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Rain dampens India’s chances
JP Atray Tournament |
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Kiwis in do-or-die tie against England
Pan Pacific Open
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Rain dampens India’s chances Centurion, September 28 Australia were cruising comfortably at 234 for four in 42.3 overs when heaven opened up. The unrelenting rain turned the stadium into a virtual pool and lightning struck one light tower as well. Electing to bat, Australia flourished on some fabulous partnerships after getting off to a slow start. Ponting led from front with a composed fifty and conjured up two crucial partnerships with Tim Paine (56) and Michael Hussey (67) to lay a solid platform for a big score. Indian pacers Ashish Nehra and Praveen Kumar, who replaced RP Singh, bowled in tandem to give their side a decent start as they conceded just 23 runs in the first eight overs and also dismissed Shane Watson for a duck. Australia broke the shackles in the eight over by milking Ishant for 16 runs as Paine hit him for a six and four and Ponting also drove him for a sweet four through the covers. The pair grew in confidence after that fruitful over and went on to add 83 runs for the second wicket which was enough to stabilise the Australian innings. Amit Mishra vindicated the decision of his drafting into the side with his disciplined bowling, which played a role on slowing down Australia's progress. The leg-spinner provided the second breakthrough when he scalped Paine. Ponting and Mike Hussey though went about the business very efficiently, working the field around, and erected a stand of 88 runs for the third wicket. India had a fortuitous break when Gautam Gambhir, running in from deep midwicket, threw down the non-striker's end and caught Ponting short of his crease. — PTI
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JP Atray Tournament
Chandigarh, September 28 In the first match of the day, Reliance-I thrashed PCA Colts by 7 wickets at Tau Devi Lal Stadium, Panckula. After winning the toss PCA Colts elected to bat but made an inauspicious start losing the entire top order rather cheaply, and in a flurry. Sarul Kanwar 13, Mandeep Singh 12, Sumit Sharma 16, Ankur Kakkar 0, Robin Singh 32 and Sarabjit Singh 11, Bharat Loomba 42 and Amit Prashar 51 made contributions, which resulted in the final score reaching 210 for 9 in 50 overs. In reply, Reliance-I lost their opener and Delhi stalwart Shikhar Dhawan for 32. The innings was held together by Yogesh Nagar, who scored an unbeaten 100 and Ravinder Jadeja who also managed an unbeaten 63. In the end Reliance-I won by 7 wickets to move into the finals to be played at PCA Stadium, Mohali on September 30 at 2.30 p.m. In the second semifinal played at PCA Stadium, Mohali, last year’s winners, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) edged out Railways Sports Control Board (RSCB) by two runs. Indian Oil won the toss and opted to bat. Pinal Shah 62, Aditya Tare 83 and Mandar Phadke with an unbeaten 71 were the principal scorers. The IOC innings finally ended at 281 for 8 in 50 overs. Indian Railways made a strong reply, but fell short eventually. Cheluvraj V 68 and Sanjay Bangar with a brilliant 123 came to their team’s aid, but the winning total, and victory eluded RSCB. Indian Railways will now meet PCA Colts at Sector 16 stadium for a play off for the third and fourth spot.
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Kiwis in do-or-die tie against England
Johannesburg, September 28 After being trounced by South Africa in their first match, the Kiwis regrouped themselves and notched up a 38-run win over Sri Lanka to put their campaign back on track but their road to semis still looks difficult with England standing in their way. If New Zealand pull off a win tomorrow, they would be through to the semis but if they lose it will come down to the net run-rate and the Sri lankans are far ahead of the Kiwis in that aspect.
The Black Caps put up an imposing 315 against the Lankans yesterday riding on their top-order’s blistering form. Brendon McCullum, Jesse Ryder and Martin Guptill were the architects of their big win against Sri Lanka and with Daniel Vettori firing down the order, the inconsistent Kiwi line-up suddenly seems formidable. However, with Ryder ruled out of the squad due to a groin injury sustained yesterday, New Zealand will have to sort out a new strategy. Ryder’s omission will mean green-horn Aaron Redmond may get a chance to make his ODI debut and he would look to grab the opportunity with both hands. Among the pacers, Kyle Mills and Daryl Tuffey have done the job till now but their spearhead Shane Bond, who returned to the national fold after a stint with ICL, is yet to fire. Vettori himself have kept a measured line to trouble the opponents with his spin and the skipper will hope for an encore tomorrow. On the other hand, England has been in formidable form, registering two wins from as many matches and the team seems to have put behind their 1-6 drubbing at the hands of Australia during their ODI home series. Owais Shah, Eoin Morgan and Paul Collingwood have done the bulk of the scoring for England so far and skipper Andrew Strauss would want his team to carry the momentum. However his own bat is yet to do the talking and Strauss will hope to come out all cylinders firing tomorrow. Among bowlers, James Anderson and Stuart Broad have led the England pace attack but spinner Graeme Swann will have to pull up his socks and put a much disciplined performance if they have to keep their slate clean going into the semis. Teams (from): New Zealand: Vettori (C), Shane Bond, Neil Broom, Ian Butler, Brendon Diamanti, Grant Elliott, M Guptill, Gareth Hopkins, B McCullum, Kyle Mills, James Franklin, Jeetan Patel, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, Daryl Tuffey. England: A Strauss (C), Ravi Bopara, Luke Wright, Owais Shah, Paul Collingwood, Joe Denly, Eoin Morgan, Graham Onions, Matt Prior, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Adil Rashid, James Anderson, Ryan Sidebottom and Graeme Swann. — PTI Match starts 6 pm
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Pan Pacific Open
Tokyo, September 28 “It’s not an easy moment,” Safina told reporters after surrendering her Tokyo title. “I had a lot of chances in the third set but I just let it go. The way I played the game at 5-4 was not right,” continued Safina, who had sat sobbing on the steps of the players' lounge after her latest setback. “It’s so disappointing I didn't play the way I should have played. I never took her out of her comfort zone.” Safina's ownership of the number one spot has been a source of contention after her failure to win a maiden grand slam in 2009 and the Russian got off to a bad start here by losing the first set tiebreak 7-5. The defending Tokyo champion, given a first-round bye at the $2 million tournament, rallied to take the second with a thumping backhand, pumping her fist and screeching “Come on!” But after seizing an early break in the deciding set, Safina’s nervousness resurfaced as she tamely surrendered her serve with a double-fault at 5-4 up. While Safina yelled at herself in Russian, the 18-year-old Chang kept her cool, completing the biggest win of her career by forcing Safina into wild forehand on her third match point. “I never came into the match thinking I was going to lose badly,” said Chang after winning a marathon match in two hours and 44 minutes. “I just wanted to play tough. I was jumping up and down at the end thinking about my mum. She never watches me play but she watches the live scores (on the Internet) so I was wondering what she was thinking.” Earlier, Ai Sugiyama's final WTA Tour appearance ended prematurely when the Japanese player retired from her first-round match with Russian Nadia Petrova while trailing 6-0, 2-1. — Reuters Sania crashes out
Sania, who has been plagued by a nagging wrist injury for more than a year now, fought hard in a see-saw opening set. She broke her rival thrice to go 1-0 up. However, Sania ran out of steam thereafter and lost her serve four times to go down 2-6 in the second set. The third set followed a similar script and the Indian was once again outplayed with her serve being a major let-down. — PTI |
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India’s semifinal chances today suffered a big jolt as incessant rain led to the abandonment of their Group A Champions Trophy match against Australia, forcing them to split points at SupertSport park here.
Johannesburg, September 28
England’s captain Andrew Strauss
Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza crashed out of the Pan Pacific Open with a first-round defeat in a marathon three setter against Chinese Jie Zheng here today. Sania, who had to qualify for the $ two million hard-court event, went down 7-5, 2-6, 3-6 after a contest lasting more than two hours.
