S P O R T S

A CHAMPION GOES Perth, November 29 Australia’s Ricky Ponting called time on a 17-year Test career that made him the world’s second-highest run scorer, announcing this week’s clash with South Africa will be his last. “I know I have given cricket my all, it’s been my life for 20 years. There’s not much more I could give,” he said at a hastily-called press conference at the WACA ground in Perth ahead of Friday’s match.

Ricky Ponting’s wife Rianna holds their daughter Emmy while Rianna’s sister Natalie (at back) holds the Pontings’ second daughter Matisse at the press conference on Thursday. — AFP

Give Sachin the respect he deserves: Kumble to Tendulkar’s critics
New Delhi, November 29
Amidst the growing clamour for Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement, former India skipper Anil Kumble on Thursday, hit out at critics questioning the veteran batsman’s place in the team, saying he should be left alone and given the “emotional space” and respect he deserves.

I’m not replacing Eden curator Mukherjee, says Bhowmick
Kolkata, November 29
The Board’s ground and pitches committee member of the East Zone, Ashish Bhowmick on Thursday sought to play down the controversy regarding his appointment and called Eden curator Prabir Mukherjee his ‘guru’ (mentor).

Kiwis level Sri Lanka series with rare win
Colombo, November 29
New Zealand registered their first Test win in Sri Lanka for 14 years on Thursday, finally dismissing the defiant Angelo Mathews to level the series 1-1 in Colombo. The Kiwis bowled Sri Lanka out for a second innings total of 195 in the last session of the fifth and final day at the P Sara Oval to win the second and final Test by 167 runs.

Association officials will seize chance to get rid of Sports Code
New Delhi, November 29
What the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) always wanted — getting the government’s Sports Code scrapped — may be achieved through the efforts of the Delhi High Court and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Rift can be resolved: Randhir
Patiala, November 29
Randhir Singh has stressed that the rules of the international parent body, IOC, should be followed in letter and spirit. He expressed the concern that India could lose be suspended by the IOC if the IOA elections are held under the government’s Sports Code.

A CHAMPION GOES

Perth, November 29
Australia’s Ricky Ponting called time on a 17-year Test career that made him the world’s second-highest run scorer, announcing this week’s clash with South Africa will be his last. “I know I have given cricket my all, it’s been my life for 20 years. There’s not much more I could give,” he said at a hastily-called press conference at the WACA ground in Perth ahead of Friday’s match.

Ponting, who turns 38 next month, has failed in three innings against the Proteas during draws in Brisbane and Adelaide and pressure has been building on the veteran ahead of the crucial series decider.

Perth will be a fitting place to end a remarkable international career, although Ponting will continue to play for Tasmania in the domestic competition this summer.

It is where he debuted against Sri Lanka in 1995. By playing Friday, he will equal Steve Waugh’s mark of 168 Test matches -- the most in the history of Australian cricket.

After being made captain in 2004, right-hander Ponting went on to become one of the country’s greatest cricketers, winning more Tests as skipper (48) than any other Australian. The Tasmanian has 13,366 Test runs to his name, including 41 centuries at an average of 52.21, with only Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar scoring more. But he said he knew it was time to call it a day. “Over the last couple of weeks my level of performance hasn’t been good enough,” said Ponting, who had already been dumped from the one-day and Twenty20 international squads. “My passion and love for the game hasn’t changed but at the end of the day (the decision) was based on my results. “In this series so far they have not been up to the level required of batsmen and players in the Australian team,” he added. “I’m glad I have got the opportunity to finish on my terms.” Ponting insisted the decision was entirely his own and he had not been pushed by selectors. The normally stoic batsman, affectionately known as Punter, said he was highly emotional when he told his team-mates. “I tried to say a lot but I didn’t get much out,” he said. “They’d never seen me emotional before, but I was this morning.” Michael Clarke, the current captain, was close to tears following Ponting into the press conference, saying he would be sorely missed and the announcement took him by surprise. “I didn’t have a feeling it was coming,” Clarke said. “Ricky spoke to me after Adelaide and obviously made his decision over the last few days. “The boys (in the team) are obviously hurting right now. He’s been an amazing player for a long time.” Clarke said the announcement would only fire up the side to win the third Test, where the number one ranking in Test cricket will be on the line. “It will only give us more inspiration,” he added. In a statement, Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland described Ponting as one of the best players ever to pad up for his country.

“Ricky has had an extraordinary career and has made an extraordinary contribution, including through the example he has set for other elite players and through the excitement he has given fans, young and old,” he said. “I think his record until he retired as captain was outstanding but my respect for him since then has actually increased, seeing first-hand how he stepped back to become a total team player.”

Ponting said he would take time to decide what to do after retiring, but Sutherland hoped he would remain connected to the game. — Reuters

ponting at his best

Give Sachin the respect he deserves: Kumble to Tendulkar’s critics

Kumble has come out in support of his former teammate.

New Delhi, November 29
Amidst the growing clamour for Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement, former India skipper Anil Kumble on Thursday, hit out at critics questioning the veteran batsman’s place in the team, saying he should be left alone and given the “emotional space” and respect he deserves.

Tendulkar’s prolonged lean patch led many people to question his place in the Indian team but Kumble says it’s not the time to point fingers at him but support him.

“There have been instances when he has been the sole reason for India’s wins, but he has never been the sole reason for India’s losses. It’s best to leave it to him to deal with what is in front of him now, because no one else has been in his position. No one else has played 192 Tests, made 34,000 runs, or scored 100 centuries. Let’s not jump the gun, let’s give the man the respect he deserves,” Kumble wrote in his column for the ‘Week’ magazine. “For 23 years, he has helped people dream, he has made them feel better emotionally. More the reason why we need to give him his emotional space now,” he wrote. “...This is the time for him to be left alone. He is such a great player that he doesn’t need anyone else’s advice on how to score runs. He just needs people to back off and allow him to work out what he needs to return to run-scoring ways, which I am confident he will,” he added.

Kumble said that it’s not only Tendulkar, who is going through a bad phase but the whole Test team and implying that team is doing bad because of Tendulkar’s poor form would be highly unfair.

“For the first time, people are questioning his place in the team. The expectations are that he should retire because his performances over the last year or so haven’t matched the standards he has set over the previous 22 years. Yes, we have not seen the best of Sachin in this phase, but it is not just him alone. If you look at the overall picture, the team has struggled in Test cricket, so are we suggesting that India are still a one-man army, still totally dependent on Sachin? I think not,” he said.

Ponting retiring doesn’t mean Sachin also has to quit: Gambhir

Ricky Ponting’s decision to call it quits might have added fuel to the fire in the raging debate over Sachin’s retirement, but Gautam Gambhir feels his teammate has a lot to offer. “Nobody can force anyone to retire. Each individual knows when is the best time to retire. Ponting retiring doesn’t mean that Sachin also has to quit now. It’s an individual decision. They are from two different countries, two different individuals. So there is no question of a comparison,” Gambhir said. — PTI

I’m not replacing Eden curator Mukherjee, says Bhowmick

Kolkata, November 29
The Board’s ground and pitches committee member of the East Zone, Ashish Bhowmick on Thursday sought to play down the controversy regarding his appointment and called Eden curator Prabir Mukherjee his ‘guru’ (mentor).

Denying reports that he had replaced Mukherjee as the curator for the third Test against England following the veteran’s differences with India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Bhowmick said, “It’s all media-concocted stories. I know him (Prabir Mukherjee) for many years and have learnt a lot from him. He is my guru. He is a living legend. I’ll work with him and hope to get some more knowledge from him. It’s just a routine affair. There’s absolutely no problem between us, nor there has been any instruction from the Board,” Bhowmick told reporters after his visit to Eden Garden

“As I represent the East zone, I’ve to visit many centres with Ranji Trophy going on. I’ve been visiting many centres for two months. It’s just one of those routine visit. But I’m delighted to be here again with Prabirda,” he added. The duo showed a great camaraderie as the 83-year-old Eden curator joined him and said, “I’m proud that somebody is acknowledging in today’s world. But at the moment he is my boss being the East Zone curator... If he gives any instruction, I’ll have to obey him,” Mukherjee said with a grin.

Bhowmick flew to Kolkata last night on the Board’s instruction after Mukherjee reportedly had some differences about the pitch preparation for the third Test beginning here on December 5.

Dhoni has been insisting for turning wickets even after their 10-wicket humiliation against England on a customised Wankhede track. Mukherjee was critical of the captain’s demand and termed it unethical, saying preparing a similar type of track was not practically possible. — PTI

Kiwis level Sri Lanka series with rare win

Colombo, November 29
New Zealand registered their first Test win in Sri Lanka for 14 years on Thursday, finally dismissing the defiant Angelo Mathews to level the series 1-1 in Colombo. The Kiwis bowled Sri Lanka out for a second innings total of 195 in the last session of the fifth and final day at the P Sara Oval to win the second and final Test by 167 runs.

All-rounder Mathews offered dogged resistance, top-scoring with a fighting 84 that included one six and 11 fours before he was the last man dismissed after facing 228 balls.

New Zealand, who had lost five successive Tests before the match, put in an improved all-round show in Colombo, posting 412 in the first innings and their bowlers, especially the pacemen, delivered in both innings.

“It is always good to come overseas and win. The bowlers were brilliant and they set it up,” said New Zealand captain Ross Taylor, who was named man of the match for his 142 in the first innings. “I guess we got a lot of stick last week for our performances, but we stuck to our task and fought hard. We took our catches and fielded pretty well.” The tourists tightened their grip on the match on Wednesday when they reduced the hosts to 47-4, but had to work hard for their win on a fifth-day wicket that held few terrors for batsmen. Boult, who took four wickets in the first innings, had lower-order batsman Suraj Randiv caught by Martin Guptill at second slip and ended the innings with the Mathews. — PTI

SCOREBOARD

Association officials will seize chance to get rid of Sports Code
M.S.Unnikrishnan/TNS

New Delhi, November 29
What the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) always wanted — getting the government’s Sports Code scrapped — may be achieved through the efforts of the Delhi High Court and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The IOC has reiterated its threat to suspend the IOA if the Sports Code is implemented in the IOA elections on December 5, which would be sweet music for the IOA and the National Sports Federations (NSFs). They had resisted the foisting of the Sports Code on them by former Sports Minister Ajay Maken but could do little as Maken had threatened to arm-twist them if they did not fall in line. And when Delhi High Court ruled that the Sports Code be applied in the elections, the IOA had no choice.

The IOC threat may be mere rhetoric to force the IOA to postpone the elections or not to hold them at all, but the IOA will seize this chance to get the Sports Code out of its way. If the IOC goes ahead with its threat, then the blame would be on the Government. IOC president Jacques Rogge and Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) secretary-general Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah jointly wrote to IOA acting president Vijay Kumar Malhotra and secretary-general Randhir Singh on November 23, warning that if the IOA elections were not held in accordance with the Olympic Charter and the IOA’s constitution, it would propose in the IOC Executive Board meeting, scheduled for on December 4-5, to suspend the IOA. Malhotra the wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, appealing to him to “immediately ask the Sports Ministry to withdraw this Sports Code”.

About the latest IOC missive to the IOA, Malhotra told The Tribune that he would send a reply to the Olympic body before November 30, the IOC’s deadline.

Despite the Delhi High Court ruling, there would be no need for the implementation of the code now. With the withdrawal of the rival contestants from all the posts, the Abhay Singh Chautala group is assured of a unanimous election, which will not warrant implementation of the Sports Code.

If the Sports Code has become a bone of contention, it was not due to the fault of the IOA. When Maken tried to bring in a National Sports Bill, in a bid to enforce the age and tenure limits in the IOA and the NSFs, an IOA delegation, led by Malhotra and including representatives cutting across party lines, had submitted a memorandum to the prime minister in June 2011, arguing that the bill would be against the interests of sports. At the suggestion of the PM, the matter was referred to the Union Council of Ministers, where UPA’s allies like Farooq Abdullah, Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel vehemently opposed the Bill.

The bill was dropped like a hot potato, but Maken incorporated some of the contentions clauses in the Bill in the Sports Code, leading to the present impasse.

To confound to the IOA’s problems, secretary in the Sports Ministry P.K.Deb, shot off a letter to Rogge on November 21, asking him to “consider meeting, in India, with the representatives of the Sports Ministry, and perhaps the IOA to ‘sort out’ the issues involved”. “Sort out the issues” meant that there were some issue to be sorted out regarding the Sports Code, and the IOC was welcome to meddle in it, creating a piquant situation for the IOA. And new Sports Minister Jitendra Singh seems to have caught between the devil and the deep sea.

Rift can be resolved: Randhir
Aman Sood/TNS

Patiala, November 29
Randhir Singh has stressed that the rules of the international parent body, IOC, should be followed in letter and spirit. He expressed the concern that India could lose be suspended by the IOC if the IOA elections are held under the government’s Sports Code.

Randhir, who is an IOC member and secretary general of OCA and the IOA, said that sportspersons and politicians should both get berths in the controlling body.

“The need of the hour is to sit together and solve this mess, otherwise the result of the elections held under the Sports Code would hold no significance,” he said.

“There are two major differences between the government and the IOA pertaining to the bar on getting elected after attaining 70 years of age... The second major difference is on the cap as to how many times one can be elected. These differences can be sorted out but someone needs to make all sit together.”