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Kiwis keen to keep up momentum
Toss crucial for Fleming Windies force draw
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Ranji Trophy: Railways in strong position against AP
Batsman who led by example Ajay Jadeja fails to impress East Bengal in Durand Cup final
Digvijay in lead Punjab Police score impressive win State Bank of Indore annex cricket title
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Kiwis keen to keep up momentum
Guwahati, November 8 But as the Kiwi camp must surely be aware, it is easier said than done, as the Aussies — who would be playing only for reputation having already reached the final — simply do not have it in their character to let their opposition steal a march over them easily. Sitting pretty with 18 points from four matches, the world champions have a nine point cushion over their two competitors, one of whom they would be meeting in the final at Eden Gardnes on November 18. New Zealand and India, both on nine points, are in the race for the other final berth. The New Zealand show at Cuttack has made the tri-series open and a repeat performance on the morrow would put India’s chances in serious jeopardy. On the other hand, an Aussie victory would make India and New Zealand close contenders for a place at Eden Gardens. “This is a must-win game for us,” New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming said. The scintillating victory against India from a hopeless situation is bound to inject a new vigour into the Kiwi campaign, which seemed to have failed to take off even before the November 6 game. However, a close look at the results of the New Zealand matches would reveal that the Black Caps, who began with a rained out tie against India, have been improving with every outing. They suffered a humiliating defeat against the Aussies in the second match at Faridabad, but went into sniffing distance of victory in the next encounter against their trans-Tasman rivals at Pune before narrowly losing out. The wheels of fortune turned a full circle for the Kiwis finally at Cuttack where they staged a spirited fightback to notch up their maiden win in the tournament. Just like their continental counterparts, the New Zealanders can bat deep down the order and this aspect came to the fore brilliantly in the last two games. At Pune, New Zealand were virtually in the pits at 68-5, before Chris Cairns, Jacob Oram and Brendon McCullum played fine knocks to enable them to set a challenging total for the Aussies. In the Cuttack game, the Kiwis, chasing 247 for victory, were tottering at 68 for four when Craig McMillan and Scott Styris put on 127 runs for the fifth wicket to fashion a dramatic turnaround culminating in a fine four-wicket victory. “This win will definitely boost our confidence ahead of the coming battles,” Fleming said. Australia, the reigning monarchs of world cricket, too have a dream batting line up starting from the two swashbuckling openers Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden. Gilchrist has already notched up 178 runs in the event so far, 71 more than Hayden whose best is yet to come. However, Fleming’s counterpart Ricky Ponting, has failed to click as a batsman till now, totalling a meagre 61 runs. Damien Martin, who struck a ton against India at Mumbai, as also the likes of Michael Bevan have made the Aussies such a strong batting side. The second-string new ball bowlers Brad Williams and Nathan Bracken, doing duty in place of the more illustrious names like Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee, have also done commendably, sharing 16 wickets between them. On the other hand, though New Zealanders can bat deep down the order, the failure of the top order in the tournament has been a key area of concern for them. “They have not been playing well. This is a cause for concern which we have to rectify,” Fleming said. Another drawback for the New Zealanders is their poor catching which was in evidence at Pune when they dropped two catches in the last over as the Aussies managed to win the game with just one ball to spare. In the bowling department, seamer Scott Styris — who put up a superb all-round show at Cuttack to be adjudged man of the match — has maintained a good line and length, while Darryl Tuffey has sent down decent stuff. The match would have an early start at 8-30 am, to make up for the early sunset, the usual feature in this part of India. Fleming has already rapped early morning starts, saying the moisture in the air made things difficult for the side batting first. — PTI
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Toss crucial for Fleming Stephen Fleming must be awake all night, tossing the coin and practicing to get the call correct. He desperately wants to get it right on Sunday morning, for there is every chance that Brad Williams might come calling again to haunt the Kiwis. And the earlier-than-normal start of this fixture makes the toss even more significant. Twice before in this series, we have seen New Zealand cut to size by the Australian seamers under conditions that heavily suit the team fielding first. I see no reason why this shouldn’t continue at Guwahati. The ball will definitely jag around a bit, the odd one kicking up on the batsmen and it will be difficult to negotiate the first hour of play. Patience is the key word; the batsmen should look for the odd loose ball to score runs and try conserving wickets initially. So far, the Kiwis haven’t been successful, but then they didn’t have a win in the tournament before Thursday either. The last match against India should boost the confidence of the Black Caps as they look to turn the tide against their trans-Tasman rivals. Their main worry is top order batting. Fleming himself has been patchy opening the inning and would be looking forward to lead by example with a big score. Lou Vincent forgot to carry his recent Test form in the limited version and looks woefully out of sorts, while Chris Nevin is all at sea negotiating swing bowling. Chris Harris too isn’t very forthcoming in run scoring and this puts a lot of load on Scott Styris and McMillan to stabilise the innings. In Oram, McCullam and Vettori, New Zealand have a deep batting card but the total failure by first four odd batsmen complicates matters. In fact, that is the main strength of the Kiwis. They have a bank of all-rounders in the side and provide plenty of back-up options in both batting and bowling departments but sadly all that doesn’t quite translate into performances during this series.
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Windies force draw
Harare, November 8 Zimbabwe (1st innings) 507-9 decl West Indies (1st innings) 335 all out. Zimbabwe (second innings): Sibanda c Ganga b Collymore 16 Gripper lbw b Drakes 26 Vermeulen c Chanderpaul b Edwards 2 Carlisle lbw b Drakes 10 Wishart b Drakes 34 Matsikenyere not out 46 Taibu b Drakes 21 Blignaut c Jacobs b Collymore 13 Streak not out 7 Extras
(b-8, lb-2, nb-13, w-2) 25 Total (7 wkts decl, 52 overs) 200 Fall: 1-21, 2-27, 3-60, 4-90, 5-107, 6-152, 7-177 Bowling:
C Collymore 15-2-59-2, F Edwards 16-5-52-1, V Drakes 20-2-67-4, R Sarwan 1-0-12-0. West Indies (second innings): Gayle c Taibu b Price 13 Hinds c Carlisle b Streak 24 Ganga b Price 16 Lara lbw b Streak 1 Sarwan st Taibu b Gripper 39 Chanderpaul c Sibanda b Price 39 Jacobs not out 61 Drakes c Taibu b Blignaut 4 Taylor c Matsikenyeri b Blignaut 3 Collymore c Vermeulen b Price 1 Edwards not out 1 Extras
(lb-1 nb-3 w-1) 5 Total (9 wickets, 83 overs): 207 FoW:
1-37, 2-37, 3-38, 4-73, 5-103, 6-171, 7-184, 8-194, 9-204 Bowling:
Streak 15-7-28-2, Blignaut 14-2-50-2, Price 38-10-89-4, Mahwire 2-0-10-0, Gripper 12-4-23-1, Matsikenyeri 2-0-6-0.
— Reuters
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Ranji Trophy: Railways in strong position against AP New Delhi, November 8 India discard Sanjay Bangar played a sheet-anchor role to hit an unbeaten 72 while Tenjinder Pal Singh was not out on 52, at draw of stumps. Andhra Pradesh, who were 235 for 7 overnight, added just 27 runs more today morning before folding up, 75 minutes before lunch, for 262. They faced just 15.3 overs in the morning before being all out. G Shankar Rao, who was unbeaten on 35, added 18 runs before getting trapped lbw off J.P. Yadav. M.N. Vikram Verma, who was making his Ranji debut, was bowled for zero by Yadav while Hemal Watekar, who was unbeaten on 4, made 9. With a formidable batting line-up to boast of, Railways began their innings confidently with Amit Pagnis and Sanjay Bangar providing them a stable start. They grafted runs slowly, but surely, and at the lunch recess, Railways were 34 off 13 overs. But after the break, the batsmen opened up to take Railways to 116 for no loss off 47 oves at tea, with Pagnis on 58 and Bangar on 51. But on resumption of play after the break, Pagnis’ wicket fell when he tried to drive D. Kalyan Krishna but could not keep the ball low, and G.S. Ram held a fine catch at covers. Pagnis was lucky to score a half century after being let off at second slip by RVCH Prasad off Syed Sahabuddin with no run on the board. Sanjay Bangar was let off when he was on 55, with the team total at 124, by Prasad again, but this time at long on, off Watekar, and made the most of the ‘life’ to take Railways to a comfortable position in the company of Tejinder Pal Singh who cracked eight fours and one six, off 91 balls, in his unbeaten knock of 52. Bangar compiled his 72 with 11 fours, and
off 186 balls. For Andhra, Shankar Rao produced the most economical bowling spell, as there were 11 maidens in his 16-over spell, which yielded just 15 runs. Andhra skipper MSK Prasad tried out all his bowlers, but Bangar and Tejinder stood their ground to hoist an unbeaten 76-run second-wicket partnership at close. Scoreboard: Andhra Pradesh (first Innings) Amit Pathak c A. Sharma b Harvinder 0, M. Suresh c A. Phagnish b T.P. Singh 21, Fayaz Ahmed run out (J.P. Yadav) 1, Y.V. Rao c S. Verma b Harvinder 11, M.S.K. Prasad b K. Parida 61, Syed Shahbuddin c A. Sharma b S. Khanolkar 37, R.V.C.H. Prasad b S. Bangar 46, G. Shankar Rao L.B.W J.P. Yadav 53, Hemal Watekar c Raja Ali b S. Bangar 9. M.N. Vikram Verma b J.P. Yadav 0, D. Kalyan Krishna not out 2.
Extras (b-6, lb-5, nb-2, w-8) 21 Total (all out in 105.3 overs) 262 Fall of
wickets:1-0, 2-2, 3-21, 4-84, 5-146, 6-165, 7-218, 8-260, 9-260 Bowling:
Harvinder Singh: 26-9-57-2, Sanjay Bangar: 28.3-9-71-2, J.P. Yadav: 18-6-40-2, Kulmani Parida: 20-8-36-1, S. Khanolkar: 10-2-30-1, T.P. Singh: 2-0-05-1, Yera Goud: 1-0-12-0. Railways (first Innings): Amit Pagnish c G.S. Rao b D. Kalyan Krishna 58, Sanjay Bangar batting 72, T.P. Singh batting 52. Extras:
(lb 1, nb 8, w 1) 10 Total (in 72 overs) 192 for 1 Fall of wickets:
1-116 Bowling: Syed Shahbudin: 16-4-37-0, D. Kalyan Krishna:12-1-48-1, R.V.C.H. Prasad 4-1-12-0, G. Shankar Rao: 16-11-15-0, M.N.V. Verma: 9-0-35-0, Hemal Watekar: 11-2-37-0, Y.U. Rao: 3-6-0-0, M. Suresh: 1-0-1-0. Punjab pile up 541 for 7 Palakkad: Punjab batsmen piled on misery on the Kerala bowlers as they amassed a first innings score of 541-7 before play was called off four minutes to tea due to rain on the second day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group A league match at Fort Maidan here on Saturday. Resuming at their overnight score of 305 for 2, Punjab batsmen added 236 runs in their 226 minutes play today and lost five more wickets. World cupper, Dinesh Mongia, who is looking for a comeback in the Indian squad, added 36 runs to his overnight score of 115. He was clean bowled by John Grand Bell. Mongia’s innings was studded with 22 fours off 228 balls in his 272 minutes stay. Punjab (1st Innings): Ravneet Ricky c Grand Bell b Nair 125, Samrat Sharma c
C.M. Deepak b Nair 38, Dinesh Mongia b Grand Bell 151, Pankaj Dharmani c Deepak b Grand Bell 30, Reetinder Singh Sodhi b Suresh Kumar 57, Chandan Madaan run out 67, Amit Uniyal st Deepak b Nair 9, Sandeep Sawal batting 12, Navdeep Singh batting 3. Extras (B 12, LB 5, WB 3, NB 29) 49. Total
(for 7 wickets in 153 overs) 541. Fall of wickets: 1/119, 2/300, 3/361, 4/386, 5/501, 6/518, 7/530.
Bowling: Tinu Yohannan 29-1-105-0; Grand Bell 15-1-64-2; Sunil Oasis 14-2-53-0; Suresh Kumar 27-2-101-1; Ananthapadmanabhan 22-3-91-0; Sreekumar Nair 46-14-110-3.
— PTI Bengal 118 all out JAIPUR: Former India player Sanjeev Sharma’s deadly seam bowling sent Bengal crashing to 118 all out against Rajasthan in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group B cricket match here on Saturday. Sharma scalped six for 18 as Rajasthan took a commanding first innings lead of 135 on the second day at the Manasarovar Stadium here. At close, the hosts were 32 for the loss of Gagan Khoda (16) in their second essay, with Vineet Saxena on nine and Rohit Jhalani on four at the crease.
— PTI Kambli hits ton MUMBAI: Talented left-hander Vinod Kambli struck an unbeaten century to help defending champions Mumbai take a 63-run first innings lead against Baroda in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group ‘A’ match here on Saturday. Kambli was batting on 108 and had put on 136 runs for the unfinished seventh wicket partnership with Robin Morris (51 not out) at close on the second day. Replying to Baroda’s first innings 213 all out, the hosts, who were struggling at 142 for six off 39.4 overs at one stage finished on 278 for six off 86.1 overs when the umpires stopped play due to bad light with 3.5 overs to be bowled.
— PTI
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Batsman who led by example Chandigarh, November 8 Ever since the lanky cricketer made his Ranji Trophy debut for Punjab in 1988-89, Rathore remained one of the most prolific batsmen. Irrespective of the quality of the rival bowling attack, Rathore always went about his task of scoring runs with the minimum of fuss. The reliable opening batsman, who chose to play for Himachal Pradesh last year, was the batsman who rarely saw his batting form slump during the course of his career. His tally of 11,473 runs in first class cricket with 33 hundreds and 49 fifties at an average nearing fifty (49.66 runs per innings) in itself is proof of the consistency Rathore showed as a batsman. Rathore somehow was not a big success in Test cricket. In the six Tests that he played as an opener, Rathore scored 131 runs. But in the shorter version of the game, Rathore fared better, scoring 193 runs in seven one-day matches with two half centuries. There was no stopping Rathore after he slammed 123 against Services in his first first-class game. After that the talented opener steadily gained in confidence and soon established himself as a key Punjab batsman. After the retirement of skipper and former India opener Navjot Sidhu, the mantle of captaincy as well as the leading batsman of the side fell on Rathore. The batsman was never found wanting. Rathore has, to his credit, numerous innings when he emerged saviour of his side. Rathore, when in full flow, was a pleasing batsman to watch, adept equally in defence as well as while attacking. Besides, he had a safe pair of hands as slip fielder. When Punjab emerged the Ranji Trophy champions in 1992-93, Rathore’s contribution was sizeable. When Punjab again came close to winning the coveted title a couple of years back, Rathore’ s contribution was immense. “I have no regrets. I only wish I had been more successful in my international career. I tried my best but I was not very successful,” a candid Rathore was reported to have revealed during the press conference announcing his decision to quit first class cricket. Rathore led the zonal teams year after year in Deodhar and Duleep Trophy matches, where also he led by example. He was also part of the India “A” squads, besides playing in the Challenger Trophy. His visit to England this year might have something to do with his retirement decision. Rathore was in England on a business trip earlier this year when county season was in full swing. Rathore was in sizzling form and played some scintillating knocks when he got a contract to play club cricket. The Punjab batsman has said that he would continue to play club cricket in England where he intends to finally settle down. Rathore started his career as a wicketkeeper, but later gave it up to concentrate more on his batting. During the previous World Cup held in South Africa, when search was on for a wicketkeeper-batsman for the Indian squad Rathore was very much in contention. Luck eventually did not favour him as the responsibility of keeping wickets was finally given to Rahul Dravid. Who knows, had Rathore continued with wicketkeeping, Rathore’s career may have taken a different course! |
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Kanpur, November 8 And had it not been for left-arm spinner Praveen Gupta’s five-wicket haul, the strong Delhi side could have added many more runs to their total. In reply, Uttar Pradesh were 19 without loss at the close of second day’s play with Rohit Prakash on 16 and Prashant Malviya on 2. Resuming at their overnight 267 for two, Delhi captain Mithun Manhas and Pradeep Chawla took the score to 324 when Manhas was caught by Prashant Malviya off A W Zaidi. Manhas made 56, which included 10 boundaries, and put on 93 runs for the third wicket stand. Jadeja, who was slapped a five-year ban by the cricket board for his alleged nexus with bookies, had a forgettable comeback to competitive cricket. The flamboyant all-rounder looked tentative and managed to reach 13 when he was bowled by Gyanendra Pandey. After Jadeja’s dismissal, Delhi lost wickets at regular intervals but a late-order rally saw Sarandeep Singh and Rahul Sanghvi stitch a 58-run stand for the ninth wicket. Sarandeep was quite impressive with the bat scoring 51 runs with the help of four boundaries and one huge six. — PTI
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East Bengal in Durand Cup final
New Delhi, November 8 The convincing win by the National Football League winners helped them set up a title clash with NFL runners-up Salgaocar at the Ambedkar Stadium on Monday. Air India neither had the firepower to score against the Kolkatans nor had the skill to stop Subash Bhowmick’s men who were leading by two goals — Malsawmtluanga (23rd) and Chandan Das (37th) — at half time. Changing ends, Mike Okoro got on the scorer’s list after a solo display inside the box in the 65th minute to complete the drubbing. It was the best crowd attendance at this year’s tournament but they never got any real exciting stuff as East Bengal overpowered their opponents with a double strike before the end of the first half in the one-sided encounter. In the absence of Bhutia, who is recovering from a right calf muscle injury, Malsawmtuluanga was East Bengal’s key player till he was replaced at the end of the first half. The first goal came after East Bengal went in probing through the right. A cross from the left found Malsawma perfectly in postion and the diminutive winger placed it to the right of Air India goalkeeper Raju Ekka and the ball hit it the right post before rolling in. Malsawm was in great touch today and at least three times he put Mike Okoro through. But East Bengal’s foreign striker was guilty of missing the target from close range. Two minutes after East Bengal’s opening strike, Malsawm again went in, past his marker and found Okoro who could only manage a weak shot which went straight to the ‘keeper. Okoro was again the culprit, the very next minute, failing to make use of a good cross from the left by Subhas Chakraborty. Air India forwards Suprit Jathanna and Stephen H Mar (substituted by Abbas Ali Rizvi) could never really threaten the East Bengal defence marshalled by their towering skipper Suley Musah and it required a long throw in by defender Naushad Moosa in the 33rd minute to cause a flutter among the Kolkata side’s supporters. The ASEAN club champions increased their lead three minutes later and part of the blame for conceding the second goal should go to Air India ‘keeper Ekka. — PTI
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Digvijay
in lead New Delhi, November 8 The 30-year-old Digvijay aggregated nine-under 207, two better than brother-in-law Jyoti Randhawa and American Gary
Rusnak. Randhawa, shot a four-under 68, while Rusnak, yet to win on the Asian PGA Tour since he started playing in 1997, shot 65. Overnight leader Jeev Milkha Singh struggled with his putter and dropped down to tied sixth place at five-under 211 along with Aussie Unho Park and Anthony Kang of Korea.
— UNI |
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Punjab Police score impressive win Jalandhar, November 8 In the women’s section, defending champions Northern Railway entered the quarter-final league defeating Chandigarh XI 3-1. Earlier, the quarter-final league match of pool B between Punjab Police and Bharat Petroleum started at a fast note as the police men opened their account in the fifth minute through Olympian Baljeet Singh Dhillon who utilised a pass by international Tejvir Singh to net the ball. In the 12th minute, the lead was further consolidated as Daljeet Singh Dhillon made no mistake in converting a penalty stroke. Bharat Petroleum got some relief in the 26th minute when Ajay Sarora easily dodged the defence to convert a penalty corner. The score was 2-1 at the lemon break. In the second half, the Punjab Police dominated the proceedings as Gabbar Singh moved the ball to score impressive field goals in the 37th and 59th minutes. In the 60th minute, Tejvir Singh of Punjab Police got a pass from Gabbar Singh and he easily put the ball in the box. Bharat Petroleum changed their strategy at the fag end and succeeded in reducing the lead in the 66th minute when Len Ayappa converted a penalty corner 5-2. Though Amar Aiyamma scored a field goal in 68th minute to sound the board 5-3, but it was too late for them to stop Punjab Police from getting three points. In another keenly contested game, BSF, Jalandhar, settled for a 3-3 draw with Corps of Signals to share points even as the former entered the quarter-final league on better goal average. The match started at a fast note even as BSF, after failing to convert four penalty corners, finally managed to open their account in 33rd minute through Cristopher Ekka who made no mistake in converting a penalty corner. In the second half, Corps of Signals scored the equaliser in the 37th minute through penalty corner converted by Chandrajeet Singh. Signals further consolidated the lead in the 41st minute as Paramjit Singh scored an impressive field goal. BSF tried hard to get control of the ball and star Harbhajan Singh dodged the rival defence to convert a penalty stroke to make it 2-2. Sushil Khajur of BSF scored a field goal making it 3-2. Signals, however, converted a penalty corner through G. Das in the 51st minute. In an one-sided affair, Indian Oil, Delhi easily ousted Indian Hockey Club, Canada 2-0 to pave their way for quarter-final league. |
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State Bank of Indore annex cricket title Patiala, November 8 At the end of the eight-day-long festival, which attracted 1,850 sportspersons from 31 nationalised banks, Indian Bank topped the medals tally by winning 47 medals, including 17 gold, an equal number of silver and eight bronze medals. Canara Bank garnered 29 medals, including 12 gold, seven silver and 10 bronze medals while Allahabad Bank won 27 medals which included 15 gold, seven silvers and five bronze medals. The Union Bank of India, with 26 medals, were placed fourth while the hosts could manage just six medals, including one gold, three silver and two bronze medals. In the cricket final, played at the Dhruv Pandove stadium here today, the hosts were outclassed in all departments of the game as the visitors emerged triumphant by a comfortable eight-wicket margin. The hosts were put in to bat on a pitch which had a little moisture in it in the morning. They were rocked in the first over of the match itself when opener Ranjeev Sharma saw the ball hit his stumps after he got an edge to it. The other opener, Piyush Rana, too, perished to a shot which was never there leaving the hosts two down with not so many runs on the board. Rajiv Sirhindi and Munish Bali steadied the Patiala bankmen's boat and the duo played with maturity to add 89 runs for the third wicket. Once Sirhindi was out, it was left to Bali and Sanjay Mahajan to put up a respectable score. The latter's innings had a touch of flamboyance to it as he cracked 47, a run a ball, as the Patiala bankmen's innings folded up for 212 for 7 in the stipulated 45 overs. In reply, the visitors were hardly troubled against a pedestrian attack and the batsmen virtually plundered the bowling at will. All the four batsmen, who occupied the crease, scored runs after getting set as the visitors successfully chased the not-so-imposing target with four overs to spare. Opener Munish Panchsra played with authority and belted the bowlers all over the park to score 79. Star batsman Davinder Bundela, too, enjoyed his tenure in the middle and scored an unbeaten 59 while Jatin Saxena completed the rituals with an unbeaten knock of 44. Brief scores: State Bank of Patiala: 212 for 7 in 45 overs (Ranjeev Sirhindi 63, Munish Bali 53 n.o, Sanjay Mahajan 47, Sanjay Pandey 2 for 25, Davinder Bundela 2 for 33, Yogesh Golwalkar 2 for 33, Subodh Jain 1 for 19) State Bank of Indore :
213 for 2 in 40 overs (Munish Panchsra 79, D.Bundela 53 n.o, Jatin Saxena 44 n.o, C.P Sahu 33, Ranjeev Sharma 1 for 31, Rajeev Sirhindi 1 for 43) Rajeev Sirhindi of the State Bank of Patiala was declared the player of the tournament, Yogesh Golwalkar of the State Bank of Indore was given the best bowler's prize while Davinder Bundela also of the same bank was rewarded with the prize of the best batsman. The best female athlete prize was given to H.M.Jyothi of Canara Bank while P. Kannan of Indian Bank was declared the best male athlete. Mr G.S. Anand, Regional Director of the National Institute of Sports, distributed the prizes in the presence of the top hierarchy of the State Bank of Patiala which also included the bank's brand ambassador Navjot Singh Sidhu, Mr A.K. Dass and Mr J.R. Devgun, Managing Director and General Manager (Operations) of the State Bank of Patiala, respectively.
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Stephen Fleming must be awake all night, tossing the coin and practicing to get the call correct. He desperately wants to get it right on Sunday morning, for there is every chance that Brad Williams might come calling again to haunt the Kiwis. And the earlier-than-normal start of this fixture makes the toss even more significant.
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