 |
|
|
SA crush England, enter semis
Uphill task for Ireland
|
TODAY
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Ponting puzzled by Lanka’s tactics
Hogg was a revelation
Dhoni’s swimming pool raises heat
NFL
Fed Cup
|
|||||||||||||
|
Bridgetown, April 17 Medium pacer Hall bagged a career-best five for 18 to dismiss a woeful England for 154 with two overs remaining after Michael Vaughan had won the toss and elected to bat despite a lively Kensington Oval pitch. South Africa then knocked off the runs in just 19.2 overs to complete the rout with captain Graeme Smith hitting an unbeaten 89. The Proteas join defending champions Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka in the last four with the semi-final match-ups determined by the final positions in the round-robin Super Eights table. Hall's best bowling performance (5/18) killed the match decisively and along with Andre Nel's three wicket, including the prized one of Kevin Pitersen, swung the tie completely in favour of South Africa as England middle and lower orders caved in. So pathetic was the England performance throughout their innings that the match, which promised to be a blockbuster knock out amid sell out crowd, was all over within the first ten overs itself. After that it was just a matter of time before South Africa wind up and return back to score those runs as quickly as possible. South Africa found an unlikely hero in Hall who sliced through the England lower middle order picking up five wickets and giving South Africa the smallest total to chase in this World Cup. He proved to be the ultimate weapon and justified his inclusion in the team in place of Makhaya Ntini. England seemed to have forgotten that they were playing a one-day match, adopting Test match strategy as if they were saving a match by playing out the remaining overs. They hardly showed any aggression to a bowling attack, which surprisingly did not show any venom except a few occasional bouncers rising sharply from good length. England top order once again crumbled as the opening duo failed after 10 overs of struggle that tells the whole story of their batting prowess. Michael Vaughan was bold enough to choose batting on a pitch, which had already earned reputation of the bounciest of all the pitches of the World Cup. However, he and the other opener Ian Bell decided to bring Test match tactics to frustrate Shaun Pollock and Charl Langevledt, who opened the attack in place of rested Ntini. Both the openers left more balls than actually played and laboured to score nine runs in the first eight overs. Bell perished when he tried to play the first offensive shot after facing 29 agonising deliveries. He tried to pull a ball from outside the off stump and Ashwell Prince was right there in the backward point to gleefully accept the catch. England's all-too-familiar story of top order failure started unfolding as captain Vaughan did not disappoint his critics as after couple of good-looking shots, he was out LBW from the second ball of Nel. Vaughan distinctly looked unhappy but umpire Steve Bucknor was right as per the television replays. England's needle of hope was on Kevin Pietersen who made it a grudge match against South Africa. He had made it abundantly clear in his autobiography that he did not like Graeme Smith and the Proteas were to charged up to get his scalp. They did not have to wait for long. Nel first softened him with some extra pacy balls, unnerving him and then returned next over to remove the world's number one ODI batsmen to leave England into tatters. Nel's rising delivery was played uppishly by Pietersen and Smith dived forward from mid off to send back his bete noire giving Nel the second wicket. England's hope of a big innings went with Pitersen who had been otherwise having a very good tournament so far. That was also enough to silence the Barmy Army at the stand who were unusually silent today by their own standards. Scoreboard
England Bell c Prince b Langeveldt 7 Vaughan lbw Nel 17 Strauss c Smith b Kallis 46 Pietersen c Smith b Nel 3 Collingwood lbw b Hall 30 Flintoff b Hall 5 Bopara not out 27 Nixon c Boucher b Hall 1 Mahmood b Hall 0 Panesar c Boucher b Nel 2 Anderson lbw Hall 0 Extras: (b-4, lb-4, w-5, nb-3) 16 Total: (allout; 48 overs) 154 Fall of wickets:
1-9, 2-37, 3-53, 4-111, 5-115, 6-119, 7-121, 8-121, 9-144. Bowling: Pollock 10-2-17-0, Langeveldt 7-1-38-1, Nel 10-3-35-3, Hall 10-2-18-5, Kallis 8-0-22-1, Kemp 3-0-16-0. South Africa De Villiers c Nixon b Flintoff 42 Smith not out 89 Kallis not out 17 Extras (b-4, w-3, nb-2) 9 Total (1 wkt; 19.2 overs) 157 Fall of wicket:
1-85. Bowling: Anderson 5-0-32-0, Mahmood 4.2-0-49-0, Flintoff 6-0-36-1, Panesar 2-0-24-0, Collingwood 2-0-12-0.
— Agencies
|
|
Uphill task for Ireland
St George’s, April 17 Though Ireland managed to defeat Bangladesh in their last match but they will undoubtedly find it tough against the Lions in their last World Cup assignment. The match is only of academic interest as both the teams have already achieved their aims with Sri Lanka through to the semis, and Ireland achieving what no other debutant has ever achieved in the history of the mega event, defeated two Test playing nations Pakistan and Bangladesh respectively, which eventually saw them enter the ODI rankings. For Ireland, the win over Bangladesh was what they looked for after qualifying for the second round of the tournament. It was a huge moment for Trent Johnston’s enthusiastic team, who have won hearts around the Caribbean with their spirited, if uneven, cricket. Against Bangladesh, Irish openers, William Porterfield and Jeremy Bray set the trend with a 92-run partnership, which was later built on by the likes of Kevin O’Brien and the skipper himself. Porterfield top-scored with a sedate 85, and with the ball, all five Irish bowlers tasted success. On the other hand, having lost to Australia, Sri Lanka will now finish either second or third along with New Zealand, so they may well again indulge in another exercise of testing out players who have not yet had a match in the Caribbean mega event. The Lankans will, however, be wary of taking the game too lightly as India did so against Bangladesh and paid a heavy price. Following on the footsteps of their neighbours, Pakistan too were relaxed against the Irish which ultimately resulted in their first round exit. Ireland, thus do have it in them to play spoilsport, and the last thing the Sri Lankan management would want is a reverse going into the semi-final.
— UNI
|
|
Ponting puzzled by Lanka’s tactics
St George’s, April 17 “It would be interesting to see how they would bounce back for this has been a pretty big loss for them ahead of the semifinals,” said Ponting after his side had carved out a seven-wicket win with seven-odd overs to spare. Sri Lanka didn’t play Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan, citing “tiredness and fatigue” as the reason for their absence though most believed it was to thwart Australians from having a look at the two key bowlers. “It doesn’t matter to us what the opposition does. They can plan their strategy anyway they want. It’s fine with us. “Even if their bowling was weakened, their batting had been at its full strength and we did restrict them to a reasonable total,” the Aussie captain said. Ponting dismissed the notion that his batsmen had missed out on an opportunity to face and get valuable practice against Muralitharan. “It doesn’t worry us any way. We’ve a very good footage about him and we know pretty well what he does with his stuff.
We also play him well,” said Ponting. Ponting was all praise for his bowlers who have bowled out every other team in this tournament except for Bangladesh. Ponting served a warning to other sides of the tournament by stating that he planned to get only better in this closing part of the 2007 World Cup.
— PTI
|
|
Hogg was a revelation
The moment the Sri Lankans announced that they were resting Chaminda Vaas and Muthiah Muralitharan from the Super Eight game against Australia; the fizz went out of a much-awaited game. The Lankans may well have wanted to rest their star bowlers because there won’t be too many matches after this that they can play without their best bowlers.
Malinga too was not included as is he is recovering from an ankle injury, and it’s clear that the Lankans are not taking Ireland lightly and want their full-strength attack against the newcomers. What the absence of Vaas, Murali and Malinga meant was that Sri Lanka had to score near 300 to give their second-sting attack some chance of containing the powerful Australian batting line-up. That didn’t happen, as Bracken, who has taken the responsibility of bowling first for Australia as easily as a duck takes to water, got rid of both the dangerous opening batsmen, Tharanga and Jayasuriya. It is obvious that Tharanga has to tighten his technique against the moving bouncing ball, for he keeps poking at it around and outside the off stump and gets caught in the slips. With Jayasuriya and Sangakkara also falling quickly, the Lankans had to first repair the hole in their innings, which they did through a magnificent partnership between Jayawardene and Chamara Silva. Both are superb stroke-players and runners between the wickets. Jayawardene has to be the most elegant right-hand batsman in the world, and the pulled six off Tait was the stand-out shot of his innings. Chamara Silva got his fourth World Cup half century, and considering that this is his first World Cup, it tells you how good a player he must be. Unfortunately for Lanka, both got out in consecutive overs from Brad Bogg and that meant that Lanka lost the momentum the pair had generated. The tail wagged merrily to get Sri Lanka past the 200-mark. For Australia, the revelation has been Brad Hogg, who has added tremendous variety to the attack with his chinaman mixed with a well-disguised googly, which was evident when he foxed the well-set Jayawardene and had him smartly stumped by Adam Gilchrist. The nervousness in the Sri Lankan second-string attack was seen in the first over by Dilhara Fernando, which had wides and no balls and the Australians were quick to seize on that. Their start was electric, and though Gilchrist and Hayden both didn’t go on to get 50, they had given just the start their team wanted. Ponting and Symonds made up for them by getting classy half centuries, but more than that, showed how powerful their batting line-up is, with the likes of Hussey and Hodge having hardly had to bat so far. The Aussies have pretty much assured themselves of the number one slot after the Super Eight, unless their Tran-Tasman neighbours New Zealand upset them, in what will be the last match of the Super Eight for both sides. It may well be the ‘final’ before the finals.
— PMG
|
|
New life for coaches after World Cup
Bridgetown, April 17 Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer died under mysterious circumstances, Greg Chappell resigned after India’s disastrous World Cup campaign, England’s Duncan Fletcher is in the firing line and host West Indies coach Bennett King looks certain to lose his job. Most coaches are going to swap jobs or will have to find a less demanding career after the showpiece event. But this tournament will be long remembered for the death of Bob Woolmer and for spoiling Greg Chappell’s reputation and bio-data. Both were high profile coaches of two of the biggest teams of the tournament, but could not see their teams progressing into the Super Eight. While Bangladesh spoilt the party for the Indians, rank outsiders Ireland plotted Pakistan’s ouster. The most successful coach, John Buchanan of Australia is also hanging up his boots in favour of Tim Nielsen. The teacher-turned -coach will most likely go back to his old job after putting Australia in unbelievable position to win the Cup for a record third time in succession. Bangladesh coach Dave Whatmore has been doing wonderful things with South Asian teams. He coached Sri Lanka to the World Cup title and now pushed Bangladesh to its pinnacle, propelling them into the Super Eight stage of the World Cup for the first time. His desire to coach the India team has in fact angered his employers, the Bangladesh Cricket Board which issued a statement, saying that Whatmore had a contract with them. England coach Duncan Fletcher was still basking on the 2005 Ashes success for which he was awarded an OBE by the Queen. But it will be a monumental task for him to keep the job going by England’s flop show till now. Sri Lankan coach Tom Moody has expressed interest in coaching the English side but the Sri Lankan Board did not take that very kindly. However, Irish coach Adrian Birrell is on a roll this World Cup but he has already put in his paper and as per his contract he is leaving his job for former West Indian test player Roger Harper. Birrell is not going back to South Africa but will like to stay with his wife in Ireland working for smaller teams. New Zealand’s John Bracewll is still undecided. “Let me focus on the Cup and only after the final I shall take the decision,” he said. He firmly believes that his team is playing the final and prefers to keep his cards close to his chest till then. Sri Lanka coach Tom Moody has already announced that he is going back to Western Australia to coach the provincial team from Sri Lanka. Moody is currently a wanted man - he has options in Australia, Sri Lanka and England. Not too much is known about South Africa’s coach Mickey Arthur. He does not like to speak about his future. He was appointed as Ray Jennings’s successor as coach of the South Africa in 2005 and would perhaps continue for some time. India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan will begin the shopping of their coaches in the next couple of months as big names—both domestic and foreign are doing the rounds. But not many foreign coaches will be keen to coach Pakistan after the Woolmer episode. In India the jury is still out on whether a foreign coach or a “desi” one should replace Chappell. For the time being Ravi Shastri has been appointed the Manager for India’s Tour to Bangladesh.
— UNI
|
|
Malik to captain Pak?
Karachi, April 17 “The decision has been taken that Malik will be the next captain on a short-term basis. But even his appointment is subject to Younis Khan not changing his position about not accepting the captaincy,” a source in the board told PTI. “Former captain Imran Khan and some members of the board feel that the chairman should make one last attempt to convince Younis to change his mind. If that does not happen, Malik is then the unanimous choice,” he said. He said it was a wrong impression that Malik would be appointed on a long-term basis. “What has been decided that Malik should be named captain for the one-day international against India at the Lord’s slated in July for the Prince Charles charity and for the Twenty 20 World Cup in South Africa in September,” the source said.
— PTI
|
|
Dhoni’s swimming pool raises heat
Ranchi, April 17 Alarmed at possible scarcity of water due to the presence of a swimming pool, people of Dhoni’s neighbourhood have petitioned the Ranchi Regional Development Authority (RRDA) against the construction of the same. “About 40 of us petitioned the RRDA and chief secretary A.K. Chugh drawing their attention that the swimming pool will create water scarcity in the area because it will require four lakh gallons of water,” retired deputy inspector general of police S.N.L Gupta, who resides in the area, said. “We don’t have any objection to Dhoni’s building coming up in our Harmu Colony. Rather we are happy at becoming the neighbours of the star cricketer. But we are concerned about water scarcity as the pool will suck up four lakh gallons of water,” said Col R.L. Bhagat (retd), another prospective neighbour of the
wicket-keeper. Confirming that the RRDA had received the petition, its vice-chairman M.P. Sinha told PTI that the authority had asked its technical cell to analyse the building plan. “The analysis will verify the water requirement (for the swimming pool),” he said adding he would inspect the progress after a couple
of days. The state government had allotted Dhoni the plot soon after he rose to limelight, battering the Pakistani bowlers last year. India’s loss to Bangladesh in the World Cup had led to a mob attack on his under construction house.
— PTI
|
|
JCT keen to maintain winning streak
Amardeep Bhattal Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 17
Although JCT’s campaign remained rather sluggish in the initial stages, the dramatic turnaround from the eighth round onwards has generated new hope for the Punjab outfit. In the 13 matches played so far, JCT have won five and lost five. Of the five victories, four have been achieved in the last six rounds. JCT have so far beaten Mohun Bagan twice (2-0, 3-1); HAL (3-0); Mohammedan Sporting at Mumbai (2-0); and Dempo SC 3-2 at Goa on April 12. The mill men lost to Mohammedan Sporting 1-2 in the lung opener at New Delhi and subsequently to East Bengal (1-2), Sporting Clube de Goa (0-2), Mahindra United (2-3), and Churchill Brothers (3-4). The drawn ties were against Churchill Brothers and Dempo at Ludhiana (both 0-0), and against Air-India at Mumbai which also ended goal-less. Air-India, who finished seventh last season, are trailing JCT by one point. The Mumbai outfit have so far won four matches and have lost three. Their victories have come against East Bengal (1-0), HAL (3-1, 1-0), and Churchill Brothers (2-0). The three defeats were against Mohun Bagan (1-2), Mahindra United (0-1) and Dempo (1-2). The drawn ties were against Sporting Clube (home and away), JCT, Mohammedan Sporting and East Bengal (away). A heartening feature of JCT’s campaign, of late, has been the devastating form of diminutive striker Sunil Chhetri and Nigerian recruit Edeh Chidi. The two have scored 15 of JCT’s 20 goals with Chhetri alone accounting for nine. In fact most of JCT’s victories have been shaped by this duo although valuable contributions have also come in from Rennedy Singh, Baldeep Singh, Adebayo Adewusi and Sukhwinder Singh. The only cause for worry for JCT is the likely absence of wing back Daljit Singh, who suffered a groin injury and according to assistant coach Parminder Singh, appears to be a doubtful starter. Air-India, with Bimal Ghosh as coach, have been mainly relying on the attacking skills of the veteran Samson Singh and foreign recruit Bashiru Abbas. Samson Singh, formerly of Salgaocar SC, has lent strength to the forward line and has been instrumental in shaping Air-India’s victories against East Bengal and Churchill Brothers besides snatching a valuable point each from Mohammed Sporting, East Bengal and Sporting Clube in the drawn ties. Incidentally it was Samson’s match winner against East Bengal at Kolkata on January 7 this year which gave Air-India a flying start in the NFL. In all, Samson Singh has scored six of Air-India’s 15 goals, with others like Narendra Meetei, Bashiru Abbas, Noel Fernandes, Vinay Kuruvilla, Paresh Shivalkar, and Zaheer Abbas also making valuable contributions. But Samson’s absence tomorrow may cost Air-India dear and Bashiru Abbas may have to shoulder added responsibilty. On the whole, JCT enjoy an edge over the rivals given their string of impressive performances recently. The kick-off is at 4.30 pm
|
|
Blatter promises millions to AIFF
New Delhi, April 17 Blatter said football was a “school of life” and not just an entertainment, and he was happy to report that the political leadership in India, including President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Dr Man Mohan Singh, were taking a keen interest in the development of the game in the country. Addressing the Special Congress, to mark the 70th Anniversary of the All-India Football Federation (AIFF) at Vigyan Bhawan here this evening, Blatter, who is “one year older to the AIFF”, said his mission was to help India realise its huge soccer potential, as the country was a “sleeping soccer giant”, and guide it to the right path. He said it was indeed an extraordinary feeling to realise that India has been united through football. Blatter advised the AIFF to track the problem areas on its own and then work on to rectify them. “Nobody else, but you can identify your problems”, he noted, adding that if AIFF was willing to work hard, the FIFA would provide technical assistance, coaches, administrators and sports medicine experts to help India put things in order. He said if a country like Kazakhstan could qualify for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup, India could do it too. “You can do it 100 times more. Where there is a will, there is a way”, he averred. Blatter promised millions of dollars to the AIFF for getting the game to a different level, which will be supplemented by an offer of a million dollar annually from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The FIFA chief had a busy day today, as after making a visit to the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi at Raj Ghat, which he termed was an emotional and humbling experience, Blatter formally inaugurated “Football House”, AIFF’s headquarters at Dwarka, which was funded by FIFA through its Goal Project, before making a longish address at the packed Vigyan Bhawan, comprising some of the eminent players of the past like Chuni Goswami, Inder Singh, Sukhwinder Singh and a hosts of others. Making his opening address at the Special Congress, AIFF president Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi announced that 100 Centres of Excellence at school-level would be set up across the country for talent hunt. He said the centres would be divided into the five zones of the country, promising to regain the glorious past of Indian soccer as it existed in the 1950s and 60s when an outstanding coach like Rahim Sahib of Hyderabad coached the Indian team to the semi-final of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and the Asian Games gold in Delhi (1951) and Jakarta (1962). AFC president Mohamed bin Hammam said it’s time Asian nations worked hard to realise their true soccer potential. “We would like to see our football neck and neck with
European soccer, but it will not happen unless the game is fully developed in the region, particularly in India”, he added.
|
|
India blank Jordan
Christchurch, April 17 The Indian team dropped just one game in their three matches today as they outplayed their pool ‘B’ rivals to register their second win following their victory over Kazakhstan. Tara started the proceedings for India and stormed past Sahar Al Disi in the first match. The 18-year-old’s 6-0, 6-0 win set the pace for the Indians, who were simply unstoppable after that with Ankita also scoring a 6-0, 6-0 win over Leen Irani in the next match. Sunitha Rao and Shikha Uberoi then made it a second successive 3-0 win for the Indians as they overpowered Al Daisi and Irani 6-1, 6-0 in the doubles competition. Team captain Enrico Piperno, though happy with the performance, said the real competition starts only now as India take on hosts New Zealand tomorrow. “Its a tough one. They are a very strong team and we are anticipating tough matches,” Piperno told PTI. “Luckily it did not rain today so we could practice, unlike the day before the Jordan tie when we could not practice because of the weather,” he added. The captain said the real threat was from Chinese Taipei, against whom the Indians will play their final pool ‘B’ encounter. If they win the zonal qualifiers, India will be elevated to the World Group 2 play off in July. — PTI
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
In video (
With the league entering a crucial phase, JCT cannot afford to drop points against the Mumbai outfit and a victory tomorrow will not only elevate them to the fourth spot but also brighten their chances of improving upon their position from the sixth-place finish last year. Air-India, on the other hand, will have to do without the services of prolific scorer Samson Singh, who is injured, and overlapping wing back Noel Fernandes and Hringsolal Thomte, both out with yellow card bookings.