Ganguly, Wright exude confidence

Mumbai, January 28
Hours before embarking on their journey for the World Cup campaign in South Africa, captain Saurav Ganguly and coach John Wright today sought to boost the team morale after the New Zealand debacle, saying they could win the Cup if “they played with courage and passion”.

“We are pretty confident of doing well. One failure (in New Zealand) should not put the confidence level down,” Ganguly told a Press conference here.

He said just one failure should not lower the confidence-level of his team and there was no reason why they could not make an impact at the big stage if the batsmen delivered the goods.

The stylish left hander said his two specialist spinners Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh would play a major role in India’s World Cup campaign while the presence of two left arm seamers Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan will be an “advantage”.

“Some of the senior players have played in South Africa last year. The top batsmen like Tendulkar and Dravid got the runs, though we did not win the series. We should take advantage of that experience,” the Indian skipper said.

Wright, who was also present at the Press conference, said the team may have lost the winning momentum in New Zealand but it was capable of bouncing back by playing with “courage, common sense and passion”.

Wright felt it would be an advantage that many of the players had knowledge of South African conditions but a lot of hard work still required to be done.

Ganguly admitted the performance of the batsmen left much to be desired in the recent tour of New Zealand. “Batting is an area in which we need to improve”.

Asked about his own poor form with the bat, Ganguly said “I have opened the batting in 200 one-dayers and the failure in New Zealand should not be taken too seriously”.

“I had scored runs in South Africa last year. With all the seniors getting runs there last time, I am confident that juniors like Mohd Kaif and Yuvraj Singh will also succeed,” he said.

The Indian captain said the batting order, particularly the opening pair, would be decided after taking into account the conditions at the venue. “It is very difficult to predict anything right now. We have to play side matches before the World Cup gets underway. Whoever is in good form, will open the innings”.

On whether India lacked a genuine allrounder, he said “I have a lot of faith in Sanjay Bangar’s ability to fit into the role of an allrounder. I am sure he will do well”.

Ganguly indicated that vice-captain Rahul Dravid would continue to keep wickets in the World Cup and bat at either number three or five.

Dravid, who was also present, said he had no “hang ups” about batting at any position. “I will bat wherever the team wants me to. The interest of the team comes first. I will follow the management’s decision”.

On criticism about his wicket-keeping in some matches, Dravid said “criticism is nothing new. I had been criticised for my batting in the past. It does not affect me whatsoever. I am here to give 100 per cent for the team’s cause”.

Wright said the team had lacked in the bowling department when it last toured South Africa in 2001 but the attack looked much more improved and stronger this time around.

“We probably did not have a good bowling attack last time. But this time it looks much better with Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan performing well in recent times... I am looking forward to the competition,” he said.

On the appointment of sports psychologist Sandy Gordon for the Indian team, Wright said, “It is a positive move by the board. We will use the psychologist’s services whenever we require”.

Wright was satisfied with the improvement in the fielding department over the last couple of years.

“Fielding is an important aspect of the game and the young team has shown a marked improvement in that department. It can now be compared to any team in the world,” he said. PTI

ICC rejects England plea

London, January 28
The International Cricket Council, the global cricket governing body, has rejected England team’s plea to shift its World Cup tie in Zimbabwe saying “as it currently stands” there was “no reason to move the games.”

Stating that the ICC has appointed an independent firm of international security advisers to provide its expert view on the situation in Zimbabwe, ICC Chief Executive, Malcolm Speed said “as it currently stands, based on this expert advice the ICC Board continues to see no reason to move the games.”

“Should the situation change there is in place the system to alert the ICC to this and a proper decision making process to deal with any need to relocate games,” he said.

The ICC confirmed that it was aware of the safety and security concerns of the England players and that it would continue to monitor the situation in Zimbabwe in the lead-up to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003. England are scheduled to play Zimbabwe at Harare on February 13. PTI, AFP

Windies need to win opener: Hooper

St John’s, January 28
West Indies needs to win its opening match at the World Cup against host South Africa in order to perform well at next month’s tournament, the team’s captain said.

“I think it is important to win our first game against South Africa,” captain Carl Hooper said at the end of a two-week preparatory camp in Antigua.

“I’ve got a sneaking feeling that how well we do in the first game is going to set the tone for the rest of the competition,” Hooper said.

West Indies faces South Africa in the tournament opener in Cape Town on February 9, with matches against New Zealand, Bangladesh, Canada, Sri Lanka and Kenya to follow in their preliminary Group B.

Hooper (36), who missed the last two World Cups in 1996 and 1999 for personal reasons, said he has not set any individual goals.

“This World Cup is not about Carl Hooper,” he said. “It is about West Indies cricket. We have slowly, but surely turned the corner. This is going to be a good launch pad to say ‘Look, West Indies cricket is back and a force to be reckoned with’.”

A Carl Hooper XI team, scoring 275 for two off 46.2 overs, recorded an eight-wicket win over a Ridley Jacobs XI squad (252 for 6 off 50 overs) in the last of two practice matches under lights at the Stanford Cricket Ground on Sunday. AP

Sachin set to become highest scorer

New Delhi, January 28
A nightmare for bowlers worldwide, Sachin Tendulkar is set to add another chapter to his glittering career when the World Cup gets underway in South Africa early next month.

The batting maestro needs just 25 more runs to emerge as the highest run-scorer in World Cup history and Paarl, South Africa, where India begin their World Cup campaign with a match against Holland on February 12, could be the stage for the record-breaking feat.

In doing so, the 29-year-old star batsman will eclipse the record of Javed Miandad of Pakistan. Tendulkar has so far amassed 1059 World Cup runs in 21 innings (22 matches) compared to Miandad’s 1083 in 33 matches and 30 innings.

Tendulkar, who is the youngest in the list of 20 top run-scorers in World Cup, is also just one century short of equalling Mark Waugh’s record of most number of World Cup centuries. The star Australian batsman, who recently announced his retirement from international cricket, has four centuries to his credit and considering Tendulkar’s appetite for big knocks, it should not be long before he overtakes the record.

The Mumbai batsman will be the only one among the top ten run-getters in World Cup to be seen in action in this edition of the mega event, the other nine having retired from the game.

Tendulkar scored a combined 806 runs in 15 appearances at a strike rate of 67.16 in the two World Cups in 1992 and 1996 to be placed at the top.

However, after his third appearance in the 1999 World Cup, he was pushed to the second spot behind Miandad.

In the previous World Cup, Tendulkar scored 223 runs in seven innings, including his highest score of an unbeaten 140 against Kenya, to come close to Miandad who has the distinction of playing in five consecutive World Cups since 1975.

The ‘sentimental’ century knock against Kenya is a cherished one for Tendulkar as it came a few days after the demise of his father Ramesh Tendulkar. Tendulkar dedicated the century to his father and the emotional gesture of looking skywards, as if seeking the blessings of his late father, is still fresh among millions of cricket lovers in the country. PTI

Tendulkar’s current role clips his wings
Navjot Sidhu

THE Indian team is licking its wounds after getting a hiding by the Kiwis but the country is riding a wave of hope, expecting an avalanche at the World Cup. Frankly, India can go the distance so long as it gets fine-tuning right.

India is in a tough pool, where any three of the five best sides can go through to the Super Sixes. The fact that the quality of pitches will be better than in New Zealand can only be good news for India whose strength is batting. The batsmen can put up competitive totals or, if needed, can chase challenging scores as they did in the NatWest Trophy final or in the ICC Champions Trophy.

Getting the team composition right is like completing a jigsaw puzzle. Even if one or two pieces don’t fit, the puzzle remains hazy and incomplete. It is critical that the team fits the right people in their rightful slots, getting them back to where they belong. India is formidable, loaded with potential but greatness lies not in being strong but in the right use of strength.

Rahul Dravid springs to mind. Entrusted with the job of keeping wickets, he is pivotal in restoring the balance and giving the Indian team the elusive winning combination. It is one marriage of convenience which is working wonders. He needs to be applauded for accepting the unfamiliar burden in the interest of the side, though his wicket-keeping is like riding a bicycle without a saddle, uncomfortable.

Just think of the Indian team with Dravid as a specialist batsman and Parthiv Patel behind the stumps. The balance goes haywire, with the side having to drop Mohammed Kaif or a specialist bowler. A bowler is a necessity, considering the paucity of allround talent of quality — Ajit Agarkar is fickle as a weathercock, Sanjay Bangar is primarily a batting allrounder. Dravid’s wicket-keeping gives the team lucrative extra options, though the investment in his dual role is like riding a tiger — you can’t dismount. Sachin Tendulkar needs to be back at the top of the order. I shall deal with this issue at greater length in one of my subsequent pieces but let me make it clear now that the idea of having Tendulkar at No. 4 has been at best a defensive move and a fiasco. The team management is digging a grave to bury his true potential of dominating and dictating terms to the opposition at the start of the innings. His current role clips his wings and makes a great player look like ordinary. Dravid is ideally suited for this slot, which calls for a batsman to rotate the strike and ensure that India has the wickets in hand in the end. To shield the world’s best batsman with 33 one-day centuries is a load of rubbish, it should be vice-versa.

The fate of most one-day games in the modern era is decided in the first 15 overs. The first blow is half the battle. The prudent step would be to have Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag at the top of the tree to give the team the required impetus. This is a lethal trio, dangerous as machine guns. When any of them go ballistic, there is no stopping India. India has the perfect balance, with plenty of experience to channelise the exuberance of youth. The enthusiasm of Kaif and Yuvraj Singh is the propelling force necessary to climb the ladder of success at the ensing World Cup. To me, fielding will make the decisive difference in the World Cup.

It will be appropriate to say that India is like a Mercedes whose spark plugs need some cleaning before it starts purring again. India can well be the dark horse, if not the favourite. For Ganguly and his men, the ideal mantra is: It is time to make hay while things are going haywire. 21st Century Media

Trescothick keen to restore pride

London January 28
A bad thing happened to Marcus Trescothick’s reputation in Australia in the run-up to the World Cup. It got broken.

In cricketing terms, the left-handed opener got ‘found out’.

Glenn McGrath, a man fond of cranking up the psychological pressure on his opponents, had declared before the Ashes that he intended targeting Michael Vaughan.

But it was his opening partner Trescothick who was to suffer. In defeat, Vaughan was named man of the five-match series with three centuries, 633 runs at an average of 63.3 while Trescothick managed just one half-century.

In truth, the Somerset player made a string of good starts but repeatedly fell victim to the Australians’ unerring off-stump accuracy and varied angles of attack from both sides of the wicket after they had dissected his style of play. Reuters

Indian cricketers undergo dope test

Mumbai, January 28
South Africa bound Indian cricketers underwent the rigours of a second dope test in 18 days here today as a precautionary measure.

According to a BCCI source, all the samples will be collected here before being sent to the Sports Authority of India laboratory in New Delhi.

The Indians had undergone their first ever dope test on January 10 at Auckland during their 43-day tour of New Zealand. The urine samples of the players were sent to an International Olympic Committee accredited laboratory. PTI

First cricket World Cup transformed one-day game

London, January 28
Frost, rain and even snow lingered into June during the frigid English spring of 1975. The portents could hardly have been less auspicious for the first cricket World Cup.

This, though, was to be no ordinary summer and cricket was never to be the same after the first global gathering of a game born and nurtured in the English countryside.

A hot sun blazed throughout a tournament graced by some of the best players in history, culminating in a classic final under a flawless sky at Lord’s on the longest day of the year.

More than two decades later, Clive Lloyd, captain of the triumphant West Indies side reflected: “It was cricket’s first authentic make-over, that in effect tickled the fancy of the free spirit and prodded the passionless purists into the 20th century.”

Lloyd played what remains the definitive World Cup one-day innings in the final against Australia. Tall, stooped and nonchalantly twiddling a bat as heavy as a small tree, he struck 102, taming the controlled fire and fury of Australian fast bowlers Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson. His innings drew a radio commentary to match the occasion from the peerless John Arlott.

“Lloyd hits him high away over mid-wicket for four. The stroke of a man knocking a thistle top off with a walking stick,” Arlott intoned.

One-day cricket at the highest level still dismays the purists, who decry what they perceive as a loss of subtlety and grace from the game.

In fact, the limited overs version is more faithful to the original form than the three, four or five-day formats.

Cricket matches on the village green or on grounds attached to the great country houses, romanticised in both forms by generations of writers, could be completed in a day thanks to the lingering English twilights.

But the development of the three-day county game during the mid-19th century, the minimum time allowable for a game to be deemed first class, meant serious cricket in England was primarily confined to full-time professionals or amateurs with leisure and money to spare.

Primarily, because one-day cricket formed the basis of the relentlessly competitive Yorkshire and Lancashire leagues, where matches were completed in half a day to allow the factory workers to play or watch after completing their 5-1/2-day week at Saturday lunchtime.

Was one-day cricket always the way to go? Four committees were set up between 1937 and 1961 to look into the state of the county game in England as attendances dwindled inexorably, exacerbated by the arrival of television and the growing popularity of the motor car.

In 1954, “The Cricketer”, hardly an anti-establishment magazine, was moved to comment “cricket has become a sullen, unhappy business and not a successful business either”.

Nine years later, after yet another report, the English authorities introduced the Gillette Cup, a one-day knockout tournament and a Sunday league, televised live, was to follow in 1969.

The league followed the success of the International Cavaliers, featuring Gary Sobers, Fred Trueman and the Pollock brothers Graeme and Peter, who played one-day matches with limited overs and restricted bowlers’ run-ups.

The Cavaliers were master-minded by former West Indies all rounder Learie Constantine, who had himself honed his game in the Lancashire leagues. One-day cricket was here to stay.

The first one-day international was the result of accident, not planning. A one-day match was hastily staged at the Melbourne Cricket Ground when the third test of the 1970-1 series between Australia and England was rained off.

To the surprise of the administrators, 46,000 people, roughly half the capacity of the giant ground, turned up to watch Australia win, a brief respite during a generally unhappy summer for the home side.

From that point England, along with New Zealand who were eager in those days to arrange any international cricket, regularly played one-day internationals up to the 1975 Cup.

It took, though, the hothouse environment of Kerry Packer’s World Series cricket in 1978-79, to change one-day cricket into a form still recognisable today.

Packer, who had hijacked the world’s best players from the establishment by dramatically increasing their pay, could not initially attract either crowds at the grounds or a significant television audience for his so-called five-day Super Tests.

But through the introduction of day-night one-day matches under floodlights, with teams playing in coloured clothes instead of the traditional whites, Packer captured a new, younger audience who relished the vibrant if sometimes artificial excitement of the one-day game.

By the time Packer signed truce with the traditional authorities in 1979 in return for television rights, one-day matches were an integral part of the international game.

They proliferated, in particular, on the Indian subcontinent during the 1980s, leading in turn to the pernicious influence of unscrupulous bookmakers and a match-fixing scandal which rocked the game and ultimately resulted in life bans for three test captains.

In the early years of the new millennium, five-day Tests remain the highest form of the game, at their best promoting a build-up of dramatic tension unmatched by the shorter version and letting the players express most vividly their personalities and techniques.

One-day cricket, though, is no longer a poor relation, developing in both complexity and tactical demands as the 2003 World Cup will demonstrate in southern Africa. If the game is to spread significantly beyond the boundaries of the old British Empire, this is the version that will be promulgated. Reuters

Injuries may prove ‘beneficial’

Brisbane, January 28
Australia’s injury worries could actually help Ricky Ponting’s team win successive cricket World Cups, coach John Buchanan said here today.

Rather than fret over injuries to key bowlers Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne, Buchanan hopes the enforced rest has sharpened his players for their opening match with Pakistan in Johannesburg on February 11.

Buchanan said he had been concerned about keeping his players fresh for the World Cup during a draining 10-month playing schedule, which began in Nairobi last August.

“What the injuries have done for players like Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne is provide them with a rest and now they’ll come into the tournament physically and mentally fresh,” Buchanan said.

“They’ve had an opportunity to get away from the game along with other players who have rested from some matches and we’re hoping to see the benefits of that."

“In some ways (the injuries) could eventually have a positive side for us.”

Buchanan said Australia had taken precautions to ensure the players were not subject to the welter of injuries that flattened England’s Ashes campaign over the last few months.

England selectors were criticised for bringing injured players on tour and Australia will take the same risk with Michael Bevan (groin), McGrath (back) and Gillespie (elbow) recovering from injuries.

Allrounder Shane Watson (back) was the only player ruled out of the World Cup, leaving much depending on the fitness of McGrath, Warne, Bevan and Gillespie.

“Apart from Michael Bevan, one of the principles we wanted to follow was not to take injured players to the World Cup and we’ve basically achieved that,” Buchanan said.

“But there are some allowances for ‘potential matchwinners’ and that is the likes of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne. AFP, Reuters

Kapil adjudged Ceat Cricketer of Century

Mumbai, January 28
The Wisden Indian Cricketer of the Century Kapil Dev added another feather to his cap when he was declared as the Ceat International Cricketer of the Century today.

The RPG Group Chairman Harsh Goenka made this announcement at a press conference here.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan continued to dominate the Ceat ranking winning the Ceat Cricketer of the year 2001-02 award for the second consecutive year. He was also crowned as the Ceat International Bowler of the Year.

Indian cricket also had a reason to smile as apart from the award won by Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar bagged the International Batsman of the Year award.

Speaking on the occasion, Sunil Gavaskar, one of the members of the governing council along with Clive Lloyd and Ian Chappell, recalled that Ceat ranking was instituted seven years back with just one award and has since grown by leaps and bounds. UNI

Ranji Trophy: Himachal crash to big defeat

Mumbai, January 28
Mumbai today scored a convincing 10-wicket victory over Himachal Pradesh to grab a bonus point on the last day of the Elite group ‘A’ Ranji match at the Wankhede Stadium here.

Mumbai, now with 12 points from six matches, and a match against Rajasthan still to be played, have qualified for the semifinals, while Himachal Pradesh with just a point to their credit, are out of the reckoning.

Himachal Pradesh after conceding a 161-run first innings lead resumed at 282 for seven. However, they lasted just five overs this morning being bowled out for a mere 287 runs thus leaving Mumbai to get 127 for victory.

Mumbai captain Paras Mhambrey took two wickets this morning, those of Rajiv Nayyar and Vikramjeet Malik, taking a total three wickets in the innings, while Avishkar Salvi got the remaining wicket to take his tally of the innings to two. Sairaj Bahutule had picked up three wickets yesterday.

Mumbai openers Vinayak Mane and Wasim Jaffer then started the chase for victory with a flurry of fours, with Mane reaching his second fifty of the match to take Mumbai home in just 21.1 overs.

Mane cracked as many as 11 fours and a huge straight six to make 72 not out in 81 balls, while Jaffer made 47 not out with seven boundaries in 51 balls.

Scoreboard

HP (Ist innings): 254

Mumbai (Ist innings): 415

HP (IInd innings): (overnight 282 for 7) Nayyar c Samant b Mhambrey 54, Panta c Mhambrey b Salvi 3, Malik b Mhambrey 0, K. Singh not out 0 Extras: (1 b, 4 lb, 2 w, 11 nb) 18, Total: (all out in 87.2 overs) 287 Fall of wickets: 1-83, 2-127, 3-223, 4-232, 5-260, 6-271, 7-177, 8-287, 9-287 Bowling: P Mhambrey 13.2-1-51-3; A Salvi 19-4-61-2; U Mavli 3-0-25-0; S Bahutule 28-7-71-3; R Powar 18-4-65-1; N Shetty 6-2-9-0

Mumbai (IInd innings):

Mane not out 72, Jaffer not out 47, Extras: (4 b, 1 lb, 5 nb, 1 w) 11 Total: for no loss in 21.1 overs Bowling: V Malik 7-1-31-0, S Sharma 3-0-25-0, R Panta 5-1-29-0, K Singh 4.1-1-26-0, A Kapoor 2-0-14-0

Bengal frustrate Delhi

New Delhi: Weather played truant as overnight showers and bad light delayed the start of the Delhi-Bengal tie in the elite Group A Ranji league by almost four hours forcing both the teams to agree to a draw on the fourth and final day at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground here today.

At the close of play, Bengal, chasing 339 for victory, had made 134 for the loss of four wickets thereby frustrating Delhi’s efforts at registering an outright win and confirming their place in the semi-finals.

The day was called off with 14 overs still to be bowled when Delhi skipper Vijay Dahiya and his Bengal counterpart Rohan Gavaskar decided to agree to a draw with both teams in a no-win situation.

Rohan remained unbeaten on 32 with three huge sixes. Devang Gandhi was the other not out batsman. He made 26 with five superb hits to the fence. Earlier, Amit Bhandari and Rahul Sanghvi scalped two wickets each to push Bengal on the backfoot, but skipper Rohan played beautifully to frustrate Delhi’s efforts.

Bengal, who pocketed a bonus point yesterday by virtue of their first innings lead, now have three points from six matches, while Delhi has seven points from the same number of encounters.

Scoreboard

Delhi (Ist innings): 164

Bengal (Ist innings): 169

Delhi (IInd innings): 343/7 declared

Bengal (IInd innings): (overnight 2/0) Das c Dahiya b Bhandari 1, Haldipur lbw Bhandari 32, Deep Das c Dahiya b Sanghvi 19, Shubhomoy c and b Sanghvi 8, Gavaskar not out 32, Gandhi not out 26. Extras: (nb-11, w-5) 16 Total: (in 45 overs) 134 Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-57, 3-65, 4-73. Bowling: Amit Bhandari 6-1-21-2 (nb-1), Sarandeep Singh 17-4-44-0 (nb-1), Rahul Sanghvi 18-1-57-2 (nb-5, w-5), Sanjay Gill 4-1-12-0 (nb-4). 

Bonus point for Punjab

Ahmedabad: Visitors Punjab walked away with a bonus point by virtue of their first innings lead of 140 runs in a drawn encounter against Gujarat on the fourth and last day in the Ranji Trophy match here today.

Gujarat’s good batting performance in the second innings proved to be too little and too late and they had to be content with one point from the draw.

Resuming at yesterday’s 49 for no loss, Gujarat’s opening pair of Nilesh Modi and Luv Pawar added another 20 runs before they were separated when former was caught by wicket-keeper P Dharmani off Amit Uniyal. Nilesh had made 37 runs with help of five boundaries and faced 103 balls.

Brief score: Gujarat (Ist innings): 306 all out. Punjab (Ist innings): 446 all out.

Gujarat (IInd innings): 302 for 5 wickets (Kirat Damani not out 73, Bhavin Mehta not out 60, Luv Pawar 48, Niraj Patel 41, Nilesh Modi 37 and Amit Uniyal 3 for 112). UNI

Caravan of goodwill

Mumbai, January 28
Emami’s “Sona Chandi Ka Nara World Cup Hamara” caravan, wishing the South Africa bound Indian World Cup cricket team best of luck, completed its journey here today.

The company Director, Mr Aditya V. Aggarwal told reporters that the caravan received tremendous response in each of the 180 cities it travelled covering a distance of 12,000 km in 65 days.

“The entire country stands together in prayer and wishes for the success of the Indian team. Prominent personalities from all walks of like, including Union minister Uma Bharti, actress Sridevi, Pandit Birju Maharaj, Alyque Padamsee and former cricketer Mushtaq Ali have conveyed their good wishes by singing on the caravan”, Mr Aggarwal added. PTI

Jaffer bereaved

Mumbai, January 28
Cricketer Wasim Jaffer’s mother, Zulekha Jaffer, passed away in the early hours today after a brief illness, according to family sources.

She was 60.

She suffered a mild heart attack a few days ago but had recovered completely, family members said. In fact, she was to be discharged from KEM Hospital today but breathed her last in the early hours.

Though Wasim was in mourning, he still steered Mumbai to a 10-wicket win over Himachal Pradesh on the final day of the group-A elite Ranji Trophy league cricket match at the Wankhede Stadium here today. PTI

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE 
JCT stun Churchill; Bagan rout Dempo

Margao, January 28
JCT Phagwara struck once in each half to stun last year’s runners-up Churchill Brothers 2-0 in their tenth round of the National Football League here today.

The millmen were outstanding today to register their third win, while Churchill missed medio Noel Wilson and defender Mahesh Gawli and failed to combine as a team and let their opponents function freely.

Harvinder Singh in the 23rd minute and Jo Paul Anchery in 58th minute scored for JCT.

With this win JCT boosted their tally to 11 points and came on par with Indian Bank, while Churchill remained on 14 points.

It was a tale of missed chances in the first 20 minutes for both the teams in the fast pace first session. JCT came up with a good move in the very third minute from the start when Harvinder sent a good pass to I.M. Vijayan, who unleashed a left footer but Churchill goalkeeper Edward Ansah smartly fisted over for an abortive corner.

In the very next minute, the visitors goalkeeper Mansuru Mohammad brought off a fine save off a long ranger try from Yakubu Yusif.

Churchill could have surged ahead in the 12th minute of the first half had Yakubu and Ratan Singh utilised an easy chance before them off a well-measured cross from the right flank by Rouque Baretto, as both failed to connect and the ball went abegging.

JCT shot into the lead in the 23rd minute through Harvinder, who encashed on a chance before him off a pass from Jaswinder Singh from the right flank.

After the millmen moved ahead, there was not much of action and the play was confined to the mid-field for the remaining part till the breather.

Inspired by the lead, JCT continued to attack vigorously in the second half and after some persistent raids once again tasted success in the 58th minute through Anchery, who neatly headed the ball into net off a free kick from Ram Pal to make it 2-0.

JCT defender Harpreet Singh was adjudged ‘man of the match’ today.

Kolkata: Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan jacked up their position in the National Football League, defeating strong contenders Dempo Sports Club 5-1 in crucial tenth round home match here today.

While mercurial Brazilian Jose Ramirez Barreto struck twice, Ghanaian striker George Ekha, Manipur’s left back Lolendra Singh scored one each and the last goal for the local side was a suicidal one.

The lone goal from the Goanese club came from foreign recruit Andreev Sergy.

With this win, the reigning champions were elevated to fourth position of the league table with 18 points from 10 matches and Dempo remained stranded with 20 points from as many outings and were in the second spot of the league table behind East Bengal.

Manipur’s left back Lolendra Singh opened the score list for Bagan just one minute before the water break from a brilliant angular shot from some 30 yards defeating Dempo custodian Fransis Fernandes (1-0). Three minutes later Barreto shot home from a pass off Ekha, and the latter advanced it after dodging past three defenders.

Barreto nodded home his second goal of the day following a corner from Renedy Singh in 56th minute. The double goals gave the Brazilian 102 goals for the club in the last four seasons.

Ekha shot home two minutes later following a return ball from the goalie, who first saved a punch from Renedy Singh.

The only goal for the visitors came eight minute before the end from Andreev Sergy, who followed a cross from Sameer Naik defeating Bagan custodian Bivash Ghosh hands down.

The last goal for Bagan came as a bonus when Stanly Colaco in a bid to intercept a shot from Renedy Singh sent to his own goal. UNI

SPORTS BRIEFS

SCARP KENYA AS VENUE: KIWIS
WELLINGTON: New Zealand Cricket has appealed to the International Cricket Council to scrap Kenya as a World Cup venue due to heightening security concerns. New Zealand Cricket chief executive Martin Snedden said a security adviser had reported there were active terrorist groups in Nairobi targeting western interests, and “soft targets” such as cricket matches, were particularly vulnerable. Kenya was due to host New Zealand in Nairobi on February 21 and Sri Lanka on February 24. “Terrorist cells currently active and operating in Nairobi... have the means and assets to carry out a terrorist attack,” Snedden told New Zealand’s National Radio on Tuesday. AP

SCRIBES WARNED
CAPE TOWN: Journalists and commentators intending to travel to Zimbabwe for the forthcoming World Cup have been warned that they may be prime targets for militant aggression in the country. Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) member of Parliament David Coltart told Reuters that “hate speech” in the country had affected certain sections of the community and journalists may suffer as a result. “The world saw in Bosnia what can happen when ‘hate speech’ is repeated often enough and I hear hate speech directed against Caucasians, particularly English ones, and Indians every day,” Coltart said. “It only takes a handful of people to become brainwashed for terrible consequences to result. Reuters

PUJA PERFORMED
TIRUPATI: Wishing success for Indian team in the World Cup beginning in South Africa next month, cricket fans of the temple town of Srikalahasti, about 40 km from here, performed Maha Rudraabhishekam on Tuesday to Lord Sirkalahasteeswara Swamy and his consort Gnanaprasunambhika Devi. The sankalpam was taken in the name of Indian ace pace bowler Javagal Srinath and other team members. The Vedapandits blessed the team to achieve their first goal of reaching the Super Six. New clothes were given to poor Brahmins on the occasion. UNI

LOGO ISSUE
KOLKATA: The BCCI would protest the ‘wrongful’ rejection of Sahara as the Indian cricket team sponsor in the ICC Champions Trophy and the 2003 World Cup before arbitration at a later date and appropriate damage claims. Issuing a press statement here on Tuesday Mr Dalmiya said: “The ICC had accepted India’s latest sponsor and the move is welcome but the board will take up the unjustified rejection of Sahara with all seriousness.” The ICC Development (International) has conveyed its approval of “Amby Valley” as the Indian team sponsor for the 2003 World Cup. Meanwhile, another ICC release from London confirmed that it was aware of the safety and security concerns of the English players. UNI