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South Africa inch closer to semis
Gul rips NZ apart |
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Golden joy for Suranjoy
Gill ready to bail out Hockey India
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South Africa inch closer to semis
The South African steam-roller rumbles on systematically and successfully in the World Twenty20; the latest opponent to be flattened being the West Indies, who had beaten Australia and India en route to Saturday’s match. The West Indians, though, were not humiliated, for they posted 163 for nine in the face of 183 for seven. The best batting display – against the run of play – came from 22-year-old Lendl Simmons, who, batting at first down for the West Indies, produced 77 in 50 balls. But the rest of the Caribbean batting crumbled around him, with Wayne Parnell claiming four wickets for 13. On the other hand, South Africans, inserted by Chris Gayle, were characteristically consistent. Jacques Kallis and Graeme Smith realised 54 for the 1st wicket, which is a handy platform in Twenty20, before the latter edged left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn to point. Kallis proceeded to score 45, with Hershelle Gibbs topping this with 55; and the two together stitched another 51 runs for the 2nd wicket. By the time both departed at 136 – Kallis caught at long on and Gibbs held at midwicket – South Africa were well on their way to a significant total. Indeed, but for the clatter of wickets thereafter, they might even have touched 200. Mark Boucher, though, didn’t miss out on a late flourish with a slog for six off Fidel Edwards in the final over. Earlier, Kallis had made room for a maximum to extra cover. Following this, Gibbs converted a length ball into half a dozen. Edwards was not as fast, nor on the money in the manner of the India match, wherein he clocked 92 mph! Otherwise, in clear and dry conditions, the ball came on to the bat, making timing easier for batsmen. When the West Indies batted, 19-year-old Parnell adhered to the conventional without experimenting too much. This promising left-arm fast medium exponent bowled a good length with the new ball to give the ball a chance to deviate; in the closing overs, he switched to yorkers. He was, most importantly, accurate with both. He removed both openers to reduce the Windies to 13 for two. Gayle played against the line of a length ball, but failed to clear midwicket. Only Dwayne Bravo, the hero against India, reached double figures, other than Simmons. Bravo was tactically correct in targeting Roelof van der Merwe, but his inside-out drive only ended in the hands of long off. It’s a moot point whether Shivnarine Chanderpaul is suited for Twenty20; but such is the delicate state of ethnic and territorial relations in the West Indies that dropping him could generate serious tensions. He played too early to a flighted off-spinner from Jean Paul Duminy. Ramnaresh Sarwan not fulfilling his potential – although on this occasion he could come in at number five instead of Chanderpaul – is more disappointing. Simmons carved a classical six to extra cover at van der Merwe’s expense. This left- arm spinner got his revenge when the right-hander drilled drive into long off’s palm. Scoreboard South Africa Kallis c Pollard b Simmons 45 (31) Smith c Fletcher b Benn 31 (18) Gibbs c Taylor b Pollard 55 (35) De Villiers c Gayle b Taylor 17 (10) Morkel b Taylor 10 (8) Boucher not out 17 (12) Duminy c Sarwan b Edwards 0 (1) Van der Merwe c Ramdin b Taylor 1 (3) Botha not out 4 (2) Extras (lb 1, w 2) 3 Total (7 wickets; 20 overs) 183 Fall of wickets: 1-54, 2-105, 3-136, 4-155, 5-159, 6-163, 7-166. Bowling: Taylor 4-0-30-3, Edwards 4-0-34-1, Bravo 2-0-24-0, Benn 4-0-36-1, Pollard 3-0-29-1, Gayle 1-0-7-0, Simmons 2-0-22-1. West Indies Gayle c Botha b Parnell 5 (8) Fletcher b Parnell 0 (5) Simmons c de Villiers b Merwe 77 (50) Bravo c Steyn b Merwe 19 (17) Chanderpaul c & b Duminy 8 (7) Sarwan c Botha b Steyn 8 (11) Pollard c Smith b Parnell 6 (4) Ramdin b Steyn 8 (7) Taylor b Parnell 0 (1) Benn not out 13 (9) Edwards not out 2 (2) Extras (b 1, lb 9, w 6, nb 1) 17 Total (9 wickets; 20 overs) 163 Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-13, 3-70, 4-91, 5-133, 6-133, 7-142, 8-143, 9-159. Bowling: Steyn 4-0-30-2, Parnell 4-0-13-4, Kallis 2-0-23-0, Morkel 2-0-21-0, Botha 2-0-20-0, Merwe 4-0-30-2, Duminy 2-0-16-1.
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London, June 13 His effort helped Pakistan shoot down the Kiwis for a paltry 99, which they easily overhauled with six wickets and almost seven overs to spare. Gul captured five for six from three overs. New Zealand’s 99 all out from 18.3 overs was the lowest total from a Test-playing nation in the tournament. At the toss Yunus Khan seemed relieved, almost trying to suppress laughter, when he called this a do-or-die match. It was as if he liked that there was no choice left, and his team showed they relished being in such a situation. By the end of the night, Pakistan had done, and left dying for another time. Abdul Razzaq, formerly a pariah and now making a comeback to official cricket after two years, struck with the fourth ball he bowled, and then in his third over to skittle the New Zealand top order, which was followed by Umar Gul's destruction. Gul was on a hat-trick twice. The spinners choked the life out of the middle order as a weakened New Zealand, missing the duo of Jesse Ryder and Ross Taylor, stumbled to a meagre total on a belter of a pitch at The Oval. Debutant opener Shahzaib Hasan threatened to finish the match in a hurry, but the New Zealand spinners did well to delay the end of the match, and make sure Pakistan didn't run away with a hefty net run-rate, which will come handy in case New Zealand beat Sri Lanka. Scoreboard New Zealand B McCullum c Alam b Razzaq 12 (6) Redmond c Gul b Aamer 15 (14) Guptill lbw b Razzaq 8 (8) Styris c Afridi b Gul 22 (29) Oram c Misbah b Afridi 5 (11) McGlashan lbw b Gul 8 (8) N McCullum b Gul 7 (11) Franklin b Gul 7 (13) Vettori run out 8 (9) Mills c Hasan b Gul 0 (1) Butler not out 1 (1) Extras (lb 4, w 2) 6 Total (all out; 18.3 overs) 99 Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-33, 3-37, 4-55, 5-73, 6-73, 7-88, 8-93, 9-93. Bowling: Aamer 3-0-23-1, Razzaq 3.3-1-17-2, Ajmal 4-0-24-0, Afridi 4-0-17-1, Malik 1-0-8-0, Gul 3-0-6-5. Pakistan Akmal c Guptill b Mills 19 (14) Hasan run out 35 (28) Razzaq c McGlashan b Vettori 5 (8) Malik c B McCullum b Vettori 4 (3) Afridi not out 29 (18) Younus not out 6 (9) Extras (w 1, nb 1) 2 Total (4 wickets; 13.1 overs) 100 Fall of wickets: 1-36, 2-61, 3-61, 4-71. Bowling: Mills 4-0-28-1, Franklin 2-0-19-0, Vettori 4-0-20-2, Butler 2-0-22-0, N McCullum 1.1-0-11-0. — Agencies
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India stay positive ahead of England clash
Having lost their opening encounters in this phase, both sides quite simply must win. In short, if India are defeated, they’ll be all but out of the tournament. In India’s Group, South Africa have effectively entered the last four, having now beaten the West Indies. If India eclipse England, but surrender to the South Africans and England tame the West Indians, then India, England and the West Indies would have two points each and the side with the best net run rate will join South Africa in the next round. Then again, if India win their remaining two matches and the West Indies get the better of England, then the South Africans, Indians and the West Indians would each have four points; and again better net run rate will decide which of the two proceed to the knockout stage. “We are very positive for tomorrow’s game,” Yuvraj asserted, dismissing the fact that India lost to the West Indies on Friday. He stressed India had won 80 percent of their matches in the last two years. The wicket at Lord’s has so far been slow. If the forecast of a warm day proves One defeat does not call for changes in the Indian XI; and drastic alterations are unlikely as the Indians skipped practice on Saturday to remain fresh. The England batting is over reliant on Kevin Pietersen, who is keen to play despite nursing an injury. In James Anderson, they definitely have a quality medium pacer; but in the absence of Andrew Flintoff, their run-restricting abilities are limited. England’s skipper Paul
Collingwood said: “We are due for a good game if you look
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Golden joy for Suranjoy
New Delhi, June 13 India ended their campaign with a gold, two silver and four bronze medals, which went to Jitender Kumar (54kg) Vijender Singh (75kg), Dinesh Kumar (81kg) and Paramjit Samota (+91kg). The team was placed third in the overall standings behind hosts China and Uzbekistan. The performance this time is a marked improvement from 1982 championships held in Seoul where the country’s boxers notched up two gold, an equal number of silver and a bronze medal. The last gold medal for India in the Asian Championship came in the 1994 edition in Tehran where Rajkumar Sangwan finished on top in the super heavy weight category. And today, it was a fly weight (51kg) boxer who broke the 15-year jinx. Suranjoy, a junior World Championship bronze medallist in 2004, beat Li Chao of China 9-8 in a thrilling encounter. “It was certainly not one of my best performances because my opponent came very close to upstaging me but I am thrilled to win India’s first gold here in 15 years. “I didn’t keep track of whether I was leading or trailing and that was a good thing considering it was such a close bout. “I attacked him hard in the third round after taking it slightly easy in the first two rounds,” an elated Suranjoy said. However, 18-year-old youth world champion Nanao Singh (48kg) was not as lucky and went down 8-9 to Thailand’s Pongprayoon Keaw. “It was so heartbreaking. Nanao was so much better than his opponent. He fought so well but just didn’t have the luck,” said coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu. — PTI
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Gill ready to bail out Hockey India
New Delhi, June 13 “I do not stand on ego and for improving the standard of the game I am prepared to co-operate with anybody who has the good of Indian hockey at heart”, Gill said.
He said it was at the initiative of the IHF, headed by him, that a contract was signed to get the 2010 World Cup allotted to India. “We got the World Cup allotted to India and now we will not let it go anywhere”, he asserted, adding that “some vested interest are spreading malicious rumours that Gill does not want the event to be held here.” Gill has called a meeting of the State units here tomorrow, to which he has also invited Hockey India. He made it clear that the women’s hockey associations had not been invited. He said the meeting will try to evolve a consensus about the future course of action. “We don’t want confrontation with Hockey India because the continued rift and impasse has adversely affected the game”, he said. A few state men’s and women’s hockey associations, led by J.B. Roy of Bengal and Amrit Bose, were holding a meeting at Amby Valley in Mumbai today and tomorrow to counter the formation of Hockey India. Gill said he was “upset” with the failure of the Indian team to qualify for the medal round of the Junior World Cup being played in Malaysia and Singapore. “It is sad that India, who finished runners-up in 1997, winners in 2001 will now play for the ninth place”, he noted.
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The South African steam-roller rumbles on systematically and successfully in the World Twenty20; the latest opponent to be flattened being the West Indies, who had beaten Australia and India en route to Saturday’s match.
“We have to bowl and field better in the last 10 overs,” vice-captain Yuvraj Singh declared on the eve of India’s crunch match in the Super Eights of the World Twenty20 against England on Sunday – the first ever Twenty20 meeting between them on English soil.
Asserting that the State hockey associations were the main stake holders in the formation of any new body to control the game in the country, Gill said, “With the World Cup, the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games slated to be held next year, we can ill-afford to waste time.” 
