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Oz reign supreme again
Miandad writes
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Gavaskar writes
Muddle in the middle
BCCI clears Ganguly
Narain falters in qualifying
75 marathons at 74
World Jr Tennis
JCT-Mahindra tie on May 2
Chess selection tourney on May 6,7
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Oz reign supreme again
Bridgetown, April 29
On a beautiful batting wicket, Gilchrist calculatedly clattered the fence and terraces, permanent and temporary, with 13 fours and eight sixes. It testified to Australia’s ability to raise their game at will, after the curtailment of overs gave a theoretical advantage to the chasers. Kumar Sangakkara had been rather short of runs in this competition. But entering at first drop, he raced to a run-a-ball fifty, only to pull Brad Hogg down midwicket’s throat. In one over of Glenn McGrath, in particular, he demonstrated his class, with a six to long-on, followed by an inside-out drive past extra cover and a textbook hook to midwicket for fours. As passing showers and fluctuating light conspired against Sri Lanka and eventually invoked the Duckworth-Lewis method, Sanath Jayasuriya battled on. But having scored 63 off 67 balls, he swung impatiently at Michael Clarke to be bowled. Ricky Ponting’s switch to Clarke’s part-time spin not only dried up boundaries but also fetched him two invaluable wickets. Earlier, a glance at the advertisements on the boundary boards clearly reflected it was a party Indian corporates had overwhelmingly sponsored. But the sea of yellow shirts in the packed stands suggested a majority Australian presence, which was confirmed by the loud cheer when Ponting won the toss and elected to bat. Ironically, in one of the sunniest parts of the world, rain intervened as never before in a World Cup final to delay the start by two and three-quarter hours. A grand occasion — enhanced by throbbing music, even hits from Hindi movies, conch shells and drums — was, thus, reduced to a 38-overs-a-side game. After a few watchful overs, Gilchrist embarked on a brutal, calculated assault. Crucially, there was no swing for Chaminda Vaas, whom he, first, flicked for four and then stepped out to loft to long-on for six. This prompted Jayawardene to move wicketkeeper Sangakkara up to the stumps, which restricted the Australian to the crease, but did not restrain his strokeplay. Rather expensively, Dilhara Fernando dropped Gilchrist off his own bowling, when the batsman was 31. The next ball, a full toss, was whipped away for four, the following one driven missile-like to the sightscreen and the succeeding delivery smashed to long-on for a massive six. Muttiah Muralitharan restored some sanity, but at the other end, Tillakaratne Dilshan was despatched for two sixes in one over to the Worrell-Weekes-Walcott Stand by the irrepressible western Australian. He heralded the hundred of the Australian innings with another boundary, this time to long-off, at the expense of Fernando. Even Murali did not escape punishment, as Gilchrist slog-swept the off-spinner for a six to midwicket. Postponement of the second Powerplay to the 21st over made no difference. Lasith Malinga, bowling within himself with the new ball, but with excellent economy, was now off-driven for four by Gilchrist to complete his awesome century. Sangakkara gave him a second life off the very next ball. Indeed, throughout the Australian innings, there were several miscues, but fortune favoured the brave. Eventually, the slingy paceman removed Matthew Hayden, who had struggled to discover his timing, brilliantly caught at extra cover. But the first-wicket partnership had produced a pulverising 172 runs at 7.5 an over. Scoreboard Australia Gilchrist c Silva b Fernando 149 Hayden c Jayawardene b Malinga 38 Ponting run out 37 Symonds not out 23 Watson b Malinga 3 Clarke not out 8 Extras (lb-4, w-16, nb-3) 23 Total (4 wkts, 38 overs) 281 Fall of wickets: 1-172, 2-224, 3-261, 4-266. Bowling: Vaas 8-0-54-0, Malinga 8-1-49-2, Fernando 8-0-74-1, Muralitharan 7-0-44-0, Dilshan 2-0-23-0, Jayasuriya 5-0-33-0. Sri Lanka Tharanga c Gilchrist b Bracken 6 Jayasuriya b Clarke 63 Sangakkara c Ponting b Hogg 54 Jayawardene lbw Watson 19 Silva b Clarke 21 Dilshan run out 14 Arnold c Gilchrist b McGrath 1 Vaas not out 11 Malinga st Gilchrist b Symonds 10 Fernando not out 1 Extras (lb-1, w-14) 15 Total (8 wkts, 36 overs) 215 Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-123, 3-145, 4-156, 5-188, 6-190, 7-194, 8-211. Bowling: Bracken 6-1-34-1, Tait 6-0-42-0, McGrath 7-0-31-1, Watson 7-0-49-1, Hogg 3-0-19-1, Clarke 5-0-33-2, Symonds 2-0-6-1.
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A cut above the rest
The world champions’ attitude towards the sport is similar to that of professionals who are part of a prominent corporate. Every member of the “organisation” that is the Australian team, knows his job and the results his employers want from him. The players have to deliver to hold onto their “jobs”, and more often than not, they do just that. The coach and captain formulate plans and strategies, and the players go out and execute them. In a way, their approach is quite straightforward, and indicates the virtue of keeping things simple. But at the core of this attitude is extraordinary self-belief. The players know that they are competing with each other, even as they go about making mincemeat of their opponents. They also know that the selectors will throw them by the wayside if they don’t deliver. This obvious penchant for performance over reputation is one of the key reasons for Australia’s dominance. While most teams have one or two stars, and others who are supposed to play a supporting role, the Australian team has eleven performing stars every time it takes the field. That does not exactly enhance an opponent’s confidence. Anybody who takes on the Australians knows that the chances of getting a respite of sorts are remote. An Australian player will invariably excel in a tight situation, and he will be complemented by his team-mates. Each member of the side, whether he is a senior player like Matthew Hayden or a youngster like Shaun Tait, believes that he is the best. The Australians are as human as anybody else, but they commit lesser mistakes than the others. Sri Lanka played some wonderful cricket during the course of the competition, but they were outplayed in the summit clash. That can happen in a game of cricket. Mahela Jayawardene, the selectors and the Sri Lankan public ought to take heart from the fact that they have some quality players, all of whom will only get better with time.
— PMG
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Runaway winners
This is a great Australian team, and it has this priceless ability to have a player stand up when it is needed the most. Adam Gilchrist had done little to excite fans and spectators for most of this event, but here in the final, he played an innings of such brutality that try as hard as he did, Mahela Jayawardene couldn’t quite get the slump out of his shoulders while the plunder was going on. Thirteen boundaries and eight sixes in scoring the fastest World Cup final century are the bare statistics of Gilchrist’s batting, but beyond that, the damage he caused to Sri Lanka’s psyche was incalculable. The Lankans would have fancied their chances in a curtailed game, especially as they had the advantage of knowing how many they had to score and at what rate, since the toss had already taken place and they were fielding. What they probably hadn’t accounted for was how Gilchrist would take the game away from them with his blitzkrieg. What his assault did was to completely throw off balance even that most experienced seamer, Chaminda Vaas, who in order to stop the free Gilchrist swing, was forced to bowl fuller down the leg-side and ended up conceding wides and lost his line and length. The Lankans erred by picking Dilhara Fernando, who was acutely conscious of his double warning for running in the danger area in the semis, and so was hardly going to be effective. His extra pace and carelessness with overstepping was also a factor, and of course, with his bulk, he is not the swiftest of movers in the field. The return catch he dropped off Gilchrist when on 31 was the turning point. It is a subcontinental failing of sticking to a winning combination even if there are players in that combination who are short on confidence and form, like Fernando so obviously was. Not that Farveez Maharoof would have been able to stop the carnage being caused by Gilchrist, but he certainly wouldn’t have looked as clueless and forlorn as Fernando looked right from the first ball he bowled. The thing to remember is that even in a game reduced to 38-overs-a-side, Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden took a few overs to get their eye in and a feel of the pace and bounce of the pitch before beginning the attack. Once that started, the earlier quiet overs were made up for as the scoring rate accelerated. Even when Ponting came in to bat, he took his time to settle down. He could do that of course, because at the other end, Gilchrist was making every ball count for more than a run. Apart from Gilly and Andrew Symonds, none of the other Australian batsmen had a scoring rate of a run-a-ball and that was sensible cricket. With Upul Tharanga’s bad form continuing, it was up to the veteran Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara to take the fight to the enemy camp, and they did that with spirit, though the pitch was hardly helping them as it had slowed down so much that deliveries from Shaun Tait, who was consistently clocking over 85 miles an hour, were going just above ankle-height, making it tough to play on the rise. By remaining unbeaten in 29 consecutive matches over three World Cups, the Australians have proved themselves to be true champions.
— PMG
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Bridgetown, April 29 The 37-year-old fast bowler, who made his last international appearance in the final, secured 15 points during the course of the tournament, including three man-of-the-match performances. McGrath’s closest rival for the tournament award was Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene, who secured 11 points, while McGrath’s team-mate, opener Matthew Hayden and New Zealand all-rounder Scot Styris finished on nine points each. The points were allocated by members of the television commentary team at each match with those commentators awarding three points for their choice as the man of the match, second choice getting two points and the third pick receiving one. Those points were then added up to produce the player of the tournament. All matches, including the final, were included in the process. McGrath claimed 26 wickets to emerge as the most successful bowler in a single World Cup. Throughout his career, he picked up 71 World Cup wickets in 39 matches to earn the distinction of being the most successful bowler in the history of the tournament.
Meanwhile, Jayawardene finished as the second leading run-getter with a total of 548, 111 runs behind Matthew Hayden. Hayden, who scored the fastest World Cup century off 66 balls century against South Africa in the first-round match at St Kitts, finished the tournament with 659 runs from 11 games — 14 runs short of Sachin Tendulkar’s record of most runs in a single World Cup of 673. Australia captain Ricky Ponting was the third leading run-getter with 539, while Scott Styris finished fourth with 499 runs from 10 matches. — PTI
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Muddle in the middle
Barbados, April 29 “As head of the match-controlling unit, I own up responsibility,” said Crowe on the confusion in the middle. Bad light forced Sri Lankans into the dressing room at the total of 149 for 3 in 24.5 overs and when they came out, the chasing target had been revised to 269 from 36 overs. The match was once deemed to have ended because of poor light with Sri Lanka on 206 for 7 at the end of the 33rd over. But just about when the stumps had been pulled out and markers dusted from the crease, the umpires informed the two captains that they would have to come and bowl three overs on the reserve day. Australian captain Ricky Ponting said: “I actually thought it was a joke from umpire Aleem Dar when he told us that we would have to come and bowl three overs the next day.” Jayawardene and Ponting, though, agreed to bowl the remaining three overs with spin as it was near darkness. Jayawardene termed it as a “goodwill gesture” from the Australian captain. Ponting said it was something which he had never experienced in his entire career.
— PTI
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BCCI clears Ganguly
New Delhi, April 29 The BCCI went through Ganguly’s endorsement documents and found nothing objectionable, BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla said.
— PTI
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Beijing, April 29 The Delhi golfer, playing smart and tidy golf, totalled 14-under 274 to win by two shots over Australian Adam Blyth (71) and became the first Indian to win on any Tour in 2007. Ghei, who was tied with three others for the overnight lead, had three birdies and no bogeys in his round which fetched him his third Asian Tour title. The 38-year-old Ghei, who waited 11 years between his first two titles, clinched the third one after only eight months. Ghei was never behind in the final round after going into the lead with two birdies on the front nine. He birdied the fifth for the third day in row and then the eighth for the fourth successive day and then added a third birdie on the 13th before parring the rest and sealing his win. “It is an amazing feeling to win again. I have been consistent but was not able to put it together earlier this year,” said Ghei, whose previous best this year had been tied sixth at Johnnie Walker classic. Ghei’s previous wins on the Asian Tour came at the 1995 Gadgil Western Masters and the 2006 Mercuries Masters and this win also ensures his berth in the $5 million HSBC Champions in Shanghai in November. Chopra slips to 56th
Irving (Texas): Daniel Chopra returned a poor two-over 72 to slip to the tied 56th spot after the penultimate round of the EDS Byron Nelson Championships here. The Indian-born Swede, who was tied 30th overnight, has a three-round total of one-over 211 after firing a birdie against a double bogey and a bogey. Chopra was going steady with a string of 11 pars but things went haywire with a bogey on the 12th. He ended up dropping a double-bogey on the next hole before recovering to fire a birdie on the 16th. Meanwhile, England’s Luke Donald endured a
roller coaster round but managed to take a one-shot lead going into the final round.
— PTI
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Narain falters in qualifying
Brands Hatch (UK), April 29 Karthikeyan earlier sizzled in familiar conditions, recording the second quickest time. Team India recorded the fifth fastest time yesterday, after a number of teams opted to use fresh tyres while Karthikeyan conserved his supply for the afternoon’s qualifying session.
— UNI
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75 marathons at 74
New Delhi, April 29 Roy, 74, was the only Indian among the 7,000 runners for the full marathon of 42.2 km distance and completed the race in 5 hours 38 minutes, according to information received here. The weather was very hot with the mercury touching 30° C and the terrain was hilly and made running difficult. Still, Roy ran a well-planned race and in spite of hip and knee pain due to osteo-arthritis. Roy has run the highest number of marathons, 75, as an Indian and also as an Asian. Out of 31 marathons in India, he won 20 marathons in the 45+ years age group and still holds the unbroken Indian record for marathon of 3 hour 10 min in the 55+ years age group made by him in 1987. Out of 44 marathons abroad, Roy was declared winner in his age group on 15 races and he was the first Indian to run marathon after attaining the age of 60 years and of 70 years. Roy’s achievements in marathons are unmatched in India. He ran his first marathon at the age of 52 and still wants to continue to run marathons.
— IANS
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Indian girls finish fourth
New Delhi, April 29 Second seeds India still advance to the World Group finals, to be played in the Czech Republic in August, by virtue of qualifying for the semifinals of the zonal competition in which they had lost to Thailand yesterday. India got a perfect start when Rishika Sunkara won the first singles 6-2, 6-2 against Cynthia Melita Setyawan, but Nova Patel failed to carry the momentum and lost 7-5, 6-1 to Grace Sari Yaisdora in the second singles. Nova, who was 3-0 up in the first set, missed on crucial points to allow Grace a comeback. The scores were level at 5-5 when Nova dropped her serve in the eleventh game and Grace made no mistake in pocketing the subsequent game to claim the set at the DLTA complex. Nova meekly surrendered in the second set. She lost her serves in the first five games that gave Grace a comfortable 5-0 lead. The Indian broke Grace in the sixth game to reduce the margin but the Indonesian broke Nova again to romp home. In the decisive doubles match, the pair of Cynthia and Dwi Rahayu Pitri outplayed the Indian duo of Rishika and Nova 6-2, 7-6. — PTI
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JCT-Mahindra tie on May 2
Chandigarh, April 29 On May 5, JCT will meet HAL SC, Bangalore, in their concluding home tie at Ludhiana’s Guru Nanak Stadium. Both the matches will begin at 4.30 pm.
— TNS
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Chess selection tourney on May 6,7 Patiala, April 29 The entry fee may be deposited at Sai Model School before the commencement of the competition. After selection, top 10 winners would represent Patiala district in the Punjab State ‘B’ Chess Championship 2007 going to be held at Tarn Taran from May 10 to 13, he added.
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In
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Gilchrist’s stunning 104-ball 149 was the highest individual score compiled in a World Cup final. It not only roughed up the Sri Lankan bowlers, but by the time he was caught at midwicket, had all but settled the issue. No matter how hard Sri Lanka tried — and they made a valiant attempt — the target of 282 at over 7.4 runs an over was an unenviable target. 
The
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McGrath’s team-mate Shaun Tait and Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan came into the match jointly placed second at 23 wickets apiece, trailing McGrath by two. But Muralitharan went wicketless, while Tait bagged only one wicket in Australia’s 53-run victory over Sri Lanka.