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Thursday,
July 10, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Vaughan powers England win
A real Bothamesque
feat by Flintoff SA played below par: Smith Full ties when time is right: Sinha Pak court summons
Akhtar |
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Beckham gets
green signal Sasikiran extends lead Sahara to hockey team’s
rescue Bimal Lakra's rise in
hockey Air-India, TN XI win India thrash Bangladesh Delhi to host wrestling meet Top athletes to
participate Indian spikers
in quarters 2 Karnal players
bag bronze medals
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Vaughan powers England win
Birmingham, July 8 Vaughan, in what was a dress rehearsal for Saturday’s Lord’s final, faced 115 balls, including 15 fours in a morale-boosting innings yesterday. Rikki Clarke’s 37 was also his best one-day international score, the Surrey allrounder sharing a stand of 64 in 67 balls with Vaughan. Disappointingly for England, Vaughan was out lbw padding up to medium-pacer Andrew Hall with England five runs short of victory while Clarke was lbw to spinner Paul Adams with the scores level. Chris Read and Ashley Giles were both not out as Andrew Hall’s wide ended the match. Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff (54) shared a stand of 100 in 104 balls after England wobbled at 30 for three before the all-rounder’s top-edged hook off Makhaya Ntini was caught by Adams at fine leg. Earlier, Lancashire fast bowler James Anderson took four for 38 as South Africa were held to 198 for nine after Proteas captain Graeme Smith won the toss. That represented a recovery from 104 for seven inside 25 overs. But an eighth-wicket stand of 71 between Martin van Jaarsveld (45) and Adams, 33 not out, South Africa’s bowlers something to defend. And they responded by removing both England openers with the score on 11. Vikram Solanki, trying to pull Ntini from outside off-stump, was caught at mid-on by Andre Nel for two. Shaun Pollock, one of four survivors from the Proteas team that exited the World Cup in a tied semi-final against eventual champions Australia in South Africa’s last match at Edgbaston four years ago, then had Marcus Trescothick taken in the slips by Hall for eight. Allrounder Jacques Kallis struck first ball, bowling Anthony McGrath (11) to leave England 30 for three. But Vaughan and Flintoff put England’s middle-order problems behind them. SCOREBOARD South Africa Smith c McGrath b Flintoff 45 Gibbs c Clarke b Gough 2 Kallis c Flintoff b Johnson 15 Hall lbw b Johnson 3 Rudolph c McGrath b Anderson 16 Boucher c Trescothick b Anderson 13 Jaarsveld lbw b McGrath 45 Pollock c Flintoff b Anderson 0 Adams not out 33 Nel c Flintoff b Anderson 1 Ntini not out 10 Extras:
(lb-6 w-8 nb-1) 15 Total: (9 wkts, 50 overs) 198 FoW: 1-28 2-65 3-67 4-74 5-99 6-104 7-104 8-175 9-177 Bowling:
Anderson 10-2-38-4, Gough 10-3-29-1 (nb-1), Johnson 8-1-34-2 (w-3), Flintoff 9-0-47-1 (w-4), Giles 10-0-29-0 (w-1), McGrath 3-0-15-1 England Trescothick c Hall b
Solanki c Nel b Ntini 2 Vaughan lbw b Hall 83 McGrath b Kallis 11 Flintoff c Adams b Ntini 54 Clarke lbw b Adams 37 Read not out 0 Giles not out 0 Extras:
(b-1 w-3) 4 Total: (6 wkts, 39 overs) 199 FoW: 1-11 2-11 3-30 4-130 5-194 6-198 Bowling: Pollock 6-1-15-1, Ntini 6-0-30-2 (w-1), Kallis 6-0-43-1, Nel 8-1-38-0 (w-1), Adams 6-0-44-1, Hall 7-0-28-1 (w-1)
— Reuters |
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A real Bothamesque feat by Flintoff
London, July 9 It proved, predictably, an all-round kiss of death.
Flintoff, barely out of his teens, flopped and soon the country’s more popular newspapers were writing off the Lancastrian as a lager-swilling, burger-devouring no hoper. They reported in full detail when the all rounder’s weight neared the 18-stone mark to overtake world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis and prompt England coach Duncan Fletcher to issue dire warnings over Flintoff’s future. That was then. Yesterday, the 25-year-old Flintoff produced a display that Botham himself, he of 393 Test wickets and 5.200 runs as well as 145 one-day international wickets and .113 runs, would have been proud of. While his bowling was not at its best against South Africa in a one-day triangular series encounter at Edgbaston, Flintoff still managed a wicket with his fifth ball, the not insignificant one of Graeme Smith after an ominously fluent 45 runs from 39 balls. Flintoff then claimed three catches at the centre of a fine fielding display before carting the South African bowling to all corners as he hit 54 off 40 deliveries, including the one six of the match. Typically, he got out to Makhaya Ntini going for another hook for six, that after grinning his way through a bombardment from South Africa’s short-fused quick bowler Andre Nel. It was a real Bothamesque feat early in England’s four-wicket win, however, which really caught the eye. Standing at third slip and acting as a one-man close-catching cordon, the gaint Lancastrian, 6ft 4 ins in his socks, leapt right and threw out a hand instinctively to catch Jacques Kallis off Richard Johnson. Kallis, with an average of 314 and two centuries from his previous three innings, this time departed for 15. Flintoff the showman puffed out his chest and held his arms aloft for the Edgbaston crowd. Flintoff’s career statistics in contrast, deserve little chest puffing and remain well short of what is required from a genuine all rounder. But the improvement in both batting and seam bowling has been marked in recent seasons. There has even been a Test century, 137 against New Zealand in Christchurch, surely the mark of growing maturity. Botham, part of the sky Television commentary team at Edgbaston yesterday, thinks so. “I think he’s just coming of age” he said. “He’s been pushed up the order to number five and responded to that. He’s our key one-day bowler and has a strong arm and magnificent hands. “He’s had this dreadful tag attached to him, as England’s next great all rounder, but in the end, he’s Andrew Flintoff. That’s the person I want to watch. I hope this is the start of 10 great years.” —
Reuters |
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SA
played below par: Smith Birmingham England, July 9 England reached a modest victory target of 199 with 11 overs to spare, captain Michael Vaughan and all rounder Andrew Flintoff both scoring fluent half centuries. "I don't think you can just say we weren't good enough on the day — I think we played badly," Smith said. "We got off to a reasonable start but we didn't capitalise on it. A couple of good catches stuck for England and on another day they go for four. But we lacked a plan with our bowling. "We've been so good in the last few games but today, perhaps because we felt we needed a wicket every ball, we weren't patient enough. "At 30 for three we needed to build pressure with Flintoff coming in and we weren't able to do that," he said. The result meant little in terms of the tournament itself as both sides had already qualified for Saturday's final at Lords. Despite this, Smith said defeat was still hard to stomach. "It's no less bitter. The only reason that it could be better is that it happened today and we've got just under a week to learn from it. Again, we can go back and put things right. "We've been superb up until today, but today we lost the plot again. Not badly — we can get it back and still put England under pressure in the final by playing some very decent cricket," Smith said.
— Reuters |
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Full
ties when time is right: Sinha
New Delhi, July 9 “Cricket will form part of the normalisation process. When we find that the time is right, we will resume sporting ties on a bilateral basis,” External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha said during an interaction with PTI staffers here. Encouraged by the recent peace initiatives by the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Indian cricket board had made a formal request to the government for resumption of cricketing ties with Pakistan to avoid being “isolated” in international cricket. Both India and Pakistan have proposed to resume ties by playing a one-day match on home and away basis in September this year but the proposal is still to be cleared by the government. Pakistan last toured India in 2000 after which the only cricket competition between the two countries has been in the World Cup. As part of its policy, the Indian government had refused permission to the national cricket team to visit Pakistan for a scheduled tour in April. Pakistan is scheduled to travel to India for a Test series next February, but it has said it would not allow the team to go until India agrees to allow its team to visit Pakistan.
—PTI |
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Pak
court summons Akhtar Karachi, July 9 Akhtar has been summoned to appear on July 27 after a private citizen moved the petition, they said. The 27-year-old, known as the “Rawalpindi Express” for his extraordinary pace and famous for his verbal outbursts, told Britain’s The Guardian newspaper: “Imagine if I was playing for Australia with Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie softening them up, then I come on, I would have got more wickets than anyone ever, mate.” He went on: “Because when I play for Pakistan, with Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis they are in decline. They were great but they are not match-winning bowlers any more. So, I have to make it all happen on my own.” The petitioner said Akhtar’s remarks were an affront to Pakistani pride and that he should be punished. Akhtar is unlikely to appear at the first hearing as he is currently playing for Durham in England. He will also skip Pakistan’s home series against Bangladesh next month before returning home late September. Akhtar, who recorded a second 100-miles per hour bowl during Pakistan’s shambling first-round exit from the World Cup this year, was told to mind his off and on-field behaviour by cricket chief Tauqir Zia before Pakistan’s tour of Sri Lanka two months ago. Despite that, Akhtar was suspended for two matches on charges of ball tampering during a tri-series in Sri Lanka. Since then he has kept a low profile.
— AFP
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Beckham gets green signal
Hong Kong, July 9 The Spanish champions with new-boy Beckham will take on the Chinese national side at Hong Kong’s stadium on August 8 as part of the territory’s package of events to help kickstart its ailing tourism industry. “The visit of the top Spanish football team, which boasts of some of the world’s most popular superstars including Bekcham, Zidane and Ronaldo, will showcase Hong Kong as a truly world- class city, and ideal venue for international sports and cultural events, and a powerful magnet for investment and tourism,” said Hong Kong Secretary for Home Affairs Patrick Ho after a contract signing ceremony paving the way for the game. Real will visit the former British colony as part of an Asian tour that will take it to China, Japan and Malaysia. Beckham is a big draw in East Asia. On a recent solo promotional tour he was greeted by hundreds of fans at stops in Japan, Thailand and Malaysia. With Bekcham, and the publicity machine that accompanies him, Real Madrid will be looking to open up the lucrative Asian market where football is growing increasingly popular. “The enthusiasm generated by the duel between this super squad and our national team will no doubt stimulate domestic spending too,” Ho said. The match is a centrepiece of the Relaunch Hong Kong campaign, created in the wake of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome virus outbreak, which frightened tourists away from Asia and decimated the tourism industry. — AFP
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Sasikiran extends lead Esbjerg (Denmark), July 9 Sasikiran and English GM Luke McShane, both of whom have four points, stretched their lead to a full point over nearest rivals — top seed GM Alexey Dreev of Russia and Danish star Curt Hansen — after their victories in the fifth round matches. Danish GMs Lars Schandorff and Peter Heine Nielsen, and Poland’s Michal Krasenkow share the fifth spot with 2.5 points apiece while Bruzon Lazaro was pushed down to eighth position after suffering his second successive loss in the tournament. In ninth position is Lenier on 1.5 points while Koneru Humpy remained at the bottom of the table without any score. Four more rounds remain to be played in this 10-player round- robin tournament. It is the ability and the will to carry on that matters in Grandmasters chess and Sasikiran showed that he had both in plenty. Having won a game of fluctuating fortunes against Lazaro in the previous round, Sasikiran did not show any sign of fatigue and carried on nonchalantly with his white pieces. Dominiguez employed the Slav defence and Sasikiran managed a slightly better position as the middle game surfaced. The Cuban had a few technicalities to take care of and he did not falter in the complexities to net a dynamically balanced endgame with just a slightly weakened pawn structure on the kingside. Sasikiran, however, appeared to be waiting just for that as the resulting endgame did not have any fine-prints for Dominiguez and he needed to defend just accurately to salvage half a point. As it happened, Dominiguez faltered and lost a pawn on the 46th move when the game had finally taken shape in a rook and minor piece endgame. Thereafter, Sasikiran swapped another pawn and the resulting rooks and pawns endgame with two extra pawns was child’s play. Dominiguez resigned on his 64th turn. Krasenkow gave a positional lesson to Koneru Humpy whose form continued to desert her for the fifth day in a row. An irregular Queen pawn game by Humpy with white pieces only gave Krasenkow an easy equality and it took just a wee bit effort for the latter to emerge with an advantage in the middle game with a kingside pawn advance. Humpy was forced to use up the remaining time in trying to work out a way to equalise but that did not happen either. Krasenkow rolled his queenside pawns and maintained his stronghold with a massive central control through his pawns. Humpy found her rook flanked and soon-to-be-trapped by the opposition pawns and called it a day after 34 moves. If the Andhra girl does not bounce back in the tournament now she will end up losing a lot of important rating points. On the other hand, Luke McShane is looking like a man with a mission. Playing positional chess against Lazaro, the Englishman made excellent use of his better pawn structure to carve out a fine victory. The middle game arising out of a Ruy Lopez had Lazaro in some difficulties as he was saddled with a perennially bad dark square Bishop after routine exchanges leading to a queen and minor piece endgame. McShane controlled the proceedings well to come up triumphs. Dreev failed to make most of his white pieces and conceded an easy half point to Schandorff in a Queen’s Indian defence game. Trading a couple of minor pieces very early in the opening, Schandorff opened the queenside with thematic counter play and the peace treaty was signed in 26 moves when the position repeated thrice. Nielsen and Hansen also played an uneventful draw lasting just 20 moves. — PTI
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Sahara to hockey team’s rescue Lucknow, July 9 The announcement comes less than two weeks after India’s victory at a four-nation tournament in Hamburg — the second title within a month following triumph in a three-nation event in Australia — and is expected to provide a big boost to the cash-strapped hockey establishment in the country. Sahara, which also sponsors the Indian cricket team, takes the place of Castrol which had pulled out two months ago citing lack of funds for the purpose. As part of the deal the senior and junior teams will sport Sahara colours at all international matches, tournaments and ceremonies, Indian Hockey Federation president K P S Gill told reporters here. “We are confident that this understanding will go a long way in regaining the glory of the ‘50s and ‘60s of the national game which is looking up, especially after the recent performances of the hockey team in international tournaments,” Gill said. He said the full details of the sponsorship deal would soon be worked out. India are due to participate in the prestigious six-nation Champions Trophy tournament in Amstelveen, Netherlands, from August 16 to 24. Sahara India chief, Subrata Roy Sahara, said his company’s association with hockey could go beyond the eight-year period as it was committed to the all-round development of the game in the country. “We will specially lay emphasis on popularising the sport by adopting different measures so that new talent could come forward and get attracted to the game. For this, more inter-state and inter-city tournaments will be organised,” Subrata Roy Sahara said. As a first step, the team going for the Champions Trophy would be sent to a hill station for high-altitude training to help acclimatise the players with the conditions they are likely to face in Netherlands, he said. Terming his association with the game as an “emotional” one, Roy said his aim would be create an atmosphere in which hockey flourished in the country. Gill rejected suggestions that Sahara group had offered to sponsor only because the team was doing well in recent times. He said the negotiations with the company was going on for the last three months. He expressed satisfaction with the team’s performance in recent tournaments and said there would be no changes in the team for the Champions Trophy. — PTI
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Bimal Lakra's rise in hockey Ranchi, July 9 When Bimal Lakra rose to fame by becoming one of the mainstays of the Indian hockey team, the sleepy village in Simdega district went gaga with Lakra's home becoming the centre of attraction. “All the families in my village were delighted with our recent back-to-back tournament wins in Australia and Germany,” said a smiling Lakra, who first came to limelight after India won the 2001 Junior World Cup at Hobart. The second among six children, Lakra was after scolded by his poor parents for whiling away his time away on playing fields. “I was a child and knew little how my parents struggled for survival. I spent my childhood playing with bamboo sticks,” Lakra said after some initial hesitation to talk about his formative years. “But I was lucky to get away as my father Marcus was a Khasi tournament player,” Lakra, who feels nostalgic while playing alongside his childhood idol, Dhanraj Pillay, said. A product of the SAI training centre in Kolkata and the Centre of Excellence in Bangalore, Lakra's eyes sparkled as he expressed his indebtedness to Father James Lakra and Father Lazarus for what he is today. “I reserve my special thanks for them. They gave me moral and financial support. They were instrumental in sending me to SAI, Kolkata in 1996 and to Bangalore, two years later,” he said. Lakra, a student of Ranchi's Gosnar College, felt India could climb more ladders under coach Rajinder Singh who has a special package of tricks and skills. “Rajinder is exceptional. He wants us to play the traditional style and judiciously uses the rolling substitution rule. With Pillay not making others feel his seniority and passing on invaluable tips, India can very well claim the Champions Trophy.” “But it's a long time since India have won a gold in Olympics and our aim is to obtain it,” Lakra, who leaves for New Delhi tomorrow for a month-long training in the run up to the Champions Trophy in Amsterdam, said referring to India's Moscow gold medal win way back in 1980. Lakra may be the hero of Tainser now, but he has a long path to travel if he wishes to match such adivasi hockey greats like Jaipal Singh, Michael Kindo, Sysvanus Dungdung, Gopal Bhengra, Justine Kerketta and Manohar Topno. — PTI
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Air-India, TN XI win
Chennai, July 9 In Group C, AI, comprising internationals like Anil Aldrin, Gavin Ferreira and Davinder Kumar, went into the lead in the very first minute through Roshan Tete. Aldrin made it 2-0 in the 7th minute following their first penalty corner. S R Kundu increased the lead to 3-0 in the 28th minute. Crossing over, Amarjeet Pratap scored twice for the ONGC and in between Roshan Tete put the issue beyond doubt for AI with a solo effort for a 4-2 win. In a Group A match, Tamil Nadu forwards, S. Karthik in particular, missed a couple of easy chances, before international Thirumalvalavan sounded the board in the 23rd minute. Bhopal found the equaliser in the 42nd minute through Athar Khan. However, following a counter-attack after Bhopal’s third penalty corner went in vain, international Prabhakaran made good use of a Karthik pass inside the box as he dodged past the onrushing goal keeper Abdul Aleem with a left dribble and then slammed home the ball. Two minutes later, Prabhakaran scored off a tailor made cross by C. Sarath Babu. — PTI |
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India
to host Asia Cup New Delhi, July 9 Eight to 10 teams, including top sides like China, Korea, Japan and Malaysia, are expected to participate in the tournament, the IWHF said in a press release.
— PTI |
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India thrash Bangladesh
New Delhi, July 9 After Kyrgyzstan pulled out of the tournament in the last minute, the format was changed to a round-robin league with the top two teams qualifying for the ABC which will be held in China in September. The Indians, who were a few notches above their opponents, led from start to finish and led 43-31 at the half- time. Such was their allround superiority that they won by a big margin despite playing in a very relaxed manner with Desraj and Robinson scoring 21 points each. Robinson also excelled in collecting the rebounds and won five offensive and eight defensive rebounds. Skipper Gagnesh Kumar was close behind with 20 points and also excelled on the rebound count with five and one respectively.
Trideep Rai opened India's account with a superb three pointer and Kadam quickly made it 5-0 before Bangladesh opened their account. Bangladesh redued the lead to 7-8 but India quickly pulled away to 17-9 with baskets from Murli Krishna, Gopinath and
Gagnesh. With around four minutes to go in the first quarter, Bangladesh called for the first time out. On the restart they scored in succession to claw back and at the end of the first quarter the score read 23-18 in India's favour. For India the other notable contribution came from S. Sridhar who sunk 14 points. Veteran Parminder, who was the toast of the crowd, appeared only in brief spells and finished with just five points. Though the pace of the match picked up in the second quarter with the arrival of Robinson, Bangladesh were still in the picture as India moved to 30-21, 36-24 and to 43-31 at half-time. But the third and last quarters saw the Indians go on a rampage with Robinson and Desraj scoring at will. Robinson,
Trideep, Desraj, Sridhar came up with superb baskets and India's score touched 52 with Bangladesh stuck on 31.
Gagnesh also joined the action as the Indian score leap- frogged to 71 with Bangladesh on 39 and when India called for a time-out, Bangladesh were literally on the mat. In the last quarter too, there was no respite for Bangladesh, for whom Md Raseduzzaman top scored with 19 points, as India, egged on by a sizeable crowd, touched the century mark in style. With the score reading 98-50, playmaker Gopinath converted two free-throws to bring up the three figure mark much to the delight of admiring school children who filled the stands the Talkatora indoor stadium. With less than a minute to go to end the match, the floodlights went off and when the match was completed under the emergency lights, Robinson fittingly sunk the last basket to take the score to 109-53.
— PTI |
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Delhi
to host wrestling meet New Delhi, July 9 Competitions will be held in four weight categories — 55kg, 60kg, 66kg and 120kg, president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) M.S. Malik announced on the sidelines of the executive committee meeting here yesterday. The other countries in the fray are Canada, Korea, Kazhakhastan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgystan, Mongolia, Nepal, Belarus, UK, Turkey, Bangladesh and Qatar. FILA, the world governing body for the game, has approved the competition and has already appointed a referee to inspect the venue of the tournament — Ganga International Public School, a press note said. A five-member monitoring committee has also been constituted to ensure professional coaching and proper care of grapplers’ health and diet. It was also decided to attach a sports psychologist with the team to keep its morale high.
— PTI
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Top athletes to
participate
Nagercoil, July 9 While participation of top athletes like K.M. Beenamol, Sunita Rani and K.M. Binu could not be confirmed by the organisers, Neelam J. Singh, Manoj Lal and P. Ramachandran, besides many others have arrived for the important meet. W.I. Davaram, vice president, Amateur Athletic Federation of India, told reporters that athletes, who reach the qualifying mark set for selection in the field and track events would represent India in world championship (Paris, Aug 23 to 31), Asian Championship (Manila, Sept. 20 to 23) and the Afro Asian Games in Hyderabad in October. He said the heavy rain last week had rendered the hard clay track “soggy” but organisers, headed by Neelasivalinga Swamy, Secretary, Tamil Nadu Amateur Athletic Association, have been working hard to make the track conducive for holding the meet tomorrow. To check doping, a full-fledged team had arrived here and all necessary facilities for dope control had been provided to them, he said.
— PTI
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Indian
spikers in quarters Chennai, July 9 In the second seeding group match, Russia humbled Iran 25-23, 25-23, 25-16 in 71 minutes. Despite being defeated, both Australia and Iraq also qualified for the quarter-finals.
— UNI
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Karnal players bag bronze medals Karnal, July 9 Navjot (18) and Ankit (12) of Shishu Viklang Kendra, Karnal, won bronze in football and handball, respectively. Deputy Commissioner R.S. Doon honoured them today by presenting cheques for Rs 10,000 each and a cheque for Rs 5000 to their coach Ms Yashoda.
— UNI |
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