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Astle guides Kiwis to six-wicket win
Dates, venues for Lanka, S. Africa series announced
Zimbabwe prepare team
Agassi, Coria enter last eight
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Sania to partner Pascual
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Astle guides Kiwis to six-wicket win
Harare, September 6 Astle, who shared in a blistering opening stand of 121 with captain Stephen Fleming (61), anchored New Zealand's total of 278 for four from 48.1 overs in reply to India's respectable 276 all out. Mohammad Kaif top-scored for India with 93 not out, completing his 14th fifty in one-day internationals to revive the Indian batting after they had wasted a good start with a mid-innings wobble. Astle and Fleming cut loose in the opening overs of New Zealand's reply, reaching 50 from 30 balls and hammering 12 boundaries in the first six overs. They dominated the Indian pace bowlers, with Fleming racing to a his fifty off just 51 balls with nine fours, most of them beautifully struck down the ground. India captain Sourav Ganguly looked to his spin bowlers to make the breakthrough and Virender Sehwag duly obliged, inducing a return catch from Fleming on 61. Four balls later, Hamish Marshall was dismissed leg before wicket for three as he pushed forward to the occasional off spinner. Astle and Scott Styris put on 58 for the third wicket before Styris was stumped off Sehwag for 37 in the 33rd over and Craig McMillan departed soon after for 13. However, Astle and Lou Vincent, with an unbeaten 33, upped the tempo as New Zealand reached the victory with 11 balls to spare. New Zealand were unable to claim early wickets after India won the toss and chose to bat first, openers Sehwag (75) and Ganguly (31) putting on 72 runs in 13 overs. Ganguly departed after steering a short delivery from Jacob Oram straight to backward point but Sehwag, particularly destructive through the off-side, maintained the momentum in a second-wicket stand of 83 with Kaif. Left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori then removed both Sehwag and Rahul Dravid in his fourth over, however. Sehwag, having struck 12 fours and a six, tried to loft Vettori over the infield but could only lob a catch to extra cover. Two balls later, Vettori speared an arm-ball through Dravid's defences to trap him leg-before for a duck. India slipped from 155 for three in the 25th over to
231 for seven in the 45th before Kaif gave the innings a late lift. Kaif scored 28 of the last 45 runs before India were bowled out for a respectable 276 with three balls to spare. Oram finished with figures of four for 58 in 8.3 overs, but Vettori was New Zealand's most effective bowler, taking two for 35 in 10 overs. Scoreboard India Sehwag c Vincent b Vettori 75 Ganguly c Marshall b Oram 31 Kaif not out 93 Dravid lbw b Vettori 0 Yuvraj c Bond b Mills 20 Rao c McMillan b Oram 8 Dhoni lbw b Styris 11 Yadav c McCullum b Oram 0 Agarkar c Mills b Bond 6 Pathan c Vincent b Oram 10 Nehra c Oram b Mills 0 Extras
(lb-5, w-13, nb-4) 22 Total (all out, 49.3 overs) 276 Fall of wickets:
1-72, 2-155, 3-155, 4-185, 5-203, 6-230, 7-231, 8-255, 9-272. Bowling:
Bond 9.3-0-44-1, Mills 9.3-3-45-2, Oram 8.3-0-58-4, Styris 8-0-56-1, Vettori 10-0-35-2, Astle 4-0-33-0. New Zealand Fleming c&b Sehwag 61 Astle not out 115 Marshall lbw Sehwag 3 Styris st Dhoni b Sehwag 37 McMillan c Dhoni b Yuvraj 13 Vincent not out 33 Extras
(lb-9 nb-1 w-6) 16 Total (4 wkts, 48.1 overs) 278 Fall of wickets:
1-121, 2-125, 3-183, 4-206. Bowling: Pathan 5-1-40-0, Nehra 6-0-40-0, Agarkar 6.1-0-43-0, Harbhajan 10-0-49-0, Sehwag 10-0-44-3, Yadav 1-0-14-0, Yuvraj 10-1-39-1.
— Reuters |
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Dates, venues for Lanka, S. Africa series announced
Mumbai, September 6 The Lankans will play their matches on October 25, 28, 31, November 3, 6, 9 and 12 at Mohali, Nagpur, Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Jaipur or Jodhpur, Rajkot and Pune, the BCCI’s tours and fixtures committee decided here today. The South Africans will open their series on November 16, followed by matches on November 19, 22, 25 and 28 at Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. BCCI secretary S.K. Nair said Ahmedabad had been allotted another ODI match for not being able to stage a Test match after Pakistan refused to play there early this year. Hyderabad had been allotted one match because Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association said they were still not ready to stage an ODI, he said. The match will be played at a new stadium in Hyderabad, he added. Nair said the details of both the series would be decided as per the logistics. Whether the matches would be day/night would be decided with consultations with other associations, he said. Kumble, Laxman leave for Zimbabwe
Seven cricketers, including veteran leggie Anil Kumble and wristy middle-order batsman V.V.S. Laxman, left for Zimbabwe early today to join the rest of the Indian team ahead of the two-Test series against the hosts commencing on September 13. Speedsters Zaheer Khan and Laxmipathy Balaji, wicket keeper Dinesh Kaarthick, openers Gautam Gambhir and Dheeraj Jadhav were the others who boarded the early morning flight to the African nation. The group would replace Ajit Agarkar, J.P. Yadav, Rudra Pratap Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Murali Kartik, Suresh Raina and Y. Venugopala Rao who will return after the limited overs tri-series final against New Zealand.
— PTI |
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Zimbabwe prepare team
Harare, September 6 They are Tatenda Taibu (capt), Heath Streak, Andy Blignaut, Blessing Mahwire, Christopher Mpofu and Prosper
Utseya.
Another eight will be selected from the Zimbabwe Board XI team.
— AFP |
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Agassi, Coria enter last eight
New York, September 6 Ginepri made it a hat-trick of home wins by taking the last two sets against French teenager Richard Gasquet to go through 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (8/10), 6-4, 6-0 in a marathon match that lasted well after midnight. He will take on Argentina’s Guillermo Coria who scored a 6-4, 2-6, 6-7 (5/7), 6-2, 6-2 win over Olympic champion Nicolas Massu of Chile in a bad-tempered encounter. Both 35-year-old Agassi, a two-times former winner, and 25-year-old Blake, who has battled back from personal adversity, were rewarded with standing ovations from the capacity 20,000 crowd at the Arthur Ashe Stadium. The oldest man left in the championships, Agassi kept alive his hopes of a third title, six years after his last. Local boy Blake, competing on a wildcard, was a point away from being two sets to love down before rebounding to defeat 19th seed Robredo in four sets. The story of how he overcame a catalogue of personal disasters in 2004 and returned to play the best tennis of his life has inspired many people here. Blake, who hails from neighbouring Connecticut, fractured a bone in his neck while crashing into a netpost during practice, damaged his eyesight due to shingles and watched his father die of cancer. France’s Mary Pierce avenged her crushing French Open defeat by toppling seventh-seeded Belgian
Justine Henin-Hardenne yesterday to reach the quarterfinals. Pierce’s 6-3, 6-4 victory, her first over Henin-Hardenne in five career meetings, completed the women’s quarterfinal line-up at the year’s final Grand Slam. The 30-year-old Canadian-born Frenchwoman will meet her third-seeded compatriot Amelie Mauresmo, who beat Russian Elena Likhovtseva
6-1, 6-4. World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport, a finalist at two Grand Slams already this year, kept her bid for a fourth career major going with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over France’s
Nathalie Dechy. The unenviable task of trying to stop Davenport will fall to Elena Dementieva, the sixth-seeded Russian with the well-documented service woes who downed 11th-seeded Swiss Patty Schnyder
6-4, 6-3. — AFP |
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Paes-Navratilova, Bhupathi-Damm lose
New York, September 6 With the defeat, Paes ended his challenge in the fourth and final major of the year. The Indian Davis Cup captain, paired with Zimonjic, had already bowed out in the first round of the men’s doubles. Mahesh Bhupathi and Martin Damm of Czech Republic also had a disappointing day in office as they crashed out in the men’s doubles pre-quarterfinals yesterday. Seventh seeded Bhupathi and Damm lost 4-6, 7-6 (7/3), 3-6 to ninth seeds Simon Aspelin of Sweden and Todd Perry of Australia in the third round yesterday. The Indo-Czech duo had defeated Croatian pair of Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic in the second round. However, Bhupathi is still in contention in the mixed doubles event where he is playing alongside Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia. The unseeded duo are slated to play fifth seeded Japanese Ai Sugiyama and Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe in the quarter finals. They had upset Sweden’s Jonas Bjorkman and Lisa Raymond of USA 6-2, 7-6 (7/3) to advanced to the last eight stage. In the juniors tournament, Rupesh Roy advanced to the second round of the boys’ singles at the Flushing Medows. Roy defeated Nathaniel Schnugg of USA 6-3, 6-4 in their opening round match. He will next play American Matt Bruch, who beat Andre Miele of Brazil in a three setter 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 in the previous round. In the other first round matches, India’s Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan lost to Jesse Levine of USA 4-6, 4-6 while Vivek Shokeen is schedule to play David Navarrete of Venezuala. Roy, paired with David Simon of Austria, went down to American duo of Kellen Damico and Tim Smyczek 3-6, 0-6 in the boys doubles. Shokeen and Nedunchezhiyan will face American duo of Michael McClune and Sam Querrey in their boys’ doubles first round match.
— PTI |
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Sania to partner Pascual
Mumbai, September 6 The Spaniard is the winner of three WTA Tour singles crowns and 34 doubles titles. Pascual has confirmed her participation in the doubles event of the tournament and she will be paired with Sania. — PTI
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Medal hope hits roadblock
Jagadhri, September 6 The Indian squad was scheduled to leave for England today. She needed about Rs 80,000. Malika had approached the state Sports Department, the MP from the constituency and local leaders, but in vain. Manik wins individual medley in swimming |
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Harare, September 6
