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Wednesday,
February 5, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Indians 265 for 7 in warm-up tie Indians ready for serious cricket Don’t write off
India: Dravid Sachin must open, says Srikkanth Kumble vows to do better
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Favourites Lanka hope to erase bad memories Australians told to skip Zimbabwe Hussain hints at boycott Saeed Anwar Shoaib’s
first victim
Sriram powers TN into semis Delhi-Hyderabad tie drawn Sunita Rani gets back her Asiad medals
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Indians 265 for 7 in warm-up tie Pietermaritzburg, February 4 Coming into the tournament after a forgettable show in New Zealand, the Indians did well to shrug off the early loss of explosive opener Virender Sehwag and post a decent total. With the exception of Sehwag and Mohammad Kaif, all the frontline batsmen had a good knock. Dravid and Yuvraj scored 66 runs each while Sachin Tendulkar made 47 off 58 balls. Skipper Saurav Ganguly contributed 41 runs. Put in to bat by home captain Dale Benkenstein, the Indians were helped by a 90-run partnership between Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar, who came to bat at number three, after Sehwag fell in the third over for just four. Ganguly’s 41 came off 67 balls and was laced with three boundaries and a six. Tendulkar and Ganguly fell within a space of four balls before Dravid and Yuvraj put on 122 runs for the fourth wicket to bring the innings back on track. Dravid and Yuvraj not only kept the home bowlers at bay but also scored at a very healthy rate. They took the score to 220 in the 44th over before Yuvraj Singh was clean bowled by I Khan. Yuvraj faced 69 deliveries for his 66 runs which included five fours and a six. Dravid was even faster than his partner. His 66 came off only 67 balls with three hits to the fence before he was caught by Benkenstein off R. Veenstra in the 47th over. Mohammad Kaif, who made only seven runs, fell just two balls later to leave the Indians at 244 for six. Sanjay Bangar was the seventh batsman out, caught by A Mall off A Tweedie for seven at Indians’ score of 261. Ajit Agarkar remained unbeaten on 10 while Harbhajan Singh was not out on one. For the hosts, Tweedie was the most successful bowler, claiming three wickets for 43 runs. Veenstra took two wickets while G. Bodi and I Khan took one wicket each. PTI
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Indians ready for serious cricket
Durban, February 4 That was the message from media liaison officer Amrit Mathur as the Indian settled down in South Africa in the run-up to the cricket World Cup that begins on Saturday in Cape Town. But the team did take time out to engage in some development clinics, which have been arranged by the World Cup organisers in previously disadvantaged areas. The entire team on Monday visited the huge black township of Umlazi, south of here, much to the delight of local young cricketers. For the young fans, it was a real thrill to see their heroes in the flesh. “I like Jonty Rhodes, but now I’m going to support India for the World Cup,” said 12-year-old Mazwi Mbatha, who with his classmates at a local school had been given time off to attend a clinic by the Indian side. S’bu Sithole, 17, who was visiting his cousins in Umlazi from Johannesburg, said he was supposed to go back home on Sunday, but when he heard that Sachin Tendulkar was coming to the township, he arranged to leave later this week. “He’s my hero! I just love him!” Sithole screamed as he secured autographs from members of the Indian side. Mr Mathur said all was well with every member of the Indian side, and that no special arrangements were being made for any special training. He dismissed claims that special exercises had been organised in the swimming pool of the hotel they are staying in before and after a match. Mr Mathur said the team was certainly receiving a lot of attention and invitations from South African Indians but there would be no time to spend with them because it was only serious practice all the way. “It’s not that we don’t want to interact with people. We are here for cricket and the team in concentrating on that. The team is very clear that we are here for serious cricket, so that’s how it is. This is a serious cricket tour, it’s not for socialising.” Mr Mathur said there were no plans to visit any historic places, not even the Gandhi monument in Pietermaritzburg, where the young lawyer who became Mahatma was thrown off a train by a white conductor, when they play there Tuesday. Regarding the playing conditions here, Mr Mathur said the players were unanimous about the conditions being very good. “Everybody’s very satisfied with those.” Saurav Ganguly’s boys will meet the provincial Dolphins in Pietermaritzburg on Tuesday and then play in the country’s largest Indian township, Chatsworth, south of here, Thursday. Mr Mathur said the side was looking forward to the support from the thousands of South African Indians pitching at the Chatsworth Oval for the game, with hugely reduced prices to allow everyone an opportunity to see them in action. “That will be very encouraging, but it’s not so much about the venue. It’s just that we are looking at the opposition in a practice game,” he said. IANS
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Don’t write off
India: Dravid
Durban, February 4 While admitting that India had faltered in New Zealand, their last tour before the World Cup, Dravid said the team was looking to gain in confidence in the warm-up matches ahead. “Basically we just did not play good cricket in New Zealand although the conditions were not ideal and the scores show that. But in those situations cricket is all about digging deep and we will have to improve,” Dravid said here. The elegant right-handed batsman, however, cautioned against writing off India’s chances on the basis of their New Zealand tour. “Because of the conditions, it would be dangerous to read too much into those scores. After a great year leading up to that tour, the batsmen had a bit of a reality check and we have a good chance of getting things right for the World Cup,” he said.
PTI |
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Sachin must open, says Srikkanth
Chennai, February 4 Addressing a press conference on inter-school cricket tournament he was conducting for ‘Splash TV Channel’ for children, Srikkanth said, “If I were the captain, I would have Sachin opening for India.” The former India Captain, who is also on the panel of TV commentators for the mega event beginning February 8, said Sachin and Virender Sehwag must open for India. “In fact, my ideal opening pair would be Sehwag and Sachin,” Srikkanth added. The dashing former opening batsman, who was the top-scorer in India’s innings in the 1983 cup winning final, said the master blaster along with Sehwag and skipper Sourav could rotate the openers’ slot among themselves depending upon who India was playing and the condition of the wicket.
UNI
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Kumble vows to do better Durban, February 4 By his own lofty standards, Kumble has had a very lean season last year. He claimed just 19 wickets from 20 one-day internationals last year at a poor average of 46.31 though he did much better in the 10 Test matches, taking 49 wickets at an average of 27.67. However, the bowler sought to dispel all doubts that he was past his prime and might be considering retirement.
PTI |
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Favourites
Lanka hope to erase bad memories If experience was all that was needed to win the 2003 World Cup, then Sri Lanka could be called the winners from the time they announced their squad for the tournament. With the inclusion of stalwarts such as their captain Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Atapattu, Mahela Jayawardene, Aravinda DeSilva, Hashan Tillakaratne, Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas, there is more experience amongst that lot than some teams can muster amongst their entire squad. Jayasuriya, DeSilva, Muralitharan and Vaas have between them just two less than a thousand one day games and Sri Lanka will be looking to them to carry the bulk of the fight to the opposition. Like good wine, Aravinda De Silva’s talent has not diminished with age and he is still a very important member of this team. One only has to look back to the recent ICC Trophy in Sri Lanka to see how his experience and talent will be a valuable asset to the captain and team. It was in the match against Australia when the Australian openers threatened to take the match completely away in the opening overs with their power hitting, that Aravinda went to his captain and the end result of the conference was that he was given the ball to bowl the next over. He would never be considered as an outstanding attacking bowler, not with 97 wickets from his 298 games but he did what was needed. He dismissed the openers and pretty much stalled the Aussie innings. His batting talent should play an even bigger role for his team. Eleven centuries and 62 half centuries with a strike rate of over 80 runs per hundred balls faced is a very impressive record. Sanath Jayasuriya, just a touch behind Aravinda in matches played has over the years proved to be a very demanding opening batsman to bowl to. He can be like a hurricane within the first 15 overs when the field restrictions are in place and only two fielders are allowed outside the 30 yard circle. Many bowlers have just been blown away out of the attack as his record of 15 centuries and 52 half centuries testify but added to that is his phenomenal strike rate of almost 90 runs per 100 balls faced. Like Aravinda, his game is not one dimensional as his bowling has been very influential, although not so much in the recent past, in the outcome of many close games. There are a lot of specialist bowlers in this tournament that cannot lay claim to having taken four wickets in an innings six times and five wickets in an innings three times. With the supporting act of Mahela Jayawardene, Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Sangakarra and Hashan Tillekaratne, Sri Lanka should be able to get lots of runs on the board. It will then be up to the great Muralitharan and the seemingly overworked Chaminda Vaas to halt the progress of the opposition batsmen. Sri Lanka being former winners combined with the afore mentioned experience has them amongst the favourites but not at as short an odds as the casual onlooker might believe. And that is because their record on hard bouncy pitches over the years has not been as impressive as they would like. Their recent tour of South Africa was far from successful and they will have to erase those bad memories quickly if they are to produce results.
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Australians
told to skip Zimbabwe
Canberra, February 4 “Heavy police responses to past protests in Zimbabwe have resulted in injury to protesters and innocent bystanders,” the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said in a travel warning issued late on Monday. “Australians should take particular precautions to avoid any such protests or other political activity.” Australian Prime Minister John Howard has called on the International Cricket Council (ICC) to move matches away from Zimbabwe because of safety and political concerns. Australia’s strengthened travel warning came after the USA advised Americans last week to consider leaving Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is suffering from record unemployment and severe food shortages, blamed in part on a drought and President Robert Mugabe’s land policy of seizing white-owned farms. The tournament will be based mainly in South Africa from February 9 to March 23 with Australia due to play Zimbabwe in Bulawayo on February 24.
Reuters
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Hussain hints at boycott
London, February 4 The England team, management and senior ECB officials are scheduled to meet Malcolm Speed, Chief Executive of ICC and Patrick Ronan, the head of security at the World Cup on Friday in Cape Town. The ICC has given its decision against moving the venue from Zimbabwe to South Africa, despite the England team’s request. However, from now onwards decisions will be taken on by a technical committee, instead of a full executive. The new committee comprises of Ali Bacher, the Tournament Director, Speed and former cricketers Sunil Gavaskar, Michael Holding, Brian Basson, an experienced South African administrator and Campbell Jamieson, the ICC Commercial Director. The ECB hopes the new committee will be more sympathetic towards the team’s request. The ICC has said that the game cannot be moved after February 9 for logistical reasons and a switch will only be made if it is felt that players would be at risk. The ICC also confirmed, after studying a report from Kroll, an American security firm, last week, that it did not think safety would be jeopardised. Meanwhile, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has delegated three of its members to decide whether to ask for England’s World Cup fixture in Zimbabwe to be moved to South Africa. The ECB, whose management board met yesterday, will consult coach Duncan Fletcher and captain Nasser Hussain before deciding on whether to request the February 13 match in Harare be relocated. Agencies
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Saeed Anwar
Shoaib’s first victim
Johannesburg, February 4 Team manager Shahryar Khan said: “He was hit while batting in the nets and had two scans. There’s no fracture, it’s just bruising. He’s out for three or four days.
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Sriram powers TN into semis Chandigarh, February 4 In fact, Tamil Nadu’s entry to the last four stage had almost been decided yesterday after they had taken vital 101-run first innings lead, thanks to a brilliant century from Sriram. Only formalities remained to be completed on the last day today. But the day turned out to be miserable for the hosts as they struggled to break the eight-wicket stand between Sriram and M R Srinivas. Both continued well to frustrate the bowlers, adding 268 runs before being separated. Sriram started from where he had left off yesterday as the play started after the lunch break due to foggy conditions. Showing exemplary application, determination and skill, the diminutive left-handed batsman amassed runs on either side of the wicket with finesse even as Punjab bowlers toiled hard to get break the partnership. Seamer Vineet Sharma, who was rewarded with four wickets for his hard work yesterday bowled with enthusiasm but failed to make any dent, while Gagandeep Singh, the other seamer, as also leg-spinner Sandeep Sawal failed to trouble the batsmen. Sriram completed his double century with the minimum of fuss and then played some glorious strokes which just raced to the fence. And when he ultimately fell lbw to Sawal he had scored a whopping 267 off 362 balls finding the boundary ropes 27 times. Srinivas, who took four wickets yesterday, was a revelation as a batsman and proved a hard nut to crack. His 268-run partnership for the eighth wicket was the highlight of the match which made the Punjab bowling attack look toothless. Srinivas played most of the deliveries from the meet of the blade particularly those from the seamers. He was unlucky to miss out on deserving century having been scalped by Vineet after he had compiled 93. With this win Tamil Nadu finish at the top the pool with eight points while Punjab and Baroda have seven points each. But Baroda are through to semifinal berth from group “B” on the basis of better run quotient. Scoreboard Punjab (1st innings): 233 Tamil Nadu (1st innings):
S Suresh c Dharmani b Uniyal 32, S Ramesh b Vineet 39, S Sriram lbw Sawal 267, H Badani lbw Vineet 0, A Sharath c Ricky b Sawal 35, Badrinath lbw Vineet 0, V Sarvanan c Uniyal b Sawal 0, Gokulkrishan c Dharmani b Vineet 11, M R Shrinivas c Sawal b Vineet 93, P Raju not out 0, L Balaji did not bat
Extras ( b 4, lb 11, nb 17): 32 Total ( declared for the loss of nine wickets): 509 FoW:
1-59, 2-92, 3-92, 4-215, 5-222, 6-223, 7-241, 8-509, 9-509 Bowling:
Gagandeep 37-7-102-0, Vineet 39.1-4-136-5, Uniyal 20-3-63-1, Sodhi 7-1-35-0, Sawal 42-5-146-3, Kakkar 6-2-12-0 Punjab (IInd innings):
Ricky not out 2, Samrat not out 8 Extras (lb 1): 1 Total (without loss in 4 overs): 11 Bowling: Ramesh 2-0-8-0, Gokulkrishan 2-1-2-0. |
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Delhi-Hyderabad tie drawn
New Delhi, February 4 Resuming at their overnight score of 260 for the loss of three wickets, Delhi amassed 492 for the loss of eight wickets before declaring their first innings. The visitors scored 106 runs losing two wickets in this second innings before Delhi skipper Vijay Dahiya and his Hyderabadi counterpart Venkatapathy Raju decided that with both teams in a no-win situation, it was better to call it a day. Delhi got one point for overhauling the first innings score of the visitors and now have eight points from their seven matches, while Hyderabad stays on five from the same number of encounters. Southpaw Gautam Gambhir continued his fantastic run with the bat and was all set to get another double ton before he fell lbw to N.P. Singh for 174. His essay included one six and 27 boundaries.
UNI
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Punjab
eves win cricket title Sangrur, February 4 In their last league match Punjab easily disposed of Jammu and Kashmir. Much was expected from J&K team but they played like novices and threw away the match without any fight. |
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Sunita
Rani gets back her Asiad medals New Delhi, February 4 Sunita Rani, who had won the 1500 gold with an Asian record and the 5000m bronze, at the Busan Asian Games, was stripped of her medals when tested positive for the prohibited drug. But the AAFI appointed a one-man Sushil Salwan Commission to probe into the Sunita Rani case, who unearthed gross discrepancies in the test results of Sunita Rani’s urine sample, conducted at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) accredited dope-testing laboratory in Seoul. Based on the Sushil Salwan Commission report, the AAFI and the IOA contested the test results of the Seoul lab in the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) meeting at Monte Carlo, and the apex athletic body gave a clean chit to Sunita Rani. Consequent upon the verdict of the IAAF, the IOC and the OCA also cleared Sunita’s name of any wrong doing, paving the way for the restoration of her medals. “It’s a second life for me. I could not have imagined a life without sports. I would have died a premature death had the medals not been returned to me”, Sunita said, without betraying any emotions. She said the past few months had been the most testing times in her life when all her so called friends and well-wishers deserted her. But her family members gave her an anchor to cry on, and she was also
greatful to Mr Randhir Singh, Mr Suresh Kalmadi and above all, AAFI secretary Lalit Bhanot, for trying their best to get her name cleared and medals restored. She said during her days of trials and tribulations, she learnt the bitter, but a very valuable lesson, that “when you laugh, there are many to share your laugh, but when you cry, you cry alone”. “I feel happy”, she said, but felt betrayed when one-time colleague like Jyotirmoy Sikdar advocated the “strictest possible punishment” to her, without knowing the real truth. She said many people were spreading stories without a grain of truth in it, like the doctor in Kolkata, who claimed to have supplied prescription of prohibited drugs to Sunita. The impressive function was also used as a forum to honour some of the athletes who won medals in Busan. They were Neelam J. Singh, Saraswati Saha, Bahadur Singh, Jincy Philipps, Mariamma Kuriakose, K.M. Beenamol, Bobby Allosius, Paramjit Singh, Shakti Singh and coach Bahadur Singh. Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Vikram Verma and former Sports Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa were among those who
felicitated Sunita for getting back her medals. India had won 11 gold, including seven by athletes, in a total haul of 36 medals at Busan. Mr Randhir Singh, who is also a member of the IOC, disclosed that the IOC had downgraded the Seoul lab as a penal measure and the OCA will follow suit. He said the medical commission of the OCA had submitted its report to the Executive Board and it will act upon it to penalise the Seoul lab. Mr Randhir Singh also announced that OCA president Sheikh Al Sabah has assured him that Sunita Rani would be accorded a suitable felicitation function either during the OCA General Council meeting, or during the Afro Asian Games, to be hosted by Hyderabad. Mr Suresh Kalmadi praised Sunita Rani for the dignity and fortitude with which she faced the vicissitudes of life. He exhorted Sunita to “daudiye (run), jeetiye (win), record todiye (break records), desh aap ki saath hai (you have the backing of the country)”. But he warned that strict action would be taken against those found using prohibited drugs. “The IOA will not tolerate drug misuse, and we will also make the athletes aware of the prohibited drugs”. Mr Vikram Verma assured that an IOC-accredited dope-testing laboratory will be in place in Delhi before the Afro-Asian Games in October-November this year. |
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Manisha out; Pierce wins
Hyderabad, February 4 Malhotra, who qualified for the singles main event with a hard fought win yesterday, stretched her opponent to the third set before losing 2-6, 6-4, 5-7. In another match, third seed Mary Pierce of France survived some tense moments before prevailing against qualifier Jie Zheng of China 6-3, 0-6, 6-3 at the Lal Bahadur Stadium tennis complex. Returns crashing into the net and lobs landing outside baseline did not help matters as Pierce saw her young rival wrest the initiative with a 6-0 whacking. PTI
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Haryana
cyclists excel Kurukshetra, February 4 Rajasthan and Punjab finished second and third, respectively, in the 40 km team time trial (boys under 18) while the Punjab Police and Rajasthan were placed second and third in the 70 km team time trial (men).
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Jarnail
memorial soccer from today Chandigarh, February 4 In the opening match, JCT will take on Punjab State Electricity Board at 11 a.m. The tournament will conclude on February 9, according to Mr Balbir Singh Bains, general secretary of the organising committee.
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