London, July 24
Team India may heave a huge sigh of relief after escaping to a draw, courtesy weather gods, but their bowling attack was thoroughly exposed in the first cricket Test against England, believes Geoffrey Boycott.

Boycott said if India came tantalisingly close to a defeat in the England-dominated Test match, it was because of a lacklustre pace attack that failed to grab whatever the Lord's pitch had to offer.

"England outplayed India in batting, bowling and fielding, and deserved to win. But the Indian rope trick got India out of jail.

"If the rain hadn't arrived to save them, India would have lost because of their bowling in the first two sessions of the match," Boycott wrote in his column for 'The Daily Telegraph'.

The pace trio of Zaheer Khan, S Sreesanth and RP Singh did not quite impress Boycott.

"Their seam bowling lacked direction, commitment and intensity and allowed England to reach 197 for one by tea. You cannot give anyone that sort of start in any sport. Fancy giving Seb Coe 50 metres start in an 800m race and then try catching him!"

"You have to be ready from the first ball. When their bowlers got it together, India took eight wickets for 46 runs, but by that time the damage was done," Boycott said.

In contrast, the English pace attack looked formidable in the Test, he said.

"...the three reserve seamers bowled out of their skin. They bowled as if every ball was important, and got stuck into India's batsmen from the word go. Their intensity and aggression blew India's middle order away.

"Two of the best players in the world with the best techniques, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, were made to look ordinary."

The cricketer-turned-commentator, however, was happy that the Lord's Test, with enough twists and turns over five days, petered into yet another drab, dull draw.

"Who says Test match cricket isn't exciting? So often you hear people say that one-day cricket is fun, full of wickets and runs and Test cricket is tedious. But this Test match had everything," he said.

"...it had a fantastic pitch that allowed a fair contest between bat and ball. If you batted really well you could make runs; if you bowled well you could get wickets.

"If all Test matches were played on pitches such as this, people would be satisfied and thrilled with the quality of cricket," Boycott added. — PTI

London, July 24
Admitting that India was "lucky" to be saved by weather in the first Test at Lord's, captain Rahul Dravid has said their much-hyped batting will have to improve if they were to entertain any hopes in the ongoing series against England.

We didn't start very well, they had us on the run throughout the game. At various stages I think our seamers kept us in touch but in the end we were lucky to get away with it.

The hosts were stranded within a handshaking distance of victory as India finished on 282 for 9, still 98 runs short of their target when the weather ruled out play in the final session. After an agonising wait of two hours and 40 minutes, the umpires eventually abandoned the Test as a draw.

"We just got out of jail here. There were some good efforts by the boys, but truly we were saved by the weather," Dravid said.

"England were on the front foot, we didn't start very well, they had us on the run throughout the game. At various stages I think our seamers kept us in touch but in the end we were lucky to get away with it. We need to correct that in the next two games.

"Our batsmen have to get the runs so that our bowlers can get the 20 wickets. We'll look at what we've done in this game, have a couple of days of good nets and see how we do.

“I'd hope that we can keep improving from here. We have to utilise the lessons from this game,” he added. Dravid said India have been known to improve after the first match.

“Traditionally, we improve after the first Test match and I hope that we can improve from here on in, hopefully we have to take the lessons we have learned from this game into the next one."

Dravid said he had no complains about the umpires decision to stop the game in the middle of the over due to poor light.

"I've no complaints at all (as the batting team). I guess as a batting team in those conditions you look at the conditions differently but I've got no complaints at all, I'm sure if I was on the fielding side that I would have seen it differently but I've no complaints at all.

"But I think they should step in immediately because you could lose a couple of wickets on those last balls." Dravid also acknowledged that given the previous experiences he was wary about a possible slip between the cup and the lip.

"I must admit that this thought did cross my mind. In a couple of Test matches, we knew if we'd batted for an extra half an hour, we might have saved the match.

New Delhi, July 24
Former captain Kapil Dev today trained his gun on Sachin Tendulkar after his failure in the first cricket Test against England, saying he has not delivered at crunch situations which will remain a "blot" in his career.

Figures say that Sachin has not been able to perform under pressure. This will remain a blot in his career

"Every time people hope big things from Sachin Tendulkar but often it is only disappointment that we are left with. He is thought to be the backbone of the Indian team but many times he has not stood up to the occasion," he said.

"Figures say that Sachin has not been able to perform under pressure. This will remain a blot in his career," Kapil Dev told 'Aaj Tak'.

"There are many players who play well but they face difficulties against good bowling attack, like Sourav Ganguly faces. These kind of questions will be raised in case of Sachin as well and it will continue to remain a blot in his career till he wins matches for India under difficult circumstances," he said.

When asked whether Tendulkar deserved a place in the side, Kapil said, "Whether it is Sachin or anyone, one who does not perform does not have any place in the team."

Tendulkar was out for 16 in the second innings while India were chasing a stiff total of 380 to win the Test match.

"Sachin has big records to his name but until he wins matches for India in these conditions, people will raise fingers at him," Kapil said.

On Mahendra Singh Dhoni's match-saving knock, Kapil said that the wicketkeeper-batsman was playing "tentatively"

"He has the ability to win matches for India on his own.

He was tentative on the last day of the Test match and was not able to play freely." Kapil also said that the bowling attack needed to be consistent.

London, July 24
England captain Michael Vaughan has lauded his inexperienced bowling attack for bringing the famed Indian batting line-up under pressure and hoped the bowlers would get better as the tour progresses.

“I don’t think our young bowlers allowed them to play the way they’d have liked.”

“We had conditions that helped our bowling but they still put the ball in the right areas. They put India’s experienced batting line-up under a lot of pressure,” Vaughan said.

“I don’t think our young bowlers allowed them to play the way they’d have liked,” he said.

England bowlers restricted Indians to 201 and 282 for nine after putting on 298 and 282 in the rain-curtailed drawn first Test at Lord’s.

“For someone like Chris Tremlett on debut to bowl the way he did and Jimmy Anderson (7 wickets including 5-42 in first innings) coming back into the team to show the skill, control and pace he did was exceptional,” Vaughan said.

“Ryan Sidebottom (match haul of 7 wickets) continued where he left off against the West Indies and we had the attacking threat of Monty Panesar as well — the four of them produced a real performance.

“We have the left-arm option (Sidebottom), the tall man of Tremlett with pace and bounce and Jimmy with the ability to swing it both ways.

“It’s a great option as a captain to have but they still have to put the ball in the right areas and that’s exactly what they did.”

Vaughan, however, said the turn of events in the first Test would have to bearing on the second Test in Nottingham starting later this week.

“Friday is a completely new start and I’m sure they’ll get better as the tour goes on,” he said.

The England captain said his bowlers would work harder in the remaining of the three-Test series.

“When you’re playing agaisnt world-class players they’ll analyse their performance and go away and work very hard.”

Vaughen praised the Lord’s wicket, saying it had something for everyone.

London, July 24
Things at Lord's, the spiritual home of cricket, are not so perfect after all.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India's saviour in the first Test, has said "a problem with the sightscreen" led to his dismissal in the first innings and he was lucky enough to stay unbeaten in the second and see India through.

"There was a problem with the sightscreen at the pavilion end. I could not see the ball on three occasions, and on all those occasions, I played the same shot," Dhoni said.

"In the first innings I got out, but in the second innings it went for four," the wicketkeeper-batsman said after the match.

He said the problem was due to a combination of sightscreen's size and the background colour.

"The sightscreen is small but the background is also maroonish and the ball mixes up with the colour," he said.

"There is also the clothing of the spectators. During the first innings, it was also bright (because of the sun)." Dhoni hit 76 not out which, in captain Rahul Dravid's words, "got India out of jail" against England on Monday. — PTI

Kuala Lumpur, July 24
Iraqi goalkeeper Noor Sabri Abbas is delighted that the team's surprise run to the Asian Cup semi-finals has helped lift the spirits of his beleaguered compatriots back home.

Semifinal line-up: Iraq vs South Korea Saudi Arabia vs Japan

''As you know, the situation is critical in Iraq,'' Abbas told reporters today. ''We have been keeping in touch with friends and relatives and everybody is celebrating the fact that we are in the semi-finals.

''They are watching on TV and getting information on the Internet and we really want to do well for the people of Iraq.

''We have a really good chance to make history for Iraqi football and the whole country is behind us.''

Iraq meet South Korea tomorrow, with the winner going on to face either Saudi Arabia or Japan in Sunday's final.

People in Iraq have to deal with violence and bloodshed on an almost daily basis because of the continuing conflict and coach Jorvan Pereira said he hoped success at the Asian Cup would help unite the country's factions.

''We all know what is happening in Iraq, but we also know that the people in Iraq love football,'' he said.

Amman, July 24
Spearheaded by thrower Vikas Gowda, a 38-member Indian team arrived here to take part in the 17th Asian Athletics Championship starting here from tomorrow.

Three athletes - Navpreet Singh, Krishna Poonia and Harwant Kaur - will join the squad tomorrow.

Though Indians looked confident of winning more medals than the Incheon Asian Championship held in 2005, the fact remains that it is going to be a tough competition for them.

Vikas Gowda will face a tough challenge from two Iranian Ehasan Hadidi and Abbas Samimi, and the Qatar throwers.

Renjith, who became the first Indian to cross 17m in triple jump, will face Ibrahim Babikir Mohaamdein of Qatar and Duk-Hyun-Kim of Korea.

Joseph Abraham, who broke 50s barrier in 400m hurdles in the recently concluded AGP, will further improve in Amman and vying for top spot.

Middle and long distance runners Surender Singh and Sunil Kumar will be tough test against Qatar and Bahrain runners.

In the women's section, the Indian athletes are likely to get more medals with strong 4x400m relay and good chance to qualify for Beijing Olympics.

In 800m and 1500m, Sinimol Paulose will fight for the top slot against China, Japan and Kazakhstan runners.

In the absence of Soman Biswas, J J Shobha and Susmita Singha Roy are likely to give tough fight to Kazakh heptathlete but results will be more likely of Doha Asian Games India's Krishna Poonia and Harwat Kaur will face tough challenge 
from Chinese and the field is open for both the Chinese and Indian athletes in the women discus throw. — UNI

Sangrur, July 24
Punjab ‘A’ and Haryana were declared joint winners of the 4th National Women Netball Championship, which concluded at the Holy Heart School Complex here last evening.

As soon as both the teams entered the ground to play the final match, heavy rain started, which compelled the organisers to declare the Punjab ‘A’ and Haryana teams joint winners.

Earlier, Chandigarh secured third position by defeating Delhi 24-22 goals in a well-contested match.

An industrialist Lajpat gave away the prizes to the winners and announced a grant of Rs 10,000 for the organisers of the championship. 

Montreal (Canada), July 24
Grandmaster P Harikrishna suffered defeat at the hands of Pavel Eljanov of Ukraine and lost his joint lead after the fourth round of Montreal International Chess tournament here.

After making a fine start in the tournament that fetched him two victories and a draw in the first three rounds, the fourth round turned out to be a bad one for Harikrishna, especially as the Indian got into some troubles early in the middle game. As a result of his fine effort, Eljanov came in joint lead along with GM Gata Kamsky of USA and top seed Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine, who scored his second successive victory in the event at the expense of out-of-form Nigel Short.

This was Short's fourth loss in as many games. While all the three leaders have 3.5 points from four rounds, Harikrishna shares the fourth spot.

It was a Slav defence where Harikrishna was surprised by Eljanov's choice of variation and could not strike upon the right plan once the Ukrainian refused an unconditional peace proposal by not repeating the moves in the middle game. — PTI