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Bond sends India crashing to defeat
Four broadcasters in race for telecast rights
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ICC Awards ceremony on October 11
Sania breaks Vinci code
Irina wins title
Geet Sethi loses in semis
Narain out of Italian GP
PSEB outplay Punjab Police
Kulwinder wins bout in Punjab boxing
Pak women’s judo team in India
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Bond sends India crashing to defeat
Bulawayo, August 26 After the bowlers did reasonably well to restrict the Kiwis to 215 all out, the Indian top and middle-order batsmen put up a pathetic batting show to be dismissed for 164 with fiery speedster Shane Bond (6-19) doing the bulk of the damage. The Indians were in danger of crashing to their lowest ever one-day total at one stage when they were reeling at 44 for eight but JP Yadav (69) and Irfan Pathan (50) spared them the blushes by providing a semblance of respectability to the total with a 118-run partnership. Sourav Ganguly and his men appeared totally clueless as Bond produced a devastating opening spell to leave the Indian batting in total disarray in what turned out to be lopsided contest at the Queen’s Sports Club ground. Yadav and Pathan ensured the defeat margin was not bigger with their 118-run ninth-wicket stand from 144 balls. It was remarkable for India to come thus far as at one stage they were in real danger of finishing less than their worst-ever score of 54 in one-day internationals. From the Indian perspective, no praise can be too high for the ninth-wicket pair who defied and even dominated the New Zealand attack in the middle overs before Bond came back to eject Pathan from the middle and in the next over Yadav hoiked one to mid-off. Yadav, who had played only two ODIs earlier, back in 2002 against the West Indies at home, scored a creditable 69 from 92 balls with 11 fours and one six while Pathan smote 50 from 61 balls with three fours and a six. Early Indian batsmen surrendered the advantage which their bowlers had seized so magnificently bowling first in early cool conditions which encouraged the swing of Irfan Pathan and Ashish Nehra. It all began in Bond’s second’s over when captain Ganguly (5) and Venugopal Rao (0) were hustled out off successive deliveries and from there on, it was only a speedy downhill for the Indians. Ganguly survived the first torrid over from Bond with most of the balls bouncing dangerously around his face but in the second an involuntarily defensive jab on the on side was gloved to the wicketkeeper. Rao, batting for only the second time in his career, was a wrong choice to weather the storm and a straight yorker found its target with the precision of a missile. Rahul Dravid (5) became Bond’s next victim when he shaped a cut and under-edged on to his stumps. Yuvraj Singh followed him from the other end when he flirted with an outswinger from Andre Adams into the second slip to have India reeling at 19 for 4 in the seventh over. Virender Sehwag and Mohammad Kaif offered a brief hope of revival before Bond again made his presence felt. Kaif cut fiercely but straight into the hands of Craig McMillan at third man. Then Sehwag’s square drive was astonishingly held by Hamish Marshall diving in the point region. Ajit Agarkar (2) departed in the 14th over and it seemed only a matter of time before the innings would meet a dreadful end. But Yadav and Pathan earned some batting points for themselves. Earlier, Nehra and Pathan produced fiery opening spells to claim five wickets in the first 15 overs as India restricted New Zealand to 215 in 43.1 overs. New Zealand, who inflicted a humiliating defeat on Zimbabwe in their opening match, never really recovered from the top-order collapse, though Craig McMillan (54) and Jacob Oram (36) tried their best to save the situation with a 91-run sixth wicket stand. India’s opening bowlers Pathan (3-34) and Nehra (2-22) got into business straightaway as they made full use of the conditions to inflict the early damage. Pathan got the first breakthrough when he had opener Lou Vincent plumb in front. Soon Nehra joined the act, getting rid of New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming, who edged a catch to wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni after making just one run. Nathan Astle (5), Hamish Marshall (9) and Scott Styris (11) soon succumbed to the Indian pace attack as New Zealand slumped to 36 for 5 in the 13th over. Wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum scored a quickfire 49 off just 39 balls and star all-rounder Chris Cairns looked good in his brief stay before he became JP Yadav’s first one-day international victim after making 20. New Zealand, having scored 397 for 5 against Zimbabwe the other day, began to doubt if it was a good idea to bat first on winning the toss as Pathan and Nehra got the ball to swing a great deal in cool morning conditions. Both Pathan and Nehra struck in successive overs to remove Vincent (4) and Stephen Fleming (1). Scoreboard New Zealand Vincent lbw b Pathan 4 Fleming b Nehra 1 Astle lbw b Nehra 5 Marshall lbw b Pathan 9 Styris c Agarkar b Pathan 11 Oram run out 36 McMillan c Pathan b Agarkar 54 Cairns c Harbhajan b Yadav 20 McCullum c Dravid b Agarkar 49 Vettori run out 13 Adams not out 3 Extras
(b-1, lb-5, w-3, nb-1) 10 Total (all out, 43.1 overs) 215 Fall of wickets:
1-6, 2-10, 3-13, 4-16, 5-36, 6-127, 7-130, 8-167, 9-207. Bowling:
Pathan 8-1-34-3, Nehra 8-3-22-2, Agarkar 7.1-0-45-2, Yadav 10-1-46-1, Harbhajan 9-1-55-0, Sehwag 1-0-7-0. India Ganguly c McCullum b Bond 5 Sehwag c Marshall b Bond 15 Rao b Bond 0 Dravid b Bond 5 Yuvraj c Fleming b Adams 1 Kaif c McMillan b Bond 9 Dhoni c McCullum b Adams 2 Agarkar c Fleming b Adams 2 Yadav c McMillan b Oram 69 Pathan c McCullum b Bond 50 Harbhajan not out 0 Extras
(lb-1, w-4, nb-1) 6 Total (all out, 37.2 overs) 164 Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-11, 3-17, 4-19, 5-34, 6-39, 7-43, 8-44, 9-162. Bowling:
Bond 9-3-19-6, Oram 6.2-0-41-1, Adams 8-0-37-3, Vettori 8-0-38-0, Cairns 2-0-8-0, Styris 4-0-20-0.
— PTI |
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Nottingham, August 26 It was Flintoff's fifth Test century and his first against the world champions, taking just over three hours and including one six and 14 fours. Shane Warne mopped up the tail, taking four for 102. Fast bowler Shaun Tait, on his debut, took three for 97. The game had looked in the balance at the start of the day, with the home side resuming on 229 for four and Australia keen for a couple of breakthroughs. There would be only one wicket before lunch, however, Kevin Pietersen caught behind off Brett Lee for 45 before Flintoff and Jones revived the innings. None of England’s batsmen had taken deep root, despite scoring at more than four an over for most of the innings, and for several overs Flintoff lived dangerously. A drive off Lee just cleared gully before the all rounder failed to get to the pitch to a Shane Warne leg spinner. He got enough on it, though, to send it to the long off boundary. Jones, so often a fine foil for Flintoff, knuckled down and scampered singles. When Lee overpitched Jones, with no more than a push, sent the ball skimming though extra cover for the shot of the morning. His measured approach seemed to rub off on Flintoff, the pair milking singles. Flintoff, though, could not resist Warne’s last delivery with the old ball, sweeping it for six to get to his half-century off 69 deliveries. Australia failed to exploit the new ball as well. Flintoff, resorting to type, produced a flurry of boundaries before the break, including in three in one wayward over from Tait. Flintoff was as belligerent after the break, seamer Michael Kasprowicz pulled and then driven off the back foot for three fours in an over. On 99, Flintoff played out a maiden to Warne, each ball greeted by gasps by the 16,000 sell-out crowd, but then clipped the spinner for a single and raised both arms in triumph. His job done, he slogged across the line soon after to give Tait his third wicket. That made it 418 for six. Jones, after adding 32 more with Giles, inside-edged a return catch onto his pad and back to the lunging Kasprowicz. He batted for almost three and a half hours and hit eight fours. Giles fell lbw to Warne without a run added two balls later and a wild swing by Harmison saw him stumped off the leg spinner. Simon Jones held up the Australians with a few spirited hits before Warne mopped it up by having Hoggard caught behind. Scoreboard England Trescothick b Tait 65 Strauss c Hayden b Warne 35 Vaughan c Gilchrist b Ponting 58 Bell c Gilchrist b Tait 3 Pietersen c Gilchrist b Lee 45 Flintoff lbw Tait 102 G.Jones c & b Kasprowicz 85 Giles b Warne 15 Hoggard c Gilchrist b Warne 10 Harmison st Gilchrist b Warne 2 S. Jones not out 15 Extras
(b-1, lb-15, w-1, nb-25) 42 Total (all out, 123.1 overs) 477 Fall of wickets:
1-105, 2-137, 3-146, 4-213, 5-241, 6-418, 7-450, 8-450, 9-454. Bowling:
Lee 32-2-131-1, Kasprowicz 32-3-122-1, Tait 24-4-97-3, Warne 29.1-4-102-4, Ponting 6-2-9-1.
— Reuters |
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Four broadcasters in race for telecast rights
Mumbai, August 26 BCCI Executive-Secretary-in-charge Prof Ratnakar Shetty said while five broadcasters — the other being Ten Sports — had collected the bid forms from the board, only four complied with the process of giving bank guarantee of $ 3 million by last evening’s deadline. The deadline for submitting the bids ended at 2 pm today, he said. “Now it is upto the board President to call a meeting of the board’s marketing committee to take the process forward,” Shetty said, adding that a date for the meeting was yet to be fixed. The tender notice, inviting bids for the telecast rights till the 2008-09 season, was issued by the BCCI through a newspaper advertisement on August 11, board sources said. Last year, the process of inviting bids for telecast rights ran into trouble, with the matter ending up in court following a dispute between Zee and ESPN. The BCCI then gave the rights to Prasar Bharati’s Doordarshan. The telecast rights, from October 1, 2005, to September 30, 2009, included rights for domestic cricket conducted by the BCCI, as per the conditions of the tender notice issued by the BCCI earlier this month. “Only those entities that own and control 24-hour television programming services and have own existing channel as well as first-hand experience of having successfully shown in its own channel ‘live’ international cricket matches as original first licensee of the event owner during each of the last three years (2002, 2003 and 2004) prior to the notification of ITT (invitation to tender) shall be eligible to sumbit offers,” the BCCI had said in its notification. “Mere purchase of ITT by any entity which does not qualify will not provide any right to either submit its tender or consideration thereof,” the board said. The BCCI also added a rider at the bottom, saying it reserved the right to cancel the entire bidding process at any stage.
— PTI |
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ICC Awards ceremony on October 11
Dubai, August 26 The ceremony was expected to be attended by many of the greatest players from around the world, who would be hoping to follow in the footsteps of last year’s Player of the Year and Test Player of the Year, Rahul Dravid, and ODI Player of the Year, Andrew Flintoff. ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed said the event would be a celebration of the achievements of the game’s best
players. — UNI |
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Sania breaks Vinci code
New Delhi, August 26 With this win, Sania got closer to winning her second WTA tournament after her maiden triumph in the Hyderabad Open. Continuing her fine form on the WTA Tour, Sania seized the initiative at the beginning of the match and gave no leeway to 61st-ranked Vinci as she clinched the first set comfortably 6-2, according to information received here. The Indian ace maintained her tempo in the next set as well, giving a glimpse of things that her rivals should expect from her in the future. Sania, seeded third, swept a feeble Vinci off her feet in the next set 6-1 to wrap the match and find a place in the semis of the last warm-up tournament before the US Open, the final Grand Slam tournament of the year. The 50th-ranked Indian would face unseeded Alexa Glatch of the USA in the semis, who overcame Martina Sucha of Slovakia 6-1, 6-4. The other clash for a berth in the final would be between Iveta Benesova of Czech Republic, who defeated compatriot Zuzana Ondraskova 6-1, 6-4, and Lucie Safarova, who got the better of Italian Anotnella Serra Zanetti 6-3, 6-3. Mankad, Amritraj falter
There will not be any Indian representation in the men’s singles event at the US Open this year, with both Harsh Mankad and Prakash Amritraj biting the dust in the second qualifying round at the USTA National Tennis Centre. Shikha Uberoi, however, remained in contention in women’s singles, surviving yet another three-set thriller. But seeded 18th in the qualifying, the Boca Raton-based Indian would have to overcome top seed Sybille Bammer of Australia to make it to the main draw. On court seven yesterday, India’s highest-ranked men’s singles player Harsh Mankad tried his best against 25th seed Julien Benneteau and stretched him to three sets but the Frenchman won 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. After losing the first set, Mankad came back strongly in the second to draw parity and was matching shot for shot in the decider. But his resistance gradually fizzled out and it was Benneteau who had the last laugh. The other Indian men’s player in the fray, Prakash Amritraj, however, proved no match for his Slovak opponent Michal Mertinak, ranked 24th, according to information received here today. Son of the legendary Vijay Amritraj, Prakash had no clue against Mertinak in the first set and the second proved even worse. Prakash could manage just one game before he was handed a straight-sets 3-6, 1-6 defeat. Shikha, meanwhile, kept her hopes alive with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 victory against Russian Ekaterina Makarova. Shikha, who had overcame a disastrous start to beat Yulia Beygelzimer of Ukraine 0-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the first round, looked scrappy in her second round match as well. Her erratic returns and poor serve saw her struggling, though she managed to win the first set. Her Russian rival, however, came back strongly to win the second set. Shikha, however, held her nerve in the third set and served better to pocket the match. She would face Bammer, who beat China’s Zi Yan 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. Shikha’s sister Neha, representing the USA, however, lost her second round qualifying match to American Jennifer Hopkins, who won 7-5, 5-7, 6-2.
— UNI |
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Chennai, August 26 Irina emerged the winner two strokes ahead of the first round leader, Sharmeela Nicolette of Bangalore. Sharmeela,who fired a brilliant five under par 72, tallied the second best 72 hole card of 307. Vandana Agarwal of Kolkata, who was the third round leader, finished in third place,
three strokes behind the winner at 308. Bhavana Shetty, who at one time, seemed to be well on her way to emerging the surprise winner, was disqualified for entering wrong scores in her card on a drop she had yesterday. In the junior open category, Sharmeela emerged the winner with the best four round-72 hole card of 307, five strokes ahead of Sonam Chug, her state-mate, who carded 315.
— UNI |
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Geet Sethi loses in semis
New Delhi, August 26 Sethi’s ouster in the senior event also brought down the curtain on the Indian challenge in the world championship. It turned out to be an exciting semifinal match, but Sethi, after his initial gritty show, ran out of steam and went down 44-51, 72-21, 41-51, 63-52, 51-53, 15-56, according to information received here today. It was never going to be easy against the Irish cueist and despite Sethi’s resistance, Delaney pocketed the first frame. The Indian, however, was in sublime form in the next frame, which he won without much ado, recording a break of 47 in the process. Levelled 1-1, both players tried to outplay one another and Delaney regained the lead in the third frame before Sethi caught him up again in the fourth. The match of fluctuating fortunes witnessed an intense battle between the snooker virtuosos in the fifth frame and the Irishman was once again leading 3-2 before going into the crucial sixth frame. Sethi’s form suddenly dwindled and he looked pretty ordinary while his Irish opponent kept his cool and went on to win the frame and the match.
— UNI |
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Narain out of Italian GP
Monza, August 26 After a string of debut delays, the new EJ15B car finally got the go-ahead for the Italian Grand Prix. Monteiro, elated to have won the toss, said he was happy with the
programme made with the new car. — UNI |
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PSEB outplay Punjab Police
Chandigarh, August 26 Punjab Police toiled hard to restore parity and a minute before the lemon break, Anwar initiated a move on the right. Having covered some ground, he centred for Harnek, who attempted a header, but the
Punjab Police custodian effected a good save at the cost of a flag kick. The second goal followed in the 58th minute when PSEB’s right-half Harjinder Singh sent a cross for Tejinder, who headed the ball home to make it 2-0 in favour of the Punjab power men. |
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Kulwinder wins bout in Punjab boxing
Sangrur, August 26 Kulwinder faced stiff resistance from Dutta. Kulwinder won in the third round. Results in light fly weight: Ravi Kumar (Ldh) beat Jagdeep Kiran (Fdk) Bhupinder Singh (Gsp) beat Mahinder Preet (Mansa) Pushkar Singh (Pta) beat Hardeep Singh (Moga). Fly weight: A. Chohan (Ns) beat Arsh Kumar (Fzp), Gagan Dutta (Pta) beat Swaran Singh (Stc) Anil (Fgs) beat Vijay (Jal), Avtar Singh (Asr) beat Rahul (Kpt) Sukh Ram (Sang) beat Hardeep Singh (Bth), Ravinder Singh (Fkt) beat Jagat Pal (Rpr), Shiv Kumar (Ldh) beat Harinder Kumar (Mkt), Manish Sharma (Jal) beat Sukhwinder Singh (Mansa). Light weight: Parampreet Singh (Asr) beat Rajiv Sharma (Fdk), Swinder Singh (Sang) beat Ankush (Gsp) beat Ankush (Gsp), Pawan Kumar (PP) beat Vipanjit (Mkt). Light welter weight: Jaideep Singh (Mkt) beat (Gurpreet Singh (Fdk), Sanjay (Fgr) beat Deepak (Jal). Light fly weight: Sarabjit (Sang) beat Sahil (Hsp), Mohit (Jal) beat Rohit (Rpt), Gurjeet Singh (Asr) beat Deepak (Jal), Anup (Ns) beat Dheeraj (Fgs), Parjinder (Mkr) beat Nand Lal(Bth) Chanchal (Sang) beat Ravi Kumar (Ldr) Pushkar Singh (Pta) beat Manjinder (Mansa). Bantam weight: Anil (Fgs) beat Mehmood (Sang), Mit Singh (Moga) beat Nirmal Singh (Fgr), Partap Singh (Asr) beat Pardeep (Jal) Pappu Khan (Mkt) beat Sukhwinder (Hsp), Arun Kumar (Sang) beat Ajay (Gsp), Banu Ram (Ldr) beat Rahul (Bth), Neer Chand (Ns) beat Narinder (Fkt). Feather weight: Habib (Mastuana) beat Ram Chand (Sang) Amandeep (PP) beat ManishKumar (Jal), Ravinder Singh (Ns) beat Lavinder (Mkt), Kuldip Kumar (Moga), beat Birdavinder (Sang) Mohit Sharma
(Jdr), beat Vikas (Gsp), Gurdev Singh (Asr) beat Vishal Mittal (Fkt), Inderjit Singh (Bth) beat Mohd Hashid (Hsp), Sandeep Dutta (Pta) beat Gurmukh Singh (Ldh). |
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Pak women’s judo team in India Amritsar, August 26 Shahid Javed, manager, is heading the 14-member team, which includes 12 players. He informed that the national women’s judo team was formed just six months ago in Pakistan. He said the team was here for training at the NIS, Patiala. Bashira, captain of the team, said they had been training hard for the past six months but had not got exposure at the international level at all. A.S. Grewal, secretary, Punjab Judo Federation, received the Pakistan team at the Attari railway station. After a brief halt in the city the team proceeded to Patiala.
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