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Sunday,
February 2, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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ICC softens stand
on Kiwi plea Fully fit Cairns can take Kiwis into semis Team without Waughs ‘un-Australian’ Aussies stronger than SA, says Wessels New-look Inzamam stays focused
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Dutch pin hopes
on veterans
Cup euphoria fails to infuse life into bat industry Shaky start by Punjab Laxman props up Hyderabad Breathtaking
feats at Kila Raipur JCT, Mahindras clash today Kabaddi results
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ICC softens stand on Kiwi plea
London, February 1 “I will be talking to New Zealand Cricket (NZC) Chief Executive Martin Snedden as soon as possible to confirm the appropriate ICC disputes resolution process to be used in this instance,” ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed said in a statement last night. Speed said the ICC recognised the serious security issues raised by New Zealand and he would be working to see if there was any prospect of the match proceeding or “being rescheduled.” “The issue of safety and security is clearly the main concern of both the ICC and New Zealand Cricket, and at present the NZC is not satisfied that it is safe to play in Kenya,” Speed said. “The ICC Cricket World Cup Organising Committee and the ICC will make available our intelligence and security advisers, to provide a detailed briefing on the advice that we have received in relation to this game.” New Zealand yesterday refused to go to Kenya to play a league match against the hosts in Nairobi on February 21 due to security fears even though the ICC has given its go-ahead to the venue. Speed said there were also independent processes available to the NZC through which it could seek a review of the ICC’s judgement and decision. “New Zealand Cricket is entitled to seek this review in light of any concerns it may hold and it is appropriate that the ICC’s decisions are thoroughly scrutinised in this way,” Speed said. The ICC has contingency plans in place should security issues put any World Cup fixtures in doubt. And according to observers this is the clearest sign yet that it is willing to soften its initial stance and consider New Zealand’s request to have the game against Kenya switched to South Africa. Tournament director Ali Bacher had, however, told New Zealand they would forfeit the match if they refused to face Kenya in Nairobi on February 21. According to ICC statement, the possible options include asking an independent ICC committee of up to five members to hear the dispute or arbitration through the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The responsibility now passes from the ICC’s executive board to the six-man World Cup event technical committee, which could still decide to move the match tomorrow. If they are not satisfied with any decision, New Zealand could then appeal to one of three independent commissioners. PTI
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‘Propaganda
tools’
Melbourne, February 1
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Fully fit Cairns can take Kiwis into semis If Chris Cairns is fully fit New Zealand is a dangerous combination and I can see them reaching the semi-finals at the World Cup. If they advance to this point then they could be a big danger to Australia in a sudden-death encounter. This would be a big brother, little brother backyard scrap and even though the bigger and stronger kid usually wins, the smaller version with more to prove occasionally springs a surprise. If this scrap does eventuate then Stephen Fleming will be a big plus for New Zealand as his captaincy played a part in eliminating Australia from the VB series finals last season. Strengths: Fleming may well be the best skipper at the Cup. He’s a shrewd tactician and has learnt that attack is often the best option in a game of containment. Cairns is an explosive all-rounder who can beat you with both bat and ball. If he’s fully fit for bowling it could make the difference between an average or outstanding tournament for New Zealand. New Zealand has a well-balanced attack that contains plenty of variety and is backed by an athletic fielding side. The batting is deep thanks to a series of all-rounders and the emergence of Brendon McCullum as a capable wicket-keeper. Weaknesses: The batting at the top is a bit thin on class. They lack a real match-winner among the front-line batsmen. New Zealand has never reached the final of a World Cup despite playing in four semi-finals. They have a history of falling short in big tournaments although their sole major accomplishment is a recent one; the 2000-01 ICC Champions Trophy. Men to Watch: If Cairns starts bowling well this will give the team an enormous boost in confidence. Fleming’s captaincy will be good no matter what happens however if he starts to make runs consistently at the top of the order this will allow explosive players like Cairns more freedom in the middle to late overs. Shane Bond is their one bowler of genuine pace who can blast out class batsmen in the opposition. If his form is good and he takes early wickets it will lift the rest of the attack. Opposition dangers: Anyone they meet in the semi-final because of their previous history. South Africa always plays well against New Zealand and the Kiwis have won only one of their last eighteen contests. The preliminary round match against the West Indies will be a tough encounter, as New Zealand doesn’t have a good record in their meetings at the World Cup. If the West Indies are on the improve then New Zealand will need to be at their best, as a surprise loss would make qualifying for the Super Six a lot harder. Intangibles: Any major injury to Cairns, Fleming or Daniel Vettori would be a serious setback because they are the three players for whom they don’t have adequate replacements. How the team handles expectancy. New Zealand is expected to do well at this tournament whereas in the past they have entered the World Cup almost anonymously. This is a big tournament for New Zealand as they may never have a better chance to win the World Cup. We will have a better idea of their chances following the preliminary rounds; if they beat South Africa and the West Indies in those matches then we will know they are contenders and not just pretenders.
21st Century Media |
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Team without Waughs ‘un-Australian’
Sydney, February 1 As the Australian team were attending a coaching clinic in Potchefstroom, South Africa, in the run-up to the World Cup, the Waugh brothers were practicing at the nets at the Sydney Cricket Ground preparing for a New South Wales match against Tasmania. It is the first time in 17 years that the Australian team is playing a major overseas tournament without either of the Waugh brothers. “I just wish I was over there, looking at the TV footage. I would have loved to be there. I’m not, so I have to accept that,” Steve Waugh was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald. “It’s an exciting to be part of a World Cup squad. Those guys have a great challenge ahead - into the unknown. It’s a great time to be playing cricket. It has not affected the way I’m thinking. I’m just going to continue playing for New South Wales until I feel I can make a decision (on retirement). “When you see the guys over there, you realise its happening and you are not there. It was disappointing but you have to get on with things. I hope they do really well. It will be a tough World Cup. As favourites, people expect them to win it but it is much harder than people think, especially in the knockout stage. One bad day, and you’re out, so there’s quite a bit of pressure on the guys,” the older twin said. The 37-year-old twins will play for New South Wales State cricket against the island state of Tasmania in a limited-over game tomorrow. NSW coach, former Test keeper Steve Rixon, said for it was extremely testing for a long-term international player to return to the domesticity of inter-state competition. “Mark took a little while to get back into the routine of what is certainly a different environment to the one he has been involved in. Obviously, with the star-studded side of Australia, they do things a little differently,” Rixon said. “Stephen holds a major key to the side. He is captain so we want him on song as quickly as possible. It’s something we cannot afford — the captain uncomfortable with the scene. The sooner he is comfortable playing the domestic game again, the sooner we’ll get the best out of Stephen Waugh.” On whether he will tour the West Indies in April, Steve Waugh said, “I really haven’t made a decision yet.” PTI
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Aussies
stronger than SA, says Wessels Cape Town, February 1 “They (Australia) are definitely a stronger side than South Africa and their path to the Super Six (second round) phase is more difficult,’’ Wessels wrote in his column in Die Burger newspaper today. “So, if they are going to go through they will have to be at their best all the time,’’ added Wessels, who also played for Australia. “It looks like their key players are going to be fit for the tournament. It’s unbelievable that Shane Warne is bowling again after what looked like a serious (shoulder) injury.”
Reuters |
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New-look Inzamam stays focused
Johannesburg, February 1 “I want to look the same as I looked during the 1992 World Cup — a shy and thin boy,” smiled Inzamam who boasts an international one-day record of 8,939 runs from 284 games at 39.20. It was as a raw 22-year-old that he made his mark in the 1992 finals when he hit 60 off 37 balls against New Zealand in the semi-final before helping his side to a 22-run win over England in the final. It has taken a lot of sacrifice to lose weight but then if I had to be in the best of shapes, I had to do it. “After all, this World Cup means a lot not only to me but to 140 million people back home who expect me to perform,” Inzamam said at the Wanderers here yesterday. “I’m sure I will not be criticised for my weight this time. I feel fresh and more athletic after having lost weight. I can feel there is a huge difference between the Inzamam of today and Inzamam of maybe six months ago. I have had long nets and fielding sessions and I don’t feel tired at all. “Now I am sure that I will be able to spend more time at the crease because the new-look body will now put lesser pressure on my knees.” “At the same time, I can be quicker between the wickets and therefore, little chance of being run-out,” Inzamam said. “I would like to lose another five pounds by the time we take on India on March 1.” AFP
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Dutch pin hopes
on veterans
The Hague, February 1 There they were defeated by Pakistan by nine wickets and by the hosts by 206 runs - a brutal early taste of what they can expect in South Africa where they have been placed in group A with world champions Australia, Pakistan, India, England, Zimbabwe and Namibia, the side they beat in Toronto in 2001 to book their place among the world’s elite. They are led by veteran skipper Roland Lefebvre who was also in charge when the Dutch first made the finals back in 1996. He knows that the bitter experience in the Champions Trophy was a hard pill to swallow, admitting that the defeat by Pakistan was hard to take. “We got hammered. I didn’t expect the game to be over that quick,” Lefebvre said after Pakistan, chasing just 137 to win, achieved their target in just 16.2 overs. That game was only the Dutchmen’s seventh full one-day international but at least they batted the distance of 50 overs. “I am glad we stayed for 50 overs and that was one of the positives from the match,” said Lefebvre who was his side’s top scorer in that game with 32 followed by fellow veteran Tim De Leede who scored 24. Against Sri Lanka, they had been skittled out for just 86 chasing a massive 292-6. With eight of their squad having had their first taste of international cricket in Sri Lanka last year, much will be depend on Lefebvre and De Leede.
AFP
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‘Upsets unlikely’ Durban, February 1 |
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Welcome party Durban, February 1 |
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Cup euphoria fails to infuse life into bat industry Jalandhar, February 2 But, unlike in the past and despite the fact that only a few days are left for the mega sports event to take off, the industry has not witnessed any boom so far — much to the dismay of sports goods manufacturers, particularly, those specialising in cricket equipment. If the industry sources are to be believed, the sale of cricket bat and other cricket related equipment has rather dipped to about 20-30 per cent as compared to the last World Cup for a number of factors like growing preference of people for other games and allegations of match fixing apart from the problems, like raw shortage, being faced by the industry. “It seems there is no effect of the World Cup on the industry. This is very surprising. There is no boom this time as it was around the last World Cup,” observed Mr Ramesh Kohli, a renowned sports goods manfucturer and owner of the Beat All Sports (BAS) and the Vampire units. He maintained that the decline in total sales and demand was about 20 per cent. According to cricket bat manufacturers, if the daily production around the last world cup was about 4000 bats, it has come down to just 2400-2500 bats nowadays. Mr Ravinder Dhir, president of the Sports Forum, Jalandhar, and proprietor of Dixon Sports, blamed the dwindling interest of people in cricket for the doom. “People now prefer tennis to cricket. Moreover, cricket lost grace in the country after allegations of match fixing which, subsequently, had its effect on the demand,” said Mr Dhir adding that the industry was in the doldrums for a number of other problems also. “In the wake of shortage of raw material owners of 10-15 units have even shifted their base from Jalandhar to Jammu and its surrounding areas,” rued Mr Dhir. Similarly, a worried Mr Vipin of the Marex Sports, maintained that the biggest blow to the industry was given by the match fixing allegations, which were again in the air this time also. “Had this not happened, the scenario as far as industry is concerned, would have been different,” observed Mr Vipin.
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Shaky start by Punjab Chandigarh, February 1 Tamil Nadu, in an obvious attempt to exploit the near-perfect conditions, employed a predominantly seam attack. Though pace spearhead L Balaji, who played one-day match during the recent home series against West Indies, before being dumped, sent back opener Ravneet Ricky, who was castled while defending, he largely looked off-colour and failed to make use of the conditions. J Gokulkrishan, the other seamer to share the new ball was at best steady as diminutive Samrat Sharma and left-handed Ankur Kakkar tried to repair the damage on a damp outfield which hampered stroke making. But introduction of seamer M R Srinivas paid immediate dividends as he first induced an outside edge off Samrat Sharma’s blade and had him caught by Hemang Badani at second slip. He then disturbed the timber of Kakkar who failed to bring his bat down in time to a yorker-length delivery and was bowled. Samrat contributed 33, while Kakkar’s contribution was 19. This brought in-form wicketkeeper-batsman Pankaj Dharmani to the crease. He was unbeaten on eight when the play was halted when night watchman Gagandeep Singh’s appeal for the bad light was upheld by the umpires. Punjab are playing the match without skipper Dinesh Mongia, Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh who have been selected for the World Cup squad slated to get under way in South Africa from February 8. Scoreboard Punjab (1st innings):
Ravneet Ricky b Balaji 0, Samrat c Badani b Srinivas 33, Kakkar b Srinivas 19, Dharmani not out 3, Gagandeep not out 0 Extras
( lb 1, nb 2): 3 Total ( for three wickets in 22.2 overs): 58 Fall of wickets
:1-10, 2-47, 3-58 Bowling: L Balaji 7-2-16-1, J Gokulkrishan 6-3-13-0, S Suresh 5-0-15-0, M R Srinivas 4.2-0-13-2. |
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Laxman
props up Hyderabad
New Delhi, February 1 The match, which started late by a little more than two hours due to overnight rain, saw the visitor’s skipper Venkatapathi Raju win the toss and elect to bat first. They suffered an early blow when in-form batsman Daniel Manohar fell on the fifth ball of the day, caught by Akash Chopra at second slip off Amit Bhandari. The score read one for one. Nand Kishore and Vinay Kumar then came together in what seemed to be a good partnership till the former was caught by Delhi skipper Vijay Dahiya behind the stumps off an edge induced by Kuldeep Rawat. The team score was 32 for two of which 17 came from Nand Kishore’s blade. V.V.S. Laxman, dropped from the Indian team after a poor show in New Zealand, then added 118 runs for the third wicket with Vinay. The elegant Hyderabadi exhibited fine footwork in his 100-ball knock, which included four sixes - two each off Rahul Sanghvi and Sarandeep Singh - and six boundaries. His innings, however, was cut short by a fine diving catch by Mithun Manhas at extra cover off Sanghvi. Youngster A.T. Rayadu then joined Vinay in the middle and opened his account with a beautiful cover drive to the fence. He hit a six off Sarandeep Singh and tried to repeat the shot against Sanghvi. He failed to connect properly and Amit Bhandari ran a good 20 yards to take a wonderfully judged catch at long on. Scoreboard Hyderabad:
Nand Kishore c V. Dahiya b K. Rawat 17, Daniel Manohar c A. Chopra b A. Bhandari 00, Vinay Kumar not out 56, V.V.S. Laxman c M Manhas b R. Sanghvi 76 A.T. Ryadu c A. Bhandari b R. Sanghvi 11, Shivaji Yadav not out 00. Extras: (lb-1, nb-3, penalty runs-5) 09. Total: (in 55 overs) 169. Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-32, 3-150, 4-168. Bowling: Amit Bhandari 12-0-48-1 (nb-2), Kuldeep Rawat 14-5-30-1 Sarandeep Singh 11-2-27-0 (nb-1), Rahul Sanghvi 18-2-58-2.
Play washed out NEW DELHI: Defending Champions Railways’ hope to salvage some pride ahead of the Ranji Trophy one-day championship in Chennai next month were hampered by yesterday’s rain which washed out the first day’s play in their last league match in Ranji Trophy Elite Group A against Himachal Pradesh here today. The rain left too many damp spots in and around the pitch at the Karnail Singh Stadium, forcing umpires S.K. Sharma and Amish Sahiba to abandon the day’s play by lunch time after conducting two inspections. The day’s weather, which remained murky throughout, killed the possiblity of any play. At the earliest the match is expected to start by lunch tomorrow provided the ground is dried up.
PTI, UNI |
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Breathtaking
feats at Kila Raipur Kila Raipur, February 1 Bullock cart races and hockey matches could not be held today as the ground was not fit to conduct these events. However, the spectators who had come, saw awesome and breathtaking events. Famous painter, Bhupinder Dhanola flew in his glidder and completed a round of the village and the surrounding areas. Monu, a 10-year-old boy from Muzzafarnagar presented a pageant of ‘Makhan Chor’ while remaining in the air. Gurmit Singh of Khanna lifted a bicycle with his teeth. Bahadur Khan of Malerkotla received applause from the crowd when he pulled Indica car with his ears while Manohar Lal allowed a tractor to go over his legs and later placed eight bricks on his chest which were broken with a hammer. Darshan Singh, a disabled from Ramgarh, did not lag behind. He lifted a sack weighing two quintals with a boy sitting on it. Sukhvinder and Gurmit stopped four motorbikes tied with ropes, moving to the opposite direction. In kabaddi, the match between Government Secondary School, Kila Raipur and Miri Piri College of Chharhetta (Amritsar) turned out to be an exciting affair in which the former eventually emerged winners 40-25. In tug of war, teams from PSEB Chawa, Chuhar Chak Beer, Burj, Kareer Sahib participated. In the race for veterans (above 75 years), Teja Singh of Phalewal got the first position while Gurnam
Singh of Dad and Sovinder Singh of Urdhan finished second and third. |
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JCT, Mahindras clash today Chandigarh, February 1 Only one point seperates the two outfits with JCT slightly better placed at the seventh spot with 11 points. The latest victory of JCT against the strong Churchill Brothers at Margao on January 28 has boosted the confidence of the mill men and they are raring to meet the challenge of Mahindras. What has come as a shot in the arm for JCT is the recruitment of former ITI player Mohammed Salisu, who untill recently was playing in Bangladesh. Ghanians Yeboah and goalkeeper Mansuru Mohammed are also giving a good account of themselves with support from internationals IM Vijayan and Joe Paul Ancheri. However, it is the diminutive Harvinder who has performed wonders upfront. Along with Jaswinder and Hardip Gill, Harvinder is expected to play a key role once again with support from medio Hardip Saini. Mahindra United, on the other hand, are certainly no pushovers. Under the watchful eyes of former World Cup star Karel Stromsik of the Czech Republic, the Mumbai outfit will be looking to new recruits Odartey Lawson of Ghana, Czech star Strandel Petr, Ivory Coast striker Monga Ali Samson besides dashing striker Abhishek Yadav to consolidate their position. So far Mahindras have won two matches and have drawn four. The latest victory against Indian Bank at Chennai on January 29 was largely due to new recruit Ednei Jose Damasio, alias Nei Junior, who made his debut against ITI on January 24. The Brazilian is once again expected to play a key role in the forwardline. On the whole, the match is expected to be a close affair although JCT will be going all out to cash in on home advantage. After all, it was on this very ground that they had humbled Kolkata’s Tollygunge Agragami on December 21. The kick-off is at 2 pm. The following are the latest standings of the teams in the seventh National Football League (read under teams, matches played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, and points):
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Kabaddi
results Bajakhana, February 1 Mr Harjinder Randhawa, DSP, Faridkot, who is also an international football player praised the role of the Harjit memorial committee for organising such competitions. In other matches, Rampura beat Shini Sahib, Jaito got a walk-over against Kothe Blaiana, Baja Khana beat Shekh Kalan, Bhagta beat Jaito, and Aklia Jalal beat Rampura. |
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