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Dutch rout Scots Valiant Canada go down fighting
Woolmer’s wife does not rule out murder
Dawood behind ‘killing’: Babloo
Scotland Yard to probe death |
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India should play five bowlers
India to host 2010 hockey World Cup
Parduman Singh dead
Cycling coach gets VC award Hoshiarpur cops beat Chandigarh centre
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Dutch rout Scots
Basseterre, March 22 Scotland were dismissed for 136 in 34.1 overs. The South African-born Stelling took 3-12, his best figures in ODIs. He owed some of his success to Luuk van Troost, the Dutch captain, who dropped himself from the team to make room for the seamer. The Dutch replied with 140 for two to win with 26.1 overs to spare. Ten Doeschate remained unbeaten on 70. Scoreboard Scotland Poonia c Smits b Stelling 0 Haq b Reekers 6 Watson c&b De Leede 16 Hamilton lbw Stelling 4 Brown lbw Stelling 0 McCallum c Stelling Smith b Jonkman 19 Wright st Smits b Kashif 1 Blain not out 18 Rogers c Smits b Kashif 26 Hoffmann c Ten Doeschate Extras (lb-5, w-8, nb-2) 15 Total (all out, 34.1 overs) 136 Fall of
wickets:1-0, 2-9, 3-15, 4-15, 5-39, 6-77, 7-83, 8-83, 9-117. Bowling:
Stelling 8-3-12-3, Reekers 6-0-23-1, De Leede 4-0-24-1, Jonkman 5-1-22-2, Kashif 7-2-29-2, Ten Doeschate 3-0-17-0, Van Bunge 1.1-0-4-1. Netherlands Zuiderent not out 43 Reekers c Wright b Blain 9 Szwarczynski c Smith Ten Doeschate not out 70 Extras (lb-4, w-2) 6 Total
(2 wkts, 23.5 overs) 140 Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-37. Bowling:
Hoffmann 4-0-26-0, Blain 5-0-29-2, Wright 4-1-17-0, Rogers 3-1-15-0, Brown 4-0-20-0, Haq 3.5-0-29-0.
— Reuters
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Valiant Canada go down fighting
Gros Islet, March 22 Earlier, New Zealand opener Lou Vincent put two successive ducks behind him by smashing a superb century. Brendon McCullum then hit the quickest half-century in the World Cup, in just 20 balls, to help the Kiwis to their second highest one-day score and their top World Cup total. Vincent was under pressure after first-over ducks against England and Kenya in their previous group matches and he narrowly avoided a third in an excellent opening over by Canada’s former West Indies bowler Anderson Cummins. Cummins, 40, had an lbw appeal turned down before Vincent finally scored his first World Cup runs. He never looked back on his way to 101 before offering a simple caught-and-bowled chance to John Davison two balls after completing his third ODI hundred. Captain Stephen Fleming also contributed 66 while Peter Fulton, playing instead of the injured Ross Taylor, made 47 as New Zealand racked up 11 sixes against a slack Canada attack who bowled 17
wides. Scoreboard New Zealand Vincent c&b Davison 101 Fleming c Billcliff Fulton lbw Sandher 47 Styris c Bagai b Samad 28 McMillan c Samad Oram not out 35 McCullum not out 52 Extras
(b-1, lb-5, w-17, Total (5 wkts, 50 overs) 363 Fall of wickets:
1-142, 2-222, 3-253, 4-266, 5-278. Bowling: Cummins 10-1-59-0, Bhatti 5.3-1-25-0, Samad 2.3-0-31-1, Osinde 4-0-45-0, Sandher 10-0-58-2, Davison 10-0-67-2, Dhaniram 8-0-72-0. Canada Davison c&b Mason 52 Barnett c McCullum Bagai b Vettori 37 Billcliff b Styris 50 Samad run out 9
Mulla lbw Vettori 0 Dhaniram retd hurt 17 Bhatti b Patel 10 Cummins not out 9
Sandher b Patel 2 Osinde b Patel 0 Extras (b-4, lb-2, w-5, nb-8) 19 Total
(9 wkts, 49.2 overs) 249 Fall of wickets: 1-76, 2-110, 3-188, 4-201, 5-206, 6-207, 7-245, 8-249, 9-249. Bowling:
Tuffey 6-0-40-0, Mason 8-0-60-1, Oram 7-1-16-0, Patel 9.2-0-25-3, Vettori 10-0-57-3, Styris 6-0-21-1, McMillan 3-0-21-0.— Agencies
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Woolmer’s wife does not rule out murder
London, March 22 Former England batsman Woolmer was found unconscious in his Kingston hotel room less than 24 hours after Pakistan’s shock World Cup defeat by Ireland which knocked them out of the tournament. He was pronounced dead in hospital later that day. “I suppose there is always the possibility, I mean some of the cricket fraternity fans are extremely volatile and passionate about the game and about what happens in the game... so I suppose there is always the possibility that it could be that (murder),” she said in an interview with Sky Sports. “It fills me with horror. I just can’t believe that people would behave like that or that anyone would want to harm someone who has done such a great service to international cricket.” A statement from Jamaican police on Wednesday said a second pathologist’s opinion was being sought. “Following consultations today involving representatives from the government of Jamaica and the police, a decision was taken to seek the opinion of a second pathologist,” police spokesman Karl Angell said in the e-mailed statement. “Arrangements are currently being made to engage the services of this pathologist.” Gill said in the Sky interview her husband was “depressed” after Pakistan’s defeat but ruled out suicide, adding that he was fit and had been trying to lose weight because of diabetes. “He was very depressed and he sent me an email to that effect, but he always got depressed and down when the boys didn’t do as he expected and hoped,” she said. “But that was normal in any competition, he was a very competitive person. But there’s no way that suicide was involved, he would never ever...” She said that she was waiting for the results of a second pathologist’s report before her husband’s body could be flown home to South Africa. “They have given me some indication of why they think it’s suspicious but I’m not prepared to say what,” she added.
— Agencies
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Dawood behind ‘killing’: Babloo
Lucknow: Mafia don and estranged partner of fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim, Om Prakash Srivastava alias Babloo Srivastava today alleged that Dawood was behind the killing of Bob
Woolmer.
“Pakistan-Ireland match was fixed by Dawood and his aides before the start of the World Cup, but the defeat of Pakistan against West Indies in the opening match forced the exit of Pakistan,” he claimed. Talking to mediapersons, Babloo said Woolmer had to sacrifice his life as he knew the details of match fixing and the fixers did not want it to come out in public. “After Pak was defeated by the West Indies, some players wanted to defy the match fixing against Ireland, but none dared to open their mouth against Dawood,” he said adding if any other bookie, not supported by Dawood, had fixed the match, then the result of the Pak-Ireland match would have been different. “I have specific information about the involvement of Dawood in match fixing, and in the ongoing World Cup his gang is operating in a big way,” he
maintained. Babloo was here in connection with a hearing in a criminal case in the designated CBI court and was brought from Bareilly central jail.
— Agencies
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Sydney, March 22 Two detectives from Scotland are expected to reach Jamaica before the end of this week to help in investigating the mysterious death of Woolmer, Australia’s The News media group reported. Woolmer held a British passport. Mark Shields, Jamaica’s deputy commissioner of police, who has taken personal charge of the investigation into the case, is also originally from the Scotland Yard. He was a member of the city of London Police Special Branch, of Scotland Yard’s Anti-Terrorist Branch and of the National Criminal Intelligence Service’s drug and organised crime unit. Jamaica media quoted high ranking officials in that country as saying that fresh evidence have surfaced suggesting that Woolmer was strangled to death in his hotel room here between Saturday night and Sunday morning. “A bone in the neck, near the glands, was broken, and this suggests that somebody might have put some pressure on it,” a high-ranking Jamaican police official, who was not named, told the Jamaica Gleaner. — IANS
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It’s do or die for India
Port of Spain, March 22 The clash will occur on one of the central and so far unutilised pitches. This wicket is one of the surfaces used in an ODI against the West Indies last year, but is expected to be more settled, with a higher and more even bounce than before. Greater lift off the wicket is, theoretically, to India’s advantage, though the Sri Lankans are more accustomed to the seaside atmosphere. After two outings by both sides, India are two points behind the Sri Lankans, who have an unblemished record, having comprehensively beaten Bermuda and Bangladesh; whereas India lost to the Bangladeshis in their first fixture, before putting up a record breaking performance against the Bermudans. India are also significantly behind Sri Lanka on net run rate – 2.51 to 4.49. However, if the Indians beat Sri Lanka – and thereby draw level on points - it’s highly unlikely that Bangladesh (who are -2.00 on net run rate) will sufficiently improve their net run rate to challenge India, even if they defeat Bermuda in the last fixture of the Group on Sunday. In theory, India can succumb to Sri Lanka and still qualify. But for this to happen, Bangladesh (now on equal points with India) would have to surrender to Bermuda and continue to have an inferior net run rate to India. Overall, India have a superior one-day record (94 matches played, 49 won and 36 lost) against Sri Lanka. But this needs to be viewed with caution, as in the first decade and a half of competition between these two countries, the Sri Lankans were in their formative years as a cricketing nation. In fact, Sri Lanka boast favourable statistics in the World Cup cumulatively. In 1979, then still not granted official test status, the Sri Lankans surprised India, led by Srinivas Venkataraghavan, at Old Trafford. In 1992, at Mackay, in Australia, the match was washed away. Four years later, Sri Lanka won both at the preliminary stage in Delhi and then in the semi-finals in Kolkata – the latter, in fact, ending in crowd misbehaviour. Admittedly, India have thrashed Sri Lanka in their last two encounters – at Taunton in 1999 and at Johannesburg in 2003 – but the win:loss ratio is still 3:2 in the Sri Lankans’ favour. India, of course, may draw comfort from the fact that eight of the last 10 completed ODIs between the two have ended in India’s favour. But again, they must treat this carefully. All such matches have been on slower Indian pitches; and Sri Lanka were without their trump cards Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan in the series last month. One-day cricket, being a single innings affair, provides limited room for recovery. Consequently, form on the day often prevails. In India’s case, their batting, which is their main strength, must click; and the bowling must simply concentrate on off-stump and not give the Sri Lankans room to free their arms. There is very little the Indians can do about their fielding, other than not be worse than what they are. After being bitten by Bangladeshi cubs, Rahul Dravid may be wary of batting first. But India have no choice other than to take chasing or defending in their strides.
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India should play five bowlers
Pakistan’s exit has prompted a lot of people to criticize the tournament format, but they ought to keep in mind the fact that what applied to Pakistan applied to the other fifteen teams as well. It is just that nobody expected Ireland and Bangladesh to stun two ex-World Cup winners. The game against Sri Lanka is a ‘do or die’ affair for Rahul Dravid and his men. The best thing the Indians can do is approach the game in a positive frame of mind. The senior players have been in similar situations before and have played Sri Lanka several times. I firmly believe that in cricket, you have to play for the future, not merely for the present. India’s policy of playing four specialist bowlers will only work in the short term. It is not as if they have four extraordinary bowlers who can dismiss the opposition cheaply on a regular basis. Considering the fact that they will be playing a formidable Sri Lankan batting line-up, it is important for the Indians to go in with five men who can take care of the allotted fifty overs. The huge scores posted by India and Sri Lanka in the last few days indicate that the wickets at the Queen’s Park Oval have settled down after a wobbly start. Recent evidence gathered from across the world suggests that even a total of 300-plus isn’t ‘safe’, but a bowling side’s chances of defending it certainly increase if it does not have to rely on part-time bowlers. I have always been of the view that the big guns should bat higher in the order. Don’t the senior members of a family represent it in problematic situations? The Indian team needs its senior batsmen to tackle the problems that will be posed by Chaminda Vaas, Lasith Malinga and Fervez Maharoof in the initial overs. When a youngster opens the innings instead of a senior who has been fairly successful at the job, it is interpreted by the opponents as a sign of diffidence. Either Sachin Tendulkar or Virender Sehwag should begin proceedings with Sourav Ganguly. — PMG
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Haq, Pak sign off in style
Kingston, March 22 The Pakistanis honoured the memory of coach Bob Woolmer, who died the day after an upset loss to Ireland, as Nazir set up a mammoth total of 349 all out off 49.5 overs. Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq contributed a classy 37 off 35 balls in his 378th and final one-day international. After an emotional few days, Inzamam left the field in tears and was given a guard of honour by his teammates and received handshakes from all the Zimbabweans. Zimbabwe's pursuit was already struggling at 30 for three off 10.2 overs when light rain caused a delay of 2 1/2 hours. Their victory target was reduced to 193 off 20 overs on resumption and Zimbabwe was eventually bowled out for 99 off 19.1 overs. Elton Chigumbura hit four sixes, including three off consecutive deliveries from legspinner Danish Kaneria, on his way to a topscore of 27 off 11 balls. Shahid Afridi collected his 200th one-day international wicket and earned figures of three for 20. Earlier, Nazir's second one-day international century lifted Pakistan to its highest ever World Cup total. The total was also the highest ever at the venue. The 25-year-old Nazir endured a scratchy start but blossomed to play some majestic strokes all around the ground. He and Kamran Akmal added 31 for the first wicket before Chigumbura had Akmal caught behind. Nazir shared successive half century stands with Shoaib Malik and Inzamam to ensure Pakistan built a solid platform. Malik contributed 21 before he slapped a Sean Williams delivery to point. Inzamam, given a rousing entrance from the few hundred spectators, was keen to go out on a high. The right-hander did not disappoint, with three sweetly-timed sixes and two fours before he skied a catch to extra cover. Inzamam's class shone through and Nazir at the other end could not match his fluency. When Mohammad Yousuf fell to Gary Brent at 170 for four in the 31st over, Zimbabwe sensed a revival. But Nazir and Younis Khan quickly doused hopes with a brilliant fifth wicket partnership of 82 off 57 balls. Nazir, dropped badly at deep square leg by Friday Kasteni off Brent when 81, collected his century off 95 balls with 11 fours and two sixes. The slim right-hander upped the tempo after that and his last 60 runs spanned just 22 deliveries. He had a double century in his sight when he fell to a tumbling catch at extra cover with six overs remaining. Rao Iftikhar rallied the tail with a career-best 32 off 16 balls. Scoreboard Pakistan Akmal c Taylor Nazir c Matsikenyeri Malik c Chibhabha Haq c Williams Yousuf c & b Brent 3 Younis run out 28 Afridi b Brent 16 Sami c Utseya b Brent 5 Iftikhar c Matsikenyeri Gul b Chigumbura 10 Kaneria not out 6 Extras
(lb-2, w-12, nb-2) 16 Total (all out; 49.5 overs) 349 Fall of
wickets:1-31, 2-88, 3-158, 4-170, 5-252, 6-285, 7-295, 8-301, 9-324. Bowling:
Mpofu 10-1-74-1, Mupariwa 10-1-57-1, Chigumbura 6.5-1-50-3, Brent 10-0-68-3, Williams 6-0-41-1, Utseya 6-0-46-0, Chibhabha 1-0-11-0. Zimbabwe Sibanda c Nazir b Gul 0 Chibhabha c Inzamam Kasteni c Inzamam b Sami 9 Taylor c Younis b Kaneria 13 Matsikenyeri run out 18 Chigumbura b Afridi 27 Williams c Gul b Kaneria 11 Brent b Afridi 9 Prosper Utseya not out 4 Tawanda Mupariwa Mpofu c Inzamam Extras (lb-1, w-1, nb-2) 4 Total (all out, 19.1 overs) 99 Fall of wickets:
1-0, 2-12, 3-14, 4-45, 5-45, 6-77, 7093, 8-94, 9-94, 10-99. Bowling:
Gul 5-1-10-2, Sami 5-0-15-1, Kaneria 4-0-48-2, Afridi 4-0-20-3, Younis 1-0-5-0, Yousuf 0.1-0-0-1.
— AP
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India to host 2010 hockey World Cup
Chandigarh, March 22 The offer, sources in the Indian Hockey Confederation (IHC) said, has been accepted and conveyed to the FIH. A formal allotment of the World Cup to India may be made any day by the FIH now. Alarmed at the series of debacles India has suffered in international competitions, including the Olympic Games, the World Cup and the 2006 Asian Games, it is not the FIH but also the Olympic Solidarity of the International Olympic Committee who are feeling concerned. There is strong feeling in the Olympic Solidarity that without India, retaining hockey as an Olympic Games sport may not be possible. It is why the FIH appointed a one man commission headed by Bob Davidson to visit India and suggest ways and means of reviving and promoting Indian hockey. Bob was in Delhi early this month. In fact he had been frequenting India after the 2006 World Cup (Monchengladbach) debacle. He had reportedly held discussions not only with the Indian Hockey Confederation officials, both men and women, but also with Olympians, former internationals and several others. It may be pertinent to mention here that India last organised the World Cup in Mumbai in 1982 where it failed to make the semifinals. Intriguingly, India is in a piquant situation as it is yet to qualify for the 2008 Olympic Games at Beijing. India has to play in one of three Olympic Qualifying Tournaments and win it to get a berth. During the last meeting of the FIH executive board held last weekend in Lausanne, Switzerland, it was decided to enter discussions with the Indian Hockey Confederation (IHC) to determine if the World Cup could be held in New Delhi, in February 2010. A proposal is being sent to the IHC and it is hoped that a decision can be taken within a month. The Board in principle appointed Argentina as the host of the Women’s World Cup 2010. Final confirmation is expected by September 2007. While New Delhi has two synthetic playfields at Shivaji Stadium and National Stadium and a large number of five star hotels, the only problem will be the fact that the 2010 Commonwealth Games are also to be held in Delhi. In that case, Punjab may well offer to organise the World Cup in Chandigarh. Since the state government has already decided to lay synthetic surfaces at all district headquarters, a new hockey stadium in Mohali with synthetic surface will be enough to get twin cities of Chandigarh-Mohali the 2010 World Cup. Chandigarh has a couple of good five star hotels and a couple more are expected to come up by the time the event is staged here. Meanwhile, the FIH will take a much more active part in the organisation of its tournaments, including the World Cups, to assist hosts to achieve the objectives of maximising the marketing and development of the sport while at the same time producing the best playing conditions for the athletes. This decision was also taken at the Lausanne meeting. The Executive Board also decided to allot the 2008 World Hockey Men’s Champions Trophy to the Netherlands with ABN AMRO as major sponsor. The exact location will be decided at a later stage. The Samsung Hockey Champions Trophy for women will be played in Monchengladbach, Germany, next year. The dates of both Champions Trophies will be decided after consultation with the host organizers. Another item discussed at the Executive Board meeting was the completion of the World Hockey Umpiring Boost (WHUB), an FIH project, jointly organized by the Umpiring Committee and the Development and Coaching Committee. The overall objective was to assist as many National Associations as possible to encourage, promote and develop umpiring in their own country. The umpire committee was complimented by the Executive Board for its efforts and resulted in many new hockey umpires. The WHUB lasted three years and 80 national associations were involved. The Executive Board also decided to give more support to its Continental Federations (CF’s). The CF’s will receive a higher administration grant of the FIH, so each CF may recruit secretarial assistance in order to improve the efficiency of its administration based upon certain conditions to fulfil.
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Parduman Singh dead
Bathinda, March 22 Parduman also won bronze medal in discus at the 1962 Jakarta Asiad. Arjuna awardee Parduman Singh, who was about 80 years old, was fighting a losing battle ever since he was admitted to a local hospital. He was living in extreme poverty and his family members were finding it difficult to meet his treatment costs. Though Punjab Governor Gen (Retd) S. F. Rodriguez gave a cheque of Rs 1 lakh to the ailing athlete on March 16, Parduman, an ex-serviceman, could not fight the last battle of his life. Popularly known as ‘Gole Wala Baba’, he was surviving on a meagre pension and this coupled with the blatant ignorance by the authorities concerned seems to have become a major reason for the failing health of the athlete, leading to his death. Parduman had been battling a number of ailments for the past several weeks at Bhagta Bhai Ka, a nondescript village 60 km from here. After his condition deteriorated a couple of weeks ago he was shifted to a private hospital here, where he was put on a life support system. His family members had for long been requesting various authorities for arranging adequate finances for the treatment of the athlete who started his legendary career in the 1958 Manila Asian Track and Field championship. They had also written to the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal pleading for financial grant for the athlete. His son Bhupinder Singh said the authorities concerned paid little heed to their requests. Milkha, Pargat express grief
Chandigarh: Flying Sikh Milkha Singh, who had a long association with Parduman, expressed grief at his demise. Both did the country proud at the 1958 Tokyo Asian Games, where Milkha won gold medals in the 200m and 400m races. Three-time Olympian and Punjab Sports Director Pargat Singh also expressed grief. The Bathinda District Sports Officer was directed to represent the Punjab Sports Department at the funeral and Pargat will attend the bhog. A large number of sportspersons and the Armymen attended the funeral. Parduman was consigned to the flames at 5 pm. Grandson Sukhdarshan Singh said the date for the bhog was yet to be decided. |
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Cycling coach gets VC award Patiala, March 22 The award, which was presented by S.S Boparai, vice-chancellor, Punjabi University, in the presence of director (sports) Dr Raj Kumar Sharma, assistant director (sports) Dr Gurdeep Kaur and a host of other sports personalities, carried a cash prize of Rs 21,000. The Maharaj Yadwindera Singh trophy, which is awarded to the college which accumulates the maximum number of points in the Punjabi University inter-college sports meets for men, was given to Government Mohindra college, Patiala, while in the women's section, the Rajkumari Amrit Kaur trophy was awarded to S.K.R College of Physical Education,
Bhagomajra. International cyclist Abhishek Rana, a protege of Punjabi University cycling coach Mittarpal Singh, was given a cash award of Rs 43,000. As many as 195 sportspersons, who won medals in the All-India Inter-University meets and national and international level meets, were also given cash prizes.
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Hoshiarpur cops beat Chandigarh centre
Ambala, March 22 Martin, Daniel and Kulbhushan scored for Arjuna Club while Pushpinder of Jagadhari Workshop scored the lone goal for his team. Pushpinder was adjudged the best player. The second match was played between Coaching Centre, Chandigarh, and Hoshiarpur Police. Seven minutes before the final whistle, Inderjeet Singh of Hoshiarpur Police scored the solitary winning goal. TNS
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Rakhra
is chief patron
Patiala, March 22
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Memorial service for Gurung
Chandigarh, March 22
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It was nice to see Pakistan win its final game against Zimbabwe. The players did well to pull themselves together after the tragic demise of Bob Woolmer. His death was unfortunate to say the least.
