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Michael Clarke sparkles in
I’m bowling at top pace, says Lee Lanka post biggest win against England |
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Hameed leads Pak’s reply on rain-hit day
Chance for hopefuls to shine
Pak veterans rate Dravid above Tendulkar M. J. Gopalan dead
Mahindras beat Salgaocar
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Michael Clarke sparkles in drawn match
Hobart, December 21 Southpaw Ramesh, who opened the innings with Aakash Chopra, followed his first innings score of four with 22 in the second knock as India, chasing 308 in 41 overs for a win, ended the match at 66 for 2 at the Bellerive Oval. Deep Dasgupta was batting on 19 and Parthiv Patel was yet to open his account when both the captains — Sourav Ganguly of India and Michael Hussey of Australia ‘A’ — agreed for a draw after 33 overs into the visitors’ second innings. Chopra, who made 25, was the other Indian wicket to fall on the final day. Ramesh was caught hooking at square leg for 22. Chopra, who is doing the team a good turn with his defensive batting, was excruciatingly slow for his knock from 98 balls during 129-minute stay at the crease. Chopra was finally out in the sixth mandatory over when he edged medium-fast bowler Paul Rofe to wicketkeeper Wade Seecombe. The day truly belonged to Australia’s rising star Michael Clarke who made 131 from 140 balls in four hours of batting, smacking 12 fours and four sixes. Australia ‘A’ declared their second innings at 241 for seven after their first six wickets had fallen cheaply. Clarke reached his hundred by clouting left-arm spinner Murali Kartik over midwicket for a six. He then hit another four and six from the same over as the hosts made a dash towards declaring their innings. Resuming at 57 for 3, Australia ‘A’ struggled in the first session, losing Brad Hodge (33), who was bowled by Irfan Pathan, and then Deep Dasgupta picked up a superb catch at square leg off Ashish Nehra’s bowling to send Cameroon White (5) packing. Balaji took his third wicket of the innings when he induced an edge from Matthew Nicholson (7) into the hands of wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel. Clarke was the guiding light for the hosts as Balaji (3 for 87) and Pathan (2 for 40) did the star turn for the visitors. When the Indians began their second innings, they were never on the hunt even though Ramesh played a few cracking boundaries during his half-an-hour stay at the crease. Chopra, on the other hand, hardly bothered to keep the scoreboard ticking as he took quite some time to settle down against some fiery bowling by the Australia ‘A’ seamers. In fact, when Ramesh got out — caught Hussey off Damien Wright in the 10th over — Chopra was yet to open his account. Dasgupta, who came after Ramesh’s dismissal, also batted slowly as India progressed at a snail’s pace before Chopra was dismissed in the 32nd over. The opener offered a simple catch to Seecombe on the team’s score of 66 that saw Parthiv Patel joining Dasgupta in the middle. But the pint-sized wicketkeeper-batsman was hardly tested as the match was called off just after nine balls. Besides Ramesh, Murali Kartik’s performance in the match must have come as a disappointment for the team management as the left-arm spinner is a strong contender for a place in the side for the Boxing Day Test starting at Melbourne on Friday. Kartik, who was flown in as a reinforcement after the first Test at Brisbane, hardly troubled the batsmen, managing just two wickets in the match. He suffered the most at the hands of Clarke in the second innings, where he conceded 53 runs in 12 overs for his only scalp. Scoreboard Australia ‘A’ (Ist Innings) 311 for 5 decl India (Ist Innings): 245 Australia ‘A’ (2nd innings) Rogers c Chopra b Balaji 2 Hussey c Tendulkar b Pathan 7 Love b Balaji 11 Hodge b Pathan 33 Clarke not out 131 White c Dasgupta b Nehra 5 Seccombe c Sehwag b Kartik 27 Nicholson c Patel b Balaji 7 Wright not out 10 Extras:
(b 1, lb 1, nb 6) 8 Total: (7 wkts decl, 65 overs) 241 Fall of Wickets:
1-5, 2-9, 3-28, 4-97, 29.5, 5-112, 6-150, 7-195. Bowling: Pathan 14-1-40-2, Balaji 22-2-87-3, Kartik 12-3-53-1, Nehra 15-0-49-1, Tendulkar 2-0-10-0. Indians (2nd Innings): Chopra c Seecombe b Rofe 25 Ramesh c Hussey b Wright 22 Deep Dasgupta not out 19 Parthiv Patel not out 0 Extras:
0 Total: (for 2 wkts, 33 overs) 66 Fall of wicket:
1-22, 2-66 Bowling: Matthew Nicholson 8-5-19-0, Damien Wright 8-4-17-1, Shaun Tait 5-1-22-0, Paul Rofe 8-4-5-1, Cameroon White 4-2-3-0.
— PTI |
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Hobart, December 21 “They (Aussies) have not been in this position before,” Ganguly said today referring to the fact that Australia have never trailed in a home series under Steve Waugh’s captaincy. “If we want to win the series we would have to match them. That is why we rested key players in this game. We want them to be fresh for the Melbourne Test (Dec 26-30),” Ganguly told reporters here after the three-day match between India and Australia ‘A’ ended in a draw. “We are in a good position in the series and don’t get such opportunities often. It is upto us to get our things right for the next Test.” India pulled off a shock win in the Adelaide Test to take a 1-0 lead in the four-Test series and are eyeing their first-ever series victory outside the sub-continent. Ganguly also clarified that he had been misquoted in certain sections of the Australia media vis-a-vis his comments that the Indians had it in them to replace Australia as the best side in the world in future. The Indian skipper’s comment was interpreted as tall-speak in media, prompting Ricky Ponting to comment one win alone did not make India the best. “I don’t know what people understood when I said we wanted to be at the top,” he said. “We are not the number one. Number one is Australia.” “The way they have played over the last five years has been phenomenal. They have won 16 Tests in a row, winning a World Cup without conceding a game, these are huge successes,” said Ganguly. “We want to look at the top because that is the way we can go forward. You also have to give us credit that if any side has competed well against Australia it has been India. “That is a good sign for us. We are a young side, there are a lot of careers starting in this team. If we can compete with the best side in the world, we should be getting to a stage where we can also be termed as a very, very strong side. But then we have got some high standards to match. “As a young team we want to be close to what Australia has done. But we also know it requires tremendous consistency. That is what has stood out for them. You can win a game but winning 16 Tests in a row, 11 one-dayers in succession is different. “That is what I said. We have the ingredients and that is what we hope to become. I am not stupid enough to say we are the number one side in the world. If people read between the lines, I can’t help it.” Ganguly felt the gains from the drawn game was the performance of Laxmipathy Balaji, Deep Dasgupta and Aakash Chopra. “Balaji bowled well and that is one of the gains from this game as our fast bowling options are still open. This is the best I have seen him bowl in this series. Deep looked good in both the innings. As for Chopra, he has been doing a good job. He gave us good starts in Adelaide and in Brisbane in the first Test, that is what we are looking at.” “One of the key things in Australia is to see the new ball through. Aakash does help in taking the shine off the ball. I am sure he would convert his starts into a big knock soon.” Ganguly defended his decision to allow Parthiv Patel and Murali Kartik to bat for long in the middle on the second afternoon instead of declaring the innings saying he wanted his bowlers to be fresh in the second innings. “We wanted to have hits in the middle. Sachin (Tendulkar) had a good hit, so did Aakash and Parthiv. We also wanted to make sure our bowlers are fresh in the second innings,” he said. — PTI
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I’m bowling at top pace, says Lee
Sydney, December 21 "I have got my plans for how to bowl to India. I will try to use the same approach I used in the World Cup," Lee said. "There are a couple of different tactics and strategies I use against their (Indian) batsmen, which I am not going to give away, and ways to take wickets against them. It worked at the World Cup and I will not be bowling too dissimilar to that," Lee was quoted as saying in the ‘Sun Herald’. "It would be fair to say that I am bowling back at top pace, like I was before I got injured. Obviously the body has been the key issue for me and it has come up trumps. As each game has gone on it has just got better and better." Lee, who missed the first two Tests due to injury, said his "pace was certainly back" and he was ready to take on the resurgent India now. "I know I am ready to play, I hope I have proved that in the last couple of games. What has been asked of me I hope I have achieved," said the bowler. Looking forward to the Melbourne Test beginning on December 26, Lee said: "It is the greatest Test to play in, the Boxing Day Test, and hopefully the wicket will be fast. It will be good for my first game back to have a nice hard, fast wicket to bowl on." Lee also wants to reduce his bowling average from its current 29.9 to 25. "That is something I want to achieve. But I am a different type of bowler. If you are bowling at express pace, sometimes you are going to go for a few more runs. But you are there to take wickets. There are times when I go for a few. But it is my job to counter it by taking wickets." — PTI
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Lanka post biggest win against England
Colombo, December 21 Muralitharan claimed four for 63 and Jayasuriya bagged two for five to fashion Sri Lanka’s biggest triumph in 14 Tests against England. Trailing by 363 runs in the first innings, England were bundled out for 148 as Sri Lanka improved upon its 2001 Galle Test’s victory margin of an innings and 28 runs. For England this was the third-worst defeat in 127 years of Test cricket. The only bigger losses have been by an innings and 332 runs against Australia at Brisbane in 1946-47 and by an innings and 226 runs by the West Indies at Lord’s in 1973. Muralitharan took his haul during the current series to 26 wickets, securing him the Man-of-the-Series Award.
Scoreboard England (1st innings): 265 Sri Lanka (1st innings) (overnight 563-5): Sangakkara c Trescothick
Jayasuriya c Trescothick
Samaraweera run out 142 Jayawardene c sub b Flintoff 134 Dilshan b Giles 83 Tillakaratne b Giles 12 Chandana c Vaughan b Kirtley 76 Vaas run out 9 Muralitharan not out 21 Fernando not out 1 Extras:
(b7, lb16, nb6, w5) 34 Total: (8 wkts decl, 182 overs) 628 Fall of wickets:
1-71, 2-138, 3-400, 4-428, 5-456, 6-582, 7-605, 8-606. Bowling: Kirtley 31-4-131-2, Anderson 24-5-85-0, Flintoff 18-0-47-2, Giles 65-16-190-2, Batty 41-4-137-0, Vaughan 1-0-5-0, Trescothick 2-0-10-0. England (2nd Innings): Trescothick c sub b Vaas 0 Vaughan c Jayasuriya
Butcher b Jayasuriya 37 Hussain c Sangakkara b Murali 11 Thorpe st
Sangakkara Murali 19 Batty st Sangakkara b Murali 0 Flintoff c Sangakkara
Read lbw b Jayasuriya 0 Giles b Fernando 13 Kirtley b Murali 12 Anderson not out 1 Extras:
(b-2, lb-8, nb-1) 11 Total: (all out, 68 overs) 148 Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-22, 3-44, 4-82, 5-82, 6-84, 7-84, 8-124, 9-137. Bowling:
Vaas 7-2-25-1, Fernando 12-4-27-3, Chandana 13-7-18-0, Muralitharan 27-9-63-4, Jayasuriya 9-6-5-2.
— AP |
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Hameed leads Pak’s reply on rain-hit day
Hamilton, December 21 But more probable is the prospect of a draw unless the weather clears considerably and the New Zealand bowlers can overcome their inability to bowl a consistent length. The tourists’ hopes that Yasir Hameed would lead a strong fightback were dashed in the brief period of play after lunch when he played an indifferent shot to Daryl Tuffy, New Zealand’s most effective bowler, and was trapped leg before on 80. Pakistan need a further 127 runs with little batting depth remaining to avoid the follow-on after New Zealand amassed 563 in their first innings. But they can draw heart from the inability of the Black Caps bowling attack to sustain any real pressure, evidenced by the run rate of better than four an over for much of the innings before slowing to 3.72 as the light began to fade. In the after lunch session, only 10 overs were possible before the players left the field and never returned, despite only intermittent rain and the use of the floodlights to counter the gloom at Westpac Park. The umpires abandoned the day about three hours later with Inzamamon 38 and Abdur Razzaq on 12. New Zealand (1st innings): 563 Pakistan (1st innings) (overnight 118 for two): Farhat c Hart b Oram 20 Umar c Butler b Tuffey 27 Hameed lbw by Tuffey 80 Youhana c Vincent b Tuffey 28 Inzamam batting 38 Razzaq batting 12 Extras (lb-4, nb-12, w-6) 22 Total (4 wkts, 66.2 overs) 227 FoW: 1-47, 2-55, 3-134, 4-209. Bowling: Tuffey 18-4-60-3, Butler 9-1-62-0, Oram 13-4-34-1, Cairns 9.2-0-32-0, Vettori 12-0-29-0, Styris 5-2-6-0. — AFP
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Kolkata, December 21 The hosts have a formidable line-up, boasting of several national team regulars or discards along with a majority of youngsters working hard to break into the international stage. The nine-day tournament at the majestic Eden Gardens gives the players the perfect backdrop to showcase their skill before the national selectors meet here on December 26 to choose the 15-member side for the tri-nation limited over series in Australia in January-February next year. While players like batsmen Yuvraj Singh and Mohammed Kaif and all-rounder Sanjay Bangar are more or less certain to included in the national one-day team, interest centres around several other fringe cricketers who would like the quintet of selctors to take note of their performance before deciding on the final squad. Left hand batsman Hemang Badani, who is also the skipper of the A side, Dinesh Mongia and Sharandeep Singh belong to this category. The hosts also have some promising pacers like Munaf Patel, Siddharth Trivedi and Amit Bhandari while off spinner Sharandeep and leggie Sairaj Bahutule are the men assigned to send down the slow stuff. The Teams (from) India A: Hemang Badani (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Sanjay Bangar, Mohammad Kaif, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Mongia, Rohan Gavaskar, Ajay Ratra, Sairaj Bahutule, Mithun Minhas, Amit Bhandari, Siddharth Trivedi, Munaf Patel, Sarandeep Singh. Sri Lanka A: Russel Arnold (captain), Naveed Nawaz, Ian Daniels, Parvez Maharoof, Saman Jayantha, S Kalavitigoda, Jehan Mubarrak, A Polonowita, Cahamara Silva, Tilina Kandamby, Ranga Herath, P Jayawardane, Nuwan Zoysa, Tharanga Lakshitha, Nuwan Kulasekara. — PTI
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Pak Veterans level series New Delhi, December 21 India XI: Atul Wassan b Mohsin Kamal 5, Surender Khanna c & b Manjoor Elahi18, Sameer Dighe c Ashraf Ali b Ali Zia 27, Praveen Amre c Ashraf Ali b Ali Zia 9, Gursharan Singh not out 45, Bhaskar Pillai b Ejaz Ahmed 11, Vivek Razdan b Mohsin Kamal 53, Yashpal Sharma not out 6.
Extras: (lb-5, w-12) 17. Total: (40 overs, 7 wkts) 191.
FoW: 1/12, 2/46, 3/64, 4/69, 5/101, 6/178. Bowling:Mohsin Kamal 6-0-32-2, Manjoor Elahi 8-0-26-1, Ali Zia 8-3-20-2, Ijaz Ahmed 8-0-33-1, Mansoor Akhtar 5-0-34-0, Amir Malik 5-0-41-0 Pakistan XI:
Tahir Shah c Gursharan Singh b Madan Lal 10, Mehmood Rashid c Syed Kirmani b Maninder Singh 6, Amir Malik c Syed Kirmani b Atul Wassan 16, Sadiq Mohammed c Syed Kirmani b Vivek Razdan 17, Mansoor Akhtar not out 58, Ijaz Ahmed not out 69.
Extras: (lb-7, w-9, nb-1)18. Total: (36 overs, 4 wkts)194.
FoW: 1/20, 2/21, 3/57, 4/60 Bowling: Madan Lal 5-0-21-1, Maninder 7-0-41-1, Vivek Razdan 7-0-32-1, Atul Wassan 7-0-49-1 Gursharan 6-0-34-0, Surender Khanna 2-0-10-0.
—UNI |
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Pak veterans rate Dravid above Tendulkar New Delhi, December 21 Former Pakistan Test player Sadiq Mohammad, who is presently leading the Pakistan Veterans on a three-match one-day series to India, observed here today that Rahul Dravid was a class apart, and rated Dravid among the five great cricketers he admired most, his other favourites being Ricky Ponting (Australia), Brian Lara (West Indies) and Yousuf Youhana (Pakistan). Sadiq Mohammad said though Ricky Ponting was his favourite player, he was fond of Dravid too “as both are equally good match-winners”. Pakistan tour manager and a former international Shafaqat Rana too echoed a similar opinion. Shafaqat Rana is not only a former Pakistan Test player, but has also been the secretary of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), tour manager of the Pakistan cricket team on several occasions, national selector and much more. Shafqat Rana described Rahul Dravid as a “perfect batsman, with incredible technique and amazing temperament”. “It is a pleasure to watch Ricky Ponting and Rahul Dravid in action”, observed Rana. Both Rana and Sadiq Mohammed maintained that though Sachin Tendulkar was “one of the great batsmen” in the world, he was not a match-winner. “Sachin is like Zaheer Abbas. Zaheer was an excellent cricketer, but never won a game for Pakistan”, Sadiq said. Sadiq also praised the bowling talent of Ajit Agarkar and Zaheer Khan, and rated India’s chances during their upcoming tour of Pakistan as 60-40. “India have a good batting line-up, but we (Pakistan) have a better bowling attack, provided they (the bowlers) stay fit”. Sadiq was of the opinion that if the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was keen to utilise the services of former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram as India’s bowling coach, the Board should “hire him”. |
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Chennai, December 21 He passed away this morning, his family said.
He had no issues and his wife predeceased him in 1981.
Gopalan played his only Test against England in Calcutta in 1934. He took one wicket and scored 18 runs in that match. He also captained South Zone against John Goddard-led West Indians, the first team to visit the country after Independence, in 1948-49. His first-class statistics were more impressive as he took 194
wickets as fast bowler and accumulated 2,916 runs from 78 matches. In hockey, he played alongside the legendary Dhyan Chand. However, his passion for cricket was more as he chose to go with the Indian cricket team to England in 1936 when he had the choice of playing hockey in Berlin Olympics.
— PTI |
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Punjab cops overcome Army XI Jalandhar, December 21 Earlier, in a keenly contested encounter, Punjab Police had to use all their might against Army XI to maintain their winning spree. The match started on a fast note as Army XI opened their account in the second minute through a field goal by Suresh (0-1). The confident looking policemen scored the equaliser in the fourth minute as Balwant Singh made no mistake in converting a penalty corner (1-1). Then it was the turn of the Armymen to improve their tally as Jeron Kujur dodged the defence circle and netted the ball from the left flank in the 23rd minute (1-2). In the second half, the policemen again scored the equaliser in the 42nd minute through a penalty corner conversion by Daljeet Singh (2-2). Punjab Police consolidated the lead in the 49th minute, when Gabbar Singh took control over the ball and put it straight into box without giving any opportunity to the defenders. Army XI were not in a mood to relent and made attempts to improve the tally and in the 52nd minute converted a penalty corner through by Bhupinder Singh (3-3). Finally, Punjab Police won the match as Jagbir Singh converted a penalty corner in the 63rd minute to lock the fate of their opponents (4-3). In another match, Punjab and Sind Bank opened their account in the 14th minute through a penalty corner conversion by Davinder Singh (1-0). BSF scored the equaliser in the 19th minute when Sushil easily dodged the defence to convert a penalty corner (1-1). In the second half, PSB scored in the 37th minute as Parminder Singh converted a penalty corner (2-1). Meanwhile Escorts Ramesh Chander Hockey Academy settled for a goal-less draw with Surjit Hockey Academy while CISF defeated Namdhari XI by a solitary goal. |
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Mahindras beat Salgaocar
Mumbai, December 21 Infact, the forward line of both the teams got a plethora of chances only to be wasted by some poor finishing. With the forwards competing with each other in missing the target, the lanky mid-fielder Venkatesh rose to the occasion in the 24th minute, heading a corner kick by Falguni Dutta. Mahindra forward Abhishek Yadav was guilty of missing as many as three sitters while Samson Singh was the main culprit for the visitors.
—PTI
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