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So near and yet so far India were out-batted, out-bowled, out-fielded and as it turned out, out-thought by the South Africans. Rahul Dravid and his men would have expected Jacques Kallis, South Africa’s premier player, to come out with Graeme Smith on the fifth morning, and planned accordingly.
England had no chance: Ponting
Paes-Damm fall at last hurdle
NFL
PHL
Harikrishna goes down fighting
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Ashis Ray
Cape Town, January 6 Priceless partnerships of 72 for the third wicket between Graeme Smith and Shaun Pollock, followed by 77 for the fifth wicket woven by Jacques Kallis and Ashwell Prince sealed India’s fate. As for the Indians, they surrendered their early initiative by fragmenting for 169 in the second innings. A target of 211 was not impossible to defend, but it required a miraculous effort to do so. They are, therefore, still without a series win in South Africa, having failed to deliver the coup de grace in this after leading 1-0. There had been a foreboding of rain on the final day since earlier in the week. This transpired not to be misplaced. With the South African score on 111 — an unlucky number among the superstitious in Anglo-Saxon culture — intensifying showers stopped play. At this stage, the home side needed exactly 100 runs to win — India, eight wickets. But in the 50 minutes of play that had occurred, South Africa rattled up 56 runs in 11.4 overs, without losing a wicket. They had promoted the strokeful Pollock to number four; and he and Smith, the pick of the Proteas batsmen in this match with skilful contributions of 94 and 55 (in the second instance only terminated by a spectacular catch by Dinesh Kaarthick) and, not surprisingly, the Man of the Match, not only batted without any alarms, but with purposeful aggression. The Indian bowling, including Anil Kumble, lacked penetration. The 33-year-old Pollock had bowled his heart out in the Indian first innings when the chips were down, capturing four valuable wickets, and then chipped in with the important scalp of Sachin Tendulkar in the second. Now, the gamble with the seasoned campaigner paid off. By scoring quite rapidly, he prevented the Indian bowlers from applying pressure. After the more than three hour weather break, he fiercely hooked Zaheer Khan for four and cut Kumble with equal ferocity for another boundary. This stalwart of an eminent cricketing family can look back with satisfaction at having played a significant part in his team’s success. Paul Harris is no exceptional spin bowler. But judging by the purchase he obtained from the wicket, a finger spinner like Harbhajan Singh would probably have been more effective and simultaneously lent resilience to the lower order. Munaf Patel was under bowled in the 1st innings and virtually ignored in the second, where he could at least have contained runs. Scoreboard India (1st innings) 414 South Africa (1st innings) 373 India (2nd innings) 169 South Africa (2nd innings) De Villiers c Kaarthick b Zaheer 2 Smith c Kaarthick b Zaheer 55 Amla lbw Kumble 10 Pollock c Laxman b Zaheer 37 Kallis c Dravid b Zaheer 32 Prince not out 38 Gibbs not out 0 Extras (b-7, lb-1, nb-5) 13 Total
(five wkts, 64.1 overs) 211 Fall of wickets: 1-36, 2-55, 3-127, 4-132, 5-210. Bowling:
Zaheer 21-2-62-4, Sreesanth 13-2-50-0, Kumble 25-4-74-1, Patel 1-0-2-0, Sehwag 1-0-8-0, Tendulkar 3.1-2-3-0.
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So near and yet so far India were out-batted, out-bowled, out-fielded and as it turned out, out-thought by the South Africans. Rahul Dravid and his men would have expected Jacques Kallis, South Africa’s premier player, to come out with Graeme Smith on the fifth morning, and planned accordingly. But Shaun Pollock came out instead, and that move caught the Indians off-guard. The all-rounder went for his shots from the word go, and his aggression took the game away from the visiting side. Watching the Indians on the field, one got the impression that they did not know what had hit them. The Indian players have only themselves to blame for the defeat. Their batting on the fourth day was timid, to say the least. South Africa deserve all the credit for coming back after the Johannesburg debacle to win the series. The likes of Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh, all of whom played in that unforgettable series against the Australians in 2001, would appreciate the achievement of the home team. Make no mistake, it is extremely difficult to come back to take a three-Test series after losing the first game. Many a cynic might state that the tour has ended for India in much the same way as it had begun. But the Indians did impress in the Test series after a poor performance in the one-dayers. S. Sreesanth has potential and should go a long way. Zaheer did well in his comeback series, and Wasim Jaffer gave a good account of himself in the first innings at Cape Town. There were several other gutsy performances, including those by Sourav Ganguly, who answered his critics by letting his bat do the talking. It should not be forgotten that this was India’s best performance on South African soil. — PMG
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Lankans tear Kiwis to shreds
Auckland, January 6 New Zealand could only muster 73 runs, their second lowest-ever one-day total, in what skipper Stephen Fleming conceded was a “rubbish” performance in chasing the tourists’ solid 262-6. A whirlwind 70 off 44 balls by 37-year-old opener Jayasuriya provided the fireworks in the Sri Lankan innings. Jayasuriya also established a world record for most career sixes during his superb knock. The 37-year-old sent five deliveries beyond the fence to take his tally to 222 sixes, overtaking Pakistani all-rounder Shahid Afridi's figure of 217. Another important contribution came from the side’s most consistent batsman Kumar Sangakkara, who held the Sri Lankan innings together with 79 from 103 balls. In reply, New Zealand had no answer to a great spell of in-swing bowling from 32-year-old Vaas. He trapped New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming (0), Ross Taylor (0) and Hamish Marshall (3) in successive overs to finish with 3-10 from eight overs. Speedster Lasith Malinga was also devastating, taking 3-14 from eight overs and master spinner Muttiah Muralitharan had 2-7 from his 2.3 overs at the tail of the innings. The victory leaves the series tied at 2-2 with one match left to play on Tuesday. Jayasuriya brought the crowd alive earlier when in the space of 13 balls the veteran belied his age to pummel 43 runs in an extraordinary series of on-drives and pull shots. His innings included seven fours and five sixes. He smashed three consecutive sixes off Michael Mason in the 11th over and another off the first ball of the next over from Mark Gillespie to score four sixes off five consecutive balls faced. Gillespie brought the run feast to an end when Jayasuriya miscued him to fine leg in the 16th over. Apart from Jayasuriya's record, another world record, which virtually went unnoticed, was that six New Zealanders were dismissed leg before wicket in a one-dayer. Scoreboard
Sri Lanka Tharanga b Gillespie 22 Jayasuriya c Mason b Gillespie 70 Jayawardene c Fleming b Gillespie 0 Sangakkara c Taylor b Bond 79 Atapattu c McCullum b Adams 34 Kapugedera not out 10 Maharoof c Adams b Bond 21 Vaas not out 5 Extras
(lb-11, w-6, nb-4) 21 Total (6 wkts, 50 overs) 262 FoW: 1-102, 2-102, 3-103, 4-194, 5-232, 6-256 Bowling: Mason 10-1-62-0, Bond 10-2-47-2, Gillespie 10-1-39-3, Adams 9-2-53-1, Patel 9-0-41-0, McMillan 2-0-9-0. New Zealand McCullum c Sangakkara Fleming lbw Vaas 0 Taylor lbw Vaas 0 Fulton lbw Malinga 9 Marshall lbw Vaas 3 McMillan not out 29 Adams lbw Malinga 1 Bond c&b Malinga 2 Gillespie c Sangakkara Patel b Muralitharan 6 Mason lbw Muralitharan 1 Extras (lb-2, w-1, nb-2) 5 Total (all out, 26.3 overs) 73 Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-17, 3-17, 4-25, 5-37, 6-39, 7-49, 8-54, 9-71. Bowling:
Vaas 8-3-10-3, Malinga 8-3-14-3, Maharoof 4-0-27-1, Fernando 4-1-13-1, Muralitharan 2.3-0-7-2.
— AFP
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England had no chance: Ponting
London, January 6 Ponting said it felt “incredible” to seal a 5-0 series victory, the first Ashes whitewash in 86 years, adding that it was deserved due to Australia’s meticulous preparation. “If I had been allowed to write my own script for this series, I couldn’t have come up with anything better than this,” Ponting wrote in The Daily Telegraph newspaper. “It’s been mistake-free, high-pressure stuff and we’ve worked hard for it. It’s not like we turned up and expected our talent to win games. We prepared as well as we possibly could, worked hard and got our just rewards. “I would say that our discipline was the key. We’ve done all the little things really well. Our running between the wickets was great, our fielding, generally, was sharp. Our bowling was terrific. “Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath will dominate the headlines—and rightly so—but Stuart Clark also has been unbelievable. Our batting, when we had a partnership going, was relentless. All the disciplines of Test cricket, really. “We just didn’t give England a chance.” Ponting paid tribute to bowlers McGrath and Warne, who have retired from Test cricket following the Ashes series. He praised quick McGrath as better than Curtly Ambrose and Shaun Pollock, while he said spinner Warne’s special talent lay in anticipating what stroke the batsman would attempt. “As for England’s performances, people will look at the scoreline and think that they crumbled,” Ponting wrote. “It’s hard for me to judge. I don’t know their players and wouldn’t like to comment on their character or lack of it. All I know is that at different times in this series we had to play exceptional cricket. “I’ve been lucky enough to have played in lots of winning teams, but this one has been special. “To be able to walk up to your bowlers, tell them what you want, set a few field positions and then see it all come off; from a captain’s point of view, it doesn’t get any better. The execution was perfect.” Boycott for Wright as England coach
Former England captain Geoffrey Boycott wants ex-India coach John Wright to teach Andrew Flintoff and Co. how to win Tests overseas in the wake of their 0-5 Ashes debacle against Australia. Boycott said Wright, who coached India for five years, had helped them learn how to win Test matches overseas and could be a good replacement for incumbent Duncan Fletcher. “My preferred option for Fletcher’s successor would be John Wright, the former New Zealand batsman who helped India learn how to win Test matches overseas,” he said. “He (Wright) is a firm hand in a soft glove and I know he would be interested,” the Yorkshire great wrote in a column for Daily Telegraph. Boycott said after the Ashes fiasco, Fletcher should do the honourable thing by stepping down after the World Cup. “This tour has been a shambles from first to last and it is about time that certain people admitted that. The first thing I want to see is the coach, Duncan Fletcher, taking responsibility for his mistakes and announcing that he will retire after the World Cup.” Boycott, who has been demanding Fletcher’s ouster ever since the team’s Champions Trophy debacle, also suggested the team should have separate Test and one-day coaches. “The other idea England should consider is splitting the job in half, so that they have one coach for the Test team and one for one-day internationals. It would be revolutionary, but you should never disparage an idea just because nobody else has tried it.” The cricketer-turned commentator named current Sri Lanka coach Tom Moody and former Australian batsman Dean Jones as possible one-day coaches.
— AFP, PTI
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Paes-Damm fall at last hurdle
New Delhi, January 6 The unseeded duo was pairing up only for the second time ever but proved too good for the third seeds, who failed to recover after making a poor start. Youzhny and Zimonjic served well and converted five of the nine break points they got to emerge victorious in the final, which became competitive only in the second set which was decided through tie-breaker. Paes and Damm were completely out of sorts and struggled to find feet from the very start as they surrendered the opening set quite meekly. The reigning US Open champions were broken thrice as they went down 1-6 in a one-sided
first set. The Indo-Czech pair, however, fought back in the second set but were matched shot for shot by Youzhny and Zimonjic. The Russian-Serb duo saved four break points and won the match in the tie-breaker against the exhausted third seeds. The win gave Youzhny his second and Zimonjic his 14th doubles crown. The Russian-Serb duo also claimed its first ATP title together and Zimonjic said he couldn’t have asked for a better start to the New Year. “This is a great start to the new year. We just got better as the week
went on,” he said after the match. — UNI
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Nadal, Moya sent
packing
Chennai, January 6 While Nadal went down fighting to Malisse 4-6, 6-7(4-7) in a 127-minute epic battle, Moya capitulated to the relentless onslaught of the unassuming Belgian, losing 3-6, 1-6 in little over an hour. The two upset wins came as a shocker to the packed crowd which returned home in disbelief. A Nadal-Moya final seemed to be the icing on the cake for the week-long tournament. But it proved otherwise as Nadal played his heart out and yet ended up on the losing side. Moya, despite being egged on by the crowd, failed to live up to his reputation and caved in meekly. It was an abject surrender by Moya after his superlative show in the tournament, especially in the quarters against the big-serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic yesterday. Perhaps, Moya would have got up from the other side of the bed as nothing went right for the 27-year-old. He struggled to cope with the hard and deep returns of 30-year-old Koubek, who played some solid tennis right through the game. Third seed Malisse, ranked 37, proved right Nadal’s pre-tournament fears of a tough road ahead to retain his world No. 2 position for the third straight season as he quelled the Spaniard’s challenge. Having played relatively easy opponents in his earlier three matches, Nadal found Malisse a tough customer. Also, he made a lot of unforced errors, much to the disappointment of the jam-packed crowd rooting for him on centre court. — UNI, PTI
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HAL hold Bagan
Bangalore, January 6 The widely expected soft open to their campaign to regain the title for the Kolkata giants could never happen as the half-line failed to help the indomitable striker duo of Bhaichung Bhutia and Jose Ramires Barreto. Poor finishing and Gumpe Rime, the HAL keeper who proved to be a stumbling block throughout the game, forced the three times winners to share points with the state league winners, who were promoted to the premier league this year. The aircraftmen, who matched their rivals for most of the first half, could have produced a shocking result, but for their poor firing line that failed to cash in on some close chances that came their way in the first half. The second half belonged to Bagan, but luck eluded Bhutia and Barreto time and again. The Federation Cup champions failed to break the deadlock, despite Bagan coach Robson Mattos De Oliveira making three changes in the second half. Rime, who stood the test against the marauding Bagan striking force, was adjudged the player of the match. After they missed half a dozen chances, either shot wide or valiantly saved by Rime, Bagan would have earned full points had the luck been on their side. With just four minutes left for the full time, Bhutia’s shot, just 10 yards from the custodian, hit the far post and bounced back. For HAL, winger Raghuveer Singh, who was the pick of the lot, created many chances, while defenders Prasanth Jaggi and Pawan Kumar tackled the Bagan strikers with aplomb. It was a fine performance by the youthful local outfit, served well by a good sprinkle of junior national team campers. Apart from Dulal, who gave a dazzling display, midfielders Dharmjit Singh and Sanjiv Maria were also prominent in the Bagan’s scheme of things. Bagan got the first chance to score 10 minutes into the game, but Sanjeev Maria’s free kick from 25 yards was tipped over by Rime. Nine minutes later, HAL striker Reisangmi Vashim’s flick just missed the far post. Ten minutes to half time, HAL should have scored off Raghuveer’s effort, but Dulal made a superb goal line save. Earlier, Dulal had hit the ball over from just outside the HASC area and on the 38th minute Barreto’s header off Dulal’s measured cross sailed over the bar. The missed chances continued as Bhutia failed to slot in from inside the box off Barreto’s pass. Bagan slowly took the game in its grasp and made repeated forays into the HAL area. Bhutia just headed off a Dharmjit’s cross, while the most valuable player of the Federation Cup repeated the act with 20 minutes left in the game. Substitute Mehtab, who came in for off-colour Lalkamal Bhowmick, had a good chance to put Bagan in front, but failed to connect inside the rival box in the 83rd minute. Just three minutes later, Baretto’s reverse flick was superbly tipped over by Rime. The very next minute Bhutia’s attempt was foiled again, this time by the post. — UNI
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Dutch treat for Steelers
Chennai, January 6 For Chandigarh Dynamos, this was the second consecutive defeat. The Chandigarh team made some good moves but were thwarted by the rival defence. In the 31st minute, Bimal Lakra made a good shot, which was superbly saved by Orissa goalkeeper Dinesh Ekka. In the 45th minute also, the Chandigarh team was awarded a penalty corner but Ekka brilliantly deflected. Earlier, a good run by Indirajit Singh and a good pass to Rajpal Singh also failed to produce a goal due to good clearance by the Orissa defence, which stood its ground. After 60 minutes, play was stopped for five minutes due to bad light as the floodlights did not function due to a technical snag. In the 65th minute, a good effort by Prabhjot Singh and Ravipal was beautifully cleared by Orissa defender Sunil Ekka. As per the new rule introduced in the tournament, the match proceeded to the silver-goal time as no goal was scored during regulation time. If the teams are not able to score at the end of regular time, seven and half minutes of extra time is played (silver time) and whichever team scores at the end of this time is the winner. In the sixth minute of silver time, the Orissa team earned a penalty corner, which was pushed brilliantly by Steller into the goal. Warriors edge out Shers Maratha Warriors got the better of Sher-e-Jalandhar via a silver goal by Shivendra Singh in the 77th minute in a PHL match here tonight. Both teams dishing out lacklustre fare. The ball was put out of play too many times and irritated spectators were seen mimicking cricket fans and shouting “four” or “six”. Long balls which did not find any player, powerful drives which crossed the lines like bullets and players failing to trap reasonable forward passes was seen throughout the match. Gagan Ajit Singh was off-colour and missed connecting some good passes, especially a cross from Jarnil in the 40th minute. In the 65th minute, he again failed to connect a pass when he had just the goalkeeper to beat. In the 50th minute, Marathas’ goalkeeper Adrian D’Souza effected a splendid save when Jarnail attempted a strike. Viren Rasquinha and Gurbaj Singh played well to lift their team, which did not put up a dynamic display like they did in their first match against Bangalore Lions. The silver goal resulted from a pass by Hemeni Gethe, which was slotted home by Shivendra.
— PTI, UNI
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Harikrishna goes down fighting
Odessa, January 6 Harikrishna, a former world junior champion, was extremely unlucky as he had a winning position on the board but did not have enough time left to complete the game. It all started as a shock for the Indian who lost the first game in the rapid game only to strike back and level scores. The tie-breaker that ensued under blitz chess against saw Morozevich winning the first game but yet again Harikrishna bounced back to take the game to sudden death. As the rules stipulated, Harikrishna as black got four minutes for the entire game against Morozevich’s five and simply outclassed the Russian in all departments of the game except the clock. Playing the black side of a Ruy Lopez, Harikrishna got an opening advantage and nurtured it well in to the middle game. Morozevich lost a pawn but recovered it back with some precise play.
— PTI
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