was dropped by Yousuf Youhana at backward point off Mohammad Sami when he had 29. He gave another chance on 99 when a leaping Salim Elahi at midwicket couldn’t hold a pull off Mohammad Zahid. Gibbs then survived a close leg before wicket appeal before going to his eighth Test hundred off 125 balls with 14 fours and two sixes. South Africa (Ist innings): Smith batting 100 Gibbs batting 130 Extras (lb-1, nb-10) 11 Total (no loss in 50 overs) 241 Bowling: Waqar Younis 8-1-41-0, Mohammad Sami 14-2-61-0, Mohammad Zahid 11-0-61-0, Saqlain Mushtaq 16-0-74-0, Y Khan 1-0-3-0.
Reuters (Scoreboard incomplete) |
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Windies go for youth as back-ups Bridgetown, January 2 The five, announced by the West Indies Cricket Board are Daren Ganga, Keith Hibbert, Ryan Hinds, Darren Powell and Devon Smith. “Effectively, these five players have been short-listed by the selection committee in case any member of the original 15 is unable to participate in the 2003 World Cup,” said Michael Hall, chief cricket operations officer of the West Indies Cricket Board. Left-handed all-rounder Hinds, 21, of Barbados, right- and utility batsman Ganga, 23, of Trinidad and Tobago, and fast bowler Powell, 24, of Jamaica, were all on the recent West Indies’ tour of India and Bangladesh and have played both Tests and one-day internationals. Aggressive left-hand opening batsman Smith, 21and wicket-keeper Hibbert, 22 toured England and Canada with the ‘A’ team last July . AP |
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PSEB escape with
draw New Delhi, January 2 Air-India, who dominated the exchanges, forged ahead when striker Suprith nicely placed the ball home, off a through pass from forward Vijith Shetty. Though Air-India mounted pressure, the MEG defence held their ground to thwart the rival forwards. Air-India, however, could have ended the match with a two-goal scoreline, but about 15 minutes before the final hooter, Anthony Fernandes’ sharp attempt, after custodian Robikanta Singh mishit the ball, went over after striking the tip of the goaltender’s finger. In the second match, PSEB conceded a fourth-minute goal, when goalkeeper Jitender Singh let slip the ball from his hands into the goal, following a shot by Assam striker Thang Lang Mouna, even before the teams had settled down (1-0). The Assam Regimental Centre, with their well-cordinated moves and speedy thrusts, kept the PSEB defence on tenterhooks in the rest of the first session. The tall and sturdy PSEB players found it tough to keep pace with the comparatively nippy Assam players, though the heavy and slippery ground had made fast forays difficult. PSEB were relieved to get the equaliser barely three minutes into the second half when medio Sarabjit Singh headed in following a cross from the left by Sukhjinder. The move orginated from a clearance by the defence, and the quick chain of action caught the Assam defenders napping, and Sukhjinder fully capitalised on the confusion in the Assam goal area to leap up and nod the ball in. In the last quarter of second half, the Assam team were unlucky not to have scored the match winner, as they twice came close to hitting the target, but missed it narrowly. In the 35th minute, following a free kick from the right, there was a scramble inside the PSEB goalmouth as the ball rebounded off custodian Jitender Singh, but substitute Zoudinsasnga and Mouna failed to connect the free ball with the goalkeeper out of position. A few minutes later, Gordon’s shot, which beat the defence, was deflected forward by an advancing custodian. If PSEB emerged unscathed in the second half, some credit must go to goalie Jitender Singh, who despite his fumbles, managed to hold on. Vasco meet Army XI and Mohammedan Sporting clash against Tata Football Academy in tomorrow’s matches. |
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Swimmers back after 60-hour bus
drive Patiala, January 2 The Punjab swimmers won two bronze medals in the three day event that commenced at Pune on December 26. Both the medals were won by Harpreet Singh in the 50m and 200m breaststroke, respectively, in the under-19 age category. The swimmers, who arrived in two luxury buses, were received at the Government Multipurpose School by Ms Rupa Saini, Deputy Director (Education) and the school authorities. In the water polo event, the Punjab team stood fourth in the boy’s section. Addressing a Press conference, Ms Saini said that the state education department had to hire the buses as there was no time to make train reservations and added that the department had to shell out Rs 1.80 lakh on the trip. The swimmers were accompanied by five coaches — Mr M.S. Sidhu, Mr Surjit Singh, Mr Sat Pal Singh, Ms Tarsem Kaur and Ms Tejinder Singh. Mr Hazura Singh accompanied the squad as the manager. Ms Saini denied that the swimmers were asked to cough up the expenses. |
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Debjit to lead football team Kolkata, January 2 India’s coach Stephen Constantine told a press conference that Deepak Mondal of East Bengal, Mahesh Gawli and Mani Tomba Singh had been dropped from the squad owing to their injuries. Earlier, Baichung Bhutia also opted out of the squad following knee injury. Meanwhile, the Indian squad today started practising at SAI complex. Earlier, Debjit Ghosh talking to newspersons hoped India would retain the title, though it would be difficult this time. Altogether eight teams would vie for the title. The teams had been divided into two groups. India would play in group A along with Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Pakistan and in group B, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal and Bhutan would fight each other.
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Ferozepore, Bathinda in last
8 Ludhiana, January 2 The organisers had to rearrange their schedule as a number of teams which were to play today — Panjab University (Chandigarh), Sangrur, Guru Nanak Dev University (Amritsar) and Jalandhar failed to turn up. Tomorrow, the four quarterfinal matches will be played, between Moga and Hoshiarpur (10.30 am), Ferozepore and Fardikot (12 noon), Ludhiana and Bathinda (1.30 pm), Ropar and Jalandhar (3 pm). Ferozepore drew the first blood in the 30th minute as Rohit Kumar, after dodging past Gurdaspur’s defenders, rolled the ball into the net. However, their joy was shortlived as two minutes later, Sujan Singh of Gurdaspur levelled the score. After changing ends, Gurdaspur boys shot into the lead in the very first minute, when Gurmej Singh sounded the board to put his team ahead. Trailing by a goal, Ferozepore players went all out and scored the eqaualiser in the 40th minute through Devinder Kumar. In the 60th minute, Kamal Kumar of Ferozepore struck (3-2) to enable his side enjoy the lead. Three minutes later, Devinder Kumar again found the target to further cement the lead (4-2). Ferozepore players managed to hang onto this lead till the long hooter and sailed through to the quarterfinal. The second match between Bathinda and Fatehgarh Sahib turned out to be a lack-lustre affair with the former dictating the terms throughout the encounter. Two brothers, Randhir Singh (41st, 57th and 69th minute) and Hardev Singh (56th, 62nd and 64th minute) of Bathinda scored a hat-trick each while Rupinder Singh found the target once (28th minute). |
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Haryana, Punjab register
wins Rohtak, January 2 Braving cold weather conditions Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala also emerged winners in their league encounters in the women’s section. Haryana women defeated Kohlapur by an innings and seven points. Haryana scored 11 points while conceded four. Punjab beat Goa by an innings and 21 points whereas Chandigarh emerged winners by defeating Tamil Nadu by a margin of innings and 14 points. In the men’s section Haryana’s margin of victory over Himachal Pradesh was innings and 18 points. Satyawan and Vikas scored five points each. Men from Punjab emerged triumphant defeating Goa by innings and 16 points. Delhi succeeding in edging Uttranchal by a margin of three
points. The match between Vidharbha and Chhattisgarh ended on equal points. Results: Women: WB b Tripura, AP b Nagaland, Telangana b Bihar, MP b Uttranchal, Punjab b Goa, Vidharbha b Pondicheri, Haryana b Kohlapur, Chhattisgarh b J&K, Uttar Pradesh b HP, Chandigarh b TN and Kerala b Jharkhand. Men: Madhya Bharat b Tripura, AP b J&K, Haryana b HP, WB b Uttranchal, Telangana b Nagaland, Delhi b Uttaranchal, Manipur b MP, Punjab b Goa, Pondicherri b Jharkand, Kerala b Chandigarh, Kohlapur b Rajasthan. |
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IA thrash NR; Punjab cops win New Delhi, January 2 On a day of one-sided encounters, Border Security Force prevailed over Delhi XI 2-0 in another group match. Indian Airlines made up for their lacklustre display in the first half of the game by scoring all their goals in the second session. While Altaf-ur-Rehman opened IA’s account with a field goal in the 54th minute, Arjun Hallappa converted a penalty stroke in the 56th minute to give his side a 2-0 lead. Lazarus Barla struck IA’s third goal when he scored a field goal on second attempt, the ball hitting the goalkeeper’s pads and deflecting back to him the first time. Rahman demonstrated superb stickwork throughout and set the tempo for his team with a brilliant goal early in the second half. In the first match of the day, Border Security Force beat Delhi XI 2-0, both their goals coming in the second half of the match. Marinous Lakra and Devinder Singh were the scorers. With this win, Indian Airlines were at the top of the table in Group B, while Punjab Police were leading in Group A having won both their matches so far.
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