Daily Excelsior.........state

Hansie Cronje

Cricket-doubt and
disbelief turn to dismay
in Cronje case

DURBAN (South Africa), Dec 29: Few doubted Hansie Cronje when he told the world on April nine he was not guilty of match-fixing charges levelled .....more

Zimbabwe, New Zealand test heading for draw

WELLINGTON, Dec 29: A test-best score and a record partnership dissolved any anxiety Zimbabwe may have had entering the penultimate day.....more

Anna Kournikova gets movie-star welcome in
Hong Kong

HONG KONG, Dec 29: Tennis golden girl Anna Kournikova arrived today in Hong Kong to a movie star-style reception. ....more

Wadekar to appear before Madhavan on January seven

MUMBAI, Dec 29: Former Indian captain and manager, Ajit Wadekar, have been summoned by the cricket board anti-.......more

Semis position cleared in
Dev Raj Memorial Cricket

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

RAJOURI, Dec 29: Semi-finals position has been cleared with the entry of Singh XI and Chowdhary XI in the last four stage of the Dev Raj Sharma Memorial....more

Peace Cricket Trophy
Sandeep helps Stadium
XI beat Challenger Club

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

KATHUA, Dec 29: Fine 80 runs knock by Sandeep helped Stadium XI, Kathua register five wickets victory over Challenger Cricket Club, Jammu in the ongoing Peace Cricket Trophy..more

11th Baba Santokh Nath
Cricket Tourney
Eleven Star, CCC win ties

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 29: Eleven Star Cricket Club and Cantt Cricket Club won their respective ties in the ongoing 11th Baba Santokh Nath Cricket Tournament .....more

Mobike Race being
felicitated today

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 29:Award ceremony of Mobike Dirt Track Race was organised by the Adventure Sports Club Jammu on Sunday....more

Cricket-doubt and disbelief turn to dismay in Cronje case

DURBAN (South Africa), Dec 29: Few doubted Hansie Cronje when he told the world on April nine he was not guilty of match-fixing charges levelled at him by Indian police.

Two days later, on what has become known among South African cricket writers as "Black Tuesday", Cronje confessed to having been "not entirely honest". But once again disbelief was widespread.

Could it be that this upstanding son of the free state, the citadel of Afrikanerdom, was corrupt?

Could he have fooled his family, his team mates, the public and the media into believing he had given of his best for South Africa in good faith when, in fact, he was a puppet whose strings led to the hands of shady bookmakers and overly enterprising punters?

Sadly for all South Africans and tragically for cricket lovers everywhere, Cronje could and did.

For weeks there seemed to be no other story on the front pages of South Africa’s newspapers. One Sunday paper neatly, if inadvertently, captured the nation’s confusion in its headlines.

"It’s not our Hansie," it proclaimed, only to have to follow that a week later with a damning tale of greed and deception under the grovelling banner, "here’s the proof".

A Judicial Commission was duly appointed to get to the bottom of the matter. Chaired by the disarmingly Urbane Edwin King, a retired judge who immediately showed himself to be an impeccable jurist, it became the most thorough investigation to date into cricket corruption.

During ten days of hearings in cape town in June, Cronje confessed to taking approximately 100 000 dollars in dirty money and to offering bribes of 15 000 dollars each to two of the most impressionable members of his team, Herschelle Gibbs and Henry Williams, to underperform in a one-day international against India in Nagpur on March 19.

They took up the offers, but failed to follow through on the deal and said they received no money. Both admitted their actions to the King Commission, and were fined and suspended from international cricket until December 31 this year.

Gibbs and Williams’ contrition was palpable, but Cronje has as yet failed to permanently convince the public that once paid money to watch him play that he is genuinely sorry for what he has done.

Looking like a man terrified by the awful truth that the events of his own life had overtaken him, Cronje took on the media blaze and faced the commission.

"It is time for me to try to repay a part of the enormous debt which I owe to cricket and to try to repair some of the damage which I have caused the game, south africa, my family and team mates, and the cricketing public," Cronje read from his prepared statement, his once unshakable monotone wavering.

"Words cannot begin to describe the shame, humiliation and pain which I feel, in the knowledge that I have inflicted this on others. To my wife, family, and team mates, in particular, I apologise."

The emotion evoked by those sentiments earned Cronje sympathy, but he squandered it by plainly relishing being able to swat away the long-hop questions asked by Shamila Batohi, the Commission’s often inept lead advocate.

Batohi stuck to her task and eventually regained her line and length, and by the time Cronje hobbled off the witness stand in tears, a broken man, sympathy had turned to pity.

Subsequent media interviews for which Cronje was paid handsomely, and in which he repeatedly brushed off his conduct as "a mistake", have hardened many South Africans’ hearts toward him.

Now Cronje’s lawyers have successfully, if only temporarily, staved off their client’s return to the stand when the commission resumes hearings on January 25.

However, they would do well to realise that while there remain legal opportunities for Cronje to run, it is far too late for him to hide. He will, after everything, struggle to fool any of the people any of the time.(REUTERS)

Zimbabwe, New Zealand test heading for draw

WELLINGTON, Dec 29: A test-best score and a record partnership dissolved any anxiety Zimbabwe may have had entering the penultimate day of their one-off rain-affected cricket test against New Zealand here today.

Needing 288 to avoid follow on, the tourists ended the day on that very total of 288 losing half the side when stumps were drawn at the basin reserve.

Debutant Doug Marillier was on 26 and Trevor Madondo 44.

Resuming at 48 for two, they suffered an early setback when Alistair Campbell was adjudged leg before wicket to Chris Martin with the score on 66.

However, opener Gavin Rennie and leading batsman Andy Flower held the New Zealand attack at bay, adding a record stand of 130 for the fourth wicket against the home side. Martin, in the third over with the new ball, found the edge of flower’s bat and wicketkeeper Adam Parore took a smart catch low down in front of Stephen Fleming at first slip.

Flower’s 79 was his sixth consecutive innings of more than 50. When he reached 37, he also surpassed 1,000 runs for the calendar year, the so do so behind Pakistan’s Inzamam-ul-Haq.

His partnership with Rennie surpassed the 88 compiled by Flower and David Houghton at Auckland in 1995-96.

Although Flower’s departure gave New Zealand renewed hopes of working through the order, Rennie remained rock-solid.

He seemed destined to score his maiden test century, but with just seven required he edged a ball from Craig McMillan to Parore.

Rennie batted for 403 minutes, faced 323 balls and scored 10 fours.

Chris Martin was on course for test-best figures, ending the day with four for 45 off 26 overs.

He took four for 104 against South Africa in the second test at Port Elizabeth earlier this month.

Walker finished a disappointing day with none for 68 off 22 overs while Wiseman also went wicketless, conceding 106 off 48 overs. (AFP)

Wadekar to appear before Madhavan on January seven

MUMBAI, Dec 29: Former Indian captain and manager, Ajit Wadekar, have been summoned by the cricket board anti-corruption Commissioner K Madhavan to appear before him in New Delhi on January 7, 2001.

Wadekar told PTI here today that he has been summoned by Madhavan and would be leaving for Delhi a day earlier.

‘I am looking forward to the meeting and would like to get this matter sorted out once and for all", he added.

According to information received here, another former Indian skipper and coach, Kapil Dev, has also been summoned to appear before Madhavan on January 6 though the ace all rounder had given statements earlier that he was not interested in meeting Madhavan as his name has been cleared by CBI in the match-fixing scandal. (PTI)

Semis position cleared in Dev Raj Memorial Cricket

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

RAJOURI, Dec 29: Semi-finals position has been cleared with the entry of Singh XI and Chowdhary XI in the last four stage of the Dev Raj Sharma Memorial Inter-Club Cricket Tournament being organised by the Indian Youth Organisation (Rural) at Nowshera, here today.

In the first quarter-final of the day, Singh XI defeated Khokhar XI by five wickets to find the semi-finals berth.

Batting first after winning the toss, Khokhar XI set a target of 107 runs losing all the wickets. In reply, confident Singh XI chased the required total in the 16 overs for the loss of only five wickets.

Earlier, Khokhar XI made a bad Start, but their middle order batsmen played confident innings helping their side to cross the hundred runs mark. Jammi was the top scorer with 42 runs, while Sunny and Raja contributed 15 and 17 runs respectively.

Mohanty, Harmik and Manohar shared two wickets each for Singh XI, while Jaspal took one.

Later, Singh XI chased the target in 16 overs for the loss of five wickets. Opener Deedar played a very sensible inning of 36 runs including two sixes and four boundaries. Jaspal and Harvinder Singh contributed 25 and 18 runs respectively. Deedar Singh was declared as man of the match.

In the second quarter-final, Chowdhary XI defeated Bareri XI by 95 runs to reach the last four stage. Chowdhary XI won the toss and batting first set a challenging target of 199 runs for the loss of eight wickets. Bareri XI in reply bowled out for 101 runs.

Opener Suraj and Jasbir played valuable innings of 51 and 48 runs respectively for Chowdhary XI. Sunil and Rakesh contributed 25 and 40 runs respectively. For Bareri XI, Balbir took three wickets, while Surinder and Satwant clinched two each.

In reply, Bareri XI batsmen could not stand before the Chowdhary XI bowlers and lost the wickets at regular intervals. Although, Satwant bravely fought the bowling attack, but fall of wickets at regular intervals at the other end, especially the tale enders caused Bareri XI’s defeat. Whole side was bowled out for 101 runs. Satwant pushed the score single handedly with his fine knock of 42 runs which came with the help of two sixes and six boundaries.

For Chowdhary XI, Susheel Chowdhary emerged as most successful bowler with five wickets haul for 20 runs. Rajesh (G) and Rajesh (PET) shared two wickets each. Susheel was declared as man of the match.

Two side of Rakesh XI and Patali XI have already qualified for the semi-finals beating their opponents in the yesterday’s quarter-finals matches.