The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Murali, Jayasuriya bring Lanka back in game Kandy, December 3 Spinner Muttiah Muralitharan broke Shane Warne’s all-time Test wickets record on the third day of the first Test to pave the way for Sri Lanka to edge into control against England today. Muralitharan broke the record in the morning as he claimed 6 for 55 in 35 overs and England were bowled out for 281, securing a valuable 93 first-innings lead in a low-scoring game. Veteran opener Sanath Jayasuriya, who later announced that the match would be his final Test, was out for 78 as the hosts reached 167 for two at stumps to lead by 74 with two days remaining. Jayasuriya, who hit ten fours and a six, added 113 for the first wicket with fellow left-hander Michael Vandort, who scored 49 from 143 deliveries before being caught in the slips just before bad light stopped play. Kumar Sangakkara finished unbeaten on 30 with skipper Mahela Jayawardene yet to get off the mark. Tied with Warne overnight, Muralitharan was forced to wait until his second spell of the morning before moving off the 708-wicket mark, bowling Paul Collingwood with a delivery from around the wicket that nipped straight on. England had resumed on 186 for six, trailing Sri Lanka’s first innings total by two runs, but repelled Muralitharan and the other bowlers during the first hour as Collingwood (45) and Ryan Sidebottom (31) added 57 runs for the seventh wicket. Lasith Malinga picked up the wicket of Sidebottom before Murali brought the house down. The landmark wicket of Collingwood was greeted with loud firecrackers all around Asgiriya International Stadium and wild celebrations from a full house that included hundreds of children from his old school, his family and closest friends. “The England batsmen played well in the morning and it was getting a bit tough for me as this pitch is getting slower and slower,” Muralitharan told reporters. “The delivery to Collingwood was supposed to be an off break but it went straight on so I guess was lucky.” The 35-year-old added to his tally in the next over with the wicket of Matthew Hoggard (15), who was brilliantly stumped down the leg-side by wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene. Muralitharan finished the innings with figures of 6-55, the 61st time he has taken five wickets in an innings. — Reuters Scoreboard Sri Lanka (1st innings) 188 England (1st innings) Cook lbw Vaas 0 Vaughan c Silva b Murali 37 Bell c Silva b Murali 83 Pietersen lbw b Murali 31 Collingwood b Murali 45 Bopara c P. Jayawardene b Murali 8 Prior c Mubarak b Fernando 0 Sidebottom c P Jayawardene b Malinga 31 Hoggard st P Jayawardene b Murali 15 Anderson lbw Vaas 9 Panesar not out 2 Extras: (b6, lb1, nb11, w2) 20 Total (all out, 93.1 overs) 281 Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-107, 3-132, 4-170, 5-182, 6-185, 7-242, 8-266, 9-272. Bowling: Vaas 18.1-3-76-2, Malinga 20-2-86-1, Muralitharan 35-14-55-6, Jayasuriya 2-0-9-0, Fernando 18-2-48-1. Sri Lanka (2nd innings) Vandort c Bell b Anderson 49 Jayasuriya lbw Hoggard 78 Sangakkara not out 30 Jayawardene not out 0 Extras (b-5, lb-5) 10 Total (2 wkts, 52 overs) 167 Fall of wickets: 1-113, 2-166 Bowling: Hoggard 11-3-28-1, Sidebottom 11-2-22-0, Panesar 18-1-53-0, Anderson 9-2-50-1, Bopara 3-1-4-0.
	Maddy sends Lions crashing to defeat Gopal Sharma Tribune News Service Panchkula, December 3 Darren Maddy, one presumed, was an experienced opening batsman. How effective a bowler he can be became known this evening when he halted Chandigarh Lions in their tracks as the latter were inching towards a possible victory. With his gentle medium pace, Maddy wrecked his rivals with a four-wicket burst, sending them crashing to a 43-run defeat in the ICL Twenty20 match at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium here yesterday. Batting first, Kolkata Tigers posted 124 on the board before being bowled out in 19.3 overs. Chasing this seemingly modest total, the Lions were never in the race and Maddy hastened the slide as they were bowled out for a meagre 81 runs in 17.3 overs. So complete was Tigers bowlers’ domination that only two players, Imran and TP Singh, could reach the double-figure mark. While Farhat scored a 19-ball 23, Singh contributed 15 runs. Hamish Marshall and Chris Cairns were the next highest scorers with 7 runs apiece. The Lions could not get off to a good start losing opener Hamish Marshall to Nantie Hayward in his second over. The former South Africa fast bowler troubled batsmen with the good pace that he generated. The twin dismissals of Sarabjit Singh and Chetan Sharma off successive deliveries, both run out by an athletic Jhunjunwala, jolted the Lions. With three wickets down for 39 on the board, the target suddenly started looking tough. A lot depended on Farhat, who was looking good, having played a couple of powerful hits to the fence and sending Eklak Ahmid over the ropes for a towering six. Maddy got into the act at this stage, sending back Farhat. He next befuddled Cairns. Getting the ball to move out, when the batsman was expecting it to come in, the bowler induced an outside edge off his blade for a jubilant Craig McMillan to take a comfortable catch at point. With half the side back in the pavilion, a lot depended on hard-hitting South African all-rounder Andrew Hall. When he was soon done in by an agile Upul Chandana, who hit the stumps well, the Lions’ innings was in complete disarray. The Lions lost the rest of their wickets in a jiffy to be bowled out for a measly 81. Reetinder Sodhi was left stranded on 5. Earlier, the Tigers innings was not based on a substantial individual total from any one batsman. Skipper McMillan with 20 was the highest scorer from the side, while Maddy, Klusener, Jhunjhunwala, Chandana and Diwakar all contributed their bits as Tigers put 124 on the board. Seamer Daryl Tuffey gave virtually nothing for the two crucial scalps that he took, while off -spinner Rajesh Sharma bowled a nagging line and length, claiming three wickets. Scoreboard Kolkata Tigers Maddy c Sodhi b Rajesh 19 Klusener b Hall 12 Jhunjhunwala b Tuffey 11 SG Das c Hall b Tuffey 0 McMillan run out 20 Dasgupta c Rajesh b Singh 11 S Singh run out 10 Chandana c Singh b Rajesh 12 Diwakar c Imran Farhat b Rajesh 10 Ahmid run out 2 Hayward not out 2 Extras (b 1, lb 12, w 2): 15 Total (all out; 19.3 overs): 124 Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-42, 3-42, 4-50, 5-8, 6-83, 7-108, 8-110, 9-115. Bowling: Hall 4-0-37-1, Tuffey 4-1-8-2 , Uniyal 4-0-16-0, Sodhi 1-0-5-0, Rajesh 3.3-0-23-3, TP Singh 3-0-22-1. Chandigarh Lions Marshall lbw b Hayward 7 Farhat c Eklak Ahmid b Maddy 23 Sarabjit run out 8 Chetan run out 0 TP Singh st Dasgupta b Klusener 15 Cairns c McMillan b Maddy 7 Hall run out 1 Sodhi not out 5 Uniyal c Dasgupta b Ahmid 2 Tuffey st Dasgupta b Maddy 6 Rajesh lbw b Maddy 0 Extras (lb 2, nb 5): 7 Total (all out; 17.3 overs): 81 Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-38 , 3-39, 4-51, 5-63, 6-65, 7-70, 8-73 , 9-81. Bowling: Hayward 3-0-14-1, Ahmid 4-0-26-1, Diwakar 2-0-7-0 Klusener 4-0-18-1, Maddy 2.3-0-6-4 , Chandana 2-0-8-0.
	No praise too high for Misbah-ul Haq Zaheer Abbas writes If Pakistan have to name one among their team as the hero of this second Test match at Kolkata against old rivals India, it would have to be Misbah-ul Haq. He is almost 34, has played in just eight Test matches before this one and in his first six Tests tallied just 166 runs. Today, he aggregates just under 500 runs — a phenomenal little run. Full credit to him therefore and to Mohammad Sami for the way they battled their way past the follow-on target of 417 to eventually bring Pakistan to within 160 runs of India’s total. More than the runs they — and of course Kamran Akmal yesterday — have scored, it is the time they have consumed in this match that now makes it a virtual certainty that the game will end in a draw. Given the size of India’s first innings total and the fact that the Indians won every session for the first two and a half days, I think it has been a praiseworthy performance from the Pakistan lower order. These three in particular showed their senior colleagues higher up in the batting order that whatever the situation, if you stay at the wicket, the runs will come as even the best of bowling attacks can make its share of mistakes. It has also proved that there are no devils in this Eden Gardens pitch. In all some 1,100 runs have been scored so far for the fall of 17 wickets, which is an amazing figure. Of course, the wicket is taking some turn, but there is no spiteful bite and bounce in it and Misbah in particular demonstrated that if you are determined to put a price on your wicket, nothing is impossible. Misbah may have his own style of playing and has had his share of bad luck in the past. His two crucial dismissals against India in the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa and his comical run-out in Delhi are good examples, but he looks to have put that behind and has emerged as Pakistan's premier batsman, especially in this Test. Also he is batting at a crucial position. This in effect means that he has been able to hold the innings together at times of great pressure. More than anything else, these guys will have inspired their team-mates. The rest of the Pakistan team will have taken great heart from these three performances and if they manage to learn from these lessons and apply themselves, there is no reason why they cannot escape with a draw. Even that will be a great achievement, considering the circumstances. Anil Kumble missed the odd trick here and there and his fielders also let him down with at least four catches being put down in different parts of the field. But overall, great credit is due to the Pakistan lower middle order for the way they coped with a very difficult situation. They are now just one day's play away from keeping this series alive — it is hard to imagine any other result than a draw or if Pakistan bat very poorly, an Indian win — but it means that the series should be alive when it moves to Bangalore in a few days time. For sure, if Pakistan bat like the way these three boys did at this Eden Test, it will be a draw, and a chance to still save the series in the third Test. That alone is a huge plus for Pakistan, who have been put under tremendous pressure right from the start of this match. And that includes the toss. — Newswatch Asia
	Jayasuriya quits Test cricket Kandy, December 3 Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka’s highest scorer in ODIs and Tests, has decided to retire from Test cricket, officials said today. The 38-year-old left-hander will end his Test career after the ongoing first Test against England at the Asgiriya stadium here, but will continue to play limited-overs cricket. Jayasuriya marked his last Test innings with a spectacular 78 earlier today, an innings that included six boundaries in one over from James Anderson. It was Jayasuriya’s highest Test score in 16 Tests since the last of his 14 centuries in Karachi in 2005 and was reportedly under pressure from selectors to call it a day or be axed. Jayasuriya’ 6,973 runs from 110 Tests and 12,207 runs in 403 one-dayers are the highest by any Sri Lankan batsman. He has also claimed 97 Test and 307 one-day wickets with his left-arm spin.— AFP
	Murali happy to break record in backyard Kandy, December 3 Sleepy little Naren, huddled in his mother Madhi’s arms, simply gazed at his father — spin legend Muthaiah Muralitharan — as the 35-year-old broke the world record for the highest number of Test wickets here today. Muralitharan reached the milestone of 709 wickets in his 116th Test, 29 less than previous record-holder Shane Warne, with an average of 21.70 compared to the Australian’s 25.41. Muralitharan was glad that the record-breaking wicket had come on home soil, rather than on the recent tour to Australia. “It is the right timing,” he said. “It’s my home town, my parents are here, my wife is here, all the relatives are here and all my school friends.” “Everybody is here. It’s a bigger moment than if I had taken it in Australia. It’s the right time I think. It’s not easy to take six wickets in an innings,” the off-spinner said. The stadium came alive when the record was broken with Muralitharan being given a thunderous applause from his school and college friends who had converged at the Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy, about 115 kms from Colombo. On asked about the delivery that got him the 709th wicket of Paul Collingwood, Muralitharan said “It was not meant that way because I tried to spin the ball and it didn’t spin.”— PTI Warne congratulates Murali Sydney: Shane Warne congratulated Muttiah Muralitharan for reclaiming his world record for most Test wickets, declaring today that the mark will stand forever. “I congratulate Murali for breaking the record I had,” Warne said. “Murali has said he wanted to take 1,000 Test wickets and he is every chance of getting there.” — AFP
	Vengsarkar free to quit: BCCI New Delhi, December 3 The stand-off between Dilip Vengsarkar and BCCI reached a point of no return with the board today making it clear that the chief selector was free to quit and ruling out amending the guidelines relating to the selectors’ conduct. Further hardening its stand, the BCCI today said Vengsarkar was free to quit and there was no question of amending guidelines which prevent selectors from writing columns and interacting with the media. “These guidelines cannot be withdrawn. So Vengsarkar is free to take his decision,” BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla told mediapersons. Vengsarkar has reportedly told the board that he would wait till tomorrow and if the guidelines are not withdrawn he would put in his papers. Shukla, however, dismissed the possibility of any such backtracking by the board, saying, "Now the official position is that those guidelines have been framed keeping in mind the constitutional provisions and well-established rules and regulations and they cannot be withdrawn." Vengsarkar too stuck to his guns and sources close to him told PTI that the Mumbaikar "will not compromise with his integrity". "He is no longer willing to work in these circumstances unless the board reconsiders its stance. He has made up his mind to put in his papers," the source said. — PTI
	Gambhir, Chopra score tons against HP Dharamsala, December 3 Delhi roared back into the match against Himachal Pradesh, riding on centuries by Akash Chopra (146 not out) and stylish southpaw Gautam Gambhir (103), and scored 335 for three on the third day of the four-day Ranji Trophy group A tie here today. After being bundled out for a paltry 75 in the first innings and being made to follow on, the pressure was on the visitors to show their mettle. Resuming at their overnight score at 38 for no loss, the star studded Delhi team started on a wrong note losing the wicket of Virender Sehwag in the seventh over of their second essay. He scored 32, adding just one run to his overnight score. What followed after that was some gritty perfomances from two players —Akash Chopra and Gautam Gambhir. Both played with gutso and notched up their respective centuries. Gambhir scored 103 which was studded with 11 boundaries. He was caught by wicketkeeper Maninder Bisla of the bowling off left-arm seamer Ashok Thakur. Incidentally, Thakur was also the main bowler for Himachal, picking up three wickets. Chopra, who remained unbeaten on 146, on the other hand, continued nonchalantly even after the departure of Gambhir. He struck 15 hits to the fence and one over it in his knock. He was joined by Mithun Manhas, after left handed batsmen Shikhar Dhawan (13) was castled by Thakur when the score was at 310 in the 81st over. Delhi ended the day at 335 for the loss of three wickets with one more day to go in the match. For Himachal, Thakur was also the main bowler, picking up three wickets. Taking his wickets tally to seven wickets, four from the first innnings. Scoreboard: Himachal Pradesh (1st innings) 343 Delhi (1st innings) 75 Delhi (2nd innings): G Gambhir c Bisla b Thakur 103, V Sehwag c Bisla b Thakur 32, A Chopra not out 146, S Dhawan b Thakur 13, M Manhas not out 10 Extras (lb-7, w-4, nb-12) 31 Total (3 wkts, 94 overs) 335 Fall of wickets: 1-53, 2-283, 3-310 Bowling: AK Thakur 17-2-72-3, VS Malik 21-7-61-0, V Bhatia 21-1-83-0, Barun Sharma 3-0-13-0, Sarandeep Singh 31-4-89-0, Sandeep Sharma 1-0-2-0. — UNI
	Haryana beat J&K by innings Jammu, December 3 Visitors Haryana outplayed Jammu and Kashmir by an innings and 123 runs after the hosts were put in to bat after the follow-on was enforced on the third day of the four-day Ranji Trophy Plate Group B match being played here. As Jammu and Kashmir were out bundled out for 174 runs in their first innings against Haryana’s mammoth first innings total of 404 runs, the hosts weremade to follow on by the visitors. With still having more than one and half day left, the hosts succumbed before the Haryana seamers for 107 runs in 46.5 overs in their second innings. Middle order batsmen Arshad Bhatt (16), Majid Dar (14) and tail ender Samiullah Begh (22) were the top scorers for Jammu and Kashmir as no other batsmen crossed double figures and the hosts lost by a huge margin of an innings and 123 runs. Haryana pacer Gaurav Vashisht was on fire and pocketed a five-wicket haul followed by Jitender Billa with three and Amit Mishra with two wickets. Earlier, resuming on their overnight score, J&K today stumbled at 174 runs in 51.2 overs in their first innings in the post-lunch session. Irshad Hassan made a quick 51 runs off 72 deliveries with nine boundaries. Scoreboard Haryana (1st innings) 404 J&K (1st innings) 174 J&K (2nd innings) Parminder Singh lbw Gaurav Vashisht 5, Ian Dev Singh b Jitender Billa 2, Arshad Bhat lbw Gaurav Vashisht 16, Kavaljeet Singh c Sachin Rana b Jitender Billa 7, Majid Dar b Gaurav Vashisht 14, Irshad Hassan c Gaurav Vashisht b Amit Mishra, Pradeep Bali c Sunny Singh b Amit Mishra 2, Vijay Sharma c Sandeep Singh b Jitender Billa 3, Samiullah Beigh b Gaurav Vashisht 22, Sameer Khajuria not out 0, Sameer Ali c Sumit Sharma b Gaurav Vashisht 6. Extras (nb-9, lb-3, w-5, b-13) 30 Total (all out, 46.5 overs) 107 Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-34, 3-41, 4-47, 5-51, 6-57, 7-60, 8-100, 9-101, 10-107. Bowling: Joginder Sharma 4-1-6-0, Jitender Billa 10-1-26-3, Amit Mishra 19-5-35-2, Gaurav Vashisht 12.5-4-22-5, Sunny Singh 1-0-2-0. — UNI
	IOA to start National Club Games Prabhjot Singh Tribune News Service Chandigarh, December 3 To revive competitive sports at the grassroots level, the Indian Olympic Association has decided to introduce National Club Games, to be held every two years. “The idea is to take sports to the people, in rural and remote areas, encouraging them to form their own clubs,” said Randhir Singh, secretary-general, Indian Olympic Association, adding that this decision was taken after a series of deliberations and discussions held at various levels. To begin with, competitions will be organized at village, block, district, state, zonal and national levels in volleyball, football, handball, basketball, kabaddi, hockey and kho-kho. There will be championships for men and women in all seven disciplines. Of late, the base of sports in the country had been shrinking primarily because of vanishing culture of clubs. “Many villages in Punjab, Haryana and other states have youth and sports clubs who have been organising rural festivals and tournaments. If these clubs are encouraged and given some support, they can raise regular teams in these seven disciplines,” Randhir Singh said. “The concept of National Club Games will not only broaden the base of these team sports but also take tournaments to villages, which will indirectly encourage youngsters to take part in competitions for instant recognition of their skills,” he added. The IOA has decided to divide the country into six zones — North-East, East, South, West, Central and North. North Zone will include Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab. The village champion team will compete in the block club championship, while the latter’s winner will participate in the district club championship. Winners of district-level events would vie with each other in the state championship, whose winners will compete with state champions of their zone. Ultimately, the six zonal championship winners in each discipline would fight it out for the national title in the National Club Games.
	Namdharis lift Shastri hockey title Our Sports Reporter New Delhi, December 3 Namdhari XI pulled themselves back from the brink to outwit Punjab National Bank (PNB) 4-3 via the tie-breaker and annex the title in the 18th Lal Bahadur Shastri Hockey Tournament at the Shivaji Stadium here this evening. Both teams strove hard to get the better of each other, though by the half time, no goal was scored. Two minutes into the second half, PNB forged ahead when Jitender Siroha displayed fine opportunism to find the mark. The Bankmen held on to the lead till eight minutes before the final hooter when Namdharis pulled off the equaliser through Harvinder Singh. With the scores tied one-all at the end of regulation time, tie-breaker was enforced, in which the Namdharis proved better marksmen. While Anmolak Singh converted the first penalty and Sher Singh and Gurvinder made no mistake with the last two hits, only Yudhveer Singh and Jitender Saroha succeeded for PNB, converting the first and last penalty hits.