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Ireland clinch big win Border writes
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TODAY'S MATCH
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Fleming bats for Proteas
25 and counting...
‘Woolmer poisoned before strangulation’
Jalandhar marathon spurts anger
Maidan bowls over Blatter
Blatter boost for Indian football
YPS Patiala win Dhruv
Pandove tourney
Crash course for Karun, Narain
India beat Pak, retain golf trophy
Ghei finishes 55th
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Bridgetown, April 15 Opening batsman William Porterfield top-scored with a chancy 85 to guide Ireland to their highest Cup total of 243 for seven after they chose to bat. Bangladesh top order batsmen then fell to reckless shots to be all out for 169 in 41.2 overs. The result left both teams on two points and fighting to avoid finishing at the bottom of the table. Earlier, Ireland achieved their first double-figure opening partnership after Porterfield, dropped on 42, raised 92 runs with Jeremy Bray (31). He missed the chance to emulate Bray with a century in the tournament when he skied an improvised sweep against paceman Mashrafe Mortaza to short fineleg in the 42nd over. Kevin O'Brien hit 48 off 44 balls and skipper Trent Johnston, who elected to bat, 30 off 23 balls to add 77 in the last 10 overs. Bangladesh were poor on the field and dropped three catches, although they achieved four run outs. The contest between the two surprise second-round qualifiers began in front of a sparse crowd after more than 20,000 ticket holders from India and Pakistan, who had been scheduled to meet on Sunday but were eliminated in the first round, chose to stay away from the Kensington Oval. But as the ground began to fill up after organisers distributed more than 10,000 free tickets, Ireland made sure they did not suffer a repeat performance of their batting collapse, when they were all out for 91, against holders Australia. Having earmarked the match against Bangladesh as the one Super Eight match they could win, Ireland began steadily. The groundsmen heavily rolled the pitch until the toss and the surface barely provided the kind of bounce seen on adjacent tracks where champions Australia and England beat Ireland and Bangladesh, respectively, earlier in the week. The openers were well-set until Bray and number three Eoin Morgan (5) were both run out. Porterfield pulled Mortaza to squareleg and lofted left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak over mid-on for fours. He was lucky on 42 after left-arm spinner Mohammad Rafique dropped a simple return catch after a casual one-handed attempt. Young paceman Shahadat Hossain, included at the last minute after left-arm seamer Syed Rasel tripped on the boundary rope and hurt his ankle during the warm-up, and Abdur Razzak both dropped catches at deep midwicket against Morgan and Kevin O'Brien, respectively. Bangladesh have two points after beating South Africa in the second round while Ireland are winless. The seven-week tournament ends in Barbados on April 28. Scoreboard Ireland Porterfield c Rafique b Mortaza 85 Bray run out 31 Morgan run out 5 NJ O'Brien c Iqbal b Hasan 10 KJ O'Brien run out 48 Johnston c Nafees b Mortaza 30 White run out 4 Langford-Smith not out 6 Botha not out 1 Extras
(b-1, lb-11, w-6, nb-5) 23 Total (7 wkts, 50 overs) 243 Fall of wickets:
1-92, 2-101, 3-128, 4-176, 5-215, 6-233, 7-237. Bowling: Mortaza 10-1-38-2, Hossain 9-1-51-0, Razzak 9-0-48-0, Rafique 10-0-42-0, Hasan 10-0-44-1, Ahmed 2-0-8-0. Bangladesh Iqbal b Johnston 29 Nafees c NJ O'Brien b Rankin 7 Aftab c NJ O'Brien b Botha 12 Hasan run out 3 Ashraful c Langford-Smith
b Rankin 35 Bashar b Johnston 32 Rahim b McCallan 16 Mortaza c&b Langford-Smith 0 Rafique c Johnston
b Langford-Smith 2 Razzak b McCallan 11 Hossain not out 0 Extras
(lb-4, w-18) 22 Total (all out; 41.2 overs) 169 Fall of
wickets: 1-18, 2-45, 3-48, 4-93, 5-102, 6-131, 7-134, 8-138, 9-169. Bowling:
Rankin 8-0-42-2, Langford-Smith 10-1-27-2, Botha 8-0-31-1, Johnston 7.2-0-40-2, McCallan 8-1-25-2.
— Reuters
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‘Final’ before the final
This could well be the biggest and best match of the competition. Both Australia and Sri Lanka have been in wonderful form, and they will look to seize invaluable psychological points from the encounter. Australia have already made it to the semifinals, as have Sri Lanka and New Zealand. They would like to enter the knockout stage on a winning note. Sri Lanka have a “complete” team. The conditions and wickets have suited their style of play, but it takes more than mere luck to produce high-quality cricket day in and day out. They have played some outstanding cricket. All the batsmen have made runs, and leading the way is Sanath Jayasuriya, who is like red wine. The longer he keeps going, the better he keeps getting! The bowlers have done as well as the batsmen, and the fielding has been outstanding. Lasith Malinga will miss the game due to his ankle injury, and that’s a shame. But it does make sense to ensure that he is fully fit at the start of the knockout stage. It is a good idea to “hide” him from the big guns and unleash him at the climax of the tournament. The Australians could not have delivered a better riposte to their critics. Shaun Tait and Brad Hogg have been outstanding, the former having covered excellently for the injured Brett Lee. They are yet to lose a game in the competition, and the only thing left for them to do is to “finish it off” with a bang. Many Sri Lankan supporters might contend that their side is going into the game with a slight advantage. After all, Mahela Jayawardene’s team played the Kiwis last, while the Aussies tackled and thrashed Ireland . But I don’t think that will be much of a factor. The Australians played England before they met Ireland , and as I pointed out in my previous column, that game was a lot closer than what the scorecard suggested. What the experts won’t recommend is fiddling around with a winning combination. I don’t see any sweeping changes in the line-ups of both sides, besides the obvious absence of Malinga. Australia will most probably not play Shane Watson and give him some extra time to recover from his injury. They might play him in the last Super Eight game against New Zealand, but only as a batsman. Depending on how he performs, they will then decide whether to play him in the semis. That brings me to a player who has missed out on virtually the entire competition because his team-mates have been on a roll. The fact that Sri Lanka have been able to keep a batsman of Marvan Atapattu’s calibre outside the playing XI speaks volumes about their talent. They will maintain the winning combination, and Atapattu’s fans will not see him in action against the Australians. A win against Australia will give them a tremendous shot in the arm, and they will surely try to do just that. If they do win, then Atapattu might get an opportunity in the last game. This World Cup has been criticised for its length, among other things, but it has certainly witnessed cricket of a very high quality. The South Africans did thrash the West Indies, but if New Zealand and England manage to get the better of them, then we may be in for a photo finish. The net run rates will come into play then, and the teams that have been the most consistent will qualify for the semifinals. For the moment, all sides in contention would do well to forget about net run rates and just try to win. We are in for an exciting time. — PMG
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Fleming bats for Proteas
St George’s, April 15 “It’s difficult for them to push the net run rate at this late stage of the competition. They are in minus anyway and so perhaps Graeme Smith is right in suggesting that they are looking to win every match rather than worry about the net run rate,” remarked Fleming at the end of the match. Fleming also backed South Africa to do well in their final game against England in Barbados on April 17. “It’s a tight game for both the teams. Both are pretty similar sides and the pressure would be immense on them. But South Africa are expected to go through.” Fleming acknowledged that the luck of toss had played a critical role in his side’s win over South Africa on the day. “The toss played a big role. I learnt from my lesson in the previous game where the ball had done a lot in the first 10-15 overs. “Smith had said after the toss that he would have batted anyway. But for us our bowlers were spot on. I wasn’t sure how long it would assist upfront but it kind of helped the bowlers for 10-15 overs,” Fleming said.
— PTI
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25 and counting...
Australia have played 25 World Cup matches over the past eight years without a single defeat. Their 10-run loss to Pakistan at Leeds on May 23, 1999, was the last time that the three-time champions suffered a reversal in the mega event. They have won 24 WC encounters since then, while the 1999 semifinal against South Africa at Birmingham ended in a dramatic tie.
— Vikramdeep Johal
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‘Woolmer poisoned before strangulation’
London/Kingston, April 15 According to a source close to the Jamaican police, the investigators probing in Woolmer’s mysterious death believe the South African was poisoned to incapacitate him before murdering him in his Jamaica Pegasus hotel room around one month ago, London daily The Sunday Times reported. But Mark Shields, the Deputy Police Commissioner leading the inquiry, refused to confirm poison was found and said the toxicology samples and postmortem report would be sent to Britain for further analysis. “If he was manually strangled and asphyxiated, why didn’t he put up a fight? I’ve always said there was a possibility he was incapacitated by something else. If I tell you they (the results) have come back and we are conducting further tests, I suggest you draw your own conclusions,” he said at a press conference in Kingston yesterday. Shields described the toxicology results as “encouraging” but said the probe could take a “long haul”. “There are three possibilities. One is that someone could give themselves up. Two, there could be a massive breakthrough or, three, we are here for the long haul. “At the moment we are certainly in category three. We would love to move to one but I think that is unlikely at this stage,” Shield said. He quashed the speculation that it was the drug aconite, which causes asphyxia. “There was evidence he was drinking, but no evidence that he was drunk,” the source was quoted as saying by The Sunday Times. — PTI
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Punjab edge out Railways
Mumbai, April 15 Chasing Railways’ score of 105 all out, Punjab were tottering at 44 for 5 in the 10th over, including the wickets of Yuvraj Singh (0) and Dinesh Mongia (19), before the lower order took them home to 106 for 8 in 19.4 overs. Punjab’s saviour was Bipul Sharma (19 not out), who held one end up and saw his team through past the finishing line in the company of VRV Singh (6 not out). The latter struck a four, through a misfield on the boundary line, off Kulamani Parida to end the match at the Brabourne Stadium. Among the top-order batsmen, Mongia and Sunny Sohal (21) did their bit. But Punjab were in deep trouble after medium pacer Sanjeeb Sanyal rocked them with a three-wicket burst in his second and fourth overs. Among his victims was Yuvraj, bowled off the second ball while trying to pull. Earlier, Railways, too, recovered from a poor start to get past the 100 mark after having been reduced to 48 for 4. Amit Pagnis (25) and Sanyal (15) chipped in with useful runs. Punjab’s right-arm medium pacer Love Abhlish took three wickets, while Gagandeep Singh and Mongia captured two each. Brief scores: Railways:
105 all out in 19.2 overs (Amit Pagnis 25; Love Abhlish 3 for 17), Punjab:
106 for 8 in 19.4 overs (Dinesh Mongia 19, Sunny Sohal 21, Bipul Sharma 19 not out; S Sanyal 3 for 15).
Sunny shines for Haryana
Ahmedabad: A rapid-fire 51 by opener Sunny Singh today helped Haryana coast to a 46-run victory over Madhya Pradesh in an inter-state Twenty20 encounter played under lights at the Sardar Patel Stadium at Motera. Sunny Singh, who hit 51 runs in just 32 halls, justified his team's decision to bat first after winning the toss. Sunny hit seven fours and one six and stiched together a 52 run partnership with Vishal Sahni. Sunny was cleaned bowled by Abbas Ali in the 12th over. Vishal made 41 runs in 31 balls with seven hits to the fence. In the
allotted 20 overs Haryana made 173 runs for the loss of six wickets. Requiring 8.7 runs an over, MP began their chase in a woeful fashion. Opener Naman Ojha (18) was the first to leave at the score of 20 runs in the third over. Thereafter MP kept loosing wickets at regulal intervals and were reduced to 5 for 55 in 9.1 overs after Murtaza Ali (14) was caught by Mahesh Rawal off Jitender Billa. Rahul Bakshi who made 35 from 26 balls top scored for MP. Jitendra Billa picked up 3 wickets conceading 24 runs in the four overs that he bowled. MP were finally skittled out for 127 runs in 19.3 overs. Brief scores: Haryana:
173 for six in 20 overs (Sunny Singh 51, Visha Sahni 41, Sunil Dholpure 4-0-39-2);
Madhya Pradesh: 127 all out in 19.3 overs (Rahul Bakshi 35, Jitender Billa 4-0-24-3, Sanjay Budhwar 4-0-19-2.
Bengal beat Tamil Nadu
Ahmedabad: Powered by a quick-fire unbeaten 57 runs by middle-order batsman Rana Choudhary, Bengal posted a 16-run victory over Tamil Nadu in their opening Twenty20 game at the Sardar Patel Motera Stadium here on Sunday. Chaudhary, who had come to bat at the fall of the fourth wicket at the score of 82, struck four sixes and four fours in his 28-ball innings. Earlier, Bengal, after winning the toss and electing to bat, could manage only 94 runs in the first 15 overs. Left-handed batsman Chaudhary helped the team score 65 runs in the last five overs to post a competitive 159 runs for loss of five wickets in 20 overs. Bengal’s skipper Manoj Tiwary (52) was the only other notable contributor for the team. Tiwary struck four fours and one six in his 42-balls innings while reminding the selectors that he could be one of the probables for the upcoming Bangladesh tour. Tamil Nadu lost quick wickets and were reduced to 82 for 5 in the 13th over. Middle-order batsman M Vijay top-scored for Tamil Nadu with 34 runs in 21 balls. Vijay hit three sixes in the 16th over bowled by Laxmiratan Shukla. However, Tamil Nadu could not sustain the climbing run rate and their challenge almost ended when Bengal medium pacer SS Paul grabbed two wickets in the 18th over. He got the wickets of C Ganpathy (4) and M Vijay (34). Paul finished with four wickets for 22 runs in four overs. Tamil Nadu managed to make 143 runs for the loss of nine wickets. Brief scores: Bengal:
159 for 5 in 20 overs (Rana Chaudhary 57, Manoj Tiwary 52; Yo Mahesh 2-21);
Tamil Nadu: 143 for 9 in 20 overs (M Vijay 34, Devendran 28; SS Paul 4-22, S Laheri 2-25).
— PTI
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Jalandhar marathon spurts anger
Jalandhar, April 15 So much so that the post marathon, participants including men, women and children raised slogans against Milkha Singh, who came to the city after a span of more than three decades just to flag off the marathon organised by the Jalandhar Marathon Rally Society. The highly publicised eight-km marathon that was attended by more than 1000 participants turned out to be a damp affair with tall claims of the organisers falling flat in terms of conducting a fair event. Devoid of any plan, the marathon started nearly one and half-hour later than the scheduled time. During the two press conferences called in for the event the organizers including director competition A.S. Sikand and president Ashok Kalra, it was decided that the participants in the various categories including boys, girls men and women would be made to run at separate time intervals to avoid any chaos. However, quite contrary to the claims, all the participants were made to run together leading to a stampede. As the gate of the venue Sai Dass School was small a lot of kids were seen falling down and pushed here and there. Further due to the absence of any person to check the foul play during the run, a number of participants were seen taking lifts on vehicles on their way. Even the vehicular traffic on the route was neither blocked nor diverted as a result of which a number of times the participants were seen colliding with cycles, cars and scooters. The organisers also failed to make any arrangements for the medical facilities or any ambulance on the route. Most the participants were not given the chest numbers. Later on some of the participants alleged foul play in the declaration of the results and started raising slogans against Milkha Singh who was to give away the prizes. However Milkha left the venue in a huff without distributing the prizes. The participants alleged that those who took lifts on their way to the finishing point came first. The protestors even removed the T-shirts and caps given to them by the organizers. Some of the participants and their parents also demanded the organizers to refund the Rs 100, deposited as the registration fees or else they would go to the court.
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Maidan bowls over Blatter
Kolkata, April 15 Having arrived in the metropolis last night to a tumultuous welcome, Blatter began his tour this morning going around the headquarters of Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting. The FIFA president got a feel of the huge fan following of these clubs as hundreds of soccer lovers almost mobbed him throughout his 75-minute trip to the Maidan. Blatter’s first port of call was Mohun Bagan, where he was greeted by hundreds of children holding aloft FIFA, AFC and the Bagan flags. Bagan general secretary Anjan Mitra said Blatter was overwhelmed by the passion of the club fans. Blatter signed a ball, and was presented a shawl and a souvenir brought out by Bagan to mark his visit, the first official tour to India by the FIFA boss. Blatter and AFC Chief Hammam were made honorary life members of Mohun Bagan, and also presented club badges. As Blatter approached the East Bengal tent, he was welcomed by children draped in East Bengal’s red and yellow colours and youths wearing vests with his picture. After receiving mementos and brochures, Blatter wished the large crowd on the occasion of Bengal New Year.
— PTI
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Blatter boost for Indian football
Kolkata, April 15 Stating this, FIFA president Joseph Sepp Blatter told newsmen here today that it would be done step by step and in different time frame. Blatter, who is on his first visit to India, said this would require a lot of fund. The financial side of the whole matter would be discussed during his meeting with the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh tomorrow in New Delhi, he said. “I will tell him how football can help a country like India which is growing fast and is going to be a giant soon”, he said. Regarding FIFA’s grant to Indian football, he said besides $1 million given to each of all its 208 member countries, FIFA was giving $4,00,000 to India as solidarity support. Blatter said more fund could be arranged for India, but he did not quantify the amount. Asked whether FIFA had any plans to send top coaches to India, Blatter said excellent coaches were available for improvement of the country’s soccer standards, but the matter has to be part of a total process. He said: “India needed to put in place a technical and administrative infrastructure first. Then the good coaches will be happy to come here.”
— PTI
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YPS Patiala win Dhruv
Pandove tourney
Patiala, April 15 In the first semifinal between YPS Patiala and YPS Mohali, YPS Patiala won the match by 5 wickets. Batting first, YPS Mohali set a target of 57 runs, losing four wickets. The main scorers for YPS Mohali were Shivam (27) and Atish (12). For YPS Patiala, Amitoze, Robin and Karan took one wicket each. YPS Patiala achieved the target in 3.4 overs without losing a wicket. In the other semifinal between Modern School, New Delhi, and DPS, New Delhi, DPS batted first and scored 58 runs for five wickets in the allotted 5 overs. For DPS, Sachin and Milind scored 12 and 15 runs, respectively, while Jaspreet took two wickets. In reply, Modern School scored 62 for 1 in 3.4 overs. Sahil Kher and Rohan Tuteja contributed unbeaten 32 and 24 runs respectively. Charanjeet took the only wicket for DPS. Modern School won the match by four wickets. In the final match between YPS Patiala and Modern School, Modern School won the toss and chose to bat first. In the allotted 5 overs, Modern School scored 52 runs for loss of three wickets. The main scorer for the Modern School was Rohan Tuteja who contributed unbeaten 32 runs for his team. For YPS, Amitoze and Mohit took one wicket each. In reply, YPS achieved the target in 4.2 overs for the loss of one wicket. The main scorers for YPS were Amitoze (31 n.o.) and Robin (15 n.o.). YPS won the match by three wickets. RP Devgan, principal, YPS Patiala, gave away the prizes to the winners. The results: Winners: YPS Patiala Runners up: Modern School, New Delhi. Best batsman of the tournament: Amandeep Singh, YPS Patiala. Best bowler of the tournament: Mahir Sharma, Modern School, New Delhi. Best fielder of the tournament: Milind of DPS, New Delhi. Man of the match (final): Amitoze Singh, YPS Patiala.
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Crash course for Karun, Narain
Sakhir, April 15 Firmly in the top eight by then, Team Durango’s Chandhok lost control and hit South African rookie Adrian Zaugg’s car at turn one of the seventh lap. While the Indian spun out of contention in the incident, the South African was forced into the pits for repairs, ending hopes of a double points finish on debut. Meanwhile, Nicolas Lapierre finally broke his victory duck in the GP2 Series, as he returned the DAMS team to the top step of the podium in Race 2. The Frenchman took the lead from Borja Garcia midway through the first lap and eventually finished three seconds off Timo Glock. Luca Filippi came third. Earlier, the first and the qualifying round of GP2 series saw Chandhok finishing in the top 10 on the Sakhir racetrack. — UNI
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India beat Pak, retain golf trophy
New Delhi, April 15 According to news received here, the teams shared six points each in the final round which was played according to the singles matchplay format. The final score line showed 13-11 in India’s favour. India had won the title in Bangalore in the last edition. The Indian victory was spearheaded by national amateurs Anirban Lahiri, Jasjeet Singh and Simarjeet Singh, who all won their matches in the top category. Joseph Chakola was the sole loser.
— UNI
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Ghei finishes 55th
Shanghai, April 15 The lone Indian in the fray after Shiv Kapur withdrew in the third round due to a back problem, Ghei fired four birdies against an equal number of bogeys to finish with a total of nine-over 293. Meanwhile, Austria’s Markus Brier clinched his first title of the season with a four-under 67 and a total of 10-under 274 that gave him a huge five-shot win over Graeme McDowell (69), Scott Hend (70) and Andrew McLardy (71), who were all tied for the second spot.
— PTI
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Bridgetown, April 15 
This could well be the biggest and best match of the competition. Both Australia and Sri Lanka have been in wonderful form, and they will look to seize invaluable psychological points from the encounter. Australia have already made it to the semifinals, as have Sri Lanka and New Zealand.
Slogans raised against Milkha Singh
Video
