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Jayasuriya ton fires Lanka to 303
Kiwis wary of B’desh
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Our best is yet to come, says Ponting
Bob poisoned to death?
Flamboyant in the middle
ICC probing elite panel umpires: Report
Let’s party: ICC
Paes-Damm go down
fighting
Phelps makes history
Army Sports Company enrolment
Powerlifter dies during practice
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Jayasuriya ton fires Lanka to 303
Georgetown, April 1
Sri Lanka suffered early trouble, losing Upul Tharanga (8) and Kumar Sangakkara inside nine overs (7) with the score reading 35 for two. Jayasuriya then joined hands with captain Mahela Jayawardene (82) and the duo cobbled together a 183-run partnership for the third wicket in 30 overs to lay the foundation for a big score. Down the order, Tillakratne Dilshan produced a 27-ball cameo of 39 not out to guide the score past the 300-mark. The match started after a 45-minute delay due to heavy morning shower and Lara had little hesitation in asking Sri Lanka to bat after winning the toss. And his decision seemed vindicated with Sri Lanka losing two early wickets. Darren Powell yorked Tharanga in the sixth over and then first change bowler Ian Bradshaw had Sangakkara playing away from his body only to edge it to the wicketkeeper. Jayasuriya and Jayawardene did not look in a hurry and they decided to spend some time in the middle to get a hang of it before stepping on the accelerator. Jayasuriya looked uncharacteristically subdued and needed 33 balls for his first 14 runs but in the end, it proved the lull before the storm. Soon his trademark slices and cuts were on display as Jayasuriya decided to come out of the self-imposed shell. Despite a rather subdued start, his fifty came off 47 balls and he eventually notched up his 25th ODI century off just 86 balls. The sapping humidity was taking its toll on his 37-year-old body and the left-hander looked a tired man when he dragged Darren Powell’s wide, full toss deilvery onto his stumps. His scintillating knock of 115 came off 101 balls with 10 fours and four sixes — three of those sailed over the midwicket — in it. Playing his 384th ODI — equalling Sachin Tendulkar’s record — Jayasuriya also overtook Inzamam-ul Haq in the one-day run-getters’ list and is now second in the chart behind the Indian batting great. Jayawardene, on his part, looked scratchy despite his knock of 82, which came off 113 balls and included just two boundaries besides a six. In this must-win match, West Indian bowlers began well but lost the plot in the middle and their fielding was a huge disappointment as well. Their slender hope of restricting the Lankans below 300 was dashed by Dilshan’s smart cricket and the cheeky Lankan hoicked the last ball of the innings over mid-wicket to take the score past the mark. Scoreboard Sri Lanka Tharanga b Powell 8 Jayasuriya b Powell 115 Sangakkara c Ramdin b Bradshaw 7 Jayawardene b Bravo 82 Silva c Lara b Sarwan 23 Dilshan not out 39 Arnold not out 4 Extras (lb-7, w-13, nb-5) 25 Total (5 wkts; 50 overs) 303 Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-35, 3-218, 4-251, 5-268. Bowling:
Taylor 8-1-32-0, Powell 10-1-38-2, Bradshaw 10-0-67-1, Smith 3-0-23-0, Gayle 9-0-60-0, Bravo 7-0-59-1, Sarwan
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Our best is yet to come, says Ponting
St John’s, April 1 “Going back to our warm-up matches, we have been playing well ever since we arrived in the Caribbean. We want to keep improving and play our best cricket in a few weeks’ time,” Ponting said after Australia thrashed Bangladesh in the Super Eights game here on Saturday. Ponting was happy that his team was able get the well deserved two points from the match which was at the receiving end of inclement weather and was reduced to 22 overs a side. “Luckily we got a game in, full credit to the umpires for making a sensible decision,” he said. For Bangladesh, it was a reality check after coming through the first round in which they shocked India and beat Bermuda to qualify for the second stage. “We lost too many wickets too early. The bowlers tried a bit but there was not enough runs to defend,” captain Habibul Bashar said.
— PTI
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Kiwis wary of B’desh
St John’s, April 1 “It is Super Eight league and every team will battle it out for points so we have to be wary of Bangladesh, they have beaten strong team (India) to be here and we can take them lightly only at our own peril,” the skipper told mediapersons after team’s strenuous workout here. With a convincing performance in the group league and a comfortable seven-wicket win over the West Indies in their first Super Eight match, Fleming was of the view that his team have both the form, and the ability to go all the way, though he is first setting his sights on getting through to the semifinals. He, however, added: “We have to be on our guards”. “Eight points are likely to suffice,” he said, “but we would like 10 in the bank to be sure.” The Kiwis and Australia are the only teams in the competition to have kept a clean slate so far, and both get to face-off only in the final game of the Grenada leg of the Super Eight on April 20. Fleming was cautious while talking about tomorrow’s encounter saying, “Bangladesh tripped us in the warm-up match and Ireland have tested Pakistan. But if we continue the way we’re playing, we’ll not be far away. “Each game we tick off brings us one closer to the semis - but a place in the final is really what we’re after.” The Kiwi skipper said that injuries had provided setbacks for his side, but that there was enough depth to compensate for the loss of Lou Vincent, Ross Taylor and Darryl Tuffey. “We have had a tough time of it lately but we have been able to fall back on experienced cricketers and that has helped settle the side. We got through the first phase pretty well.” He, however candidly admitted that teams like Sri Lanka and South Africa besides the Aussies are going to be major hurdles in his side’s way to semis but added “We have rarely been as well prepared as we are this time. “We have looked at almost every scenario, paid a lot of attention to our planning and are as prepared as possible. “Eight points might be enough, but ideally we would like another two at least,” he said. However, coach John Bracewell sounded optimistic about his team’s chances against Bangladesh saying, “We are not worried about the past and are trying to build on what we have done in the last 18-20 months. It’s about reaching the semi-finals now and taking it from there.” He said: “I am happy with the discipline this team has shown, particularly the bowlers. We have bowled dot balls over a sustained period when it mattered and hardly conceded extras, especially no-balls. This is a result of the way we have conducted ourselves at the nets.” About the pitches they have played on so far, Bracewell said, “There have been patches when we were out of the game, but it didn’t take us long to pull things back and reestablish ourselves on top. The beauty of this team is its ability to seamlessly slip into plan B. “It’s a competition where you need to get through safely in the first 15 overs instead of attacking,” he said, adding “There are many steps to be cleared before we start looking at the top. If we try to jump steps, there is every possibility that we might trip up.”
— UNI
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Bob poisoned to death?
According to Sunday Mirror, an anonymous man, thought to be from Pakistan, phoned the police claiming that aconite killed the coach following which Jamaica’s deputy commissioner Mark Shields, who is leading the probe, has ordered new tests on Woolmer’s body to look for traces of the drug. Aconite causes the victim’s internal organs to seize and slows down their breathing until they finally stop. Death is usually by asphyxiation within 30 minutes and this explains how 16-stone Woolmer died without putting up a fight. “The aconite tip is a major breakthrough and is being taken extremely seriously. The man who called Kingston police station had a Pakistani accent and was very specific about aconite and how it was administered,” Shields was quoted as saying by the paper. “The symptoms Bob suffered before he died are identical to aconite poisoning, which is why it is a major line of inquiry now. It would also explain how such a physically imposing man, at 6ft 1in tall, died without putting up a fight. You’d struggle to get two people into his bath room let alone three, so it could be no-one was there,” he added. Toxicologists say aconite is the “perfect” drug to mask a murder. It also explains why Jamaican pathologist Dr Ere Seshaiah found no marks around his neck to suggest he had been strangled. Toxicologist Prof John Henry, of St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, London, told the Sunday Mirror that “Woolmer would have felt nauseous after the drug began to work and would have gone to the bathroom to be sick. He wouldn’t have realised straight away how serious his condition was, so it was doubtful he’d have phoned the hotel’s reception. “By the time he realised how ill he was it would be too late... The drug causes a loss of power in the limbs. Aconite works like cyanide... It makes the skin clammy and hands and feet tingly. It also causes vomiting and diarrhoea... All the while the victim’s mind remains clear, so it is a cruel death. “It is the perfect drug to make a murder appear to be a suicide because it leaves no mark on the body. It is difficult to detect in a post-mortem unless it was specifically looked for,” he said.
— PTI
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Flamboyant in the middle
Bridgetown (Barbados), April 1 None more so than Billy Bowden with his flamboyant on-field gestures. The crooked finger to indicate ‘out’, a staggered raising of the arms for a ‘six’, and a bizarre, crouched sweeping movement for a ‘four’ all make the New Zealander a favourite with the cameras and crowds alike. The 44-year-old Bowden, who has arthritis in his elbow, started using the hooked finger for giving a batsman out in 1996. Bowden says it’s all a feature of his enjoyment of the game. “It just came naturally. All cricketers and umpires have personalities and it’s just the way I express myself; I love the game,” Bowden told reporters. “The main objective for the umpires is to get their decisions right and work as a team. But one-day cricket is exciting. It’s got colour, music and I enjoy that. I can be serious too, but at the best of times I like to enjoy myself. Today we are here, tomorrow we could be gone.” Bowden has come under fire from traditionalists for his colourful approach. But he has no regrets. “I am not disrespecting the game, it is just me,” he told the Daily Telegraph. Benson has had a dramatic time in the job. He was facing minor heart surgery after suffering palpitations during the second Test between South Africa and India at Durban in December. “I wasn’t very well for a time because my heart rate suddenly went up to 190 beats a minute,” said the Englishman who had to leave the field. “There’s no pattern to it and the doctors aren’t sure what triggers it.” Veteran umpires Steve Bucknor of the West Indies and Pakistan’s Aleem Dar once received death threats when they were on duty in South Africa. “I don’t mind constructive criticism,” Bucknor told the Sunday Telegraph. “I enjoy it because it can help to make you a better decision-maker. I don’t like it when that criticism becomes personal. It can become stressful. The key thing is not the stress itself, because you can’t eliminate it, but how you manage it.” There is little doubt that the greatest stress level was encountered by Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove in the now-infamous forfeited Oval Test in 2006. Hair fought a bitter and ugly battle with the ICC in the aftermath of the game and is no longer a member of the elite panel. Doctrove is still involved and is officiating at the World Cup. The 51-year-old West Indian believes the Oval controversy has made him a better umpire. “I look back at it as a learning experience. I learnt a lot from that episode both personally and professionally,” said Doctrove on the eve of the World Cup. I’ve become not only a better umpire, but also a better person. I’ve learnt about myself, about how to react under different situations.”
— AFP
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Match-fixing
Kingston, April 1 “The recent death of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer here has triggered suggestions of match-fixing. In fact, the ICC has sent Jeff Rees from their Anti-Corruption Unit to do investigations of their own, but they stayed clear of suggesting that Woolmer knew about match-fixing,” The Sunday Gleaner reported today. “Not only have players been implicated in match-fixing scandals but a well-placed source says at least three umpires on the ICC elite panel are being investigated by Lord Condon’s ICC Anti-Corruption Unit,” the report claimed. “The intelligence source says these investigations were done because it was found that some umpires have offshore banking accounts thought to be set up by match-fixers,” it said. The ICC says that as a matter of policy they do not comment on whether an investigation is being or has been done. “According to the intelligence expert, in matches where umpires are crooked, at least one captain is aware of the match-fixing scheme, so he normally brings his best bowler from the end where the umpire believed to be crooked is standing,” it claimed. The intelligence agent suggests that a series of matches within the last three years have prompted the Lord Condon’s team to investigate, and Woolmer was aware of these investigations, the report claimed. Against this backdrop, the informed intelligence source suggests Woolmer’s death had two reasons: firstly, because Pakistan dropped out of the World Cup causing persons to lose plenty of money; and secondly, because there was a feeling that he was going to talk what he knew about match-fixing, the report said. Gambling in sport is a multibillion-dollar industry. In cricket, the dark side to gambling is often not as straight forward as the flip of a coin. Bookmakers often seek to influence the game by speaking to and paying players and even officials, the newspaper quoted an intelligence source. “It is done through a big betting chain run out of Karachi in Pakistan,” the expert said. “Betting on rigged Test matches and rigged One Day International matches is a big source of funds.” They say that while the tendency to bribe people to fix an entire game has disappeared because of close monitoring by the ICC , ‘bookies’ are now involved in what is now called micro-fixing. People bet on even the most remote things such as who will bowl the 15th over. Media and Communications manager for the International Cricket Council (ICC),Brian Murgatroyd told the paper that “one of the things the ICC is trying to tackle is the potential for micro-fixing”. — PTI
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Let’s party: ICC
ICC, under flak for putting up high price tickets and too many restrictions, which have led to virtual boycott of the matches by the local people, in a desperate move has urged the people to throng the stadiums and other cricket lovers to join the party to enliven the World Cup by bringing in the noise. Roundly criticised by the media and games supporters for being too much intrusive in the World Cup, ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed yesterday said, “We want the Caribbean atmosphere to be here. We don’t seek to take the West Indian flavour out of it. We want to hear that noise. We want to hear that enthusiasm.” He said musicians are permitted to bring traditional (conch shells, shak shaks etc.) or other instruments into CWC stadia once they have been granted permission by the relevant local organising committee (LOC). Here at Sir Vivian Richard Ground, members of Chicky Hi Fi Band were allowed to display their wares before a modest crowd. “The measures that have been introduced are security measures and they are common for major sporting events all around the world. “I was invited to perform by the LOC. I have been performing for last 27 years at cricket ground so I had to be here for World Cup,” said Nigel Baptiste also known as Chicky Hi
Fi. — UNI
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It’s official: Viswanathan Anand is numero uno
New Delhi, April 1 FIDE Rating Committee Chairman Casto Abundo confirmed Anand as the game's new number one. "Congratulations to Anand and the All India Chess Federation. Pleased to inform you that we have rated Linares event today and Anand is world number one," Abundo said in his message to PTI from Elista, Russia. The Indian was to become the world number one on FIDE charts for the first time in his career after he won the Morelia-Linares tournament in Spain last month. But the FIDE list showed Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria still on the top, 13 points ahead of Anand. The game's world governing body said that the Morelia-Linares tournament was not taken into consideration while updating the rankings since it concluded on Mar 10, outside the cut-off date of Feb 28. But following the AICF's strong protests and widespread criticism, FIDE agreed to correct the list. AICF Secretary D V Sundar objected to the FIDE's deviation from the long-standing practice of including the tournament in calculations for preparing the April ranking list. "The AICF asked FIDE to rate this event as done in the past 15 or more years. The Linares tournament has been traditionally been included in all rating lists published by FIDE in April and excluding it this time will be injustice to Indian chess and Viswanathan Anand," the AICF said on its official website. AICF Treasurer Bharat Singh Chauhan said the Asian Cities Chess Championship in Tehran, which was held from March 1 to 9, was also included in the tournaments used to calculate the April 2007 list. There were also some other events which spilled into March but were used in the calculations. "This shows their (FIDE's) double standard," Chauhan said. Anand overtook Topalov in ELO rating points after his superb win in Morelia-Linares tournament, where the Bulgarian lost a number of rating points before it ended on March 10. FIDE Presidential Board member Nigel Freeman defended the original list, saying it was "completely fair". "Before the conspiracy theories get out of hand, perhaps I can explain what happened to the best of my knowledge," he said in a statement. "With regards to Morelia-Linares, in order to be completely fair, the Ratings Committee has decided that only tournaments that finished a month before the rating list comes into effect should be rated," Freeman said. "Once one starts to make exceptions, where does one stop? Why Morelia-Linares and not a whole host of others," he added. While Anand himself was not available for comment, flying as he was from Monaco to Madrid, his father K Viswanathan said his son's latest achievement was a "dream come true". "Anand becoming the world number one cannot be explained in words. It is great achievement. He is a tireless worker and his hard work to the top has finally paid off," he said. "I am so glad that at least he had achieved it now and our dream has come true," said Viswanathan, who retired as General Manager of Southern Railways. AICF President N Srinivasan said it was a very proud moment for the nation. "We are all delighted upon Anand's achievement. He has been an outstanding player. The whole nation should be proud of his becoming the world number one in a game played in over 185 countries.” — PTI
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Miami, April 1 Paes and Damm went down fighting against second seeds Mike and Bob Bryan of USA with the scoreline reading 7-6, 3-6, 7-10 in one hour and 37 minutes yesterday. Of the four break points which both the teams had to exploit, Bryan brothers were successful in converting three while sixth seed Paes-Damm converted just one. With this defeat, Paes and Damm lost the opportunity to become the new Stanford ATP Doubles Race leaders. The current season continues to be impressive for Paes and Damm as together they have two titles — in Rotterdam and Indian Wells. They were the finalists at Doha. — PTI
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Phelps makes history
Melbourne, April 1 The irrepressible American sliced more than two seconds off his own 400m individual medley world record to hit the wall in 4:06.22 and become the only swimmer to win seven gold at a single world championship. Team-mate Ryan Lochte took the silver in 4:09.74 and Luca Marin of Italy won the bronze in 4:09.88. Fellow American Katie Hoff shattered a seven-year-old record in the women’s 400m medley, touching in 4:32.89 ahead of Russia’s Yana Martynova and Australian Stephanie Rice. In total, 14 world records tumbled in Melbourne. But Phelps’ quest for eight gold medals was cruelly ended when the United States 4x100m medley relay team was disqualified in the heats after Ian Crocker was judged to have left the blocks early.
— AFP
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Army Sports Company enrolment
Chandigarh, April 1 Interested boys should have passed Class VI and should be in the age group of 11-16 years. The physical tests will include 800 metres race, 100 metre sprint, 10 metre shuttle, vertical jump and flexibility testing. According to Col Salaria, Sports Officer, Boys Sports Company, those selected will be provided free education, board and lodging facilities. On attaining the age of 17, they will be directly recruited.
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Powerlifter dies during practice
Palampur, April 1 Kewal Singh Pathania, president of the Himachal Pradesh Powerlifting Association, who is organising the meet, refused to comment on the issue. The deceased has been identified as Surinder Kumar (24). He was to compete in the 67 kg category. Initial reports revealed that the player had not taken food since morning to maintain his weight at 67 kg. Resultingly his sugar level might have declined drastically leading to his sudden collapse, sources in the hospital revealed. There were also rumours that the player might have consumed an overdose of some drug that led to his death. However, Dr J. S. Chandel, chief medical officer, Kangra district, said the exact cause of death could not be ascertained at the moment. The deceased player’s viscera would be taken for an autopsy test tomorrow to ascertain the exact cause of death, he added. Meanwhile, the police has initiated inquest proceedings into the incident.
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St John’s, April 1
We are all delighted upon Anand's achievement. He has been an outstanding player. The whole nation should be proud of his becoming the world number one in a game played in over 185 countries.
London, April 1
St Peters (Antigua), April 1