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England dig in after McGrath’s double strike
Monty
wants Warne to teach him
Inzamam
confident Ranji Trophy
HOPMAN CUP Hingis,
Safina through on Gold Coast
Chennai Open Karan Rastogi upsets Alves
Sharapova
sticks to tennis over fashion World No. 2 tennis
player Maria Sharapova of Russia during a press conference in Hong Kong
on Tuesday. Sharapova will be competing with seven other tennis stars in
the four-day Watsons Water Champions Challenge beginning Wednesday. —
AFP photo Paes-Damm
advance
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Winning toss was crucial It will probably be the most important toss of his career and Rahul Dravid guessed correctly which way the coin would fall, and gave his team a great chance to win the Test and with it the series as well. The pitch at Cape Town has always been kind to the batsmen but this one is even more so, and with the weather being hot and dry, the day was a tough one for the bowlers. They had to strive really hard and life was not made easy by the bowlers bowling from the wrong ends. Though there was not much of a breeze at the start of the day’s play, the fact that Pollock was once again not given the new ball was a surprise, and not only that but the first over of the Indian innings was bowled by Dale Steyn and not Makhaya Ntini who with his 5 wicket haul in the previous Test had led India to its doom. Cricket is not just a game played between 22 yards but also between the ears and the psychological advantage of having the Indians face up to the man who had destroyed them was lost. Sure Ntini bowled the 2nd over but it is still not the same as him storming in with the brand new ball in his hands. There was surprise in the batting order too as Kaarthick was asked to open. With Dhoni injured in the previous Test, Kaarthick was certain to take his place but to be asked to open the batting must have been a surprise to him too. What the Indian management has done is to do what the South Africans did with Herschelle Gibbs after the "pair" he got in the first Test. He was dropped down the order where he got a half century and so the Indians have done that with Sehwag believing that he has the ability to change the fortunes of the game with his bat, if he gets going and maybe down the order, his luck will change. It must have been disappointing to Gambhir, but this is a crucial Test and the Indians probably don't want to pick a relative newcomer in the eleven. Kaarthick did a splendid job of thwarting the new ball and with Jaffer ran up the best partnership so far in the series. Both he and Jaffer batted sensibly, leaving the good ball alone and only when they felt settled did they go on to play some shots. They also ran well between the wickets and though it was slow going before lunch, it was exactly what the team needed. Jaffer had played a forgettable shot in the Durban Test and here he saw an opportunity to make up for that and he batted quite superbly getting right behind the line of the ball and stood up and played some classy shots on both sides of the wicket. His century was the result of some great discipline and he fully deserved to get there. It would have been even better for India if he had stayed till the end of the day’s play but his had been a long vigil and the hot day would have taken its toll. The second new ball taken late in the day got his wicket and it will be fairly new in the morning, so India will have to take its time to see that they don't waste the foundation laid by Jaffer and Kaarthick. — PMG
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Pathan’s
fans hold protest march
Ahmedabad, January 2 The left-arm medium pacer was sent home from South Africa to ensure he rediscovers his form in time for the upcoming World
Cup. Pathan's continuous failure with the ball of late forced the team management to send the bowler back home from South Africa to regain form and confidence by playing in domestic cricket. "They have disgraced him by sending him out of the team. He is a star player for Baroda and a hero of the Indian people. We protest the manner in which they have sent him out of the team," said
Wali-Ullah, a local. They shouted slogans against the Indian cricket
team management, chief national selector Dilip Vengsarkar and coach Greg
Chappell. — ANI
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UP batsmen pound Pathan Vadodara, January 2 After the visitors' first innings folded up an hour after tea, Vadodara openers Connor Williams (8) and Satyajit Parab (15) took the score to 24 without loss in 12 overs when stumps were drawn for the day. Continuing his poor form, India seamer Irfan Pathan disappointed Vadodara fans as his 22 overs spell proved to be the most expensive. Though he gave Vadodara an early breakthrough by dismissing opener Shivkant Shukla when the side's score was 22, he returned a very pathetic figure of 22-2-108-2, being severely punished by Uttar Pradesh batsmen, particularly Raina, Srivastava and skipper Md. Kaif (25). However, a fine 5-wicket haul by left-arm spinner Rakesh Pawar (5/51) restricted Uttar Pradesh to 269 after Raina and Srivastava put on 142 runs for the fifth wicket stand defying Vadodara pace and spin attack. Pathan, who was struggling to regain his form, failed to put any pressure on UP openers Praveen Kumar (26) and Shivakant Shukla (16) when Vadodara skipper Jacob Marin surprisingly decided to field having won the toss on a batting track. Kaif, who was dropped by his Vadodara counterpart Martin before opening his account after the exit of Shukla, hit three consecutive fours off Pathan to carry the score to 60 for 2 with Raina. With two wickets falling in a span of two runs, UP were reduced to 69 for four. But Raina and Srivastava stemmed the top order collapse with their 142-run stand for the fifth wicket. — UNI
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England
dig in after McGrath’s double strike
Sydney, January 2 McGrath dismissed Kevin
Pietersen and Ian Bell in the space of four balls after tea as Australia
threatened to rip through England’s fragile batting line-up. But the tourists, 4-0 down in the series and hoping to avoid their first Ashes whitewash in 86 years, fought back strongly in the final session to share the honours before bad light ended play early at the Sydney Cricket Ground. England skipper Andrew Flintoff rediscovered his form with the bat to blast an unbeaten 42, while the reliable Paul Collingwood made a patient 25 not out. The
pair shared an unbroken partnership of 67 to rebuild the England innings
after McGrath’s double strike broke a 108-run stand between Pietersen
and Bell. McGrath, who is joining Shane Warne and Justin Langer in retiring from Test cricket after the match, dismissed Pietersen for 41 when the Englishman mistimed a careless pull to Mike Hussey at mid-wicket. Then McGrath claimed a second wicket off the first ball of his next over when he bowled Bell for 71 as England slumped to 167 for four after losing their two openers cheaply. Andrew Strauss departed for 29 before lunch then Alastair Cook fell for 20 in the third over of the afternoon session with the total on 58. England’s
openers were given a tough workout in the first session as Australia’s
seamers made the most of a pitch that provided early movement after
morning rain delayed the start by an hour. Strauss and Cook survived the initial onslaught to put on 45 for the first wicket and provide England with their best start of the series before both fell in quick succession. Strauss had escaped a series of close calls, including a dropped catch by Langer at third slip on 21, but his luck ran out when he gifted wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist a catch with a reckless flash at Brett Lee. Cook batted with greater caution despite playing and missing several times, only to succumb to a momentary lapse in concentration when he got a faint inside edge off Stuart Clark and Gilchrist took an acrobatic catch diving to his right. The match began in emotional circumstances when McGrath, Warne and Langer led their team on to the field in front of a capacity crowd of 40,000 in their final appearances after more than a decade and a half each of international cricket. The trio were unable to make an impact in the first two sessions as Pietersen and Bell rebuilt the innings with a steady partnership but McGrath made his presence felt in the last session. There
were some signs of concern when Pietersen and Bell departed in quick
succession to expose England’s middle-order but Flintoff signalled his
intentions to take up the fight when he smacked Clark over the fence for
six. Scoreboard England (1st innings) Strauss c Gilchrist b Lee 29 Cook c Gilchrist b Clark 20 Bell b McGrath 71 Pietersen c Hussey b McGrath 41 Collingwood batting 25 Flintoff batting 42 Extras (lb-1,w-3, nb-2) 6 Total (4 wkts, 80 overs) 234 Fall of
wickets: 1-45, 2-58, 3-166, 4-167. Bowling: McGrath
21-4-57-2, Lee 15-3-50-1, Clark 19-3-54-1, Warne 19-1-59-0, Symonds
6-2-13-0.
— Reuters
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Monty
wants Warne to teach him
London, January 2 Panesar considers himself fortunate to have played alongside the Australian and wants to make the most of the last Test of the veteran leggie. "It has been fantastic for me just to watch him bowl from the first Test to the last. This will be the last time he plays international cricket and coming to Australia and watching someone like him from a spinner's point of view has been like watching a magician," Panesar was quoted as saying in the Daily Mail. "Even when I'm out there facing him as a batsman it is good fun and I do enjoy facing him. I enjoy watching the things he does, the way he bowls and coming from a spinner's perspective it is great to see," the left-armer said. Panesar said watching Warne operate was a great experience in itself and would love to talk to the master craftsman on his art. "I'm very fortunate because 12 months ago I didn't think I would ever play on the same field as Shane Warne and watch him bowl, so for me it has been a great experience and something really fantastic. "I haven't had a chance to chat with him as yet, but hopefully I will get the opportunity although I don't want to badger him with too many questions or he may get fed up with me. "He
is someone who knows spin bowling inside out and it would be nice to get
his views on it all. He dictates the play in his arena, it is his
theatre and he knows what he is doing out there," Panesar said.
— PTI
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Fulton
guides Kiwis to victory
Christchurch, January 2 Fulton hit a six from the third ball of the 25th over to lift New Zealand to 110 for six and to victory under the Duckworth-Lewis system in a match reduced to 46 overs per side. Sri Lanka had earlier been dismissed for 112 in 35.2 overs, its lowest score in a one-day match against New Zealand.
Sri Lanka won the first match of the series by seven wickets at Napier. Michael Mason took four for 24 from nine overs, bowling with the new ball on a seaming pitch, to irreversibly damage the Sri Lankan innings. He dismissed top-order batsmen Upul Tharanga, Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Sangakkara and Chamara Silva to ensure New Zealand limited the Sri Lankan total after winning the toss and bowling. Later, Daniel Vettori took two for seven from 5.2 overs to wrap up the Sri Lankan tail and to leave New Zealand chasing a revised 110 for victory in a match reduced by three rain interruptions. Wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum and slip or outfielder Ross Taylor took three catches each as New Zealand took apart the Sri Lankan innings. Atapattu top-scored for Sri Lanka with 28 from 26 balls, hitting five fours and falling shortly before the second rain interruption, when Sri Lanka was 32 for two. Kumar Sangakkara took 15 runs from 18 balls, Tillakaratne Dilshan 18 from 41, Farveez Maharoof 13 from 47 and Upul Tharanga 11 from 34 in a laborious batting effort. They were the only other Sri Lankan batsmen to reach double figures. New
Zealand struggled in reply, losing Nathan Astle when it had only one run
on the board and slipping to 70 for six before Fulton and Franklin
combined in a match-winning stand. After Fulton, Franklin's 15, Brendon
McCullum’s 22 and Daniel Vettori's 11 were the only other scores of
note. Ruchira Perera took two for 37 and Dilhara Fernando two for 34 for Sri Lanka. The fourth match in the series is scheduled for Sunday in Auckland. Scoreboard Sri Lanka Tharanga c McCullum b Mason 11 Jayasuriya c McCullum b Bond 0 Atapattu c Taylor b Mason 28 Sangakkara c Taylor b Mason 15 Jayawardene run out 1 Silva c and b Mason 4 Dilshan run out 18 Maharoof c McCullum b Vettori 13 Fernando not out 8 Muralitharan c Taylor b Franklin 8 Perera c Franklin b Vettori 0 Extras (w-2, nb-4) 6 Total (all out, 35.2 overs) 112 Fall of
wickets: 1-0, 2-32, 3-50, 4-55, 5-61, 6-68, 7-92, 8-99, 9-112. Bowling: Mason 9-1-24-4, Bond 8-1-37-1, Franklin 7-1-32-1, Gillespie 6-3-12-0, Vettori 5.2-2-7-2. New Zealand McCullum c Silva b Perera 22 Astle b Maharoof 0 Taylor c Dilshan b Perera 0 Fulton not out 43 Vettori c Sangakkara b Fernando 11 Marshall c Dilshan b Muralitharan 5 Marshall b Fernando 4 Franklin not out 15 Extras (b-1, lb-7, w-2) 10 Total (6 wkts, 24.3 overs) 110 Fall of
wickets: 1-1, 2-8, 3-27, 4-51, 5-65, 6-70. Bowling:
Maharoof 4-1-13-1, Perera 5-0-37-2, Muralitharan 9-2-18-1, Fernando
6.3-0-34-2. — AP
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Inzamam
confident
Karachi: Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq is confident of a strong showing by his side on their South Africa tour as the team gears up for an assault on the World Cup. "We have a good and balanced team," Inzamam said, before the team's scheduled departure for South Africa adding that he hoped they would play to their potential. Pakistan are due to play three Tests and five one-day internationals on their tour, which starts with a three-day practice match against South Africa 'A' at Kimberley from January 6. The first Test starts at Centurion from January 11. The tour is considered crucial for the team as it forms the lead-up to the ninth World Cup in the West Indies, which starts in March. Squad:
Inzamam-ul-Haq (captain), Younis Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat,
Yasir Hameed, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Yousuf, Kamran Akmal, Faisal Iqbal,
Asim Kamal, Mohammad Sami, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul,
Danish Kaneria, Zulqarnain Haider, Shahid Nazir.
— AFP
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Ranji
Trophy
Rajkot, January 2 Haryana skipper Joginder Sharma won the toss and decided to bat, but lost opener Sumit Sharma 19 (41b, 3x4) and Ankit Rawat 14 (44b, 2x4) early. Debutant Nitin Saini and Deepak Joon tried to stabilise the innings before Rakesh Dhruve picked up four wickets to reduce the visitors to 133 for seven. At this stage, it looked difficult for Haryana to reach 200, but number eight batsman Amit Mishra showed discipline to strike a useful partnership with Sandip. Mishra
was unbeaten on 61 (117b, 6x4, 1x6) with Singh on 44 (115b, 4x4) at the
end of opening day’s play. Mishra was lucky to be dropped at second slip by Ravindra Jadeja off Rakesh Dhruve in the last over of the day. For
Saurashtra, Dhruve was the pick of the bowlers taking four for 71, while
Jobanputra, Maniar and Makwana claimed a wicket each. — PTI
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Hopman
Cup
Perth, January 2 Sania
should have no problem in getting the better of Sanja Ancic, with more
than 100 rungs separating the two in the WTA singles rankings but her
team-mate Rohan Bopanna would require a miracle of sort to tame world
No. 9 and Sanja’s elder brother Mario Ancic. And with both the singles matches expected to be devoid of any surprise, whoever wins the doubles match is likely to seal the issue and Sania would have to lead from the front again to keep the Indians in hunt. Sania and Bopanna, had played mixed doubles together in three matches at the Asian edition of the tournament. India meet second seed Spain, represented by Anabel Medina Garrigues and Tommy Robredo, in their last Group B tie on Thursday and winner of the group would take on Group A topper in the final on Friday. Russia beat US
Russia kept its Hopman Cup hopes alive with a 2-1 win over the United States
at the mixed teams event here today that effectively ended the Americans’
title defence. The pairing of Nadia Petrova and Dmitry Tursunov clinched the win with a straight-sets victory over Ashley Harkleroad and Mardy Fish in the mixed doubles, after the singles matches had been split. A
rejuvenated Petrova gave the Russians the early edge when she outclassed
Harkleroad in straight sets in the women’s singles, but Fish then
levelled things with an impressive win over Tursunov. In the mixed
doubles, the Russians capitalised on Harkleroad’s faltering serve to
recover from a break down in the second set to win 6-3, 7-5.
— UNI, AFP
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Chennai
Open
Chennai, January 2 In earlier first round singles matches this evening, Boris Becker trained Bjorn Phau of Germany scored a 6-4, 6-4 win in 89 minutes over Oliver Patience of France while sixth seeded Fabrice Santoro (France) made the second round when his rival David Skoch (Czech) conceded due to a niggling back problem after taking medical attention. Santoro was leading 3-0 when Skoch withdrew. In another first round match, Davide Sanguinetti (Italy) won against Konstantinos Economidis (Greece) 6-4, 6-3 in 72 minutes. In the Moya-Waske match, the rivals started off trading breaks but the Spaniard, making his fourth appearance here, took sweet revenge for his 2002 loss in the ATP Tour Tokyo Open. Moya, making his fourth appearance here, took a while to study Waske's game but the German proved tough and displayed great effort in coming to terms to take the set to a tie-break where Moya brought in his experience to clinch the issue. With
the crowd supporting him, Moya raised his game in the second set.
Sending down 11 aces in the match, including three in the first set,
Moya proved his superiority to wrap up the match in 79 minutes with two
breaks in the second set.
— PTI
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Karan Rastogi upsets Alves
Chennai, January 2 Rafael Nadal began the new season with a 6-4, 6-2 first round victory over German Rainer Schuettler. When Rastogi, the second wild card Indian in the main draw along with Prakash Amritraj, entered Court No 2, fresh from his Futurres title win in New Delhi before his first Chennai Open outing, he was the clear underdog. But he proved everybody wrong playing some aggressive tennis after a sluggish start. As the Mumbai lad himself admitted after the match, it was 'unbelievable'. Rastogi, who began on an ominous note for himself, being broken in the very first game of the match, drew level, breaking back. He landed his shots in more than the Brazilian did except in the second set when he blew up a clear 4-2 lead, achieved by breaking Thiego in the first and fifth games. The first set went on serve from the third to eighth games. Karan closed out the set saving two break points in the ninth as Thiego hit a forehand passing shot out. Karan, however allowed Thiego to play himself back into the match in the second set. The Brazilian, who disputed some close line calls, drew level 4-4 breaking Karan in the sixth and eighth games. But Karan broke the Brazilian in the ninth game and held serve in the tenth up 40-0. It was all over for the Brazlilian when he hit an intended backhand volley into the net. 'I am looking forward to the match against Nadal', he exulted, and added 'This is my biggest win. Imagine world No 497 defeating world No 106.' Asked how it felt to be pitted against Nadal and if he had any hopes of a win, Karan shot back 'Come on. I am just going to go out there on the centre court and enjoy myself even if lose 6-0, 6-0.' Karan's win was special from India's point of view as the other wild card Prakash bowed out fighting in the first round yesterday while the doubles pair was vanquished too. — UNI
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Hingis,
Safina through on Gold Coast
Perth, January 2 Hingis completely outclassed Pratt in the opener
before the Australian broke the Swiss player’s serve in the first game
of the second to give the home crowd some hope. But the Swiss moved into another gear to shatter the world No. 77 in under an hour. Second
seed Dinara Safina trounced Elena Likhovtseva 6-3, 6-2 and then took a
swipe at her fellow Russian’s tactics after their first-round
encounter. The 20-year-old world No. 11, playing for the first time since fatigue problems ended her 2006 campaign in October, swept into the second round and then criticised Likhovtseva for the numerous breaks for a foot injury she took throughout the match. Castano
moved into the last eight at the expense of Chinese sixth seed Li Na,
triumphing 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 while seventh-seeded Katarina Srebotnik of
Slovenia also went out, losing 6-3, 6-2 to Russian Elena Vesnina.—
Reuters
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Sharapova
sticks to tennis over fashion
Hong Kong, January 2 The 19-year-old world number two said she was still hungry to win on the court even though she earned an estimated $22 million in endorsements, including the promotion of fashion products, last year. "I'm
happy with the way my career is going at the moment," said
Sharapova, who is in Hong Kong for a weekend invitational warm-up
tournament ahead of the Australian Open. "I'm working hard on my
game and I can hardly say that for the modelling," Sharapova added.
— AFP
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Paes-Damm
advance
New Delhi, January 2 In a lop-sided match, the Paes-Damm duo toyed with the wild card pair of Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco and local favourite Sultan Khalfan before chalking out a facile 6-2, 6-1 win, according to information received here today. Paes and Damm were in aggressive mode right from the beginning and were never really tested. After clinching the first set in no time, they showed no mercy for their unheralded pair and dropped just one game to round off the tally. They will now meet winner of the match between the Belgian Christophe Rochus-Kristof Vliegen pair and the Spanish duo of Nicolas Almagro and Alberto Martin in the next round. Meanwhile, unseeded duo of Philipp Kohlschreiber and Robin Soderling pulled off the biggest upset of the day with a hard-fought 1-6, 6-3, 10-7 win against top seeds Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi. Paes
had won the title back in 1998, along with his now estranged partner and
compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi, while Damm, partnering Cyril Suk, won the
doubles title twice in a row in 2003 and 2004.
— UNI
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Punjab in semis The Punjab eves also made it to the semifinal after getting the better of Tamil Nadu 64-55. In another women's quarterfinal, Chhattisgarh outplayed Maharashtra 76-59 to sail into the last four. — PTI Sharath
finishes 5th Sharath Kamal lost to eventual winner and world No. 15 Kalinikos Kreanga of Greece in three games in the opening round of the eight-player field and failed to reach the semifinals. But the world number 113 Indian salvaged some pride, beating lowly Ilija Lupulesku of United States, ranked 32 places below him, to share the fifth place with former world champion and current number 41 Jorgen Persson of Sweden. — UNI
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