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Sunday,
April 13, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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India ready for tougher test Yuvraj developing as fine finisher
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Bangladesh press panic button Langer, Ponting make Windies struggle Kiwis to go ahead with Lanka tour Elite ‘C’ set to clinch trophy Elite ‘B’ carve out 9-wkt win JCT have the edge on Dempo Sports Club in NFL China set for a grand double Asian wrestling YPS down BCS
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India ready for tougher test against SA Dhaka, April 12 A fresh-looking South African team is determined to make amends for their World Cup disaster, a fact not lost on captain Saurav Ganguly and his young brigade, who can hardly afford to be complacent as the contest promises to be a thrilling affair of nerves and skills, unlike the one-sided match yesterday which India won by 200 runs. The comprehensive victory turned out to be the perfect start for the Indians but Ganguly admitted that the “real test” will come against South Africa, who have dumped a number of their World cuppers as part of their rebuilding process. “It was a comprehensive victory for us against Bangladesh, but honestly the real test will be against South Africa. It is important that we keep the World Cup momentum going,” Ganguly said. “The South Africans have a good young team. Lot of their players have left after playing the World Cup and the new players are all raring to go. It will be a good competition,” the Indian skipper said. South Africa, on their part, have left behind the bitter memories of their World Cup and are treating this tournament as the launching pad for the new team under young Graeme Smith whose selection as the captain did raise a few eyebrows back home. Smith, the youngest to captain the South African team, wants his boys to forget the World Cup shock of an early exit and start looking ahead with fresh ideas. “The World Cup is over and now we are looking forward. Things have been hectic and we have been working hard on our game since last month. There is no reason why we cannot get back to our winning ways,” Smith said. “We want to have a new fresh start and we have some new guys. We are hungry to do well and we are really going to work hard,” he said. Describing the Indians as the “in-form side” in the triangular series, the South African skipper said his new-look team was capable of halting the Indian juggernaut. “The key is to adapt to the hot and humid conditions here. The faster we make the adjustments, the better it is for us. We are working hard and it should be a very interesting competition,” he said. The Indians, who are on a roll, have won 10 of their last 12 one-dayers and would be keen to maintain their winning streak. Both their defeats came against the Australians, first in the league stage and later in the final of the World Cup. Delhi opener Gautam Gambhir and Mumbai paceman Avishkar Salvi made their debut against Bangladesh. While Gambhir managed just 11 runs, Salvi left an impression returning figures of 7-1-15-2 after being given the chance to open the bowling. The South Africans have a number of all-rounders in their ranks which has made the selection of the final 11 a difficult task. The team warmed-up for the crucial tie against India with a comfortable 127-run victory over a Bangladesh Cricket Board XI in a practice match yesterday and Smith must have felt happy that most of his top order batsmen were among the runs. The absence of star all-rounder Jaques Kallis, who pulled out of the team at the last minute to attend to his ailing father, will no doubt be felt but it will also give some of the other players a chance to show their talent. Teams (from): India: Saurav Ganguly (capt), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Mohammed Kaif, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Mongia, Parthiv Patel, Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Avishkar Salvi, Sanjay Bangar, Sarandeep Singh, Amit Mishra, Abhijit Kale. South Africa: Graeme Smith (capt), Herschelle Gibbs, Jaque Rudolph, Boeta Dippenaar, Neil McKenzie, Mark Boucher, Shaun Pollock, Andrew Hall, Makhaya Ntini, Paul Adams, Robin Peterson, Charles Willoughby, Allan Dawson.
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India may opt for two spinners Dhaka, April 12 “We may go in for two spinners because the South Africans are a little vulnerable to spin. We have to capitalise on that,” Ganguly said on the eve of the day-night encounter which he described as the “real test” for his young side. Since all the fast bowlers were impressive in the first match against Bangladesh yesterday, picking all but one wicket between them, the Indians could drop a batsman to
accommodate the additional spinner which could either be recalled off-spinner Sarandeep Singh or uncapped leggie Amit Mishra. Ganguly emphasised he was keen to try out all the new players during the tournament and see how they perform. “It is necessary to give these new players an opportunity. We need to have the back-up players and we can only test them by giving them the chance to play.” The Indian skipper said the youngsters had the potential to succeed at the highest level and their confidence will only grow when they start doing well. Ganguly said he believes in giving players enough opportunities to prove their worth and made it clear that he will persist with Delhi opener Gautam Gambhir though he failed in his debut match. |
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Yuvraj developing as fine finisher IT was a thoroughly professional performance by India against Bangladesh. What was admirable was the sense of purpose and discipline though the opponent was weak. Neither this fact, nor the lingering euphoria of the World Cup prevented India from registering a comprehensive victory in the first match of this tournament. This is clearly a tournament for youngsters: for them to make their mark, and for the selectors and senior players to make their assessment, and it was heartening to see so many from India come good. The star of the day was obviously Yuvraj Singh, who scored his first one-day hundred. This is always a major landmark and I believe that we will see a different Yuvraj from here on. He was one of the outstanding performers in the World Cup, and he came here with his self-confidence boosted. In the World Cup he established himself as a fine finisher, and there was glorious evidence of this against Bangladesh as he helped his side to a huge total with some devastating hitting in
the slog overs. It is never easy to score hundreds batting at No 6, but Yuvraj has the shots and the power to make this happen which is a boon for India. This is also a tournament where Ajit Agarkar has a great opportunity to drive home his credentials as an all-rounder. Over the past few years, Agarkar has promised a lot but has not quite delivered. He now has the chance to do this with bat and ball and fix a more regular place for himself. His patience while bowling was the key to his success on Friday, and he gave very good support to Yuvraj when it appeared that India were slumping. But as well as Yuvraj, Agarkar and Sehwag performed, the highlight of India’s victory was the arrival of young pace bowler Avishkar Salvi, who bowled well enough in his first spell to suggest that if he is handled well, he could wear the Indian colours for a long, long time. I know these are very early days for him, but the basics look good, which is half the battle won. He needs to work a little on his technique, which could make all the difference in the days to come. Bangladesh, sadly, appear to be going downhill all the time. They haven’t won a single one-day game in a long time and this appears to be weighing heavily on the players. My advice would be that they should aim to play out 50 overs, rather than try and win matches. That will come with time, but it is more important now that they put up a decent fight to regain their morale.
TCM |
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Bangladesh press panic button Dhaka, April 12 With a string of embarrassing defeats in recent times, cricket fans have begun to turn away from the game. Adding to their disillusionment is the fact that the team is showing no signs of making a turnaround despite a number of remedial measures. The Bangladesh Cricket Board
(BCB) has now decided to have a specialist foreign coach and has asked the International Cricket Council (ICC) to recommend names for the job. “We have approached the ICC to help us. We have received a list of possible candidates and had talks with as many as 20 former cricketers for the job,” BCB President Ali Asghar said. “The response was tremendous. But after assessing
everything we have shortlisted them to just four coaches. They are from Australia and South Africa. Hopefully before May 1, one of them will join us,” Asghar said, but did not divulge the names of the shortlisted
candidates. Asghar said the coaches could initially concentrate either on batting or bowling. “We have plans to bring some other foreign coaches under our development programme.” The two Pakistani coaches Mohsin Kamal and Ali Zia will return home after their contract expires on April 30. The BCB was also contemplating appointing a foreign Chief Executive Officer to streamline the
administration. “The ICC is helping us in this. I had a talk with ICC President-elect Ehsan Mani and he has assured me of providing a CEO. The official will spend a year here, helping to set up the management structure,” Asghar said. After a disastrous World Cup campaign where they lost all their matches except for one which was rained off, the BCB appointed a new captain in Khaled Mahmud and carried out wholesale changes in the team hoping to halt the sequence of defeats. But the move hardly seems to have made much of a difference as the hosts suffered a humiliating 200-run defeat at the hands of India in the opening match of the TVS Cup triangular series yesterday. With Kenya having made rapid strides in international cricket and even managing to reach the semifinals of the World Cup, Bangladesh are under intense pressure to perform having got the Test status a few years back.
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Langer, Ponting make Windies struggle Georgetown, April 12 Langer, who made 146, and Ponting, who struck 117, put on 248 runs for the second wicket as the touring side made 489 all out late in the second day yesterday, a lead of 252. The West Indies survived five overs of spin in fading light to reach 16 without loss at the close. Adam Gilchrist, who scored 77, and Andy Bichel (39) added to the home team’s frustration with an important 85-run stand for the seventh wicket. Fast bowler Vasbert Drakes prevented the Australian batsman from doing more damage as he took five wickets in a innings for the first time in a Test match with both Ponting and Langer among his victims. Langer and Ponting, resuming on 120 for one, ripped apart the West Indian attack early in the day as they both completed their centuries before lunch. The left-handed Langer, who fought his way back into the team after being dropped during the tour to England two years ago, completed his 14th Test century with a quick single after facing 159 balls. SCOREBOARD West Indies (Ist innings): 237 Australia (Ist innings): Langer c Hinds b Drakes 146 Hayden run out 10 Ponting c Samuels b Drakes 117 Lehman c sub (Bernard) b Drakes 6 Waugh lbw b Dillon 25 Gilchrist c & b Lawson 77 Hogg lbw b Collins 3 Bichel c Hinds b Drakes 39 Lee c Dillon b Drakes 20 Gillespie b Lawson 7 Macgill not out 4 Extras: 35 Total (all out) 489 FoW: 1-37, 2-285, 3-300, 4-319, 5-349, 6-362, 7-447, 8-473, 9-485. Bowling: Dillon 23-1-116-1, Collins 23-1-96-1, Lawson 21-0-111-2, Drakes 26.1-5-93-5, Samuels 21-6-49-0, Ganga 1-0-1-0. West Indies (2nd innings): Hinds not out 2 Smith not out 13 Extras (nb 1) 1 Total (for no loss) 16 Bowling: MacGill 3-2-12-0, Hogg
2-0-4-0.Reuters |
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Kiwis to go ahead with Lanka tour Colombo, April 12 The team was due in Colombo early Tuesday, the Sri Lankan Cricket Board said. The New Zealanders had said they would monitor the rapidly spreading
SARS, which has killed more than 200 people worldwide, before deciding on the tour. No SARS cases have been reported in Sri Lanka. New Zealand’s cricketers have always entertained reservations about touring Sri Lanka due to the Indian ocean island’s long-running separatist armed conflict.
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Elite ‘C’ set to clinch trophy Kochi, April 12 Plate ‘B’ has the daunting task of making another 188 runs through the last wicket pair to surpass the rival’s first innings total of 426 to upset Elite C’s plans. If the match ends in a draw and Elite C takes the vital lead on the first innings, Plate ‘B’ will finish runners up. The highlight of today’s play was former Indian player Vijay Bharadwaj’s unbeaten 94 and his two fruitful partnerships which helped Plate ‘B’ cross the 300-run mark. Bharadwaj, lucky to be dropped by wicketkeeper Pankaj Dharmani at 75 off medium pacer Siddarth Trivedi, added 61 runs for the fifth wicket with Sreekumar Nair (32) and 68 runs for the seventh wicket with Rakesh Dhruv (27). His invaluable knock included nine fours and came off 235 balls. For Elite ‘C’, lanky leg-spinner Nilesh Kulkarni captured 4 wickets for 101, while off-spinner Kulamani Parida took 3 for 100. Earlier, resuming at 76 for no loss, Plate ‘B’ lost opener Sujith Somasundar, who added just two runs to his overnight score of 32. Thereafter, they lost wickets at regular intervals before Bharadwaj and Sreekumar did the recovery act. Captain Arunkumar (overnight 41) looked to be shouldering the responsibility, but mistimed a turning ball from Kulkarni and was bowled for 78 (15x4, 1x6). SCOREBOARD Elite ‘C’ (1st innings):
426 Plate ‘B’ (1st innings): Arunkumar b Kulkarni 78 Somasundar c
Dharmani b Trivedi 36 Hemanth c Yadav b Kulkarni 8 Bharadwaj batting 94 Bundela b Parida 6 Nair c Doru b Pawar 32 Ratra c Badani b Parida 5 Dhruv c Pawar b Kulkarni 27 Prasad lbw b Parida 7 Sreeshanth c Goud b
Kulkarni 1 Hirwani batting 0 Extras (lb-5, b-2, nb-3, w-5) 15. Total (for 9 wkts in 120 overs) Fall of wickets: 1-83, 2-105, 3-130, 4-137, 5-198, 6-207, 7-275, 8-301,
9-302. Bowling: Siddharth Trivedi 23-6-61-1, Jyoti Yadav 3-0-12-0, Nilesh Kulkarni 40-8-101-4, Kulamani Parida 44-10-100-3, Yere Goud 1-0-4-0, Kiran Pawar 9-2-24-1.
PTI |
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Elite ‘B’ carve out 9-wkt win Chennai, April 12 Though, Elite ‘B’ completed their engagements with 18 points from four matches, they will have to wait till the outcome of the match between Elite ‘C’ and Plate ‘B’ now in progress in Kochi to know whether they finish at number two or third spot. If the Kochi match ends in a draw, both Elite ‘C’ and Plate ‘B’ will finish as top two teams while Elite ‘B’ will have to be content with the third position among the five teams in the fray. Elite ‘C’ and Plate ‘B’ have 16 points from three matches each and the team that takes the first innings lead will be the winner of the prestigious Duleep Trophy. As for today’s encounter, Plate ‘A’ were doomed to defeat but they were able to delay the inevitable as Elite ‘B’ were made to bat again to achieve an outright win. Plate ‘A’ made 244 all out in 71 overs. Overnight 74 for 2, Plate ‘A’ lost Roland Barrington to the very first delivery of Amit Uniyal this morning . SCOREBOARD Plate A (1st innings):
135 Elite B (1st innings): 329 Plate ‘A’ (2nd
innings): Jaiswal c Jaffer b Harvinder 0 Barrington c Prasad
b Uniyal 35 Kanitkar b Powar 30 Rajiv b Bahutule 31 Yashpal b Bahutule 93 Tilak Naidu c Jaffer
b Bahutule 4 Joshi c sub b Bahutule 4 Ganesh lbw b Harvinder 6 Ananthapadmanabhan c
Mane b Powar 9 Yohanan c Jaffer b Powar 14 Shaikh not out 4 Extras (b-6, lb-1, nb-7) 14 Total
(all out in 71 overs) 244 Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-50, 3-74, 4-152, 5-156, 6-177, 7-193, 8-220, 9-238. Bowling:
Harvinder Singh 14-7-30-2; A Uniyal 15-1-58-1, R Gavaskar 9-0-35-0; R Powar 13-1-64-3; A T Ravadu 1-0-6-0; S Bahutule 19-0-44-4. Elite B (2nd innings): Mane c Barrington
b Yohanan 0 Pagnis not out 23 Jaffer not out 30 Total (for 1 wkt in 7.5 overs) 53 Bowling:
T Yohanan 3-0-23-1; F Shaikh 3-1-9-0; KN Ananthapadmanabhan 1-0-12-0; Rajiv Kumar 0.5-0-9-0.
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JCT have the edge on Dempo Sports Club in NFL Chandigarh, April 12 With 34 points from 10 victories and four draws, JCT currently placed fourth, have every chance of moving further up although the title appears to be out of reach. Given the mill men's current form, overcoming Dempo's challenge is not improbable. Out of 19 matches that the mill men have played so far, 10 have yielded positive results and what has really added to their motivation is the string of achievements against tough opponents like East Bengal and Mohun Bagan. Moreover, JCT have not lost a single home tie and the clash against Dempo is being viewed as another opportunity to boost their tally. What has come as happy tidings to the JCT camp is the return of international IM Vijayan, who had to miss the previous match against Mohun Bagan due to two yellow card bookings. Vijayan, along with attacking medio Joe Paul Ancheri can spell doom for any outfit, provided they get adequate support from players like Hardip Gill, Jaswinder and Hardip Saini. In fact, striker Hardip Gill, winger Jaswinder and medio Hardip Saini are also experienced players and are themselves capable of meeting any challenge head on in the company of Ghanian recruit Kwabena Yeboah. In Ghanian recruit Mansuru Mohammed, JCT have a dependable goalie who has already earned applause for some breathtaking performances under the bar. In the defence, Nigerian stopper back Musa Aliu and Harpreet are almost unbeatable. Medio Ram Pal is another player who, of late, has shown tremendous enterprise. Goa's Dempo Sports Club, under the watchful eyes of Armando Colaco, started off well initially winning as many as six matches till the eighth round. One man who made all the difference for Dempo till the eighth round was international Francis Silveira. After scoring the match-winner for Dempo against Vasco on November 16, Silveira scored the only goal for Dempo in the 1-3 defeat at the hands of Indian Bank. Thereafter he scored one goal each against Tollygunge and HAL, the two matches which Dempo won rather comfortably. However, Dempo's fortunes nosedived after Silveira, on loan from Fransa, returned to his parent club along with team-mate Olubiyi Majek Bolaji to assist his team in the second division. In the subsequent nine rounds, Dempo managed to win only one match although the club management did recruit two foreigners — Brazilians Jose Luciano, a defender, and striker Luis Antonio. Another foreigner, Endril Channa from Sri Lanka was also recruited but he earned the dubious distinction of scoring a suicidal goal against East Bengal at Kolkata on February 3. Dempo, currently placed eighth with 26 points, have tasted success against Vasco (1-0), Salgaocar (2-1), ITI (1-0), Tollygunge (4-1), HAL (3-0), JCT (1-0), and Indian Bank (5-1). They have drawn five ties and lost seven. The Dempo defence is manned by Stanley
Colaco, who scored a suicidal goal in the match against Mohun Bagan at Kolkata on January 28, Felip Gomes, and Melvin Rodrigues with Francis Fernandes doing duty under the bar. Johny D'Cruz, Wilton Gomes, Jose Colaco and Mario Soares marshall the midfield while Bijen Singh, Marcus Carvalho, Levy Coelho, besides Brazilian striker Luis Antonio and Sri Lankan Endril Channa lead the attack. The previous clash between JCT and Dempo at Margao on December 27 ended in favour of Dempo thanks to an opportunistic goal by Sameer Naik. Lazarus Fernandes and Ratan Singh, who starred in Dempo's 2-1 win over Salgaocar in the second round, and Clifford Miranda are the other players to watch. Ratan Singh and Bijen Singh were with East Bengal last season. Abhijit Mondal, formerly of Kolkata's Bharati Sangha, and Raman Vijayan of Mahindras also signed for Dempo this season. JCT are not taking the Goa outfit lightly. According to coach Sukhwinder Singh, the Goanese are extremely unpredictable and can overcome a bad patch in stunning fashion as was evident in the match against Indian Bank. The kick-off is at 4 p.m. |
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China set for a grand double Jodhpur, April 12 With 14 points in their kitty after the first five rounds of this prestigious event, the Chinese men are training their sights to wrest the crown from holders Uzbekistan. They lead India ‘C’ by 1.5 points and the two teams will face each other in a crucial sixth round match tomorrow after the rest day today. Vietnam come next in the list with 12 points while India ‘A’ and Turkmenistan share the fourth spot with 11.5 points apiece. In the women’s section, China are leading with 11 points followed by Vietnam (10) and India ‘A’ on 9.5 points as four more rounds remain to be played in this 13-team, 9 round quadrennial tournament. China’s dominance was expected and few would have thought about any hindrance in the Chinese women’s path to win the title with players like world Champion Zhu Chen, World Cup champion Xu Yuhua and world junior champion Wang Yue in their line up. But as it turned out, the hot favourites crashed to India ‘A’ in the third round before they came back strongly to lead by a full point over nearest rival Vietnam. Having already played Kyrgyzstan, Vietnam and the three Indian teams in the fray, the Chinese are expected to win the remaining rounds with ease. The Indian teams have done quite well in both the sections but the surprise packet was India ‘C’ who came into the tournament in the last minute. Propelled by a brilliant show by last minute replacement Lanka Ravi, the team, also including Neelotpal Das, Sriram Jha, Dinesh Kumar Sharma and Roktim Bandopadhyay, has done wonders and that just goes to prove the depth in Indian chess.
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Asian wrestling Chandigarh, April 12 WFI President M S Malik during a meeting of the Organising Committee held today to review the arrangements for the smooth conduct of the championship also informed that the Junior National Wrestling Championship would be held at Delhi from June 18 to 21 and the Senior Men’s National Championship would be held in Orissa from November 19, this year. Malik said that participation had been extended to all the 32 member countries out of which Korea, Bangladesh, Syria, Uzbekistan and Japan had consented to participate in the championship.
PTI |
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YPS down BCS Patiala, April 12 Earlier, the two-day meet was inaugurated by Mr M.P Pandove, member, Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC), and father of late Dhruv Pandove, in whose memory the tournament is being held. Other results: YPS, SAS Nagar beat BCS, Simla 5 wickets. PPS, Nabha beat YPS, Patiala by 3 runs.Vasant Valley, New Delhi beat Lawrence school, Sanawar by 5 runs. BCS, Simla beat Scindia school, Gwalior by 5 wickets. PPS, Nabha beat Woodstock school, Mussurrie by 33 runs. RIMC, Dehra Dun beat Vasant Valley 3 wickets. YPS, SAS Nagar beat Scindia school, Gwalior by 5 wickets. YPS, Patiala beat Scindia school by 46 runs. |
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