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India hold slight edge Aussies in sight of clean sweep
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PM to kick off 11th National Football League today
DSA to host opener for third time JCT's home ties at
Ludhiana
Hopman Cup
Chennai Open
Australian Open hit by withdrawals Paes-Damm reach semis FIH project: IHF told to act fast
Squash: 3 juniors in pre-quarters
Haryana in crisis Sinclair
stars in Veerans win
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India gain upper hand Cape Town, January 4 In the 93rd over, though, Sachin Tendukar, employed to bowl leg-spin and googly, tossed one up to the former, who swung against the tide to pay the penalty. Dravid had persevered with slower bowlers, including part-timers, on a turning track and this had been redeemed. South Africa were bowled out for 373 after being piloted by a chanceless 94 from captain Graeme Smith, with the tireless Anil Kumble capturing four wickets for 117 in a marathon spell of 42.3 overs. But India still need to bat with utmost character in their second venture for their bowlers to capitalise in the 4th innings. Kallis is the rock around which the South African batting revolves. As his cross-batted heave headed towards deep midwicket, the crowd held their breath, one could hear a pin drop. For what seemed an eternity the spherical leather was airborne like a guided missile, before Munaf Patel, almost in slow motion, clung on. Kallis swished his blade in annoyance; he has aborted on 54. Tendulkar raised his hands like a magician who's just pulled off a trick, as Dravid hugged him in jubilation. Without any addition to the total, Prince played on to Kumble; and South Africa were 260 for five. But as fortunes ebbed and flowed on a fascinating day, Smith and Hashim Amla, the overnight not outs, had fairly middled the bowling on resumption. Indeed, the former drove powerfully through the onside, especially at the expense of Zaheer Khan. Yet when he sounded the boundary board at long-on against Kumble, the Indian spinner forthwith reinforced his on-side field with a second short midwicket in a catching position. This immediately paid off, as Smith drove without getting to the pitch of the ball and Virender Sehwag in the finer of the two positions took an acrobatic catch. Shortly afterwards, Sreesanth captured his 18th wicket of the series to equal the best by an Indian in South Africa when he had Amla snicking an attempted square drive. This budding fast bowler had previously beaten the bat frequently, without reward. Two wickets, thus, fell in the space of four runs, South Africa were 177 for three and their concern was reflected by only 62 runs emanating in 30 overs before lunch. But Kallis and the gritty Ashwell Prince now dug in. Without quite collaring the bowling, the former, in particular, did not abjure scoring opportunities. He cracked an otherwise economical Munaf through the covers and extended the same treatment to Kumble. But after he exited, Prince dragged on without any addition to the total, to somewhat destabilise the South Africans at 260 for five. Herschelle Gibbs was unluckily adjudged caught at short leg, which made it 283 for six. But the battle-hardened Mark Boucher and Shaun Pollock added 67 runs for the 7th wicket, before the latter edged the second new ball, taken 35 overs after it was due, to 1st slip. And his partner was, thereafter, caught behind, but not before he had deservingly notched a personal half-century. The South African resistance abated with this. Scoreboard India (1st innings) 414 South Africa (1st innings) Smith c Sehwag b Kumble 94 De Villiers c Kaarthick b Sreesanth 1 Amla c Kaarthick b Sreesanth 63 Kallis c Patel b Tendulkar 54 Prince b Kumble 26 Gibbs c Jaffer b Sehwag 7 Boucher c Kaarthick b Patel 50 Pollock c Ganguly b Zaheer 31 Harris not out 11 Steyn b Kumble 1 Ntini lbw Kumble 0 Extras (b-7, lb-13, nb-14, w-1) 35 Total (all out, 128.3 overs) 373 Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-173, 3-177, 4-260, 5-260, 6-281, 7-350, 8-372, 9-373. Bowling: Zaheer 20-3-74-1, Sreesanth 24-9-58-2, Kumble 42.3-6-117-4, Patel 20-5-43-1, Sehwag 12-0-31-1, Tendulkar 10-2-30-1.
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The third and final Test has entered a decisive stage in a finely balanced way. With a minimum of 180 overs yet to be bowled in the match, there is no visible advantage to any team. If anything, India, because they have a small lead and will be bowling last, have a slight edge over the home team, for as the Indian spinners have shown, there is some turn and the pitch will not get better. India may well be regretting that they did not pick Harbhajan Singh for the turn that Sehwag got was something unexpected of a finger spinner and so Harbhajan may well have enjoyed bowling on this surface. It is more an Indian kind of pitch than a South African one, though it is lot firmer than most Indian pitches and on the third evening a bouncer bowled by Sreesanth went so far over the wicket keepers head that he would have to be twice as tall and still not get to it. That indicates that there is a bit in it for the new ball bowlers as well and that's where India will have to be careful, as they go about setting a target for the South Africans to chase on the final day. The collapse of the last five Indian wickets for just 19 runs certainly upset Dravid’s plans of batting till they got to 500 or more and thus avoid batting in the second innings at all. In a way it's a blessing in disguise, for even though there’s been a cloud cover for most of the third day’s play, it was by no means a cool day and the bowlers would have had a hard time bowling in the second innings with jus a ten minutes break between the South African innings. It hasn't come to that because Graeme smith batted with such purpose and determination that the team got to a rousing start and with another out of form, player Hashim Amla also batting with determination, the pair ensured that South Africa ended the second day in a position of strength. What has tilted the game India ’s way, is the fall of the partners within overs of each other. In the morning it was Smith and Amla falling in the space of one over and then after Kallis and Prince had put up another good partnership they too were out in two overs. So India had new batsmen at the crease and that allowed Dravid to keep the pressure on with attacking fielders around the bat. Kallis wicket was unexpected as he rarely gets out in the manner that he did slogging a ball to deep midwicket and Prince was never comfortable or settled in his stay was done in by the slowness of the pitch and played on to Kumble. That shot by Kallis actually let India back in the game and energized the team just when it was flagging. For a team looking to win its first series in South Africa , there was a certain listlessness about the team, though of course, as always Kumble, Tendulkar and Sreesanth were razor keen and were well supported by Kaarthick keeping and constant shouts of encouragement. The usually laid back Sehwag also was brilliant in the field and he took a fabulous catch to send back the South African skipper. — PMG
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Aussies in sight of clean sweep
Sydney, January 4 Shane Warne was the man again, shining with the bat and then grabbing the big wicket of skipper Andrew Flintoff just before stumps. The tourists let slip another opportunity as the Australians surged to a 102-run innings lead and then bowled themselves into a winning position by the end of the third day. At the close, England were 114 for five, facing a likely defeat tomorrow on the fourth day with remaining batting hope Kevin Pietersen not out on 29 and nightwatchman Monty Panesar yet to score. England were jolted minutes before stumps when Flintoff was out stumped off Warne for seven after adjudication by the video umpire in a tight decision. Warne earlier blasted 71 off 65 balls as Australia got 205 runs on the third day after resuming from an overnight 188 for four to finish on 393 and again frustrate England’s efforts. England were under pressure from the third over of their second innings with Alastair Cook out for four, top-edging a pull shot off Brett Lee to Adam Gilchrist. Two balls later, Andrew Strauss was struck with a thudding blow on the side of his helmet from a short-pitched Lee delivery, but continued on. He was subsequently cleared by hospital scans. Strauss completed a poor series when he fell leg before wicket to Stuart Clark for 24 to finish with 247 runs and a series average of 24.7. Earlier, Warne thrilled the crowd in his farewell Test with an exhilarating knock, which only ended when he was stumped by Chris Read off spinner Panesar. Warne was rapturously acclaimed after he struck nine fours and two sixes to lift Australia into a powerful position to complete the first Ashes series whitewash in 86 years. Scoreboard England (1st innings) 291 Australia (1st innings) Langer c Read b Anderson 26 Hayden c Collingwood b Harmison 33 Ponting run out 45 Hussey c Read b Anderson 37 Clarke c Read b Harmison 11 Symonds b Panesar 48 Gilchrist c Read b Anderson 62 Warne st Read b Panesar 71 Lee c Read b Flintoff 5 Clark c Pietersen b Mahmood 35 McGrath not out 0 Extras (lb-10, w-4, nb-6) 20 Total (all out, 96.3 overs) 393 Fall of
wickets: 1-34, 2-100, 3-118, 4-155, 5-190, 6-260, 7-318, 8-325, 9-393. Bowling: Flintoff 17-2-56-1, Anderson 26-8-98-3, Harmison 23-5-80-2, Mahmood 11-1-59-1, Panesar 19.3-0-90-2. England (2nd innings) Strauss lbw Clark 24 Cook c Gilchrist b Lee 4 Bell c Gilchrist b Lee 28 Pietersen not out 29 Collingwood c Hayden b Clark 17 Flintoff st Gilchrist Panesar not out 0 Extras (lb-2, w-1, nb-2) 5 Total (5 wkts, 43 overs) 114 Fall of
wickets: 1-5, 2-55, 3-64, 4-98, 5-113. Bowling: Lee 10-3-34-2, McGrath 13-7-22-0, Clark 12-4-29-2, Warne 3-0-14-1, Symonds 5-2-13-0.
— AFP
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Warne may be fined
Sydney, January 4 Warne did not stop at that and asked Dar to check the lbw law. “Why don’t you check the lbw law while you’re there?’’ he asked, to which Dar replied, “You look after your job and I’ll worry about mine.” — UNI
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PM to kick off 11th National Football League today
Chandigarh, January 4 In all, 90 matches will be played on home-and-away basis and the winners are assured of a hefty purse of Rs 40 lakh. The runners-up, like last year, will pocket Rs 22 lakh. Similarly, cash prizes for lower-ranked teams remain unchanged. The team finishing third will receive Rs 16 lakh while the fourth position will fetch Rs 9 lakh. Initially four rounds will be played till January 22 after which the NFL will take a break for the Olympic qualifiers as India are scheduled to meet Myanmar on February 7 and 14. Of the ten participants, three each are from Kolkata and Goa, two from Mumbai, and one each from Bangalore and Phagwara. The venues for the NFL are Kolkata, Margao, Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, and Ludhiana. Initially, the AIFF had planned to hold more matches of the first phase in New Delhi and Gurgaon due to non-availability of Kolkata's Salt Lake Stadium. However, following a strong representation by the IFA, the AIFF yesterday accepted Kolkata's Barasat Stadium as an alternative venue for home matches of East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting. Of the ten contestants, eight figured in the NFL last season. The two bottom-placed teams which were relegated last season were Goa's Salgaocar SC and Fransa Pax FC. In fact Fransa abandoned their campaign midway alleging biased refereeing and subsequently the club was disbanded. The two teams who qualified for the 11th NFL through the second division were Tata Football Academy and Goa's Churchill Brothers. However, with TFA yet to establish themselves as a professional outfit and the management expressing its inability to join the league, its place was taken by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited SC, Bangalore. Incidentally, HAL who had finished third in the second division last year, figured in the NFL a few seasons back before getting knocked out. Churchill Brothers, too, are making a comeback after a year's gap. Since the end of last season, the domestic football scene has witnessed many upheavals. Equations have changed, loyalities have shifted and in some cases the top brass has been replaced. Defending champions Mahindra United lost key striker Jose Ramirez Barreto who signed for Mohun Bagan this season but their title win in the IFA Shield last month means they still retain enough firepower. Mohun Bagan, winners of the Federation Cup last month, now have a lethal combination upfront with Brazilian striker Jose Barreto teaming up with Indian captain Baichung Bhutia. The club has emerged from a brief spell of uncertainty after coach Biswajit Bhattacharya quit following the team's defeat at the hands of Dempo SC in the Durand Cup semifinals. Physio Robson is now the team's interim coach. The setbacks suffered by runners-up East Bengal have baffled diehard club followers in Kolkata and elsewhere. The string of upsets in the Durand Cup, IFA Shield, and Federation Cup were difficult to digest although the club management roped in players like Arata Izumi from Japan for the current season. Another Kolkata outfit, Mohammedan Sporting, who hovered in relegation zone last season, are once again relying on coach Subhas Bhowmick's acumen. Among the Goan outfits, both Sporting Clube de Goa and Dempo SC have managed to retain some of their key players. While dashing striker Ranti Martins will once again spearhead Dempo's attack, Macpherlin Dudu Omagbemi of Sporting Clube de Goa will be among the players to watch in the NFL, if his performance in the Federation Cup is any indication. The club, however, has lost the services of medio Hardeep Singh Saini who is assisting East Bengal this season. In the previous edition, Dempo's Ranti Martins secured the golden boot with a cash prize of Rs 50,000 for being the highest scorer. This season, the lanky Nigerian has already gifted Dempo with the Durand Cup by scoring the match winner against JCT in the final at New Delhi. JCT, the only team from north India in the NFL, have roped in some experienced foreigners like Edeh Chidi of Ivory Coast who was with Sporting Clube de Goa last season. Chidi has already proved his worth by taking JCT into the final of the Durand Cup with the match winner against Sporting Clube in the semifinals on November 25. On the whole, the contest is expected to be fierce. With the AIFF sticking to the rule of allowing three foreigners, recruits from abroad are once again expected to play a key role in shaping their teams' destinies.
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DSA to host opener for third time New Delhi, January 4 DSA hosted the opening match of the first edition in 1996-97, which was inaugurated by the late President of India, K.R. Narayanan, while former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee set the ball rolling for the 2003-04 edition here. Now Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would be the third high dignitary to perform the inaugural ceremony of the NFL tomorrow. But unlike Vajpayee, Dr Manmohan Singh will not make any speech. He will only perform the ceremonial kick-off at 2.08 pm. The All-India Football Federation (AIFF), as a rule, holds the NFL matches on a “home and away” basis as the participating teams do not prefer to play at a neutral venues. But Delhi has been an exception in this respect, due to the tremendous mileage the teams get by playing in front of a packed media. DSA president Subhash Chopra said there will be no tickets for the match, as the gate has been kept open to attract spectators. Meanwhile, the Ambedkar Stadium has been turned into a virtual fortress as the security agencies have even ejected the organising committee members from the premises to “sanitise” it thoroughly with sniffer dogs and metal detectors. Though JCT were the champions of the first NFL and have been finishing in the prize money bracket ever since, chief coach Sukhwinder Singh was not taking rivals Mohammedan Sporting lightly. “We cannot afford to show any laxity and take our opponents lightly as every match in the NFL is vital,” he said after a practice session. Mohammedan Sporting coach Subhash Bhowmik, too, echoed these sentiments. He said he was looking for a winning start to their NFL campaign as the Kolkata team have the depressing record of never ever featuring in the last four of the NFL, though their Kolkata rivals Mohun Bagan and East Bengal have the record of winning the title thrice each. East Bengal also took the second position on three occasions, while Bagan were runners-up once. |
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JCT's home ties at Ludhiana Chandigarh, January 4 As in the previous editions, the matches will be played at Ludhiana’s Guru Nanak Stadium. As per the fixtures released by the All-India Football Federation for the first four rounds, JCT take on Kolkata’s Mohun Bagan on January 10 at Ludhiana. On January 17, JCT will meet Goa’s Churchill Brothers, which will be followed by the JCT-Dempo tie on January 22. All matches will start at 2 pm. According to a press note issued by the Punjab Football Association, the tickets have been priced at Rs 15 and Rs 10, while tickets for children have been priced at Rs
5
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Spaniards break Indian hearts Sania falters in crucial tie
Perth, January 4 The night turned sour for India, who had won their ties against Croatia and the Czech Republic and had only booked their place in the event by winning the inaugural Asian Hopman Cup in November. Medina Garrigues showed superior movement from the back of the court to defeat Sania Mirza 3-6, 6-1, 6-3, while Rohan Bopanna had no answer to the pace of Tommy Robredo. World number seven Robredo won 6-2, 6-3 to end India’s challenge. The Czech Republic’s hopes of making it to tomorrow’s final were dashed by Croatia. World number nine Mario Ancic’s 7-6 6-4 win over Czech Tomas Berdych meant Spain, who led India 2-0 at that stage, could not be overtaken at the top of Group B. But a whitewash against Croatia could have helped the Czechs overtake the Spanish on set countback. Lucie Safarova gave the Czechs a 1-0 lead by beating Sanja Ancic 7-5, 6-2 before her brother Mario downed world number 13 Berdych. Earlier, Russia booked their place in the final with a 3-0 whitewash of France. The top seeds, who lost their first match to Australia, started the day needing to win all three rubbers to overtake the French on countback at the top of Group A. Nadia Petrova kept her end of the bargain by beating Tatiana Golovin 7-6, 6-0, before partner Dmitry Tursunov overcame Jerome Haehnel 6-1, 6-4. The Russians then paired up to defeat the French duo 6-4, 6-2 in the mixed doubles. Australia beat United States 2-1 in the dead second contest in the group. Alicia Molik gave the hosts a 1-0 lead with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Ashley Harkleroad before Mardy Fish levelled with a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Nathan Healey, a late replacement for the injured Mark Philippoussis. The Australian duo then prevailed 6-4, 7-5 in the mixed doubles.
— Reuters
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Nadal ousts Rastogi
Chennai, January 4 Rastogi, ranked 497th in the world, proved to be no match for the World No. 2 Spaniard. Meanwhile, in one of the shortest matches of the tourney, unseeded Austrian Stefan Koubek entered the quarterfinals with an upset win over Asian star and seventh seed Paradorn Srichaphan. In a totally one-sided match lasting just 47 minutes, the 80th-ranked Austrian ran away with an easy 6-1, 6-2 win over 2003 champion and crowd favourite from Thailand, to join France’s Fabrice Santoro in the last eight. Sixth seed Santoro defeated Bjorn Phau of Germany 6-2, 6-4 in the other pre-quarterfinal contest. Srichaphan became the second seeded player to bow out of this year’s edition after second seeded David Nalbandian was toppled by Pless Kristian of Denmark in the first round. Today’s defeat was the earliest exit by Srichaphan after his quarterfinal loss to Kristof Vliegen of Belgium last year. The Thai, playing here for the sixth successive year, was a finalist for four years from 2002 and finished runner-up in 2002, 2004 and 2005. Sixth seeded Frenchman Fabrice Santoro, who was suffering from back spasm that forced him to pull out of doubles, put his injury behind to score a 6-4, 6-2 win over Bjorn Phau of Germany to enter the quarterfinals.
— Agencies
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Australian Open hit by withdrawals
Sydney, January 4 Tournament organisers said today that the Belgian, Australian Open champion in 2004 and runner-up last year, would miss the tournament for “personal reasons”. Four-time champion and crowd favourite Andre Agassi, a staunch supporter of the event when many top Americans did not come to Melbourne, announced his retirement after last year’s US Open. Melbourne’s favourite son Mark Philippoussis is also out after being told he needs knee surgery and former champion Mary Pierce of France has also succumbed to a knee problem. Former French Open champion Anastasia Myskina hurt her toe in Auckland this week and flew home to Moscow for treatment and Argentine David Nalbandian is struggling to overcome tendinitis in his knee. American Venus Williams is also in doubt after pulling out of the Hopman Cup with a wrist injury, although her younger sister Serena is confirmed as a starter after missing the event in the past. It is not unusual for top players to miss the Australian Open through injuries suffered the previous season, but this year’s drop-out rate could be higher than normal. Henin-Hardenne was among the high-profile casualties in 2005, along with 2004 finalist Kim Clijsters and Jennifer Capriati, the 2001 and 2002 winner. Russian Marat Safin did not defend his title last year and Rafael Nadal failed to show up because of a foot problem, leading to renewed calls to shift the tournament to a later date. In the days before easy jet travel, the top players in Europe and the USA preferred to stay at home rather than undertake the lengthy journey. Even now, the top players are regularly missing and the problem is made worse by Australia’s scorching summer heat where on-court temperatures often exceed 45°C. Tennis Australia officials did agree to push this year’s tournament back one week but later scrapped the plan and reverted to the original dates. — Reuters
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Paes-Damm reach semis
Doha, January 4 The third-seed Indo-Czech pair carved out a 6-3, 6-1 win over the wild card entrants to make it to the last four of the $ 1 million event. Paes and Damm, who triumphed in the US Open last year, will have their first tough match of the tournament in the semifinal as they meet second seeds Mark Knowles of Bahamas and and Daniel Nestor of Canada, who had a comfortable 6-3, 6-0 win over Sebastian Grosjean and Gael Melzer of France.
— PTI
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FIH project: IHF told to act fast
New Delhi, January 4 The FIH, which had identified 14 areas in its report which was submitted in mid-November, said it could move to the next stage only when the first stage of the project was implemented. Bab Davidzson, the project leader appointed for studying what ails Indian hockey under the project, “Promotion Indian Hockey”, had mentioned the areas of concerns in a document after a series of over 40 meetings with a variety of stakeholders, an FIH release said. The fact that the FIH chose to issue a press release is being viewed as a move to remind the IHF of its responsibilities regarding the project. The report prepared by the Dutchman was submitted to the IHF as well as the Indian Women’s Hockey Federation in mid-November and included suggestions for addressing these areas of concern. The FIH said it was now up to these bodies to take action on the suggestions and work on the possible improvements in the sport. “As soon as their Executive Boards can identify themselves with these proposals and commit themselves to allocate people and other relevant resources to assist in addressing them, the project will go into the second stage immediately,” the release said. Strategic options would then be discussed and evaluated and would form the basis of an overall long-term plan and specific shorter term-action plans, it said. The FIH-backed project is being pursued in cooperation with the IHF, the Indian Olympic Association and the Olympic Solidarity mission. Such a project to uplift the standard of Indian hockey seems all the more necessary considering the recent slump in performance of the men’s team, which finished 11th in the 12-nation World Cup and failed to reach the semifinals of the Asian Games for the first time to end up fifth. The next big target for both the men’s and women’s teams would be to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Although the women’s team, which won a silver in the Commonwealth Games and a bronze in the Asian Games, has performed better than the men, they were unlucky to miss out on an Olympics berth. While it is not known what the IHF has done with the report, an IWHF official told PTI that the women’s body would discuss the suggestions shortly after which some steps would be taken accordingly.
— PTI
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Squash: 3 juniors in pre-quarters
Chennai, January 4 In a thrilling five-game encounter lasting 65 minutes, Tandon defeated Malaysia’s Cheong Kah Wah 6-9, 9-7, 1-9, 9-3, 9-1. The victory was sweet revenge for 14-year-old Tandon, who had lost to Wah in straight games last week in Scotland and also at the Asian Junior Championship in June, 2005, a Squash Rackets Federation of India release said. Losing the first game 6-9, Tandon came back strongly to win the second. Wah won the third in quick time and Tandon had to bring in his best to bag the fourth 9-3. In the fifth, Tandon raced to a 6-0 lead and won in style. Joining Tandon in the top 16 in the U-15 category are Ravi Dixit and Adity Jagtap, who made short work of their opponents. Dixit defeated England’s Robert Downer 9-4, 9-1, 9-2 and Japtap beat Arbah Dilawar of Pakistan 9-5, 9-1, 9-6. In boys U-17, Cyril Kuhn overcame Omar Magdy Ghanem, winning 7-9, 9-5, 9-2, 7-9, 9-7. The only disappointment of the day was Dipika Pallikal, who lost to Japan’s Misaki Kobayashi 4-9, 4-9, 10-8, 9-1, 9-1 in the round of 16. Pallikal, playing her second match of the day, won her first two games before the Japanese rallied from 6-8 at match ball in the third to emerge winner.
— PTI
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Haryana in crisis
Rajkot, January 4 The visitors, in comfortable position after taking 40 runs first innings lead, dramatically collapsed in the final hours to be reduced to 82 for 7 with an overall lead of 122. Haryana lost Mahesh Rawat (17), Nitin Saini (27) and Sandip Singh (0) in a space of just 19 balls without adding a run to their total. Skipper Joginder Sharma, who is yet to open his account, was at the crease when stumps were drawn. Dhruve and Jadeja, who also contributed with the bat to reduce the lead, shared three wickets each in Haryana's second innings. Earlier, Saurashtra resumed at their overnight score of 134 for 5 and were all out for 268 in 116 overs. Jadeja top-scored with 48 (81b, 10x4), while Feroz Bambhania and Dhruve contributed 33 and 34 runs respectively. For Haryana, Joginder Sharma, Gaurav Vashistha and Amit Mishra bagged three wickets each.
— PTI
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Sinclair stars in Veerans win
Chennai, January 4 Veerans opened the account in the 17th minute with a brilliant reverse hit by Vikram Kanth and took control of the match having a better share of exchanges in the match played at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium. In the third quarter, a superb move from the right flank saw Chennai skipper Adam Sinclair pass the ball to Pawal Lakra in the circle before moving into the goalmouth. Pawal dribbled on the goalline and sent a sizzling minus to Adam, but the ball deflected to Suresh Kumar who sent in a quick reverse flick Raja nudged it in, to make it 2-0. Later, Sinclair struck two goals in the 49th and 50th minutes to virtually seal the fate of the match. However, Sultans, who forced nine short corners, reduced the margin converting the last one, a minute before the hooter.aVeerans wasted all the three short corners for want of good stopper.
— PTI |
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Asia Cup may be rescheduled The Asia Cup is scheduled from April 17 next year but could be pushed back for another two weeks because the dates are clashing with India's proposed tour of Australia, media reports said on Thursday. India had requested during an Asian Cricket Council meeting in Singapore to wait for their confirmation due to the team's tour of Australia before any final decision over staging the event was taken, Pakistan Cricket Board's Director, Cricket Operations, Salim Altaf said. India, most probably, would visit Australia in January-February next year after which the Aussies would come to Pakistan in the first week of March.
The event was proposed to be held in Pakistan in early 2006 but it could not be possible due to crisis in the Indian Cricket Board.
— PTI Flintoff admitted that his ankle troubles whenever he bowls and concerns over his fitness have grown after he bowled just six overs on the second day of the ongoing final Test in Sydney. According a 'Times' report, the skipper's fitness will not be risked ahead of the World Cup, which starts in another two months' time in West Indies, and he may comeback home to recover from the injury. The triangular series, which also features New Zealand apart from hosts Australia, will start in Melbourne next week. — UNI
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