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News Analysis
Bangladesh for split tour
Ganguly stars in Glamorgan win
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Pietersen call signals England’s intent
London, July 18 Kevin Pietersen is set to make his Test debut in next week’s Ashes opener against Australia, with many people adamant that he is representing the wrong country. But if the unorthodox batsman helps England win the Ashes for the first time in nearly 20 years, few home fans will care that he was born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.
Shabbir off to Australia
Arjun Atwal misses out on title, finishes ninth
Tiger Woods wins British Open
Govt keen to promote willow industry: Mufti
Zorawar ends up fifth
Bhiwani girl to get award
Armaan dazzles in China
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New era in Indian cricket begins
Abhijit Chatterjee Tribune News Service
With captain Rahul Dravid and Greg Chappell at the helm of affairs, the new-look team, with at least three new faces, one of whom is a recall, could well herald the beginning of a new era in Indian cricket as the team for the tri-series in Sri Lanka, beginning on July 30, was selected on Monday. The West Indies, who are already in the island nation, will be the third team to take part in the series.
The national selectors, who met at Bangalore on Monday, must have been influenced by the cricketing philosophy of Greg Chappell, who has already brought about a qualitative change in the way the national cricketers train, when they sat to pick the squad (now increased to 16 to include deposed captain Saurav Ganguly just in case he is cleared by Justice Albie Sachs). And it must be stressed that even if Ganguly were to be cleared of the six-match ban (of which he has already sat out in the last two one-dayers against Pakistan) he will have to play under the leadership of Dravid. And in case Ganguly fails to win a reprieve he will stay back in England and fulfill his commitments with Glamorgan. The inclusion of young Uttar Pradesh allrounder Suresh Raina (who played a no mean part in India’s under-19 World Cup campaign) and Andhra Pradesh middle order batsman Venegopal Rao must have sent the correct signal to all those who aspire to play for the country. If nurtured properly, Raina, who bats left-handed and bowls off spinners, could well turn out to be the elusive allrounder the Indian team is looking for quite some time. But more important than the inclusion of these players is the induction of Railway allrounder J.P. Yadav, who at 30 is anything but young. But his inclusion does prove the point that performance at the national level will definitely have a major say in team selection. Yadav played the last of his two one-dayers in 2002 but his perseverance and performance over the years have paid him rich dividends. The recall of V.V.S. Laxman, however, has been along expected lines. The class of this stylish Hyderabadi middle-oder batsman was never in doubt, it was only his attitude. And now with a new coach it is apparent that Laxman seems to be a changed cricketer, specially in his attitude. The inclusion of these players in the squad for Sri Lanka has led to the dropping of Ajit Agarkar, Murali Kartik and Punjab’s Dinesh Mongia. While the first two have not done anything noteworthy in the period after the series against Pakistan, Mongia has had a very profitable outing in the English County Cricket Championship and looked fit for the season ahead. The national selectors might have difficulty in explaining his exclusion. India currently stand eighth in the one-day standings. For a team which has lost 13 of the 23 one-dayers it played last year, the curve can only go up. But for that to happen (and Greg Chappell knows it very well) the players will have to play exactly to the gameplan chalked out by the coach. |
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Bangladesh for split tour
Dhaka, July 18 Desperate to save the tour, BCB President Ali Asghar announced that Bangladesh was ready to split the tour and visit India separately for the one-dayers and the Test matches. The Daily Star quoted BCB chief as saying, “The Indian officials told me that they have a busy international schedule, but we have requested them to find a suitable time to accommodate the series. BCCI secretary S.K. Nair has promised me that the position will be cleared within a week.” The BCB chief, who returned from Kolkata after attending a function, said the BCCI had sent a letter to the BCB last week, expressing its inability to host Bangladesh, citing the Super Series. Still hoping that the tour would take place at some point of time this year, Asghar said it was important for the Bangladesh team to complete the cycle of touring all Test-playing nations. Advocating a split tour, he said, “I told them to split the one-day series and the Test series if needed, like they had done for Sri Lanka.”
— UNI |
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Ganguly stars in Glamorgan win
London, July 18 Ganguly also chipped in with his medium pace bowling picking the vital wicket of Vikram Solanki. After winning the toss, Worcestershire got off to a brilliant start as Solanki hit 55 off 50 balls while his opening partner Stephen Moore (104) came up with his maiden domestic one-day century. Sourav then had Solanki caught by D.S. Harrison, while Moore fell to Alex Wharf as Worcestershire scored a modest 273 for three in 45 overs. Despite having Shoaib Akhtar in their ranks, Worcestershire lost the plot as Sourav Ganguly (53), Mike Powell (82) and David Hemp (51) came up with half centuries to take the game away from the rivals. It was an entertaining 48-ball knock by the Indian captain, studded with five boundaries and two sixes. He fell when he stepped out to hit Ray Price only to be stumped by James Pipe. Glamorgan reached their target with one over to spare.
— UNI |
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Pietersen call signals England’s intent
London, July 18 If he fails, there will be those wondering, just as they did 20 years ago in the case of Zola Budd — the South African-turned-British athlete — why a nation of 60 million people is relying on overseas-raised talent. Pietersen, 25, who qualifies for England on account of his mother Penny’s birth, rejected the South Africans because he feared a racial quota selection policy was restricting his chances of selection. It was a bold move, but one in keeping with the character of Pietersen, whose supreme self-confidence is reminiscent of South African-born allrounder Tony Greig, England’s captain in the mid-1970s but later braded “not English through and through” when he ‘defected’ to Kerry Packer’s rebel World Series Cricket. Pietersen made his name in England at Nottinghamshire before leaving in acrimonious
circumstances last year and moving to Hampshire, where in his new captain, Australia leg-spin great Shane Warne, he found a kindred spirit. In selecting him for Lord’s ahead of 100-cap veteran Graham Thorpe, at 35, 10 years Pietersen’s senior — the selectors are making a statement of intent. Attritional innings of the kind Surrey left-hander specialises in are unlikely to be enough to unsettle Australia’s quicks.
— AFP |
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Shabbir off to Australia
Lahore, July 18 “The News” quoted PCB Director Saleem Altaf as saying that the board had sought the help of biomechanic experts Darryl Foster and professor Bruce Elliot to save the career of the promising bowler. According to the report, Shabbir would leave for Perth to work on his bowling action at the University of Western Australia.
— UNI |
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Arjun Atwal misses out on title, finishes ninth
Endicott (New York), July 18 In a low-scoring tournament, Atwal started the day at 18-under in tied second position, but then added only a two-under 70 to finish at 20-under 268 and in the tied ninth place. Jason Bohn, who at 19 had won a million dollar hole-in-one shootout, made a clutch putt on the final hole to keep the lead with which came the title and a cheque of $ 540,000. Bohn edged his playing partner, Ryan Palmer (67), J.P. Hayes (66), John Rollins and Brendan Jones (68) by a shot. Atwal, who was among the leaders in birdie count, had three on the front nine, till which point he was very much in contention. He birdied the second, fifth and seventh to turn in three-under. On the back nine, he managed just one on the 14th, but worse, he bogeyed twice. In his previous three rounds, he had not dropped a single shot on the back nine of the course. Atwal seemed to recover from the bogey on the 13th, when he birdied the 14th. But he missed a short six-foot putt for birdie on the 15th and then could not sink a 14-footer for birdie on par-four 17th. Before that on the 16th, which he had birdied in his previous three rounds, he went into the rough and managed only a par. On the 18th, he missed a short four-foot par and ended with
a bogey. As it happened in the second round, he made just one birdie from four par-fives and on a good scoring course like this one, he could ill-afford that on a final day. He needed 28 putts for the third day in a row, but what really let him down was his driving accuracy which dropped to just 50 per cent, his worst of the week. Atwal’s cheque of $ 78,000 takes him past $ 770,000 and confirmed his full card for the next season. Another positive, as Atwal put it, was the season’s third top-10 after his tied second place in Bell South Classic and tied fifth in Zurich Classic of New Orleans. He now goes into the next week for the US Bank Championships in Milwaukee. Bohn, (32), who was tied with Atwal after third round, closed with a second straight six-under bogey-free 66 for his first PGA Tour victory. His total of 24-under also gave him a tournament record total at the BC Open. The previous tournament record in relation to par was 22-under, set in 2001 by Jeff Sluman and Paul Gow. Brendan Jones, who held a one-shot lead entering the final round, sparkled with three straight birdies at the finish, but his three bogeys earlier on cost him a shot at the title. Ben Crane (64), Michael Allen (64) and Mathias Gronberg (66) of Sweden were two behind in tied sixth.
—PTI |
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Tiger Woods wins British Open
St Andrews (Scotland), July 18 Back to his very best form, the 29-year-old American fired a two-under-par 70 in breezy conditions on the Old Course to finish at 14-under 274. Leader from day one after opening with a 66, Woods was never headed during the week although his advantage was briefly cut to one on the last day when he bogeyed the par-four 10th after driving into a greenside pot bunker. His playing partner Jose Maria Olazabal of Spain and Briton Colin Montgomerie had been his closest challengers but both fell away soon afterwards.
— Reuters |
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Govt keen to promote willow industry: Mufti
Srinagar, July 18 He was addressing a function at Sethar, near Beijbehara, in Anantnag district, after laying the foundation stone of a common facility centre for the cricket bat industry, the first of its kind in the state. He said cricket bats produced in Kashmir were made of good quality willow, and gave an assurance that poor quality cricket bats would not be sold in the name of Kashmiri products, as had been the case with Kashmiri shawls. He said this affected the name and market of the famous handicraft of the valley. Proposing ‘Kashmir Willow’ as the brand name for locally manufactured cricket bats, Mufti stressed the need for scientific seasoning of willow clefts and said a seasoning plant would be set up within three or four months. He said the manufacturers depended on natural seasoning, which was time-consuming. The proposed plant would save time and enhance the quality of cricket bats. Setting July 13, 2006, as the deadline for completion of the Rs 5.72 crore project, Mufti said 300 kanals more would be acquired to raise a cricket bat cluster here, where tourists and visitors could have live demonstration of the bat-manufacturing process. He said an exhibition of cricket bats would be held next week at the project site. He asked the Industries Department to construct a guest house for buyers who would be visiting the centre. He said the J&K Bank branch would be set up in the cluster for the convenience of unit holders. The common facility centre would have all modern trading facilities like showrooms, market and banking and communication facilities for the benefit of bat manufacturing community. In order to encourage local manufacturers, the government had stopped the export of willow clefts from the valley. The industry directly or indirectly provided employment to about 50, 000 people. |
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Zorawar ends up fifth
New Delhi, July 18 Italian Emanuele Bernasconi, who also scored 123 in the preliminary round, carried his good form into the final, with a score of 23, to win the gold with a total of 146, according to information received here. Erminio Frasca, also from Italy, took the silver with 145 points (122+23) while Mario Filipovic of Slovakia claimed the bronze after a tie-shoot with a score of 144 (123+21). Mansher Singh (116) finished 51st and Anwer Sultan (111) ended 71st as India finished ninth in team standings. Another impressive Indian performance came in women’s skeet, where Arti Singh Rao finished 11th with a total of 69/75. In men’s skeet, Amit Sanghi returned 18th with a total of 120. — PTI
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Bhiwani girl to get award
Bhiwani, July 18 He said the Government of India had instituted this award to encourage the children between 4 and 15 years of age for their exemplary achievements in education, art and culture and sports. Under this scheme, one child was being chosen for the gold medal, Rs 20,000 and a certificate of appreciation. One child was being chosen in each state to confer the award, carrying a silver medal, Rs 10,000 and a certificate of appreciation. He said Aarti had been chosen for her outstanding performance in athletics. |
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Armaan dazzles in China
New Delhi, July 18 At Beijing’s 2.4-km Goldensport circuit yesterday, Ebrahim put up a fine effort, finishing third in the championship classification, braving some serious gearbox problems, JK Tyres said in a press note here today.
— PTI
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