Wasim Akram

PCB decides to
give Wasim Akram
one more chance

ISLAMABAD, Dec 19: Squashing further speculation about veteran all-rounder Wasim Akram’s.....more

My proudest moment:
Gilchrist as Australia
win the 13th

ADELAIDE, Dec 19: Australia’s acting captain Adam Gilchrist paid tribute to his teammates for their support......more

Dilip Vengsarkar

Vengsarkar invited to
coach in Malaysia

MUMBAI, Dec 19: Malaysian Prince Tunkuiimran has offered an informal invitation to former.....more

Central Zone hammer
their way to victory

KANPUR, Dec 19: Opener J P Yadav and captain Amay Khurasia made mince-meat.......more

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 19: Champion Kamal Rohmetra showed the experienced Gautam Lakra way out with his superb cool game in the dying minutes to retain his Billiards title in the 10th State Billiards and Snooker Championship being played at Billiards hall......more

Jammu Province Women’s Cricket Champ
GHS Gandhi Nagar
wins inaugural match

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 19: Government Girls High School, Gandhi Nagar defeated Government Girls High School, Kacchi Chawani by five wickets ........more

Jammu Province Women’s Cricket Champ
GHS Gandhi Nagar
wins inaugural match

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 19: Government Girls High School, Gandhi Nagar defeated Government Girls High School, Kacchi Chawani by five wickets .....more

Inter-college competitions
GMC, GCW Parade
enter Badminton final

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 19: Government Medical College and Government College for Women, Gandhi Nagar today entered the final.......more

He plays the best who plays at last—Kamal Rohmetra aiming at a target before retaining the title of State Billiards Championship, the final of which was played in Jammu on Tuesday. -Excelsior/Ashok

PCB decides to give Wasim Akram one more chance

ISLAMABAD, Dec 19: Squashing further speculation about veteran all-rounder Wasim Akram’s career, the Pakistan Cricket Board has finally decided to retain the former skipper in the team for the New Zealand tour starting in February.

Wasim’s role in the team and his performance came in for intense deliberations at the Advisory Council meeting held in Lahore last week, and only after a thorough discussion it was decided that the former captain must be given one more chance in New Zealand to pick himself and the team up, the news reported today.

PCB sources say the performance of Moin Khan as captain was also discussed at the meeting. There was a feeling that the captaincy had built up pressure on Moin and as a consequence his wicketkeeping and batting had suffered and that he should be replaced.

PCB chairman Lt Gen Tauqir Zia, however felt he must continue as captain.

According to the sources, elevating Inzamam-ul-Haq to captaincy in place of Moin was also deliberated upon, but in the end Tauqir convinced the other members that Moin would have learnt his lessons and must be retained for the New Zealand and Sharjah tours.

The performance of other players against England was also discussed and the members expressed their reservations over certain selections and also the performance of off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq, who, incidentally, was Pakistan’s highest wicket-taker in the series with 18 scalps to his credit.

There was consensus that batting and pace bowling needed to be shored up by including Mohd Wasim, Mohd Akram, Hasan Raza and Wajahatullah Wasti. (PTI)

My proudest moment: Gilchrist as Australia win the 13th

ADELAIDE, Dec 19: Australia’s acting captain Adam Gilchrist paid tribute to his teammates for their support and commitment after his side beat the West Indies by five wickets in the third cricket test at Adelaide Oval here today.

The home country took only 38 minutes on the fifth day to hit the 32 extra runs they needed to wrap up the game, retain the Frank Worrell trophy by establishing a 3-0 lead in the five-match series and extend their world record of successive test wins to 13.

After being set a victory target of 130, Australia made 130 for five, with Damien Martyn (34 not out) and Gilchrist (10 not out) at the crease when Martyn hit the winning runs.

While Australia were celebrating yet another high moment in the greatest sequence of success in the 123-year history of tests, the once mighty Windies were reflecting on their 16th defeat in their past 18 away games — one of the worst runs in the sport.

Gilchrist, who was deputising for the injured Steve Waugh said: "I am absolutely thrilled — it’s the proudest moment of my cricket career.

"It is not necessarily a load off my mind. I believe in this team. We all believe in each other.

"It was a really terrific win. It was a harder test than any we have had this summer.

"We were up against it from the time I lost the toss, but the guys never lost direction or spirit. The belief was always there. That is one of the strengths of our team."

Gilchrist, the first Australian wicketkeeper for 32 years to captain his country, said the closeness of the game indicated how well Australia had played in the previous two tests in Brisbane and Perth, both won by innings margins.

"A lot of the focus has been on the West Indies and how poorly they have played," he said. "People have said they cannot compete. But they have proved they can. They have shown they have world class cricketers in their team. Obviously Brian Lara is the main one.

"I think this shows how well our guys have performed in the earlier games, and I believe a lot of credit should go to them for that."

Gilchrist admitted he was nervous when he went out to bat on the final morning after the dismissal of Justin Langer for 48, leaving Australia needing another 19 runs with five wickets left.

"It was the most nervous I have been in my test career," he said. "But I felt I just had to keep calm, with such a small amount needed.

"The only fearful factor was if we got one or two brutal deliveries, which could have come along on that wicket."

West Indies captain Jimmy Adams said: "this was an improvement, but obviously it was not the result we wanted. We have to sit down again and look at where we went wrong." "Hopefully, we can build on what happened here and take it into the next test, starting in Melbourne on boxing day.

"We were going well until we mucked up in our second innings on the fourth day.

"This is the difference between the top teams in the world and those who are not.

"We just didn’t put enough runs on the board to give our bowlers a fair chance. A target of 130 was not enough. We believed 230 to 260 was the lead we needed."

Adams said his players would engage in a demanding programme in the week to the Melbourne test. He was hopeful it would be possible to arrange an unscheduled one-day match to give players extra sharpness.

The man of the match award went to Australia’s match-winner Colin Miller, a veteran 36-year-old off-spinner, who captured five scalps in each innings for a match return of 10-113 — the first time he has captured 10 wickets in a test.

Miller, despite his advanced years, now looks certain to be a member of the Australian squad to tour India early next year and to travel to England for the ashes series soon after. SCORECARD:

West Indies 1st innings 391

Australia 1st innings 403

West Indies 2nd innings 141

Australia 2nd innings

M.L. Hayden c Jacobs b Walsh 14

M.J. Slater c Jacobs Dillon 1

J.L. Langer c Jacobs b Dillon 48

M.E. Waugh c Jacobs b Dillon 5

R.T. Ponting lbw b Walsh 11

D.R. Martyn not out 34

A.C. Gilchrist not out 10

Extras (b-3, lb-1, nb-3) 7

Total (5wkts, 43 overs) 130

Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-22, 3-27, 4-48, 5-111.

Bowling: C.A. Walsh 14-4-39-2, M.Dillon 12-3-42-3, M. Samuels 6-1-17-0, N.A.M. McLean 5-1-9-0, J.C. Adams 3-0-7-0. (AFP)

Vengsarkar invited to coach in Malaysia

MUMBAI, Dec 19: Malaysian Prince Tunkuiimran has offered an informal invitation to former test star Dilip Vengsarkar for coaching in Malaysia.

Imran, speaking at a function hosted in his honour by MCD-Day Group of Publication last night at the Turf Club, said he was quite impressed in the Vanner Vengsarakr was conducting the ELF Academy and wished that he could make Malaysia test worthy in next twenty years.

According to Sram president Khalid Ansari his association invited Malaysian juniors here for cricket experience, and in return Malaysia plays host to promising Maharashtra squash players.

This year Malaysia has offered a year’s scholarship to six junior squash players. (UNI)

Central Zone hammer their way to victory

KANPUR, Dec 19: Opener J P Yadav and captain Amay Khurasia made mince-meat of the bowling attack as Central Zone handed West Zone an eight-wicket thrashing in the second semi-final of the Deodhar Trophy Cricket Tournament here today.

Yadav, who hit a superlative 101, and Khurasia (86) put up 158 runs for the opening wicket and scored at an astounding rate of about ten runs an over to enable their side easily overhaul West Zone’s impressive 270 for four with about ten overs to spare.

The hurricane stand had the result in no doubt as Central Zone raced to 50 runs in 5.2 overs, 100 in 10.5 overs and 150 in just 14.5 after west skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar (122) and middle-order batsman Jacob Martin (102 not out) had hit fine centuries to prop up their team to a seemingly safe total on electing to bat.

Central Zone will now take on South Zone, which defeated North Zone by three wickets in the first semi-final, in the final on Thursday.

Yadav and Khurasia were in devastating form and thrashed west bowlers all around the wicket right from the word go. Khurasia was more offensive of the two as he cut, pulled and drove beautifully to reach his fifty in just 27 balls.

He was unfortunate to miss his century when he offered a simple catch to martin at short mid-wicket off Rakesh Patel after making 86 off only 56 balls. His knock was studded with 14 fours and two towering sixes.

Meanwhile, Yadav reached his half-century off 36 balls that had eight boundaries in it and continued to plunder runs with new batsman Mohd Kaif (51).

The duo showed no signs of relenting though the scoring rate came down sharply and added another 83 runs in 72 minutes for the second wicket.

Yadav, who was later declared man-of-the-match, continued in his customary fashion and brought up his hundred with the help of 14 fours but fell immediately thereafter to Kanitkar for 101 off just 84 deliveries.

Requiring 30 more runs to win, Kaif and Gagan Khoda completed the formalities remaining unbeaten on 51 and 16 respectively.

Earlier, Kanitkar and Martin pulled west out of early trouble when they lost both openers Wasim Jaffer (7) and Connor Williams (5) with just 16 runs on board.

The pair added 184 runs for the second wicket with each of them scoring a century - Kanitkar off 85 balls with the help of 12 fours and a six and Martin off 117 balls aided with 10 boundaries.

Kanitkar was finally out bowled by J P Yadav for 122 off 104 balls that contained 15 fours and two sixes.

Martin remained unbeaten on 102 and in the company of I Siddiqui (6 not out) took the score to 270 for four in their alotted 50 overs that ultimately was made to look very ordinary by Central Zone, who had eight Railways players in their ranks.

SCOREBOARD

West Zone

W Jaffar run out 7

C Williams b Srivastava 5

H Kanitkar b J P Yadav 122

J Martin not out 102

R Morris c Khurasia b Srivastava 16

I Siddiqui not out 6

Extras (lb-6, w-6) 12

Total (for 4 wkts in 50 overs) 270

Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-16, 3-200, 4-242.

Bowling: S Bangar 9-0-51-0, S Srivastava 9-0-35-2, J P Yadav 10-0-65-1, M Kartik 10-0-39-0, M Kaif 2-0-16-0, T Singh 10-0-58-0.

Central Zone

J P Yadav c Morris b Kanitkar 101

A Khurasia c Martin b R Patel 86

M Kaif not out 51

G Khoda not out 16

Extras (lb-3, nb-10, w-7) 20

Total (for 2 wkts in 40.4 overs) 274

Fall of wickets: 1-158 2-241.

Bowling: I Siddiqui 6-3-35-0, P Mhambrey 3-0-32-0, S Saxena 3-0-22-0, H Kanitkar 10-0-64-1, R Morris 4-0-34-0, R Patel 6-0-43-1, N Patel 5.4-0-31-0, J Martin 3-0-10-0. (PTI)

Kamal shows Lakra way out to retain State Billiards title
*Kamal to meet Sanjeev today to defend double title

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 19: Champion Kamal Rohmetra showed the experienced Gautam Lakra way out with his superb cool game in the dying minutes to retain his Billiards title in the 10th State Billiards and Snooker Championship being played at Billiards hall, M A Stadium, here this evening.

Kamal defeated six time champion Gautam Lakra with a narrow margin 446-438.

Kamal who had already decided to take handful lead in the first hour play, succeeded in his plan. In the very third attempt he made highest break of 76 points to went a head of his opponent. He well maintained his initial lead to end the first half play with 229-192 score on board in his favour.

However, experienced Gautam, who was trailing behind, struck 56 points’ handsome break and went ahead of Kamal. Afterwords, Gautam displayed a good table work and took 26 points crucial lead (368-394) when only 15 minutes play was left.

The lead was reduced down by Kamal with some sensible pottings bringing the score to 423-420 in his favour. Even then he was uncertain about the final outcome, beacause anything could have taken place, especially when two top players of the State were face to face.

Finally, Kamal smiled looking at the clock and marker Raveez Ahmed stopped the game and declared Kamal as the winner of this first ever close match in the ongoing championship.

Kamal, who last year clinched both Snooker and Billiards titles, will take on Sanjeev Gupta in the Snooker final tomorrow to defend his double title victory.

However, Sanjeev, who is a two time State Snooker champion is all set to take on Kamal tomorrow. "I am prepared to meet the champion Kamal and I am sure that the tomorrow’s final will not be an easy one", said confident Sanjeev in conversation with this Correspondent.