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Wright backs struggling batsmen
Pressure will be on India: Pollock |
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After spectators, media thrown out
Mumbai fight back after conceding lead
Irina closes in on title
Cops ground Air-India Annual sports meet ends
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Wright backs struggling batsmen
Kanpur, November 18 Wright said the top order batsmen had not performed to their potential recently but he was sure it was just a matter of time before they clicked collectively again. "The batsmen have not performed up to their potential. The guys are class players, but they have not clicked for some time. As a coach, I back them and I am quite sure they will click sooner than later," Wright said after the Indian team had a strenuous practice session at the Green Park Stadium. "Players like Laxman were nominated for two awards recently. Tendulkar, Dravid and Sehwag -- they have a lot of class. They have done the job for us in the past. They have do it now. They will be under a little pressure now, but they are all experienced to handle all these things," he said. Asked whether the Indians were planning to make any changes in the batting order for the first Test beginning on November 20, Wright said, "there will be no changes in the batting order. It is up to us to bat well, batting is our strength." The team management may have to leave out the in-form Mohammad Kaif from the playing eleven with skipper Sourav Ganguly returning to the Test squad after a side strain ruled him out of the last two Tests against Australia. "Kaif has done a wonderful job in the Tests he got to play. It is good to have him around. But there will be no room for sentiments when we sit down to decide the team." On the track at the Green Park stadium, Wright said "it does not look like the pitch will have a great deal of pace. Sometimes you get an indication about how the pitch will play by watching the practice tracks. "The pitch will definitely take turn at some stage. I can't say when, but it will definitely turn. The first innings score will be very important," he said. Asked whether the Indians would go into the match with three specialist spinners as they had done in the Mumbai Test against Australia, the coach said "we are definitely going into the match with two spinners. Whether we will have an extra spinner will be decided tomorrow. "The 3-1 combination (3 spinners and a pacer) worked well for us against Australia in Mumbai. But the conditions were different there. Here because of the moisture factor, we may have to take two seamers." Wright also said Ganguly was expected to join the team late in the afternoon as he was held back in Kolkata in connection with his appeal against the two-Test ban slapped on him for slow over rate during the one-dayer against Pakistan. "He was held back in Kolkata with some work related to his appeal against the suspension. He will join the team later in the afternoon." Wright said his team was capable of beating the South Africans if it played to its potential. "The series is just like any other series. We want to win, if we play well, we can do it. We have a lot of respect for the opposition. They play tough cricket and we can't underestimate them". On whether the Indian team management had given any instruction to the curator in view of the Nagpur fiasco, Wright said no instructions have been given to the groundsman. "We have always said that we want good batting tracks to start with. We do not want tracks which give too much of sideways movements. Once you start messing up with wickets, you are in trouble". On whether he was worried about his bowlers who could not defend a score of 292 against Pakistan in the platinum jubilee match, Wright said "this is a Test match, the balance of the team is totally different. The bowlers going into the match are in good form."
—PTI |
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Ganguly free to play as hearing adjourned New Delhi: Captain Sourav Ganguly was free to play the first Test against South Africa beginning in Kanpur on Saturday after the ICC Appeals Commission on Thursday adjourned the hearing on his appeal against a two-match ban. The decision on Ganguly's appeal was deferred after Tim Castle, the Appeals Commissioner appointed to adjudicate on the case, decided to hold a scheduled teleconference with the Indian captain after the match, ICC spokesperson Brenden McClement told PTI from London. "The Appeals Commissioner Tim Castle wanted to have a teleconference with Ganguly and was originally scheduled to speak to him on the morning of the match. "But Castle thought it was not appropriate to hold the conference on the day of the match and so decided to defer it," McClements said. —PTI
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Kanpur, November 18 The visiting team's media manager Gerald de Kock, however, said Kallis might not bowl in the match. The 29-year old allrounder suffered a side strain on the second day of the three-day tour match against Board President's XI in Jaipur earlier this week. "It is too early to say whether he will be able to bowl, we can't rush into a decision on that," De Kock said. Kallis bowled only three overs against the President's side and spent most of the second and third day icing in the dressing room. He however came out to bat at number 10 when the team was in danger of losing the match after shuffling the batting order and were reduced to 150 for eight on the last day.
—PTI |
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Pressure will be on India: Pollock
Kanpur, November 18 Pollock said the experienced Indians started as favourites as they would be playing at home against a young team determined to make a mark. “The pressure will be squarely on India. They are the favourites and they will have to play well to beat us. We have an inexperienced team, we are just eager to do make it count,” Pollock said in an interview. “It is a transition period in South African cricket. We have a lot of young guys who have come in. They are talented, so we have to give them some time to settle down. To build a good team, it takes some time,” he said. He said the team had prepared well for the Indian team having practised on spinning tracks at the camp back home. “We have prepared well and feel confident of handling the Indian spinners,” he said. As the seniormost member of the team, Pollock said he was willing to take the extra responsibility of grooming the youngsters, particularly the fast bowlers. “On the field my role may not have changed much. You still have to go and perform. But off the field, the young guys look up to you for advice,” he said. “My job is to give them the desired confidence and prepare them for the challenges,” he said.
—PTI |
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Kiwis labour to reach 250
Brisbane, November 18 Kasprowicz vindicated the judgment of his skipper Ricky Ponting to take three wickets as the Kiwis laboured to build a challenging first innings total for the all-conquering Australians, fresh from their series triumph in India. At stumps, the New Zealanders had crawled their way to 250 for 7, at 2.7 runs an over, after winning the toss with Jacob Oram hitting a defiant half-century with three successive fours off Gillespie to be unbeaten on 63 and Daniel Vettori on 13. Warne put behind a wayward spell of bowling to improve his world record tally to 543 wickets with the scalps of Craig McMillan and Brendon McCullum. McMillan threw away his wicket when he recklessly advanced down the wicket only to be caught behind for 23, while McCullum was perhaps unlucky to go for 10 to a tight stumping decision which went to the video umpire. Warne’s usually immaculate length was ragged and he suffered the indignity of bowling a wide down leg-side, but he also had Nathan Astle dropped off his bowling by Kasprowicz. Australia had two fielding howlers, with Darren Lehmann and Kasprowicz botching regulation two-handed outfield catches, although exciting newcomer Michael Clarke helped redress the imbalance with a brilliant piece of quicksilver fielding to run out Astle. New Zealand paid for a lapse of concentration by Astle, who had two lives on 16 and 18 before he was run out for 19. Astle was guilty of not sliding his bat at the non-striker’s end and was caught well out of his ground by a direct throw from Clarke haring in from point. New Zealand (1st innings) Richardson c Ponting Sinclair c Ponting b Gillespie 69 Fleming c Warne b Kasprowicz 0 Styris c Gilchrist Astle run out 19 McMillan c Gilchrist b Warne 23 Oram batting 63 McCullum st Gilchrist b Warne 10 Vettori batting 13 Extras:(b1, lb1, w1, nb4) 7 Total:
(for 7 wkts in 90 overs) 250 Fall of wickets: 1-26, 2-26, 3-77, 4-138, 5-138, 6-180, 7-206. Bowling:
McGrath 22-3-56-0, Gillespie 22-5-61-1, Kasprowicz 20-5-54-3, Warne 22-2-65-2, Lehmann 4-0-12-0.
— AFP |
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After spectators, media thrown out
New Delhi, November 18 The Elite Group A match between Andhra Pradesh and Delhi at the Roshanara Ground was marred by ugly scenes when journalists were shoved away from the venue by policemen called by ground authorities who were irked by the reports in the media criticising the club’s policy of not allowing spectators for the match. The journalists were first barred from entering the ground this morning and then club deputy secretary Chatwani told them that they would have to produce a “written and unconditional apology” to the club if they wanted to enter the ground. As the journalists stood at the gate, trying to work the situation out with Delhi District and Cricket Association officials, they were shocked to see the police being called in to “throw them out”. With access to the venue denied to the media, the journalists decided not to report the match. The DDCA later apologised to the media. “I apologised to the reporters concerned yesterday, I apologise even now,” DDCA vice-president Chetan Chauhan said. Chauhan said he wanted the matter to be amicably solved. “I will speak to the sports editors of the newspapers. A quarrel took place yesterday. I wanted both parties to sit and talk it out. Unfortunately it did not
happen”.— PTI |
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Mumbai fight back after conceding lead
Mumbai, November 18 The hosts
were shot out for 233 in their first innings in reply to the visitors'
first innings total of 255. Mumbai then struck back with four quick
blows in the MP second innings to leave the latter tottering at 13 for
four before the visitors recovered to 99 for 5 at stumps. Debutant
seamer Santosh Shinde struck in successive balls in his very first over
to leave MP gasping at 2 for one run and then Ajit Agarkar followed suit
to strike two more blows and reduce the visitors to 13 for 4 by the 7th
over. Bangalore:
Gujarat
secured a 58-run first innings lead over Karnataka on the penultimate
day of their four-day Ranji Trophy Elite Group A match at M Chinnaswamy
Stadium here on Thursday. The visitors, who made 330 in their first
knock, dismissed Karnataka for 272 and then scored 124 for two in their
second innings at stumps. They now have an overall lead of 182
runs. Resuming at 162 for six, the hosts had something to cheer about
as spinner Sunil Joshi and wicket-keeper Thilak Naidu shared an 87-run
stand for the seventh wicket to give some respectibility to the team's
final score. Joshi scored 54 that included six fours and two
sixes. Naidu hit a six and four fours in his 34. Karnataka were all out
in 108.5 overs. Brief scores: Gujarat 330 and 124 for two
(Christian 57, Modi 44) and Karnataka 272 (Joshi 54, Barrington Rowland
59; Lalit Patel 4-62, Timil Patel 3-93, Siddarth Trivedi 2-54). New Delhi:
Former champion Railways virtually assured themselves two crucial points
as they took vital 93-run first innings lead against Bengal on the third
and penultimate day of the Elite group 'A' Ranji Trophy match here
today. Resuming at their overnight score of 153 for 4, Bengal added 102
runs to their total before being bowled out for 255 in reply to Railways
first innings total of 348. Railways (1st innings): 348 Bengal
(1st innings): A Das c Harvinder b JP Yadav 8, N Haldipur lbw JP
Yadav 30, D Gandhi c Wankhede b Saxena 18, D Dasgupta lbw Saxena 32, R
Gavaskar b Saxena 24, L R Shukla not out 90, S Sanyal b Bangar 4, S
Lahiri c K Parida b JP Yadav 10, M Lodghar lbw Harvinder 9, S Ali b JP
Yadav 0, R Bose c Wankhade b JP Yadav 0 Extras (NB-13, LB-9, B-6,
W-2) 30 Total (in 102 overs) 255 all out Fall of wickets: 1/13,
2/56, 3/100, 4/113, 5/155, 6/163, 7/219, 8/254, 9/255 Bowling:
Harvinder Singh 21-4-73-1 J P Yaadav 27-7-37-5 Santosh Saxena 18-3-62-3
Sanjay Bangar 21-5-39-1 Kulamoni Parida 11-2-25-0 Amit Pagnis 4-1- 4-0
Railways (IInd Innings): Amit Pagnis batting 62 S Bangar c
Dasgupta b Ali 02 T P Singh run out 45 J P Yadav b Sanyal 5 S Verma c
Haldipur b Lodghar 0 R Ali batting 11 Extras: (b 4,lb 1,w 2,nb 5)
12 Total : (in 41.1 overs) 137 for 4 Fall of Wickets: 1/7,
2/97, 3/121, 4/122 Bowling: S Ali 8-1-26-1 R Bose 10-2-36-0 S
Lahiri 11-2-39-0 S Sanyal 10.1-1-30-1 M Lodghar 2-1- 1-0. LUCKNOW: Tamil
Nadu's left arm off-spinner Ram Kumar troubled Uttar Pradesh batsmen in
their first innings of the Ranji Trophy Elite B-group encounter here
today forcing the hosts to follow-on. On the penultimate day of the
four day tie, UP were bundled out for a paltry 136 runs, 217 behind the
TN first innings score. The UP batsmen were trapped in the web of Ram
Kumar who claimed six wickets for 47 runs. Wicket keeper batsman
Mohammad Amir (62) remained the top scorer followed by Ali Hamid (19). Brief
scores: Tamil Nadu (1st innings): 353 Uttar Pradesh (1st
innings): 136 (Mohd Amir 62, Ali Hamid 19, Ram Kumar 6/47, R
Raghuram 2/20) Uttar Pradesh -- second innings five without loss. —PTI,
UNI
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Gagandeep shines as Assam follow on
Amritsar, November 18 Seamer Gagandeep exploited the
moisture in the wicket to the maximum and took four wickets in the
morning session. His first prey was R.K.M. Gohain, who was declared lbw.
He provided the big breakthrough to his team when he clean bowled Assam
captain Zufri, who was in fine nick yesterday. Navdeep took three
wickets in the first session today. He took the wickets of Ghose (14),
Arlen (1) and Zaman (0) cheaply. Sukhbinder Singh of Assam, coming at
number eight, scored a quickfire knock of 59 runs off 62 balls. In the
second innings, Assam batsmen failed again. Though openers Parag Das
(25) and Aziz (30) gave a good start, there was a regular fall of
wickets. Gagandeep again displayed his bowling prowess and grabbed three
wickets for 25 runs in 14 overs. Spinners Navdeep and Rajesh took two
wickets each. Scoreboard Punjab (1st innings) 422 Assam
(1st innings) Parag Das lbw Aziz b Gagandeep 0 Zufri
b Gagandeep 52 Vasant lbw Navdeep 49 Gohain lbw Gagandeep 0 Satish c
Chandan Ghose c Gupta Sukhbinder not
out 59 Arlen lbw Navdeep 01 Zaman lbw Navdeep 0 Yadav lbw Gagandeep
10 Extras (nb-7, b-5, lb-3, w-1) 16 Total (all out in
72.1 overs) 213 Fall of wickets : 1-13, 2-14, 3-106, 4-115,
5-121, 6-132, 7-144, 8-155, 9-155, 10-213. Bowling : Gagandeep
17.1-6-41-6, Vineet 19-6-45-0, Sodhi 11-1-40-0, Rajesh 12-1-40-0,
Navdeep 13-3-39-4 Assam (2nd innings) Parag Das c & b
Rajesh 25 Aziz lbw Gagandeep 30 Zufri lbw Rajesh 4 Vasant not out
63 Gohain b Gagandeep 1 Satish lbw Gagandeep 0 Ghose c Gupta b
Navdeep 0 Sukhbinder c Gupta Arlen not out 7 Extras
(b-5, lb-3, nb-2, w-1) 11 Total: (7 wkts, 59 overs) 147 Fall
of wickets: 1-34, 2-42, 3-92, 4-94, 5-102, 6-105, 7-115. Bowling:
Gagandeep 14-6-25-3, Vineet 5-1-17-0, Sodhi 3-0-12-0, Rajesh
15-4-42-2, Navdeep 22-8-42-2. |
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Kerala face daunting task against HP
Palakkad, November 18 At close on the penultimate day, the hosts were 23 for 1 in their second innings. Earlier, Himachal declared their second innings at 187 for seven after dismissing Kerala for 215. Resuming at 165 for 7, Kerala added 50 runs more for the last three wicket with Chandrasekhara top scoring with 63 (12x4, 79 b). Medium pacer Vikram Malik (3-71) and spinner V Bhatia (3-84) were the successful bowlers for HP. In their second innings, the visitors went for quick runs and the highlight of Himachal second innings was the 70-run fifth wicket partnership between Ajay Manu (33, 5x4, 52b) and Paras Dogra (48, 3x4, 1x6, 110b). Brief scores: Himachal Pradesh 465 and 187 for 7 (M Bisla 29, A Manu 33, Paras Dogra 48, Tinu Yohannan 3-48, Ananthapadmanabhan 2-38) and Kerala 215 (A Hegde 22, Sreekumar Nair 25, A Kuduva 31, K Chandrasekhara 63, V Malik 3-71, A Thakkur 2-28, V Bhatia 3-84, Kuldeep Diwan 2-15) and 23-1.
— PTI |
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Irina closes in on title
New Delhi, November 18 Irina took a strong grip on the championship to leave the rest of the field far behind. Anjali Chopra, battling with a painful shoulder, carded a one-over par 73 to be placed at the second position with a six-stroke, ahead of Mayali Talwar. So the only tight contest tomorrow may be for the third place as top junior player Vaishavi Sinha and defending champion Parnita Garewal are slotted on 226. The 54-hole nett events of the concurrently played Delhi Ladies Golf Week concluded today and Irina claimed the gross score to win the Mawana Gold Trophy along with the DLF Challenge Trophy for handicaps minus 12 and under as well as the Jahanara Trophy, open to handicaps minus 36 and under. So routine have become Irina’s sub-par rounds that she observed that “this was an average round. I should have holed a lot more putts”. Out in 34, with birdies on the first and third holes, the first from 15-feet, she holed a massive 25 footer on the 18th hole. Anjali, starting with a bogey, parred the rest of the holes for an outgoing 37 but said she was not hitting the ball well and couldn’t drop her birdie putts, except for the eleventh hole coming home. Irina, Anjali and Mayali will tee off for the title tomorrow morning. |
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Cops ground Air-India New Delhi, November 18 However, Punjab Police neutralised the lead 10 minutes late when Sarabjit Singh found the mark. Gagan Ajit Singh struck the match-winner for Punjab Police in the 67th minute, and they then dourly protected the lead to emerge winners. Indian Oil beat Border Security Force (BSF) 2-1 in a Pool IV Super League tie. Sushil Khujur foxed the rival defence to slot in a field goal, five minutes before half time, to give BSF the lead. But Indian Oil waged a determined fightback in the second session and pulled off two quick goals to ensure victory. Hamza scored the equaliser in the 58th minute while Prabhjot Singh hit in the match-winner in the 65th minute. A star-studded Bharat Petroleum defeated Tamil Nadu XI 4-2 in a Pool II match. International Sabu Varkey slotted home the first goal for Bharat Petroleum in the 18th minute but the lead did not last long as Prabakar scored off a penalty corner in the 26th minute for Tamil Nadu XI. Len Aiyappa then smashed two quick goals, both off penalty corners, to take Bharat Petroleum 3-1 ahead. Gopinath reduced the margin for Tamilnadu XI in the 66th minute while Amar Aiyamma enhanced the lead for the winners in the 69th minute.
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Annual sports meet ends
Patiala, November 18 Speaking on the occasion, Colonel Mongia said studies and sports went hand in hand and stressed the importance of sports in the growth of child. School Principal Sister Alvina presented the annual report of the school in sports. St John House bagged the overall trophy, while St Agnus House finished runner-up. Students of four Houses took part in various sporting disciplines.
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