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Stay away from ICL, BCCI tells players Harbhajan to rejoin Surrey
Sehwag shines
South Africa post 173
75 years of Indian Test cricket Rain threatens Lanka-Bangla Test
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Paes-Damm lose
Jeev rises to tied 16th
Wimbledon’s lost girls
Armaan romps home in style
Belgium stun Argentina
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Stay away from ICL, BCCI tells players
Cuttack, June 24 BCCI has issued a circular to state units, which said a decision to this effect had been taken at the Working Committee meeting in Delhi on June 12. In the same meeting, BCCI also shot down the Essel-group backed ICL, denying them approval. No office bearer or member of any affiliated unit, member of the board, member of any committee or sub-committee of the board should associate in any manner with the individuals or organisations conducting or planning to conduct such tournaments or matches, the circular said. It also debarred member associations, present or former players deriving monetary or other benefits from the board including the welfare schemes from associating themselves in any manner with the organisation and conduct of such unapproved tournaments/matches. Any infringement of the aforesaid decisions should be deemed to be a misconduct in terms of articles of memorandum and rules and regulations of the BCCI, it said. Former captain Kapil Dev and ex-stumper Kiran More have joined the ICL board, while Sandeep Patil was recently roped in as a coach for the rebel league. Though organisers are yet to confirm, the likes of Shane Warne, Brian Lara, Glenn McGrath, Nathan Astle and Chris Cairns are expected to take part in the event. Meanwhile, New Zealand’s retired Test stars Chris Cairns and Nathan Astle have been approached for playing in the ICL, according to media reports. The Dominion Post quoted New Zealand Players' Association chief Heath Mills as saying that the players have been contacted by the organisers of the league, scheduled for October this year after the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa. “I have been aware of the concept for some time through my involvement on the FICA (international players’ association) board,” Mills said. Cairns, who retired from Test cricket in 2004, bid adieu to one day cricket in 2006. Astle, on the hand, gave up international cricket six months before the recent World Cup, citing lack of motivation. The NZPA chief, meanwhile, rubbished speculation that current players like Shane Bond were being lured for the tournament. “Some players here have been contacted but the event concerned is not focused on current players - at this stage they are more interested in players who are recently retired,” he said. But he admitted that even the contracted players could be attracted by the prospects of playing in the league because of the huge money on offer. “...if the event has got legs it wouldn’t surprise me if some current players were interested in participating in it,” he said. The ICL will comprise six teams coached by former cricketers and will be played on a Twenty20 format. The NZPA has already given a thumbs up to the proposed tournament but has admitted that ICC approval was a must before getting current players on board. “The key thing is whether it is sanctioned by the ICC and New Zealand Cricket and I know that is the intention of the organisers but it hasn't got that yet,” Mills said. — PTI
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Harbhajan to rejoin Surrey
london, June 24 The Punjab off-spinner, who was left out of the Indian squad touring Ireland and England, would be joining the club
from July 2. The county side hoped that adding the offie in its fold would lift its sagging fortunes. “Surrey haven’t had the start to the season that we would like, and we feel that a world-class spinner is an important part of improving our performance in the second half of the year,” Surrey cricket manager Alan Butcher said. Harbhajan was excited about rejoining the club. “This is obviously a great opportunity for me, and I can’t wait to get out there and play some great cricket for Surrey,” he was quoted as saying on the club’s website. — UNI
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New Delhi, June 24 After ONGC won the toss and elected to bat first, the opening partnership between captain Rizwan Shamshad and Sehwag yielded 49 runs, with the latter dominating the proceedings by hitting 35 off 23 balls, including four hits to the fence. Thereafter, Rizwan (67), along with Sandeep Sharma (22), Radhey Shyam Gupta(27) and Mahesh Rawat (37), took ONGC to 215 for nine. In reply, Indian Airlines were bowled out for 146.— UNI
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Belfast, June 24 Openers Morne van Wyk cracked a patient half-century while AB de Villiers (40) kept up the scoring rate at the other end after rain had delayed the start by nearly five hours and reduced the contest to a 31 overs per side. For Ireland Alex Cusack enjoyed a dream debut, picking up three wickets for 15 runs in the only four overs that he bowled. Van Wyk, back in the side after four years, played cautiously and took 84-balls for his innings. He hit five boundaries. In contrast de Viliers took just 35 balls for his 40 and stroked six boundaries in the face of some disciplined bowling by Ireland pacers who utilised the conditions well. Stand-in skipper Jacques Kallis scored 46 off 47 balls but was made to toil hard for his runs in the middle overs. Herschelle Gibbs was caught behind just for 2. Both Kallis and Gibbs gave their wickets to Cuscak. Justin Kemp gave a boost to the scoring rate with 18 from 13 balls. Yesterday, India warmed up for the long season ahead with a comprehensive nine-wicket victory against Ireland in the one-off one-dayer here. Chasing a revised target of 171 from 39 overs following a more than 2-1/2 hour rain interruption, the Indians benefited from an unbroken century partnership between former captain Sourav Ganguly and Gautam Gambhir and wrapped up the match with four overs to spare. Ganguly played the guiding role to perfection with an unbeaten 75, while fellow lefty Gambhir went about the hunting task ably with 80 not out. The unbroken stand between the two southpaws was worth 164 runs. Scoreboard
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75 years of Indian Test cricket
New Delhi, June 24 “The 75th anniversary of our Test debut is quite a big occasion for Indian cricket,” says former Indian skipper Bishen Singh Bedi. “I hope the boys are aware of the anniversary and make the England tour a memorable one. But I doubt if many players in the team are even aware of it,” Bedi told IANS. His concern is not misplaced. Even as Team India embarks on the England tour this weekend, not much has changed in terms of the country’s win-loss record since that historic day in 1932. India have so far played 405 Tests but the country’s dismal abroad record remains a cause for worry. Of the 198 Tests India have played abroad, they has won only 28, lost 84 and drawn 86. Overall, it’s been a paltry 90 wins and 131 losses. It was not until February, 1968, that India won their first Test and series on foreign soil. Young captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi marshalled his troops well on the tour of New Zealand, also heralding the arrival of India’s spin wizards Erapalli Prasanna and Bedi. India went to beat New Zealand 3-1 in the four-Test series. Their first Test and series win in England came in 1971 under the captaincy of Ajit Wadekar. “In all these 75 years, there have been two outstanding players, CK Nayudu and Tiger Pataudi. I never saw Nayudu play but heard a lot about him as he is a legend in Indian cricket,” Bedi recalled with a touch of nostalgia. “Tiger’s contribution to Indian cricket can never be forgotten. He never made us feel that we were from Punjab, Bengal or Maharashtra. For him it was always India. Indian cricket has come of age. Now there is loads of money. But money can’t replace talent,” Bedi said. After their admission into Test cricket, India had to wait until February, 1952, for their first win, a victory by an innings and eight runs against England in Chennai. “It is a great achievement on the part of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) which once didn’t have any money at all but is now the richest cricket board in the world,” former India opener Chetan Chauhan said. “One-dayers may bring in the moolah but it’s Test cricket that remains the real thing,” opined the legendary Sunil Gavaskar, who scored only one ODI hundred compared to 34 Test centuries, apart from becoming the world’s first batsman to score more than 10,000 Test runs. “It’s time to reflect on the past and learn the lessons. Young players should strive to perform at the Test level before looking for success in the shorter version of the game. It’s not a good thing that the reality is the opposite,” said Gavaskar, a member of the 1983 World Cup winning squad. — IANS
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Rain threatens Lanka-Bangla Test Colombo, June 24 Sudden heavy showers, common for the region at this time of the year, have hampered preparations for the first Test at the Sinhalese Sports Club and more rain has been forecast for the entire week. While the teams have often had to practise indoors over the last few days, Bangladesh’s three-day tour match against Sri Lanka A saw just 140 overs bowled due to bad weather. “There is little one can do about the weather but we should get enough play because the ground dries up very fast,” said Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene. — AFP
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Dortmund, June 24 Azerbaijani GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, the third seed in the tournament, started off on a rousing note by emerging as the lone winner in the first round after defeating local hope GM Arkadij Naiditsch. Games between Norwegian teenager Magnus Carlsen and Peter Leko of Hungary, and Israel’s Boris Gelfand versus Russian Evgeny Alekseev ended in draws. Anand played the Slav defence against Kramnik and got a satisfactory position from the opening. He then slowly proceeded to neutralise the slight advantage held by his opponent by trading pieces and getting rid of Kramnik’s bishop pair. Kramnik tried to make most of the chances he had, but Anand blocked every attempt to infiltrate into his position. Finally, a queen endgame with equal pawns was reached and a draw was agreed to after 35 moves. Sasikiran draws
Yalta (Ukraine): Indian Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran drew his sixth- round encounter against Grandmaster Lenier Dominguez of Cuba in an exciting game of the Aerosvit International Grandmasters Chess Tournament. It was a day of draws as all six games ended with the players splitting points. The tournament standings thus remain unchanged with Ukrainian Grandmaster Sergei Karjakin leading the field, closely followed by his compatriot Vassily Ivanchuk. Despite the lack of decisive encounters, the day provided a lot of excitement as most of the games were sharp and hard-fought games. Sasikiran played the Sicilian Najdorf and made his aggressive intentions clear from the opening phase itself. He threw caution to the winds and started a kingside attack by advancing his “g” pawn. Dominguez countered effectively by attacking on the queenside and seemed to be getting the upper hand. Sasikiran responded with a series of unsound but highly enterprising sacrifices. He started off by sacrificing his rook and then gave up a knight. Finally, he even offered his queen. Dominguez could have won the game with precise tactical play but the Cuban Grandmaster missed his way in the mind- boggling complications. When the dust had settled, Dominguez retained winning chances in an exchange-up endgame but Sasikiran defended resourcefully to gain a draw. Top seed Peter Svidler strived hard to dislodge Sergei Karjakin from his leading position but had to remain content with a draw. Ivanchuk retained the second spot with solid play against Loek Van Wely. He obtained easy equality with the black pieces and decided to play it safe by agreeing to a draw on the 17th move. Sergei Rublevsky played the Scotch opening and gave up a couple of pawns to grab the initiative in the endgame. Onischuk reacted dynamically and returned material to obtain freedom for his pieces. As the pieces came off the board, the position got simplified and a draw was agreed to after 36 moves. In another thrilling encounter, Romanian Grandmaster Liviu Deiter Nisipeanu held Alexei Shirov to a draw with the Scandinavian defence, while the game between Pavel Eljanov and Dmitry Jakovenko ended in a draw by perpetual check. — PTI
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New Delhi, June 24 The defending champions squandered a one-set lead, while the South African-Dutch pair of Coetzee and Wassen saved two match points in the one-hour, 27-minute battle to bag their second ATP title of Making an impressive start, the Indo-Czech pair clinched the opener with ease, hitting 29 winners and sending down nine aces. However, Coetzee and Wassen came back to pocket the second set in the tie-breaker after Paes and Damm failed to convert any of the three break points that came their way. The top seeds could not recover after that as Coetzee and Wassen held their nerve to seal the match and the title in the super tie-breaker. The Indo-Czech pair was solid with its serve combining for 20 aces and never faced a break in the match but was undone by its poor break-point conversion. The defending champions managed to break the third seeds only once out of the eight chances they got. Paes and Damm have so far won two of the three ATP finals this year. They had earlier won titles in Rotterdam and ATP Masters Series (Indian Wells). They were runners-up in Doha and ATP Masters Series (Miami). — PTI
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Munich, June 24 Jeev needed a mere 25 putts in the round, which was one of only 12 sub-par efforts in the day. He took his three-round total to five-under 211, to be six shots off the lead. Compatriots Jyoti Randhawa (73) and Shiv Kapur (73) also moved upwards. Randhawa climbed to tied 21st, up two places from his overnight position, and Kapur was tied 39th, an improvement from the 52nd spot. The lead was shared by Swede Niclas Fasth (73) and Portugal’s Jose-Filipe Lima (70) at 11-under 205, followed by a threesome, Frenchman Thomas Levet (72), England’s Nick Dougherty (71) and 47-year-old South African David Frost (70) at nine-under 207. Jeev started with a birdie on the first hole. He was pulled back by a bogey on the next but compensated with another birdie on the fourth. Another bogey on the eighth meant he turned in even-par. His back nine saw him gain shots on the 11th, 13th and 17th but a bogey on the 16th left him at 70. Randhawa, meanwhile, was done in by a disappointing start and an even more disappointing finish but in between he had three birdies, which took his total to four-under 210. He stumbled to bogey the third and fifth holes, but birdies on the sixth, eighth and 10th brought him under-par. He was cruising and in line for a top-10 position before a double bogey on the 14th derailed him. He got a birdie on the 15th, but again dropped a shot on the 17th. Kapur, who just about squeezed into the weekend rounds, has made good ground. From 61st he rose to 52nd and a card of 73 in the third round saw him at the 39th place. He had three birdies and four bogeys in his round, taking his total to one-under 215. Atwal slips
Cromwell (USA): Arjun Atwal slipped to the tied 55th spot after returning a topsy-turvy card of four-over 74 in the penultimate round of the Travellers Championship on the US Tour. Atwal stumbled to five bogeys, a double bogey against three birdies to total three-over 213 after three rounds. Atwal, who made his first cut in last six starts on the US Tour, opened with a birdie but a double bogey on the fourth followed by a bogey on the fifth left him struggling. Two more bogeys on the 10th and 11th saw him fall to four-over. He had two more each of birdies and bogeys to end at 74 on a rain-delayed day. Asian Tour player Kevin Na of Korea continued his rise after a 69 to be tied 12th place. His 206 was seven strokes behind leader Jay Williamson. David Toms, who has five top-10 finishes this year, shares the lead at eight-under with Williamson (66). Williamson shot a second straight 66 while playing only his second PGA Tour event of the year. Playing on a sponsor’s exemption, Williamson had missed the cut in his only other Tour appearance this year at the Honda Classic in March. — PTI
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Gurbaaz all set for European Tour
Chandigarh, June 23 Only three other boys of the region have made it into the European Tour. They are Jeev Milkha Singh, Amandeep Johl and Harmeet Kahlon. Gurbaaz (24) is in Chandigarh these days honing his technique under the watchful eyes of grade-A teaching professional Jesse Grewal. The natural striker of the ball has become mentally stronger and is a calmer player. All these qualities will help him make the grade for the European Tour. And according to Jesse, Gurbaaz may become the youngest player from the region to enter the circuit. Gurbaaz missed an early bus into the European tour because of a hip muscle pull he sustained during a football match in January this year. This resulted in a below par performance in the Pakistan Open event. But now he has got back his strike and has improved on his short game to set his sights on the under-60 placement. The important Asian Tour events lined up include the Malaysian Open, the China Open, the Taiwan Open, the Singapore Open, the Hong Kong Open and of course the Indian Open. So Gurbaaz is all set for the European Tour — any sponsors for this Chandigarh boy.
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London, June 24 Dokic, who betrayed her tender years by girlishly shooing the pigeons off centre court, reached the last eight that year as the world’s 129th best player. But 17-year-old Lucic went one better. As the world No. 134, Lucic beat Monica Seles on her way to the semifinal, where she took a set off Steffi Graf before losing. Both young, blonde and a photographer’s dream, it should have been the beginning of a double success story. Instead, the eventual fate of the two girls should act as a cautionary tale to the legion of wide-eyed teenagers who’ll feature at this year’s Wimbledon. Lucic’s story is the most depressing. The Croatian has claimed that her father physically abused her causing her and her mother and four siblings to stage a night-time escape to the USA. She has played just two WTA tournaments this year and none in the previous two as she wages a legal battle against both her father and agents, who she claims have tried to sabotage her career. Her father as well as the IMG group say all charges against them are baseless. “I have always said that the way we escaped in the middle of the night was like a James Bond movie,” said Lucic. Before she fled to Florida, the German-born Lucic had the world at her feet. She had been the youngest ever Grand Slam champion when, at just 15, she partnered Hingis to the women’s doubles title at the Australian Open. Lucic says that a shortage of money and sponsors have thwarted her comeback potential, although she proved in a rare appearance at Indian Wells in March that she can still compete when she won her first-round match. If nothing else, it gave the former world number 32 a ranking again, albeit a humble 450. “It’s extremely difficult and frustrating,” said Lucic. “But all I ask for is a chance. If I get that I can have success and play tennis again.” Dokic, once the world number four, is now in the twilight zone at 647. Her career didn’t implode with the same intensity as Lucic’s - she followed up her run to the 1999 Wimbledon quarterfinals with a semifinal place the following year. But her life has been just as colourful with an estrangement from father Damir, claims of kidnapping and a dizzying switch between Serbian and Australian colours. Most recently, Dokic was living in Zagreb with boyfriend Tin Bikic and being coached by Borna Bikic. Damir, now a fruit-grower in Belgrade, angered his daughter in November last year when he claimed that the Bikic brothers had kidnapped her. “Of course I haven’t been kidnapped, that’s complete nonsense,” said Dokic. “I don’t speak to my father at all any more.” Like Lucic, Dokic says she is seeking sponsors to help her resurrect a career which once promised so much. However, the appeal for financial help may fall on deaf ears once potential backers consult her WTA career statistics and see she is listed as having a home in Monte Carlo and banked over three million dollars in prize money. — AFP
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New Delhi, June 24 Starting from the pole position, courtesy of a splendid win in the sprint race yesterday, Armaan led his rivals from start to finish to round off a perfect weekend for Team Tara DTM. The 18-year-old from Chennai opened up a four-second lead by lap three and he had extended it to 15 seconds by lap 10. His final margin of victory over second-placed James Winslow was a whopping 31 seconds. Armaan’s timings throughout the 20-lap race over the 5.6 km circuit was a treat to watch. The JK Tyre-sponsored driver was continuously in the 2 min 01 sec lap times for the entire 20 laps, something most crucial for a quality driver. — PTI
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