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

Astle scores century
after first over scare

NAPIER (NEW ZEALAND), Mar 1: Opener Nathan Astle made ....more

Final cricket test from today
India desperate to
turn things around

BANGALORE, Mar 1: A beleaguered India are desperate ....more

Ricky Ponting

Ricky Ponting to miss
New Zealand tour

SYDNEY, Mar 1: Ricky Ponting was ruled out of Australia’s .....more

Gavaskar, Bedi in
ICC selection panel

CALCUTTA, Mar 1: Legendary opener Sunil Gavaskar and spin wizard Bishan Singh......more

Leander Paes

Paes sails into
quarterfinals

MUMBAI, Mar 1: Indian Davis Cup star and top.....more

13th State Football Champ starts
Fire Services
beat DFA Poonch

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Mar 1: The Fire Services outplayed the DFA, Poonch by two goals to one in the opening match of the 13th State Football Championship which began at Mini-Stadium, Parade, here today......more

Annual sports meet of CGEWCC begins
Postal Services beat ASI
in inaugural cricket tie

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Mar 1: Postal Services XI today defeated Archaeological Survey of India XI by six wickets on the opening day of the Cricket tournament which begins at University of Jammu grounds, here today........more

CRPF Inter-Bn Football Tournament
Host 34 Bn, 8 Bn, 50 Bn
win opening day matches

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Mar 1: Host 34 Bn, 8 Bn and 50 Bn emerged winners on the opening day of the IIIrd CRPF Inter-Battalion Jammu (Ops) at Gulshan Grounds, here today. In the second match of the evening session, 8 Bn defeated 33 Bn by a solitary goal to enter the second round of the tournament. The only goal was scored by the Boni Face in the 20th minutes of the first half. Whereas, both sides made a number of moves in the second half but failed to score any goal.......more

CRPF 68 Bn organises
Kho-Kho Tourney,
Medical camp

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Mar 1: The CRPF 68 Battalion organised the Kho-Kho Tournament of Reasi/Arnas Sub-divisions was organised at.....more

Astle scores century after first over scare

NAPIER (NEW ZEALAND), Mar 1: Opener Nathan Astle made Australia pay for a fielding blunder here today, hammering a century after being dropped on zero as New Zealand scored 243 for nine in the fifth limited overs cricket international.

Astle cracked 104 off 128 balls to be the backbone of the Kiwi innings after he was dropped at mid-off by Michael Bevan in Glenn McGrath’s opening over.

It continued a marvellous scoring summer for the right-handed Astle, who followed up scores of 77, 32, 50, 76 and 85 in the five-match home series against the West Indies with 0, 81, 45 and today’s 104 against Australia.

Damien Fleming took 4-41 off his eight overs, but McGrath proved expensive at 2-61 off 10 overs. Legspinner Shane Warne was unlucky not to pick up a few wickets and finished with 1-34 off 10 overs.

Australian-born opener Mathew Sinclair, who was dismissed on his first ball in his one-day debut in the last match in Christchurch, was out on the fourth ball today, again for a duck.

Roger Twose hit 32 off 57 balls and put on 89 runs for the third wicket with Astle while Chris Cairns smashed two sixes in his 31 off 46 balls.

Australia, who have already won the six-match series with an unassailable 3-0 lead, looked sluggish in the field, highlighted by Bevan’s spilt catch around his midriff. (AFP)

Final cricket test from today
India desperate to turn things around

BANGALORE, Mar 1: A beleaguered India are desperate to stave off their first test series defeat at home in 13 years despite several problems as they take on a buoyant South Africa in the second and final cricket test starting here tomorrow.

The hosts, whose last home test series defeat came in 1986-87 against the Imran Khan-led Pakistan, are faced with an arduous task to topple the visitors who are flying high after the first test triumph at Mumbai by four wickets.

After suffering their fourth straight test defeat, India are hardly geared up to counter South Africa’s might.

Hit by batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar’s move to step down as captain and the debate around Mohd Azharuddin’s recall, the batting plight and the Cricket Board’s (BCCI) volte face over preparing sporting pitches and tension between the team management and board officials has hardly given an ideal chance for India to bounce back as a unit.

The hosts, who recovered to draw the two-test home series against Pakistan last year, will have to produce something special if they are to overcome the South Africans.

Tendulkar, who quits captaincy after this game, will be extremely keen to go out on a winning note. The master batsman playing his 76th test is just five runs short of crossing the 6,000-run barrier.

On a Chinnaswamy stadium pitch expected to take turn from end of day two, India might have to omit a batsman if they plan to field three slow bowlers though Azharuddin and opener S Ramesh look certain to play.

The 37-year-old Azharuddin, seeking to return and play his 99th test after seven months in the wilderness since the World Cup last year, has an excellent record against South Africa with three centuries.

"I am fully fit and raring to go", said the wristy batsman, who suffered a chip fracture on the base of his right thumb playing for the Board President’s XI against the visitors to be ruled out for the first test.

Hansie Cronje’s men, who lost the 1996-97 test series to India 1-2, are oozing confidence and are determined not to allow Indian to square the series.

"This time around, we know we can really achieve that (test series win)", Cronje said. "We have got the confidence and maturity. Obviously the pressure is on Indians.

"We are keen to keep the pressure on", said Cronje, 30, who has led South Africa in 52 of the 69 tests his country has played since it was reinstated to international cricket.

South Africa have been boosted by batsman Daryll Cullinan recovering from a groin strain that kept him out of the first test. He is expected to replace the listless Pieter Strydom.

All-rounder Lance Klusener twisted his left ankle playing soccer yesterday, but Cronje expected him to be fit to play.

After the first test ended within three days, a debate has hotted up over pitch conditions for the series, especially after the Cricket Board’s (BCCI) reported direction to its pitch and grounds committee under former skipper K Srikkanth to stay away from match venues.

Srikkanth had assured sporting pitches and BCCI had empowered his panel to oversee pitch preparations. But BCCI’s return to old ways has apparently been done on grounds of providing home advantage.

Pitch curator, G Kasturi Rangan said the track will start taking turn towards the end of second day, a view shared by Cronje.

India are expected to field three spinners, giving off-spinner Nikhil Chopra his first test cap. Though Anil Kumble bowled well in Mumbai, left armer Murali Kartik’s inexperience was evident at times and Chopra has never been a genuine tweaker of the ball, leaving their task cut out.

After the miserable failure of the opening pair which cost V V S Laxman his place, young Wasim Jaffer will open with Ramesh while Azhar will take Ajay Jadeja’s place in the team.

Ramesh has not played any cricket since suffering a thumb fracture fending an express delivery from Brett Lee in the second test against Australia at Melbourne last December.

South Africa, for all practical purposes, play their first tie here and their only previous appearance was against Zimbabwe during the 1993 Hero Cup. Only 10 overs was possible on that occasion due to inclement weather.

Out of 12 tests played at this venue, India have won four, lost three with five drawn. India lost their last test they played here against Australia in the 1997-98 series.

India, desperate to mark a turnaround in their fortunes, will be striving to win ahead of the one-day series. We all pray it stops here, and we start winning", Saurav Ganguly, taking over captaincy from Tendulkar for the one-dayers, said. "If we score 300 to 325 runs on this wicket, I think we should win... It’s a good enough total".

Coach Kapil Dev said "the sooner we end this poor run, the better it is". (PTI)

Gavaskar, Bedi in ICC selection panel

CALCUTTA, Mar 1: Legendary opener Sunil Gavaskar and spin wizard Bishan Singh Bedi will be the Indian members in two high-profile panels appointed by International Cricket Council to select three crack teams as part of its ‘cricket week’ celebrations from April 2 to 9.

A five-member panel, which will select teams for the Asia XI versus rest of the world XI one-day match in Dhaka on April 8, will comprise former Australian skipper Ian Chappell, former England captain Tony Greig, former Pakistan batsman and skipper Asif Iqbal and South African all-rounder Mike Procter besides Gavaskar. The day-night match will be staged at the Bangabandhu National Stadium.

The other panel, comprising nine members, will pick the all time best one-day side, christened ‘Allstar Best XI’, ICC president Jagmohan Dalmiya said here today.

Apart from Bedi, the panel includes Gary Sobers (West Indies), regarded as the greatest all-rounder, Barry Richards (South Africa), Mushtaq Mohammad (Pakistan), Duleep Mendis (Sri Lanka), Neil Harvey (Australia), John Reid (New Zealand), Andy Pycroft (Zimbabwe) and illustrious English umpire Dicky Bird.

"The Allstar Best XI, the best one day side according to ICC, will comprise players who had been in action since the 1975 World Cup. They will, however, not play any match," Dalmiya said.

Ex-Indian all-rounder and TV commentator Ravi Shastri will be the moderator for both panels, which will hold sitting in Delhi on March 7 to choose the squads. (PTI)

Paes sails into quarterfinals

MUMBAI, Mar 1: Indian Davis Cup star and top seed Leander Paes sailed into the men’s singles quarter-finals with an easy 6-1, 6-4 win over unseeded Jerame Hanquez of France in the 50,000 prize money ATP Tennis Challenger here today.

Paes, ranked 113 in the world, took one hour five minutes to dispose of his opponent. He had an easy outing in the match played on the centre court, served and volleyed magnificiently and also passed his opponent on either flanks with ease.

Paes totally dominated the first set and his rival could just win one game, when he held his serve in the sixth game. The Frenchman played better in the second. He fought back well to save three break points and held his serve in the third game.

However, the plucky Indian played some breathtaking passing shots in the seventh game to break his rival’s serve and then served out the match at 6-4 with a fine drop shot from near the net.

Paes served as many as six aces while his opponent could manage just three. The Frenchman was also guilty of double faulting four times while Paes served just one.

In the only upset of the day, eighth seeded Jeff Coetzee of South Africa conceded his match against unseeded Glorigo Galimberti of Italy after suffering inflamation of the lower back. Coetzee was trailing 1-6, 0-1 when he threw-in the towel. (PTI)

13th State Football Champ starts
Fire Services beat DFA Poonch

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Mar 1: The Fire Services outplayed the DFA, Poonch by two goals to one in the opening match of the 13th State Football Championship which began at Mini-Stadium, Parade, here today.

Although, DFA, Poonch was leading by one goal at the end of the first half, but two goals in the last minutes changed the match in favour of Fire Services.

Manjeet Singh had scored the goal for Poonch in the 15th minutes after getting a pass from Rajinder. Manjeet had lobbed the ball on the top of the penalty area into the right corner of the goal post.

However, Fire Services got a chance in the 33rd minutes, but the shot taken within the penalty area was stopped by by the alert Poonch goal-keeper, Manmohan.

In the second half, DFA, Poonch made a good move in the 50th minutes, when a powerful kick by Tarlochan Singh who dribbled the ball beating two defenders was stopped by the Fire Services goal-keeper, Bilal Ahmed.

It was only in the 57th minutes, the Fire Services equalised the lead making a goal through Mustafa Kamal who headed the ball into the goal on a pass from Mohd Mir.

Within the three minutes of the first goal, Fire Services scored the victory goal in the 60th minutes though Mohd Amin.

Tanvir Ahmed of Fire Services was shown yellow card by the centre referee, Mr Arun Kumar Sharma.

The championship in which 26 teams from various districts of the state, besides local clubs and three departmental teams of Jammu and Kashmir Bank, Jammu and Kashmir Police and Fire Services are taking part s being organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Football Association under the aegis of J&K State Sports Council.

Earlier, the championship was declared open by Mr Nazir Ahmed Khan, president of the Jammu and Kashmir Football Association.

Meanwhile, the team members of the DFA Poonch were unhappy with the arrangements of the organisers, who failed to provide first aid to the injured players.

Tomorrow’s fixture:

NGR Club V/s DFA, Udhampur at 4 pm.