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South Africans squeeze Oranje
Pawar may miss semis, final
Fleming upbeat after facile win
England look ahead to
Canada
Jeev, Chopra miss the cut
Paes-Damm shock top seeds
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Port of Spain, March 17 Earlier, Sourav Ganguly stood tall among the ruins as India put up an insipid batting display. Former captain Ganguly’s mature knock of 66 was an exception to the hara-kiri committed by the top and lower-order Indian batsmen. The only other batsman to show sense of responsibility was Punjab middle-order player Yuvraj Singh, who contributed a valuable 47. The 85-run partnership for the fifth wicket between the two was backed by a smashing 32-run stand between Zaheer Khan (15 n.o.) and Munaf Patel (15) after the team was in danger of being all out with a few overs to spare. Mashrafee Mortaza (4-38) rocked the Indian innings with the new ball and left them tottering at 40-3 before Ganguly began the recovery process with skipper Rahul Dravid (14). After Dravid’s fall, Ganguly combined with Yuvraj to set the platform for a late assault but five wickets for two runs undid the duo’s good work. As it were, India slipped from 157-4 to 159-9 in the space of 15 balls. Left-arm spinners Abdur Razzak (3-38) and Mohammad Rafique (3-35) did the damage in the middle overs. Bad choice to bat first, poor start and shocking collapse all contributed to India’s worst nightmare. The pathetic score of 191 was way behind their previous low of 214 against their neighbours, recorded in a match in Dhaka in 2004. Bangladesh put up a virtuoso performance with spectacular fielding and more than brilliant performance from its bowlers, medium-pacers and spinners alike. Mortaza and Syed Rasel applied the screws early on before the life was squeezed out of the Indians by the spin trio of Rafique, Razzaq and Saqibul Hasan. Dravid opted to field against the grain of thinking in this tournament which suggests chasing is a better option. He soon lived to regret the decision as Virender Sehwag (2) was bowled in the third over in his patented manner of dismissal. Scoreboard
India Ganguly c Razzak Sehwag b Mortaza 2 Uthappa c Aftab b Mortaza 9 Tendulkar c Rahim Dravid lbw Rafique 14 Yuvraj c Bashar b Razzak 47 Dhoni c Aftab b Rafique 0 Harbhajan b Razzak 1 Agarkar c Rahim b Mortaza 0 Zaheer not out 15 Patel c Razzak b Mortaza 15 Extras (lb-4, w-4, nb-7) 15 Total (all out, 49.3 overs) 191 Fall of wickets:
1-6, 2-21, 3-40, 4-72, 5-157, 6-158, 7-159, 8-159, 9-159. Bowling:
Mortaza 9.3-2-38-4, Rasel 10-2-31-0, Razzak 10-2-38-3, Hasan 10-0-44-0, Rafique 10-1-36-3. Bangladesh Iqbal c Dhoni b Patel 51 Nafees lbw Zaheer 2 Rahim not out 56 Aftab lbw Patel 8 Hasan st Dhoni b Sehwag 53 Bashar st Dhoni b Sehwag 1 Ashraful not out 8 Extras (lb-1, w-4, nb-8) 13 Total
(5 wkts, 48.3 overs) 192 Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-69, 3-79, 4-163, 5-175. Bowling: Zaheer 9-2-41-1, Agarkar 10-0-41-0, Patel 8.3-1-39-2, Harbhajan 10-1-30-0, Tendulkar 3-0-8-0, Yuvraj 3-0-15-0, Sehwag 5-0-17-2.
— Agencies
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Pakistan in dire straits slay Dutch Kingston, March 17 This was a game that Pakistan could not afford to lose having lost their opener against hosts West Indies on Tuesday, also at Sabina Park. With Ireland having already secured a point from their tied match against Zimbabwe earlier in the week, Pakistan face almost certain elimination if they are beaten. Pakistan began losing wickets from the first over when Mohammad Hafeez (4) was caught behind from seamer David Langford-Smith to the sixth ball of the match. The usually-reliable Younis Khan then followed with a third-ball nought, caught at slip off seamer Boyd Rankin, to make the score 15-2. Mohammad Yousuf, another batsman that Pakistan look to when they need to steady the innings, lasted just 31 balls before he drove to point and was caught for 15 off Irish skipper Trent Johnston. The loss of skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq in the next over was the moment when the Irish party on St Patrick’s Day really began. He edged the South African-born medium-pacer Andre Botha to Eoin Morgan at slip for one and it was 58-4. Opener Imran Nazir, renowned for his attacking strokeplay, was probably not the batsman Pakistan wanted in their crisis and his regular playing and missing was soon followed by an edge to slip Morgan off Botha. Shoaib Malik, Pakistan’s top scorer with 62 in the West Indies match, looked at ease for the 25 balls he lasted, including a firmly hit straight drive off Johnston. But he became the sixth victim when the score was 72 as he edged seamer Kevin O’Brien to his wicketkeeper brother Niall O’Brien, who was standing up. There was still hope while Azhar Mahmood and Kamran Akmal were at the crease. But they both fell within four balls to Rankin in the 31st over. Mahmood played an irresponsible pull shot to a ball that was not all that short and was caught by Johnston. Scoreboard Pakistan Hafeez c Niall O’Brien Nazir c Morgan b Botha 24 Younis c Botha b Rankin 0 Yousuf c Porterfield Inzamam c Morgan Malik c Niall O’Brien Akmal c Johnston Mahmood c Johnston Sami c Bray b McCallan 12 Anjum not out 8 Gul c sub b McCallan 1 Extras
(lb-3, w-23, nb-3)29 Total (all out, 45.4 overs) 132 Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-15, 3-56, 4-58, 5-66, 6-72, 7-103, 8-105, 9-130. Bowling:
Langford-Smith 10-1-31-1, Rankin 9-1-32-3, Botha 8-4-5-2, Johnston 7-1-20-1, Kevin O’Brien 6-0-29-1, McCallan 5.4-1-12-2.
— Reuters
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No rift in Pak camp: Manager
Karachi, March 17 Team manager P.J. Mir said people with vested interests were trying to malign the Pakistani team by spreading false reports of growing rift within the camp. “It is all false propaganda spread by gossip mongers,” Mir was quoted as saying in The News. Reports in a section of media said Mir, captain Inzamam-ul Haq and coach Bob Woolmer were not getting along well and players were demotivated. But Mir said, “We have absolutely no problems with each other and I’m surprised how anybody can take such rumours seriously”. Mir also denied that Inzamam gave a dressing down to players after their loss in the World Cup opener against the West Indies. “There is no truth in that either. As a captain, Inzamam has the right to discuss things with his players. He is a good captain and is well respected by his players so there is no way that Inzamam would be going out there and bashing his players,” he said. Clearing air on “nagging” presence of Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Nasim Ashraf in the dressing room, Mir said, “He (Ashraf) never sat in the dressing room or tried to attend team meetings. It is all a part of the propaganda”. Inzamam also categorically denied any tiff with Mir and the reports of rift in the squad. “It’s all rubbish, to malign the Pakistan team. They have bad motives against Pakistan,” he said. — PTI
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South Africans squeeze Oranje
Basseterre, March 17 On a record-breaking day for the South Africans when they crushed the Oranje brigade by 221 runs, Gibbs became the first player to pile up 36 runs in a one-day international over as he tormented leg spinner Daan van Bunge. After hammering Van Bunge back over his head four times and over the ropes on the on-side twice, he also became the third man ever to achieve the feat in major matches. India’s Ravi Shastri and West Indian Garfield Sobers had achieved the record in first class cricket. Gibbs’s heroics completely overshadowed the fastest half-century scored in the World Cup by Mark Boucher and Jacques Kallis’s century as South Africa racked up 353 for three in a match reduced to 40 overs-a-side after overnight rain delayed the start of the match. South Africa surged to their biggest one-day victory by restricting the Netherlands to a total of 132 for nine. Kallis scored a measured 128 not out, Gibbs made a whirlwind 72, Graeme Smith added 67, and Boucher was 75 not out after reaching his half-century off a record 21 deliveries. In reply, the Dutch seemed intent only on occupying the crease for their full quota of overs. Alexei Kervezee stood firm for 52 balls for his 17, while Ryan ten Doeschate top-scored with a polished 57. Most of the South Africans returned impressive bowling figures. Scoreboard
South Africa De Villiers c Smits Smith c Van Bunge Kallis not out 128 Gibbs c Van Bunge Boucher not out 75 Extras (lb-2, nb-1, w-8) 11 Total
(3 wkts, 40 overs) 353 FoW: 1-0, 2-114, 3-219. Bowling:
Stelling 8-1-43-1, Reekers 5-1-35-0, Ten Doeschate 7-0-58-0, De Leede 4-0-48-0, Borren 8-0-52-1, Van Bunge 4-0-56-0, Van Troost 4-0-59-1. Netherlands Zuiderent b Pollock 1 Reekers run out 4 Kervezee c Pollock Ten Doeschate run out 57 Van Bunge lbw Hall 5 Szwarczynski lbw Smith 12 Leede b Kemp 21 Borren run out 2 Van Troost c Smith Stelling not out 1 Extras (lb-4, nb-1, w-2) 7 Total (9 wkts, 40 overs)132 FoW: 1-5, 2-6, 3-33, 4-47, 5-72, 6-114, 7-124, 8-131, 9-132. Bowling: Pollock 6-3-4-1, Nel 6-1-19-0, Langeveldt 6-0-22-1, Hall 6-1-15-1, Smith 8-0-32-1, Kallis 4-0-18-0, Kemp 4-0-18-2.
— Reuters
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Ponting looks beyond Dutch
Basseterre, March 17 Captain Ricky Ponting has one eye on the crucial match against the world No. one Proteas on March 24 which will decide who tops Group A. “We are ready for our next two matches and have planned well for South Africa which I expect to be a real good contest,” said Ponting after his team saw South Africa crush the Netherlands by 221 runs at Warner Park on Friday. South African batsman Herschelle Gibbs became the first man in one-day cricket history to hit six sixes in an over when he smashed five straight ones and one towards mid-wicket off hapless leg-break bowler Daan van Bunge. But Ponting, who himself smashed five sixes in his 113 in Australia’s 334-6 in a 203-run win over Scotland on Wednesday, was not surprised at the run riot. “It doesn’t actually surprise me that much. Gibbs’s was a fairly rare feat but having played out there the other day it’s a pretty small ground and it could have happened, not easily, but the way some of the players are hitting the ball these days it doesn’t surprise me at all.” Ponting predicted a high-scoring match against South Africa. “I think 350 is very much a par score out there, it’s just so small a ground. The straight boundaries are really small. I mis-hit a few the other day to the top of the grandstand. “If we bat first (against South Africa) then we are going to have to make a really good score to be competitive,” said Ponting whose side has failed to defend big totals, including a world record score of 434 against South Africa last year. “That last match was a fitting end to a great series. I expect the game to be a really good contest and we have special plans for all of their guys.” “They are number-one ranked one-day team in the world now, so they are doing lots of things right. We’ve got a good rivalry with South Africa in Test and one-day cricket,” said Ponting whose team lost their world number one spot to Greame Smith’s side last month. Australia are expected to be unchanged on Sunday after all-rounder Andrew Symonds, recovering from arm sugery, was ruled out. The Netherlands, playing their third World Cup since 1996, will be hard pressed to pick up pieces after their South African rout. “It will be tough but we must cheer up and face Australia in the next game,” said Dutch skipper Luke van Troost. “We were doing well until the tenth over of the South African match but from their we lost our way. I would be happy if we could repeat our first ten over performance and bat better.” Australia beat the Netherlands in their only previous World Cup meeting by 75 runs in South Africa in 2003.
— AFP
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More relives 6/6 feat of Shastri
New Delhi, March 17 More was behind the stumps when Ravi Shastri had become only the second player in the world after Sir Garfield Sobers to hit six sixes in a domestic match. Reliving the memory, More, who was also the captain of Baroda during its match against Bombay in 1984-85, said all their efforts were in vain as Shastri went after Tilak Raj mercilessly. “It was one of those great innings. Shastri was slogging, improvising and playing some great shots. He hit over mid-on to fine leg and he played a one-handed shot,” More told PTI today. Backing left-arm spinner Tilak Raj, who registered his name in the record books for the wrong reason, the former selection committee chairman said both he and the bowler tried their best to stop Shastri, who proved to be unstoppable. “We tried our best. Tilak Raj was a smart cricketer who came from Delhi and who knew his business. He bowled short, down the leg, outside the off stump, yorker but in vain,” he said. However, the former Test stumper said he missed out on watching Gibbs’ becoming the first player to achieve the record in international cricket. “I could not see the innings as I was watching the match between New Zealand and England. But it must have been a great innings,” he said. Drawing a comparison between Shastri and Gibbs, More said the India
all-rounder’s big hitting ability was mainly because of his long reach and timing. Gibbs’ six sixes in an over against the Netherlands yesterday was the third such occasion in first class cricket. Sobers was the first to achieve this record in 1968 against Glamorgan off the bowling of Malcolm Nash in Swansea, while Shastri was the second to do it in Wankhede Stadium in Bombay. While doing so, Shastri also established the record of scoring the fastest first class double hundred during that momentous innings.
— PTI
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Baramati, March 17 “Parliament is working on those days (when semis and the final will be played) and I will be answering questions (in Parliament). “The only way I will be able to watch the matches is if a colleague is willing to take those questions for me,” Pawar, who is also Union Agriculture minister, said here today. He said he would seek the Speaker’s permission to remain absent to watch India’s matches. Pawar, who attended the 7th annual initiative on e-health in Baramati, Maharashtra, said the Rahul Dravid-led squad was worried about the media coverage of the fans who were resorting to various acts seeking India’s victory in the tournament. “Aaste ghya (take it easy),” Pawar advised reporters while stating that fans should not go overboard with their reactions and expectations from the team. — PTI
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Fleming upbeat after facile win
Gros Islet, March 17 Both Test nations are overwhelming favourites to qualify from a Group C also featuring Canada and Kenya. And, if that does happen, New Zealand will carry two points forward into the second phase, Super Eight stage. That could yet prove important but the 33-year-old Fleming, a veteran of 271 one-day internationals and New Zealand’s most experienced captain, said he wouldn’t be getting carried away by Friday’s victory. “It’s not the be all and end all. We tried to look at both sides of it and have two answers in case we didn’t get the two points. It’s somewhere in the middle. It’s like a game in hand although we have to do the right work in these next two games. “But the four teams carrying a win could easily lose the first game (in the Super Eights) and then you are back to scratch,” the left-handed opening batsman added. New Zealand and England both beat each other twice in the tri-series in Australia, which England won last month. But Friday belonged to the Black Caps. “It was a nervy win, a great relief and brilliant to get the two points in the bank,” said Fleming. “It was a tense day. The first game could have a massive bearing on the next stage and to win it was great relief. He added: “It was a poor top-order display that put the pressure smack back on us but we responded well.” Fleming also praised fast bowler Bond. “Shane’s ability to change his pace was very effective. To get two of the big guns, Kevin Pietersen and Adrew Flintoff, so quickly, was the turning point. That really cut down a 250 par score to 210. Flintoff and Pietersen, coming to the end of an innings, can be incredibly dangerous.” New Zealand’s next game is against Kenya on Tuesday. Vaughan blames middle order
Admitting that a six-wicket defeat against New Zealand is not the ideal way to kick off the World Cup campaign, England captain Michael Vaughan blamed the setback on the brittle middle order. “It’s not the ideal start and we could have played a lot better. I think we required 60-odd more runs in this wicket but the cluster of wickets we lost in the middle didn’t help”, he said after England’s defeat in the Group C tie here on Friday. Vaughan also rued the fact that despite a low total, his bowlers had put pressure on the Kiwis, reducing them to 19 for three but could not maintain the tempo. “When we got three early wickets, we thought it could still be. But Scott Styris and Jacob Oram played a great partnership in getting them across the line.”
— Agencies
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England look ahead to Canada
Gros Islet, March 17 And that suits England captain Michael Vaughan just fine. “It’s a good thing we play again so soon,” Vaughan said after yesterday’s opening loss to the Black Caps. Canada might be the best opponent for a confidence booster - it lost by seven wickets to Kenya in Group C’s opening match on Wednesday, with captain John Davison finding few positives. England will be concentrating on improving its batting. Only Kevin Pietersen (60) scored a half century, and he looked annoyed after he spooned a shot from New Zealand fast bowler Shane Bond into the hands of James Franklin at long-on. While spinners are expected to do well at the Beausejour Cricket Ground, it was the express pace of New Zealand fast bowler Shane Bond (2-19) and the medium pace of Scott Styris (2-25) that undid England. “We know the conditions here now. We just need to make sure we improve our performance and make sure we come out on Sunday night with a victory,” Vaughan said. Vaughan said his hamstring did not bother him after the New Zealand match, and fast bowler James Anderson took 2-39 despite playing with strapping on his right hand after breaking his little finger on Wednesday. England bowlers Monty Panesar and Jamie Dalrymple could be in for a treat as Canada was troubled by Kenya’s spin attack in its opening loss. Canada has also been working on its running between wickets, which Davison described as “embarrassing” against Kenya. One key for Canada will be the form of opening batsman Geoff Barnett, who hit 41 off 50 balls with nine boundaries against the Kenyans.
— AP
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Kimi takes pole on Ferrari debut
Melbourne, March 17 The last was the late Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio in his home grand prix in 1956. Alonso, who will make his McLaren debut after winning the Formula One championship for the past two years with Renault, had to make do with second place on the starting grid. “I think we have a good race package. We are more confident for the race than for qualifying, definitely,” said Raikkonen, successor at Ferrari to retired seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher. It was the 12th pole position of his career, after 11 with McLaren, and his first since Italy last year. BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld shared the second row with McLaren’s 22-year-old British rookie Lewis Hamilton, who continued an outstanding weekend by qualifying fourth for his debut race. Ferrari’s Brazilian Felipe Massa, winner of the last grand prix of 2006 in Sao Paulo, failed to make the final qualifying session after slowing and pulling over with a gearbox problem. He will start 16th. Tomorrow will be the first season opener since 1991 without Schumacher on the starting grid but Raikkonen, relaxed and unemotional as ever, has already achieved something the great German never managed. If he wins tomorrow he will do something else, becoming the first Ferrari driver to win on his debut for the team since Briton Nigel Mansell in 1989. Alonso, slower than Hamilton in the first qualifying session and struggling with set-up earlier in the day, felt McLaren had made a big step up since last year when they failed to win a race for the first time in a decade.
— Reuters
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Jeev, Chopra miss the cut
Orlando, March 17 Both Jeev and Chopra had identical opening round of eight-over 78 and Chopra turned in a card of 73 in the second round to fall by the wayside. Jeev, last year’s Asian Tour’s UBS Order of Merit winner, was even-par with two birdies and two bogeys in the day, but was way off the cut which came at 143, five shots less than Jeev’s total. Ghei tied 27th
Sanya (China): Gaurav Ghei displayed an improved performance to shoot four-under 68 for a tied 27th place after the third round of the TCL Classic tournament at the Yalong Bay golf club here today. Last year’s Mercuries Masters champion Ghei, the only Indian left in the fray, had seven birdies, one bogey and one double bogey in his card for a huge improvement upon his tied 55th place effort yesterday. Ghei had rounds of 70 and 69 on first two days and got better by one more shot on the third day to finish with 68.
— PTI
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Paes-Damm shock top seeds
New Delhi, March 17 The fifth seeds Indo-Czech duo pulled off a 6-2, 6-7, 12-10 win against the top seeded pair of Bjorkman of Sweden and Belarussian Mirnyi in the semifinal of the $3,169,600 million event yesterday. Paes and Damm will clash with sixth seeds Israeli pair Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram for the title. Erlich and Ram defeated seventh seeded Austrian pair of Julian Knowle and Jurgen Melzer 6-2, 7-5 in the other semifinal. — PTI
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