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Lankans ground Kiwis
‘Windies lack self belief, pride, focus’
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Today's Match
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Aussies sense a kill against Ireland It’s time
to perform, says Botham
NSG team still in Windies
Woolmer tapes sent to UK
BCCI rebuffs sponsors
B’desh tour: Team to be picked on April 20
Lee disappointed over Chappell’s departure
Shiv tied 27th
Anup Sridhar in
pre-quarterfinals
Cabinet clears 2014 Asiad bid
After historic cut, Parnita trains for long hits
Chetri brace guides JCT to victory
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Grenada, April 12 Scott Styris hit an unbeaten century to guide New Zealand to 219-7 but the 1996 champions maintained a brisk pace from the start to cross their victory target with more than four overs to spare. The result handed the Kiwis their first defeat in 10 matches and moved Sri Lanka level with New Zealand and defending champions Australia on eight points in the second-stage standings. Earlier, Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan combined together to restrict New Zealand to a modest 219 for seven. Scot Styris’ (111) century stood tall in an otherwise dismal batting performance by New Zealand. Styris played a lone hand in putting up a decent total for the Kiwis who at one stage were struggling at 77-4. Vaas (3-33) bowled a tight spell to scythe the New Zealand top order and Muralitharan’s (3-32) guile proved too much for the Kiwis too handle. After electing to bat, New Zealand’s lengthy batting line-up never really looked comfortable and Sri Lankan slow bowlers kept them under check in the slow track. If the New Zealand top order was knocked over by seasoned Vaas, whose nagging accuracy put Stephen Fleming’s side firmly in the backfoot, the middle-order just failed to read Muralitharan. Vaas claimed three wickets in his first two bursts inside 20 overs to push New Zealand in the backfoot. Stephen Fleming’s decision to bat misfired when the seasoned Sri Lanka pacer got rid of the New Zealand skipper and Ross Taylor in his consecutive overs. Vaas trapped Fleming lbw in the very first over and then had Ross Taylor caught behind in his second over. Both the batsmen left without opening their account and New Zealand were reeling at four for two. Peter Fulton and Styris started to steady the ship but Vaas and Dilhara Fernando cramped them for room. Only 18 runs came in the first 10 overs with two wickets gone. Styris tried to break the shackles and hit Fervez Mahroof for two consecutive boundaries in the 16th over. Both Fulton and Styris were fortunate to get a lifeline. Fulton was out caught off Mahroof in a no ball while Styris was lucky to survive a certain caught behind appeal off Vaas. Mahela Jayawerdene brought in Vaas, who responded to the call by getting Fulton (28) out at dip mid-wicket boundary. Muttiah Muralitharan then struck a crucial blow when Craig Mcmillan top-edged a sweep. Styris and Jacob Oram (31) forged a 65 run stand but Oram was caught by Mahroof off Dilshan. Muralitharan then had the wickets of Brendon McCullum and Daniel Vettori to leave New Zealand at 155 for seven. At the other end, Styris kept his cool to bring about his half-century. Scoreboard New Zealand Fulton c Silva b Vaas 28 Fleming lbw Vaas 0 Taylor c Sangakkara b Vaas 0 Styris not out 111 McMillan c Silva b Murali 1 Oram c Maharoof
b Dilshan 31 McCullum lbw Murali 1 Vettori c Silva b Murali 5 Franklin not out 25 Extras
(b-2, lb-2, w-8, nb-5) 17 Total (7 wkts, 50 overs) 219 Fall of wickets:
1-1, 2-4, 3-71, 4-77, 5-141, 6-145, 7-155. Bowling: Vaas 9-2-33-3, Fernando 7-2-31-0, Maharoof 6-0-31-0, Muralitharan 10-0-32-3, Jayasuriya 10-0-44-0, Dilshan 8-1-44-1. Sri Lanka Tharanga c Bond
b Franklin 11 Jayasuriya c McCullum b Oram 64 Sangakkara not out 69 Jayawardene c sub
b Vettori 15 Silva c Bond b Vettori 23 Dilshan not out 14 Extras
(b-4, lb-7, w-7, nb-8) 26 Total (4 wkts, 45.1 overs) 222 Fall of wickets:
1-30, 2-130, 3-152, 4-180. Bowling: Franklin 8-0-49-1, Bond 8-0-26-0, Gillespie 6.1-1-42-0, Vettori 10-0-35-2, Styris 7-1-28-0, Oram 6-0-31-1.
— Agencies
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‘Windies lack self belief, pride, focus’
St George’s, April 12 Media reports say that members of the Caribbean team had partied till late into the night ahead of their Super Eight tie against South Africa on Tuesday, which was a 'must win' game for them to keep their chances of making it to the semis alive in the tournament. There were also reports of infighting in the side over payments, and now former off-spinner Lance Gibbs has added more fuel to the fire saying the team lacked ''self belief, focus and pride''. ''The lack of pride displayed by Brian Lara's team, particularly in the ongoing second phase of the tournament was appalling,'' Gibbs said, adding, ''where is the pride in representing the Caribbean. They must know about pride as, apart from cricket, we are separate nations. Cricket is a cohesive force and these players have a responsibility to unite the Caribbean, which they are failing to do.'' Expressing the need to build up a strong team, Gibbs recalled the menacing West Indian side which existed in the 70's under the captaincy of Clive Lloyd. ''A strong West Indies team is what world cricket needs, just like the team which was under Clive Lloyd. They ruled the world and became an inspiration for other teams.'' Meanwhile, despite fierce criticism of almost every aspect of the the Caribbean World Cup, ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed has defended the pricing of tickets for the mega event, saying, ''This is a world sporting event between major teams. Those prices were fixed by the local organising committees. — UNI
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Aussies sense a kill against Ireland
Bridgetown, April 12 Nothing to take away from the debutants. Ireland have played far better than what was expected from them. They even tossed out a former champion, Pakistan, from the showpiece event. Exceptional bowling, electrifying fielding and decent batting have helped them win admirers, if not matches. But they now face a team that has steamrolled one and all that came their way in the tournament so far. The reigning world champions resemble a pride on its prime, commanding respect out of sheer fear they instill in the rival camp. Their batsmen have come blazing all guns and leading from the front is Mathew Hayden. ‘Big Matt’ is riding the one-day form of his life and at 436 from six matches is just five runs short of top-scorer Jacques Kallis in the tournament. Meanwhile, skipper Ricky Ponting isn’t far behind while Michael Clarke has three half-centuries in his kitty in the tournament. Only Michael Hussey had looked off colour and would be desperate to get back among runs. Meanwhile, Ireland have their only chance, however little, in tomorrow’s mismatch. Their bowlers, notably Boyd Raikin, have been keeping extraordinary line and length in the event. And he will be Ireland’s trump card tomorrow. If the bowlers support him from the other end and fare well in the death, they might just have a match in hand. Ireland Coach Adrian Birell summed up by saying that his team would follow the basics. “The idea is to force them to make mistakes. If we get early wickets then they will come under pressure,” he said.
— UNI
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It’s time
to perform, says Botham
London, April 12 “There is a lack of confidence in the whole camp at the moment. There are two or three players playing well and there are a few that are scratching around and they are looking ordinary at the moment,” Botham told Sky Sports. “It has to be the confidence thing and they need to sort it out early because if they go on performing like startled rabbits, against South Africa, they will get crushed,” he added. Botham’s statement came a day after England’s hard toil victory against the Tigers in their crucial Super Eight match on Wednesday, thus keeping their hopes alive for a semifinal berth. “England today, we seem to take one step forward and three steps back in one-day cricket. I think we were a better side two years ago, or certainly a year ago, than we are now, and I don’t understand why because there are better players in that side now,” said the 51-year-old former all-rounder. “I would have thought this was the perfect wicket for them to play Bangladesh. It was a good cricket wicket. It swung a bit early on, there was very little seam movement and what you put in as a quick bowler,” he said England will now face South Africa on the same square on Tuesday in a match that is critical to both the team’s chances of making it to the semi-finals.
— UNI
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Barbados, April 12 Contrary to the popular perception that NSG came for the security of only the Indian team, they are here for the entire tournament not only to protect the showpiece event from any external threats but also liaise with regional security force. Till Tuesday, the 16-member commando unit was divided into two groups of eight people and one group was positioned at Guyana and another was at Antigua where the Super Eight matches were being played. Now the elite guards have moved on to Grenada and Barbados with the change of venues. Lt Col Rathod and Lt Col Rakesh are commanding these two groups. Although they are not supposed to speak to the media, but on condition of anonymity the commandos revealed that they check the stadium twice a day. Even on the non-match days they carry out thorough security drill of the whole stadium before the players start arriving for net practice. On match days they take vantage positions and monitor the proceedings. Armed with latest weapons as well as computers besides bomb detecting devices, the Commando force was specially flown in from India at the request of the CARICOM authorities. However, the specially trained sniffer dogs of NSG were not allowed to brought in because of strict quarantine policies of any animals brought from different countries to any Caribbean countries. The commandos admitted that they had been facing problems in transportation amongst these island countries. ''As the commercial planes are very small ATRs we have to come through service planes of the host countries. They are quite scary but we had to use them as we have to move with both weapons as well as a dog squad of Trinidad & Tobago,'' said one of the commandos. They, however did not foresee any possible external threat but admitted that at Guyana local crime scenario was something to take note of. ''The way the police force move with heavy arms during the normal policing, you can make out the ground position,'' said the commando who asked not to be named. — UNI
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Woolmer tapes sent to UK
Kingston, April 12 The Scotland Yard detectives, who are here to assist the Jamaican Police in the investigation of Woolmer’s mysterious death, sent the tapes to UK last week and said the experts there would take a deeper look at the footage, among other items of interest. “This was confirmed yesterday by a high-ranking officer of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF),” said ‘The Jamaica Gleaner’ in its report. The four Scotland Yard detectives were invited to assist in the Woolmer case at the request of Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas. Local detectives spent hours recently transferring hours of footage from VHS tape into a digital format, the paper said.
— PTI
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Sachin to play in Twenty20 meet
Mumbai, April 12 The trio did not play in the zonal rounds when they were rested earlier this month. Mumbai are placed in Group B and will play the league phase in Ahmedabad. Group A matches are to be held in Mumbai and the final is also scheduled to be held in Mumbai on April 21. The team will be captained by Amol Muzumdar. The team: Amol Muzumdar (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Wasim Jaffer, Rohit Sharma, Vinit Indulkar, Vinayak Samant (wicketkeeper), Ramesh Powar, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Nilesh Kulkarni, Musafir Khote, Ajinkya Rahane, Avishkar Salvi, Iqbal Abdullah and Vinayak Mane. — PTI
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BCCI rebuffs sponsors
Mumbai, April 12 “We are ready to talk to the players if they approach us (on the matter). Players can certainly send to the Board their representation on the matter. But we can’t talk to advertising agents or others. We can talk only with the players,” BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah told reporters today. “Let the players come to us. We’ll see,” he added. Shah said the board had received letters from players’ sponsors on the matter but ruled out any talk with anyone other than the players directly. “What’s the use?” he said. Shah said the decision taken by the BCCI working committee on April 7 to cap the number of endorsements per player to three stood unchanged. BCCI’s chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty said the board has received a letter from Percept D’Mark which handles endorsements of Saurav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh and Sreesanth, on the sponsorship issue. Percept D’Mark managing director Shailendra Singh said “we believe the viewers, players and the sponsors are stakeholders and so I think it’s fair to call for a share-holders’ meeting whereby the Board discusses with the sponsors”. V. Shantaram, CEO of Satchi and Satchi, which handles the sponsorship of Sachin Tendulkar, cautioned that something unilaterally decided “might not be good for the game”.
— PTI
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B’desh tour: Team to be picked on April 20
Mumbai, April 12 "I had a meeting with selection committee chairman Dilip Vengsarkar and we have decided to pick both Test and ODI teams on April 20," said Cricket Board secretary Niranjan Shah today. Vengsarkar told PTI that the selectors are looking to pick a pool of 20 players for the Tests and ODIs. "We are looking at a pool of around 20. I can't say anything more," he said. The team would have a coaching camp in Kolkata from May 2 to 6 after the team members assemble there on May 1, Shah said, adding the team will leave for Bangladesh on May 7 from Kolkata. The Indians are scheduled to play two Tests and three one-dayers during their tour of Bangladesh from May 10 to 29. The ODIs precede the Test series. Shah said that all the players chosen on April 20 would assemble for a combined camp. "I think the selectors will select around 20-25 players, but it's up to them," he said. He said that the Working Committee had told the selectors to choose a young team but it was entire upto the selectors how they go about their job. "We decided that a young team be chosen for the Bangladesh tour, but I cannot say who will be in the team or who will not be. It's upto the selectors," he said when asked whether Sachin Tendulkar would be dropped. Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh have been given show cause notice for talking to the media by the board. Skipper Rahul Dravid, named captain on April 7 by the selectors via a teleconference during the course of the BCCI's Working Committee meeting here, and cricket manager Ravi Shastri would attend the meeting which is scheduled at 4 pm, Shah said. The tour, the first international assignment for the team after its dismal show in the World Cup, also gives it the ideal opportunity for avenging the shock defeat against Bangladesh in the mega event.
— PTI
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Lee disappointed over Chappell’s departure
Bangalore, April 12 “It was most disappointing that a great cricketer like Chappell left on a bitter note following Team India’s ouster from the World Cup,” he said. Speaking to newspersons after visiting ‘The Time Factory’ as Timex Brand Ambassador, he said sitting out of the game’s showcase event owing to injury was disappointing for him. “It is very very hard to watch the matches, sitting outside.” West Indies Captain Brian Lara announcing his retirement from ODIs was another disappointment as he was a great batsman like Sachin
Tendulkar, he added. To a question, Lee said he was not looking forward to lead the Australian team as Ricky Ponting was doing a good job and he was not keen on shouldering the additional burden. “I am satisfied with Ponting and he is doing a great job. I will rather concentrate on my performance and say no to captaincy.” The another question, the speedster exuded confidence that Australia would retain the World Cup.
— Agencies
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Shiv tied 27th
Shanghai, April 12 Talented Shiv is at tied 27th, five strokes off the pace held jointly by unheralded local Huang Mingjie and Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin. Compatriots SSP Chowrasia and Gaurav Ghei are at tied 41st place with others - a stroke behind Shiv. Shiv began on a shaky note, dropping a shot in the very first hole and spoilt it further with a double bogey on the eighth hole apart from bogeying the fourth and 12th but managed a to salvage the situation by firing in four birdies. Chowrasia was the most erratic, coming up with a double bogey on the first hole and finished off with an eagle on the last hole before blasting two birdies and a couple of bogeys in between. Among other Indians in the fray, Rahil Gangjee and Amandeep Johl had a disastrous outing and were langusihing at tied 97th spot. If they don't come up with a better show tomorrow, both might miss the cut.
— UNI
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Anup Sridhar in pre-quarterfinals
Johor Bahru (Malaysia), April 12 Sridhar, who reached the semi-finals of the German Open Grand Prix last month, will play Hsieh Yu Hsing of Taipei for a place in the last eight. Two other Indians in the fray, Ravinder Singh and Anand Pawar, however, crashed out of the $1,25,000 tournament. While Ravinder lost to Chan Yan Kit of Hong Kong 10-21, 14-21, Pawar succumbed to Chen Hong of China 11-21, 13-21 in their second round matches. In men's doubles opening round, Akshay Dewalkar and Jishnu Sanyal got the better of Duong Bao Duc and Nguyen Hoang Nam of Vietnam 21-16, 21-12, while the duo of Thomas Sanave and Rupesh Kumar lost to Taipei pair of Lee Sheng Mu and Fang Chieh Min 15-21, 18-21. Dewalkar and Sanyal will now meet Hong Kong pair of Njoto Alberus Susanto and Wiratama Yohan Hadikusumo, who did short work of Syed Ebrahim Jaffar and Syed Ebrahim Hamid of Bahrain 21-6, 21-11, in the second round. In mixed doubles, Indian challenge ended with V Diju and Aparna Balan losing to Xu Chen and Zhao Tingting of China 17-21, 16-21. They had earlier beaten Koreans Cho Gun Woo and Hong Soo Jung. — UNI
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Cabinet clears 2014 Asiad bid
New Delhi, April 12 The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) will meet in Kuwait on Monday and Tuesday to choose a winner between New Delhi and the South Korean city of Incheon as the host city. Interestingly, the Cabinet note for bidding was prepared by Aiyar’s ministry. India had placed the bid in 2005 and the Cabinet today took up the issue only to reaffirm New Delhi’s determination to hold the event. Sources said the Union Minister in a lengthy hour-long speech tried to convince his cabinet collegues that the sum to be utilised for the 2014 Asian Games could be utilised for developmental work.
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After historic cut, Parnita trains for long hits
Chandigarh, April 12
She is all set to make a mark for herself in the women's pro circuit for which she says: "I have to toughen up to hit the ball as long as the men". The only other woman golfer to take part in a men's pro event was Michele Wei of the United States. The Chandigarh girl's achievement was picked up in bits and pieces. This was in sharp contrast to the world press going all ga ga over Michele's participation in a men's pro event. She said she decided to take part in the Surya Nepal Masters 2007 as a challenge. In fact she was goaded into the historic participation by Sayeed Sanadi of Tiger Sports. “The challenge of playing against the cream of men golf pros was something I wanted to experience”, she said. If the participation itself was something new, making the cut after round two was a historic event considering that the cream of golf talent from India and Nepal were taking part in the men's pro event at the Gorkarna Forest Golf Resort and Spa. She admits that in the beginning she was unsure of making the greens while striking from the tee box. "I was so nervous that my arms turned stiff. I was hoping and praying that I will reach the green. As I swung the ball sailed into the skies and made an arc as it landed 8 ft from the pin. I missed a birdie, but the par score was equally confidence building." Talking about the poor score and playing conditions, Parnita said: "Don’t talk about the scores. That I made the cut on the second day showed that several top men pros returned scores worse than mine. The Gokarna golf course is very challenging. One bad hit and the jungles are just waiting to gobble up the ball. The water bodies and bunkers add to the challenge.” She said the Nepal tournament was a very good exposure. But now she plans to toughen up. She is practising hard on the 80-yard in shots. This takes up almost three hours every day. Besides a workout in the gym is a must every day. She is all for women participating in men pro events. Her dream is to hit the ball as long as the men. But the next major tournament for this Chandigarh lady is the DLF Indian Golf Tournament to be held in July.
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India can do wonders in individual sports: David
Jalandhar, April 12 Speaking to The Tribune, David said countries like India have immense talent in the field of sports which is still to be tapped. “If only the government shows seriousness and provide support to its players in terms of financial aid and sporting infrastructure, India can do wonders on the international front,” he said. Laying stress on the individual games, David said in the present scenario only those countries which are smaller in population can excel in team games and not countries like China and India. “It becomes all the more difficult to collect players for a team from different regions and then mould them as one. Rather these kind of countries can bring in lot of medals in individual games. For example, India has excelled in the field of chess, archery, shooting, golf to name a few. Whereas team games like football, hockey, and even cricket now haven’t produced that many results,” said David who has coached more than 50 athletes including Nicole Boergman (Australia) and Mark Phills (St. Vincent). On the coaches, David said until and unless the coach himself doesn’t get into the game and play with the players he won’t be able to understand the mindset of the players. Those coaches who have been players themselves at some point of time have given much better results than those who have directly joined as coaches. Giving instruction from outside the field is not the way coaching should be done. The coach has to be in the field to get feel of the game. This would held in assessing the mindset of the players and to understand them better,” added David who himself was an athlete.
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Chetri brace guides JCT to victory
Margao, April 12 The defeat is a setback for Dempo who are eyeing the title as they have 23 points from 13 matches. JCT now have19 points. JCT, who led 1-0 at the half-time, scored through Sunil Chetri (30th, 56th) and Sukhwinder Singh (78th). Anthony Pereira (60th) and Roberto Silva (84th) reduced the margin for Dempo. Sunil Chetri, who was later adjudged the man of the match, gave JCT the lead in the 30th minute. Referee Deepak Singh erred in the 56th minute by awarding a penalty to JCT for a foul on Edeh Chidi inside the box when Dempo’s Miranda and Chidi fell while going for an aerial ball. The resultant penalty was successfully converted by Chetri, giving JCT 2-0 lead. Dempo fought back and reduced the margin in the 60th minute when Antony Pereira scored from the top of the box off a diagonal pass by clifford Miranda. Spurred by the goal, Dempo went all out for the equaliser but JCT defended well. Sukhwinder Singh completed the tally for JCT in the 78th minute. Reberto Silva raised Dempo’s hopes when he scored off a free kick from the top of the box, in the 84th minute. Silva nearly brought the equaliser in the injury time through a free kick but keeper Karanjit Singh did well denying Dempo the equaliser. — PTI
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