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Nielsen backs beleaguered Ponting
Waingankar rips England apart |
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Punjab’s Sunny Sohal who scored a century against
Rajasthan. A Tribune photo: Vicky Gharu
India’s Pak tour in jeopardy
Dagshai karatekas excel in state meet
Hamirpur gears up for women’s games
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Nielsen backs beleaguered Ponting
Melbourne, November 11 Two days after Ponting used part-time slow bowlers on the penultimate day of the fourth and final match of the lost Test series against India, Nielsen emphasised that the Australian skipper had many other things than the slow over-rate problem to bother about. "Ricky had to take a number of things into consideration and having the prospect of a suspension for slow over rate hanging over his head was only part of it," Nielsen wrote in his blog for Cricket Australia's website. "It's all well and good to now say that he should have kept bowling the quicks at any cost but the question I ask is what sort of leadership is that as a captain of Australia? Is it all right to break the rules as long as you win without worrying about the consequences?" he said. Ponting has been in the firing line since he used part-timers instead of pacers to avoid slow over-rate charge which would have resulted in his suspension, besides it also led to Australia's humiliating 172-run defeat in the fourth Tests, causing a series defeat. Nielsen sought to explain Ponting's strategy, saying the captain had employed his most successful bowler, offspinner Jason Krejza, and the plan was to let Krejza attack while tying down the runs at the other end. "Unfortunately, it's not like our fast bowlers had taken wickets on call throughout the series," Nielsen said. "When Jason is bowling, and his figures suggest he is giving up four, five, six runs an over at different times, it's really hard to keep the game from getting away when you're giving up runs from both ends.
Let's encourage and support him: Warne
Spin legend Shane Warne has urged the Australian public not to vilify Ricky Ponting but admitted he too was surprised by some of the skipper's decision during the 0-2 Test series defeat to India.
"His tactics surprised me -- and everyone else -- because he is naturally an attacker. The reason he is under pressure is it looked like he put himself in front of the team and this just isn't Punter. "Having played with him for a long time, he was one of the guys that put the team first — always. If it meant throwing his wicket away for quick runs, he would do that. And there have been previous captains who would not. "I just think he got it wrong this time and I'm sure he will be a better captain for the experience. Let's not hang him. Let's encourage him and support him” the leg-spin great wrote in his column.
A pretty ordinary captain, says Thomson
Ricky Ponting may be considered a premier batsman in contemporary cricket but as a skipper he is pretty ordinary, feels Australian bowling great Jeff Thomson.
Thomson said he was never convinced of Ponting's leadership qualities and the resounding 2-0 series defeat against India only vindicates his view. "I always thought he was an ordinary captain and this proves it," said Thomson who formed a lethal new ball partnership with Denni Lillee in the 1970s. "His captaincy calculator isn't that brilliant, is it? Don't get me wrong, he's a great batsman but an ordinary captain," the former tearaway pacer told 'Herald Sun'. The sluggish over-rate in the Nagpur Test could have earned Ponting a one Test ban but the Australian captain used part-time bowlers and got away with a fine of 20 per cent match fees. But the decision to keep strike bowlers out of action and operating with the part-timers dashed whatever hopes Australia had of winning the Test and levelling the series and Ponting continues to draw flak for putting himself ahead of team. His predecessor Steve Waugh said only the captain should not be blamed for slow over-rates but felt Ponting did make a mistake in Nagpur. "I am sure Ricky would regret the decision," he told the same daily. "Winning the Test match is what mattered. You have just spent six weeks in the subcontinent. You just don't take your foot off the gas," he added. Waugh felt too many drink breaks were slowing down the game and the authorities should look into the issue. —
PTI
Sydney: The humiliating defeat at the hands of India has drawn strong words from Ricky Ponting for his teammates and the Australian captain warned his players that no one can take his place in the team for granted.
Ponting stressed his team is capable enough to bounce back and win all the six home Tests this summer. ''We have to play at a higher level than we did through the India tour, there's no doubt about that, and there's no excuses and there's no reason why we can't,'' Ponting told mediapersons at the airport after the Australian team arrived from India. He further dismissed any suggestions that the defeat will affect his captaincy and said he will continue to be a ruthless captain. ''I will continue to be a ruthless captain and a ruthless player and I expect all my other teammates are in exactly the same boat. And if they're not now, having lost a Test series in India 2-0, we have to look around for some other guys, he warned. ''I've got total confidence that we can bounce back and that we can win every Test we play in Australia this year,'' he said. Ponting also rejected that the defeat has raised question on Australia's numero uno position in world cricket. —
UNI |
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Waingankar rips England apart
Mumbai, November 11 Chasing a modest 223 to win, England skittled out for a paltry 98 with none of their batsmen showing any resistance against a second string MCA bowling attack especially Kshemal Waingankar, who picked up five wickets to make life miserable for the visitors. England suffered an early blow when Stuart Broad withdrew from the game with a sore knee and with Ryan Sidebottom still out with an Achilles injury, the visitors went into the match with only two fit fast bowlers. The England top-order was guilty of poor shot selection after their bowlers did well to restrict MCA XI to 222 for seven off their 50 overs with Steve Harmison emerging pick of the bowlers with two for 38. England batsmen were never in the race as they lost half their side with just 33 runs on the board and it was an effort from tailenders James Anderson (20) and G P Swann (24 not out) that allowed the visitors to reach close to a score of 100 after they 50 for eight at one stage. Ian Bell (6) got an edge chasing a wide delivery, Kevin Pietersen (0) and Matt Prior (3) both fell leg-before, while former captain Paul Collingwood (8) limply chipped to mid-on. Earlier after asked to bat first, Paul Valthaty (44) and Sushant Marathe (65), who was out to Harmison, laid a good foundation with an 81-run second wicket stand. Shoaib Shaikh played a quick fire 37 from 35 to guide the home team to 222 for eight. England had earlier won its first warm up match quite comfortably and a defeat just before the seven-match ODI series against India, who are on a high after thumping Australia 2-0 yesterday, could arouse a few concerns in the visiting camp. Scoreboard MCA XI: Waghela c Swann b Anderson 4 Valthaty c Patel b Swann 44 Marathe c Prior b Harmison 65 Khanvilkar c & b Patel 0 Bagade c Flintoff b Patel 25 Mota lbw b Collingwood 0 Shaikh c Collingwood b Harmison 37 Salunkhe not out 19 S Shaikh not out 14 Extras (lb 5, w 8, nb 1) 14 Total ( for 7 wickets, 50 overs) 222 FoW: 1-9, 2-90, 3-94, 4-137, 5-138, 6-166, 7-201. Bowling: Anderson 8-2-35-1, Harmison 10-1-38-2, Flintoff 7-0-21-0, Swann 8-0-32-1, Patel 9-0-50-2, Pietersen 4-0-19-0, Collingwood 4-0-22-1. England: Bell c S Shaikh b Waingankar 6 Prior lbw b Verma 3 Pietersen b Waingankar 0 Collingwood c R Shaikh b Verma 8 Patel c Khanvilkar b Waingankar 13 Bopara b Waingankar 9 Flintoff S Shaikh b R Shaikh 5 Wright b Waingankar 1 Swann not out 24 Harmison c Valthaty b R Shaikh 4 Anderson c S Shaikh b R Shaikh 20 Extras (b 1, w 4) 5 Total (all out, 25 overs) 98 FoW: 1-7, 2-10, 3-10, 4-29, 5-33, 6-38, 7-46, 8-55, 9-64, 10-98. Bowling: Verma 6-1-12-2, Waingankar 8-1-37-5, R Shaikh 7-0-35-3, Salvi 4-0-13-0.
— UNI |
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Ranji Round-Up
Chandigarh, November 11 After Haryana piled up a mountain (500 runs in 138.4 overs for nine wickets), Rajasthan batting just caved in and the visitors were tottering at 84 for 6 wickets at draw of stumps today. Wicketkeeper batsman Nitin Saini and Sunny Singh cracked centuries. Sumeet Sharma further bolstered the innings notching up 82, while off-spinner Abir Lavasa also joined the party scoring 51 as the hosts put 500 on the board before declaring the innings. Jharkhand batsmen came a cropper and were in a precarious situation at close. Right arm seamer Sachin Rana jolted the visitors claiming three wickets to hasten the Jharkhand collapse. Brief Score: Haryana (1st innings): 500 for 9 decl (Saini 125, Sunny Singh 127; Kuldeep Sharma 3 for 74, SS Rao 4 for 108). Jharkhand (1st innings): 84 for 6 (S Tiwary 27, A Hashmi 17; Sachin Rana 3 for 23, Dhruv Singh 1 for 9).
Punjab see Sunny
day
Mohali: Sunny Sohal once again came to Punjab’s rescue as his knock of a 106 runs helped Punjab reach a total of 262 in the first innings of the Ranji Trophy elite division match here today. In reply Rajasthan were reeling with the prospect of an innings defeat looming over them as their second innings score read 56 for the loss of six wickets.
Earlier, resuming from their overnight score of 115 for 2, Sohal and Uday Kaul made a cautious start. The partnership was broken when left-arm spinner Gajendra Singh picked up Kaul’s wicket with the score reading 171. From there on the Rajasthan bowlers struck at regular intervals to restrict the hosts’ score to
262. Rajasthan’s reply started in the worst possible fashion as the both openers were back in the hut without opening their respective accounts. Even captain Venugopal Rao went without troubling the scorers. Punjab bowlers Gagandeep and Ankur Kakkar picked up two and three wickets, respectively. At stumps Rajasthan were struggling to stay in the match and ended the day at 57 for 6 with Vineet Saxena (36) and Sumit Mathur (6) at the crease. Brief
Score: Rajasthan (1st innings): 133 Punjab (1st innings): 262 (Sohal 106, U Kaul 31; Gajendra Singh 4 for 67, Venugopal Rao 2 for
21) Rajasthan (2nd innings): 57 for 6 ( V Saxena 36, Mathur 6; Gagandeep Singh 2 for 2, A Kakkar 3 for
6).
Kerala face innings defeat
Dharamsala:Kerala were forced to follow on on the second day of Ranji Trophy PLate League Group A match against Himachal at HP Cricket Association stadium of
Dharamsala.
In the early morning, Kerala wrapped up the Himachal innings for 370 runs. The remaining three batsmen of Himachal could add just 48 runs from the overnight score. Mukesh Sharma remained top scorer for Himachal scoring 88 runs. For Kerala T Yohannan took 6 wickets giving way 89 runs. The Kerala batsmen, however, capitulated facing Himachal bowlers as the entire team capitulated at 135. Ashok Thakur emerged the most successful bowler, claiming 5 wickets giving away just 26 runs. In the second innings Kerala were reeling at 26 for two wickets. Brief scores:
Himachal (1st innings): 370 (Sangram Singh 72, Mukesh Sharma 88, Paras Dogra 45, A Mannu 40, Ashok Thakur 33 not out, T Yohannan 6 for
89) Kerala (1st innings): 132 (Sony Cheruvathur 43 not out, P Chandran 17, Ashok Thakur 5 for
26) Kerala (2nd innings): 26 for 2. |
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India’s Pak tour in jeopardy
New Delhi, November 11 It is learnt that the Indian High Commission in Islamabad has sent a report to the External Affairs Ministry, suggesting that the security situation in Pakistan was dangerous. The report is not specific to the tour of the Indian cricket team to the neighbouring country. Official sources, meanwhile, stated that as a matter of convention, an advance inter-ministry team, including representatives of intelligence agencies, visit the country proposed to be visited by the national cricket team. “That process has not be been completed so far…so we can’t at this stage say that the tour is being called off. We will be in a position to say something with certainty only after the inter-ministry team has given its report,” the sources added.
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Hyderabad Heroes beat Bengal Tigers, enter final
Earlier in the evening Chris Harris, won the toss and elected to field. It was a disastrous start for the Royal Bengal Tigers with Sahabuddin striking early, packing back the inform Dasgupta in the second over. A terrible mix- up in the middle found the highest run getter Hamish Marshall short of his ground. McMillan’s wicket in the 5th over had a gloomy look in the Bengal dugout. Klusener was joined by Rohan Gavaskar who got into the resurrection act. The two batsmen scored a record partnership of 145 runs to power Royal Bengal Tiger to 161/4 in their allotted 20 overs. The Hyderabad chase got off to a solid start with Khaleel taking the initiative and powering the score to 28 for no loss at the end of the third over. It was sensible batting from both openers Khaleel and Maher; playing percentage strokes, taking the score to 43 for no loss at the end of the fifth over The last five overs of the match had the match fascinatingly poised at the Hyderabad score 114/4, needing another 48 runs from 30 balls. Stuart Binny however struck two sixes. Binny was playing a brilliant cameo racing off 37 off 21 balls to take the Hyderabad to 147/5 at the penultimate over stage; needing 15 runs off 12 balls. The twists and turns were just not over with Binny getting out for a brilliant 45 of the last ball of the penultimate over; taking the match to the final over with the defending champions needing 6 runs off the last over. In the end it was a Chris Harris’ four of the third ball of the last over that saw Hyderabad scamper home to a 3-wicket victory. Scoreboard Royal Bengal Tigers: H Marshall run out 5 Dasgupta c & b Sahabuddin 1 Klusener not out 78 McMillan c Harris b Razzaq 1 Gavaskar c Reddy b Harris 74 Jhunjhunwala not out 0 Extras (lb 1, w 1): 2 Total (4 wickets; 20 overs): 161 FoWs: 1-6, 2-7, 3-10, 4-155. Bowling: Abdul Razzaq 4-0-16-1, K. Sahabuddin 3-0-13-1, A Absolem 2-0-22-0, N Boje 4-0-38-0, P Reddy 2-0-25-0, C Harris 3-0-24-1, S Binny 2-0-22-0. Hyderabad Heroes: Maher c Chandana b Klusener 14 Khaleel b Klusener 32 Rayudu st Dasgupta b Singh 14 Razzaq st Dasgupta b Chandana 26 Boje lbw b Chandana 11 Binny c Dasgupta b Ahmid 45 Kemp c Adams b Ahmid 8 Harris not out 5 Sahabuddin not out 1 Extras (b 1, w 3, nb 2): 6 Total (7 wickets; 19.3 overs): 162 Fall of wickets: 1-44, 2-48, 3-88, 4-89, 5-115, 6-147, 7-156 Bowling: Andre Adams 3-0-23-0, L Klusener 4-0-38-2, Shibsagar Singh 4-0-25-1, R Gavaskar 2-0-22-0, U Chandana 3.3-0-30-2, Eklak Ahmid 3-0-23-2 — Agencies
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Dagshai karatekas excel in state meet
Kumarhatti, November 11 As many as 11 students of DPS participated in the championship. While Mankaran and Ayush have won gold medals, Harkrishan, Yogesh, Yogesh, Bhavneet, Gurpreet and Ramandeep got silver. T. Sering and Lakshya won bronze medals. Dr. Harjinder Singh Majhail, Director-Principal of DPS, while welcoming the winners, appreciated the role of school coaches in bringing glory for school in sports fields. |
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Hamirpur gears up for women’s games
Hamirpur, November 11 Addressing the meeting Pharka said the sports meet was an important event being organised for the first time not only in Hamirpur but also in the state and all arrangements had to be foolproof. He said elaborate arrangements in cooperation with district administration and people of Hamirpur would have to be worked out in a befitting manner to make the event a grand success. The preparation of other committees formed for several other arrangements of the games were also reviewed in the meeting. Pharka said organisers would have to make arrangements to transport players from Hamirpur to different play grounds for which Himachal Road Transport buses would be deployed. After the meting Pharka, along with other officials, inspected Subhash Chand Bose college ground, NIT and polytechnic play grounds and asked the officers of PWD and IPH departments to prepare the grounds as per requirements of the game.
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Ranji Round-Up
