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Sridhar stuns Olympic champ Hidayat
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Second spinner could have done the job Rain threatens to play spoilsport
Pathan’s all-round show in vain
Boucher in the soup over Kallis remarks
I am blaming ICC not Murali, says Bedi
Anand starts with three draws
Roddick sails past Verdasco
Spurs slump to 2nd successive defeat
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Sridhar stuns Olympic champ Hidayat
Kuala Lumpur, August 15 Sridhar, world number 41, beat eighth seeded Hidayat 21-14 24-26 22-20. In women singles, Saina Nehwal also scored an upset win over 13th seed Juliane Schenk 21-16 21-10 and the win pits her against fourth seed Pi Hongyan of France in the pre-quarters. Sridhar, a former national champion, next takes on the winner of the match between 13th seed Muhd Hafiz B Hashim of Malaysia and Scott Evans of Ireland.In a thrilling contest lasting an hour and 13 minutes, Sridhar capitalised on a shaky start made by the Indonesian star, who left the arena without speaking to the media. The win was all the more special for Sridhar, whose movement was hampered by cramps in his left leg during the final game. Elated after the upset win, the Indian shuttler said he could have won the match in straight games but for the strong wind inside the hall. "I knew I had a chance but you never think you can beat someone like him. "There was very strong wind in the hall. While it worked to my advantage in the first game, in which I was attacking most of the time, it affected my rhythm in the second game which I lost very closely," Sridhar told PTI. Sridhar, who lost to Hidayat on two previous occasions, was down 15-19 in the final game as the world number 10 Indonesian clawed back into the match. However, Sridhar rallied from there to cause one of the biggest upsets in the tournament. "I don't know what happened but after losing the second game, I became a bit defensive. But that was just a minor thing and I was back to attacking after that. I had cramps but the situation was manageable," he added. Describing it as a huge win, Sridhar, however, asserted that he was not getting carried away. However, there was disappointment in men's doubles with Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas going down 13-21 14-21 to 14th seeds Hendra A Gunawan and Joko Riyadi of Indonesia in the second round. — PTI
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In-form Zaheer targets Dravid
London/New Delhi, August 15 Zaheer, who took 18 wickets to emerge as the man-of-the-series, said in London "as far as I am concerned, I have given my everything to this series. I don't think I was tired or anything... not really". Zaheer's disclosure is bound to strengthen the criticism that Dravid had not enforced the follow-on despite a 319-run lead over England because he wanted to play absolutely safe, an argument that flies in the face of any cricketing logic. After choosing to bat a second time, India got a fright when reduced to 11-3 before Dravid consumed 96 balls to make a laborious 12 runs and Ganguly hit an excellent 57 to put the team beyond danger. A stubborn Dravid has stood by his decision, arguing that he knew his bowlers well and that they were tired. This has now been dismissed by Zaheer in an interview to 'Times Now'. In fact, Zaheer had bowled 22 overs in England's first innings, taking 3-32, R P Singh had bowled 18 overs, Sreesanth 21 and Kumble 29.1 - a total of 103.1 overs. In comparison, England's four main bowlers Ryan Sidebottom (32 overs), James Anderson (40), Chris Tremlett (40) and Monty Panesar (45) bowled a total of 170 overs. Zaheer's comments prompted former India wicketkeeper and former selection committee chairman Kiran More to say that it showed there was a lack of communication in the Indian dressing room. "I am very surprised that Zaheer made this statement after the captain took a stand in a press conference. I think there is a lack of communication in the dressing room," More said. Legendary off-spinner Erapalli Prasanna was also critical of Dravid's decision, saying the excitement of the series win had been greatly diluted by not wrapping it up 2-0. "The argument that the bowlers were tired also does not hold water. They are playing a Test match and the bowlers are expected to bowl long spells. It's not a one-day match, bowling 60 overs in a Test match is quite common. Another distinguished former India player Gundappa Viswanath wrote in a newspaper: "I was very disappointed when the Indians chose not to enforce it (follow-on)... I don't buy this theory about the bowlers being tired, after all they are professional players. Former Indian captain Ravi Shastri also said that Dravid should have enforced the follow-on. — PTI
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Second spinner could have done the job
There is a lot of debate on whether Rahul Dravid did the right thing in not enforcing the follow-on in the third Test against England but I feel it was the correct decision under the circumstances. Winning a series in England is always a difficult preposition and Dravid must have kept India's past record in mind while taking the decision. It is not often that India win a series in England and to have played it safe was quite understandable. A 2-0 margin would have been definitely better and I think Indian team could have won the last Test at the Oval with one extra bowler - spinner Ramesh Powar. If with seven batsmen they could make 664, I feel with one less they could have still made 600! Powar would have utilised the turn on the pitch. Sachin Tendulkar was turning the ball a mile with his off breaks, and Kevin Pietersen too was able to turn the ball. India certainly missed a second spinner. But to win against England in England is a difficult proposition and that is the reason I rate this Test series victory by the Indian team quite high on my card. The difficulty of winning in England is because their players are capable of exploiting the conditions better than the visitors. The victory is doubly sweet because Test cricket is the genuine form of cricket and its a game of thinkers. You have to think before every ball and from session to session with constantly changing conditions - weatherwise and pitchwise. Obviously, there will be a comparison between this 1-0 series victory and ours in 1971 by the same margin. Ours was obtained basically through spin bowling while this has come about due to swing and seam bowling though Anil (Kumble) also performed admirably. Compared to this team, which I feel needs to pep up in the fielding department, ours was a better fielding outfit. We hardly dropped a catch! Rahul Dravid's team, however, is much stronger in batting with the Fab Four - the captain, Sachin (Tendulkar), Sourav (Ganguly) and (VVS) Laxman - forming the fulcrum who guided youngsters (Dinesh) Kaarthick and the rest. In one area this team was blessed - in the opening partnerships between Kaarthick and Wasim Jaffer - as compared to ours in 1971. Harking back to our triumph in 1971 I must say that when we set out to the West Indies we were considered the weakest team and even when we won people said it was a flash in the pan, and the real test awaited us in England. The then Test series win over England was also remarkable in that almost every team member contributed to it, unlike in the West Indies when Sunil (Gavaskar) and Dilip (Sardesai) played lead roles. The present victory, in the middle part of the English summer as compared to ours in the most dry part, too can be attributed to the team playing as one unit with almost every member contributing to it. They showed tremendous team spirit and single-mindedness. The weather gods were kind to us in the build-up to the '71 series. All our practice matches against the various counties were unaffected by weather. It helped us get acclimatised. We also played very positively, even in the first Test at Lord's when we strove hard for victory even when the chips were down. Chandra bowled exceptionally well when we won at the Oval in the final Test. And there was the close-in brilliance on the field of Eknath Solkar. I remember an anecdote about Ekki. England wicket keeper Alan Knott used to mark his guard by lifting the bail and using it like Shivnarine Chanderpaul does now. Ekki had noticed it and when Knott came to bat in the second innings, he found the bails missing. Ekki, after seeing Knott's discomfiture as most cricketer are superstitious, took them off his pocket and placed the bails on the stumps and Knotty marked his guard. But he was out second ball, caught brilliantly by Solkar off Venkat. Knotty was certainly disturbed by Ekki's prank.And this was a very crucial wicket. Another incident comes to mind when I recall Chandra's match-winning spell. I saw Derek Underwood play three balls from him comfortably and decided to re-introduce Bishen Bedi into the attack and he dismissed the batsman immediately. John Price came out to bat and after seeing him play Bedi comfortably I decided to bring back Chandra into the attack and he trapped Price leg before. These are just two instances where everything clicked. Talking about the present, this team needs to improve its fielding and catching. But I am happy to see it being openly aggressive and not averse to giving back to the rivals. We used to do it discreetly but present day players adopt the in-your-face style opposition even if its all captured by the TV cameras. You can't take it lying down, can you? The victory was very important especially for the five seniors who are unlikely to be around when India visits England next. With the current hectic schedule one cannot visualise them being around five years later. They should be preserved and not used in Twenty20 events and against minor opposition like Zimbabwe which are ideal to field youngsters with an eye on the future. The seniors need to be used against stronger teams like Australia, Pakistan, South Africa and England. — PTI
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Rain threatens to play spoilsport
Glasgow, August 15 In contrast, Scotland will look forward to the game as a good learning curve as they test themselves against a fancied opponent in India. However, the one-off tie would be at the mercy of the rain gods with the weathermen predicting rains and the hosts are keeping their fingers crossed. Just before the series against England, India redeemed themselves in the shorter version of the game after the horrors of the World Cup when they defeated South Africa to win the trophy in Ireland. And Rahul Dravid will be looking to keep the spirit going. On their part, Scotland are definitely short of both class and experience at this level. Of the seven ODIs they have played against fancied teams like Australia (2), Pakistan (2), West Indies (2) and South Africa (1), they are yet to record a victory. On a more positive note, however, they have beaten Ireland - who did remarkably well in the World Cup - this season to win their first-ever match against their traditional rivals in four attempts. For India, it will be interesting to see how good and fit, Munaf Patel looks after being overlooked for the Test series against England. Also looking to prove a point will be young guns Robin Uthappa, Rohit Sharma, Piyush Chawla and Gautam Gambhir. Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh had a great series in Belfast and they will be keen to continue the good work along with Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Ajit Agarkar was also one of the success in that series and on the evidence of the way Ishant Sharma went about his business in England, India would have been better served keeping faith in the Mumbai pacer. The hosts have done well to summon all their top stars, who were busy doing their duty in the English County. Scotland’s captain Ryan Watson will be delighted to see his trusted colleagues in Navdeep Poonia, Gavin Hamilton, John Blain and Dewald Nel join forces so that they can give a good account of themselves in the one-off tie. Of course the weather hasn’t been kind to cricket - India’s one-off game against Pakistan last month also got washed out - and the organisers will only be hoping for some diving intervention to have a full fifty
over game. Teams: India: Rahul Dravid (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Kaarthick, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ramesh Powar, Piyush Chawla, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Rudra Pratap Singh, Munaf Patel. Scotland: Ryan Watson (captain), John Blain, Gordon Drummond, Gavin Hamilton, Majid Haq, Paul Hoffmann, Neil McCallum, Navdeep
Poonia, Dewald Nel, Colin Smith, Fraser Watts, Craig Wright. — PTI
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Pathan’s all-round show in vain
New Delhi, August 15 Nuwan Kulasekara (4/10) and his pace colleague Chanaka Welegedara (3/23) cut a swathe to skittle out India for a paltry 102 in 36.2 overs and Sri Lanka A needed 30.2 overs to reach 106 for six wickets for a comprehensive victory. In what was a spineless capitulation by the Indian batting order, Irfan starred with a 79-ball 44 and then returned to claim two wickets only to see the effort go in vain. Sri Lankan A captain Malinda Warnapura stood vindicated after his decision to insert the opponents and Praveen Kumar’s dismissal for a duck in the very second delivery was just an inkling of things to come. The Indians found them in complete morass at 30 for seven and it could have been a huge embarrassment for the side, but for Irfan Pathan’s gritty knock. Apart from Irfan, the only other Indian batsman to manage a double digit score was Parthiv Patel (12). Chasing a comfortable target, the Sri Lankans began on a cautious note before Irfan Pathan drew the first blood by trapping Perera (12) that triggered another spectacular batting collapse and Sri Lanka were reeling at 40 for six. Gayan Wijekoon (26 not out) and Kaushal Lokuarachchi (37 not out) then joined hands and the duo not only arrested the slide but also guided their team to victory. Irfan Pathan ended with a figure of 10-2-35-2, while Pankaj Singh (2/35) also scalped a couple of Lankan wickets.
— PTI
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Boucher in the soup over Kallis remarks
Durban, August 15 Cricket South Africa said in a statement that Boucher had breached its rules and code of conduct. General Manager of Cricket Operations Brian Basson said Boucher's actions were detrimental to the game of cricket, particularly South African cricket. In his interview to a Johannesburg newspaper, Boucher supported Kallis, who resigned as vice-captain of the national side, after being dropped from the Twenty20 team. Kallis had also said he would reconsider his future as part of the South African cricket set-up. Boucher had alleged that the decision was prompted by a motive to marginalise Kallis as he was a far better one-day player than he was given credit for. "He's the best all-rounder we've ever had and he's saved more (limited overs) games than anyone realises - and he is a far better one-day player than he is given credit for. "It is either those who have an issue with him, and have a chip on their shoulders, or those who have ulterior motives," he said. Boucher did not elaborate on what he thought the motives might be, amid speculation that Kallis was left out to make way for more players of colour. According to CSA, Boucher would have to attend a hearing on Friday on five counts of breaching the body's rules and code of conduct. It announced that Boucher would be charged under clauses relating to "unbecoming or detrimental conduct", making comments detrimental to the game, to a particular tournament or match, and critical of the selection of a team. Boucher also rubbished recent allegations about excessive drinking in the team and the existence of a senior players' coterie. "In my off-season I have been doing some building on my house and reading about my being an alcoholic," he said. "I see pictures of myself and Herschelle (Gibbs) sitting at a pool-side bar and the accompanying article talks about how drinking is out of hand. It's all ridiculous." "Who do we want running things, the senior players or the junior players?" he asked. “It's a good sign if the guys are getting together to discuss things - five heads are better than one'." Boucher has been picked in the Twenty20 world championship squad but is not too enthusiastic about the tournament, to be hosted by South Africa next month. "First prize for those of us who love cricket is to be Test world champions. Second prize is to be 50-over world champions. Twenty20 only comes after those, really," he said. — PTI
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I am blaming ICC not Murali, says Bedi
New Delhi, August 15 ''I am blaming the ICC not Muralitharan. On what basis has ICC cleared the action,'' Bedi told UNI on phone. The 60-year-old recently compared Muralitharan's bowling action to that of a ''shot putter'', following which Murali is reported to have filed a defamation suit against the outspoken former Indian spinnner. Murali's bowling action was cleared by the ICC after a biomechanical analysis, concluding that his action creates only an 'optical illusion of throwing'. ICC even issued a new guideline allowing for extensions or hyperextensions of up to 15 degrees by the bowlers. This resulted in legalising Murali's 'Doosra', which was considered to be bowled with the most controversial action.
— UNI
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Anand starts with three draws
Mainz (Germany), August 15 Anand, who has never played before in the Chess960 variant in which position of the pieces is randomly changed at the start of the game, survived a few anxious moments before drawing with Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan in the first game of the day. Thereafter, Anand faced Etienne Bacrot of France for a similar result and finally salvaged a difficult position against defending champion Levon Aronian of Armenia. After the end of the third round, Aronian emerged as the sole leader on 2.5 points after blanking both Kasimdzhanov and Bacrot. Kasimdzhanov defeated Bacrot to keep himself on 1.5 points along with Anand, while Bacrot is now firmly in the cellar on just a half point. The return games of the prelims are still left and top two players from here will play a match amongst themselves to decide the winner. In Chess960, the opening theory is still in its infancy and without a doubt, even the strongest chess players make mistakes early. Anand, though had no such problems in his first official Chess 960 game, found himself blundering a pawn and landing in a worse rook endgame against Kasimdzhanov. In the final game of the day against Aronian too, it was a similar situation for Anand as he lost a pawn and later found some ingenious defence to salvage a half point. Kasimdzhanov was simply aghast at not being able to beat the Indian after a promising position. While the pundits attributed this to Kasimdzhanov running behind on time and having just a minute when the winning position came, the Uzbek did not agree entirely. Harikrishna, Peter share first place Grandmaster Pentala Harikrishna drew against CS Balogh in the final 10th round game to score six points from 10 outings to share the top honours with Peter, who also finished with 6 points after 10 rounds at the 5th Gyorgy Marx Memorial Rapid Championship, which concluded today in Paks, Hungary. Harikrishna will now play two rapid tournament in Mainz Chess Classic, where he won the Chess960 Junior World Rapid Champions title last year. — Agencies
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Federer in no rush to hire coach
Cincinnati, August 14 Australian Roche helped Federer to win six of his 11 Grand Slam titles, but the Swiss decided to go it alone two weeks before the French Open. Since then, he has been doing things his own way and said he had not decided what to do next, adding he was not even sure he wanted a new coach. “That’s what I’m asking myself at the moment - what do I want?” he told reporters in Cincinnati yesterday. “Do I want a guy running around, picking up balls, do I want someone to give me advice, or do I want someone travelling with me 11 months of the year? — Reuters
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Roddick sails past Verdasco
Cincinnati (Ohio), August 15 Third seed Roddick, given a bye into the second round, booked the first spot in the third round as he unleashed 13 aces to swamp Fernando Verdasco of Spain 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 yesterday. Murray continued to struggle as he recovers from a wrist injury, losing 6-1, 6-2 to unseeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, who needed a mere 48 minutes to send the Scotsman to a lopsided loss for a second straight week. Roddick improved to 8-2 over Verdasco and left the American at 25-5 at this US Midwest tournament, which he won in 2003 and 2006. Kuznetsova wins
Toronto: Russian third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova made a triumphant return in her first match since Wimbledon, defeating Italy’s Roberta Vinci 6-2, 7-6 (9/7) at the $1.34 million WTA tournament. Kuznetsova, the 2003 US Open champion, has not won a WTA title or advanced past the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam event this season, but she reached the finals at Indian Wells, Berlin and Rome.
— AFP |
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Rui Costa brace gives Benfica victory
London, August 15 Benfica, which won Europe's most prestigious competition in 1961 and '62, beat FC Copenhagen 2-1, while Lazio had two men sent off and drew 1-1 with Dinamo Bucharest in Rome. Rangers beat visiting Red Star Belgrade 1-0 through a 90th-minute goal, while Valencia overwhelmed Sweden's Elfsborg 3-0. The winners over two matches will advance to the August 30 draw for the lucrative group stage, where they will be joined by Europe's top teams such as AC Milan, Manchester United, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. Rui Costa scored Benfica's winner, his second of the night in the 86th minute to give his side a crucial lead heading into the second match of the two-leg meeting on August 29. Costa put the Portuguese team ahead in the 25th minute, running at the defence and unleashing a powerful low drive past goalkeeper Jesper Christiansen's outstretched right hand. But Benfica paid for its clumsy defending 10 minutes later when Atina Hutchinson poked the ball into the corner from close range. Benfica coach Fernando Santos took off injured central defender Luisao before halftime and sharpened his attack by handing Freddy Adu his European debut. With time running out, Santos brought on two the strikers but it was midfield veteran Rui Costa who struck from outside the area to seal the win. Lazio, which is trying to return to the group phase for the first time since the 2003-04 season, fell behind in the 22nd minute when Ionel Danciulescu headed a long cross past 43-year-old goalkeeper Marco Ballotta and into the top corner of his net. Ballotta has claimed Lazio's starting job while newly signed Argentine keeper Juan Pablo Carrizo attains EU citizenship. Angelo Peruzzi retired after last season. Lazio was playing a man down when Dinamo scored, not having replaced defender Sanchez Cribari, who was stuck in the face while challenging for a high ball three minutes earlier. Lazio bombarded Dinamo's goal in the first half, but could not solve goalkeeper Bogdan Lobont, who even blocked a penalty kick by Tommaso Rocchi in the 38th minute. Massimo Mutarelli equalised for Lazio with a header from the centre of the area in the 54th minute, but Lazio finished with nine men when Valon Behrami was shown a direct red card for a hard sliding tackle in the 73rd, and Mutarelli picked up a second yellow in the 86th. Lazio is the only Italian club in qualifying. Series A champion Inter Milan and second-place AS Roma qualified directly for the group phase. AC Milan, which finished fourth in last season's Series A enters as the defending champion. Several fans were injured in violent clashes outside the stadium in Rome before the match, according to local reports. At Valencia's Mestalla stadium, goals from Vicente Rodriguez, David Silva and Fernando Morientes comfortably paced the Spanish past Elfsborg. Valencia dominated possession from the start and despite Elfsborg goalkeeper Johan Wilan thwarting chances by David Villa and Emiliano Moretti in the first 15 minutes, his save of Villa's shot in the seventh minute was wasted when Rodriguez converted the rebound.
— AP
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Spurs slump to 2nd successive defeat
London, August 15 Their 3-1 loss to Everton at White Hart Lane yesterday followed Saturday's 1-0 reverse at promoted Sunderland, leaving Martin Jol's expensively-assembled side propping up the table albeit after just two games of the campaign. ''There are still a lot of chapters to go this season but to have zero points from the first two matches is disappointing,'' Jol told reporters after Everton's second win of the season. ''The reality is if you look at the scoreboard and you concede three goals in the first half it's almost impossible against a team like Everton,'' he added. Tottenham, who welcome second division playoff winners Derby County on Saturday, are desperate to get off the mark after media pundits almost unanimously predicted they could claim a Champions League qualifying place this term. Spurs, perennial under-achievers since the early 1980s, finished fifth in the last two seasons after Jol finally provided stability and consistency at the club but big things were expected of his promising team this season. The Dutchman can at least point to a long list of injured defenders including captain Ledley King, new signings Gareth Bale and Younes Kaboul, who limped off after just 18 minutes today, and Michael Dawson, who should return on Saturday.— Reuters
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