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

Andy Flower

Flower blooms with
double ton in honourable
draw for Zimbabwe

NAGPUR, Nov 29: India’s attempt to make a clean-sweep in the series was thwarted by a resilient .............more

CBI has degraded
our prestige: BCCI

CALCUTTA, Nov 29: The Cricket Board today alleged that CBI had degraded its prestige in the .......more

Upset Ganguly
compliments
Andy Flower

NAGPUR, Nov 29: Indian captain Sourav Ganguly today paid the highest compliment to Andy ......more

Dravid not returning
to Kent

LONDON, Nov 29: English County Kent are being forced to look for another overseas import......more

Dogra bags Men’s title in
Open Distt Chess Champ

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

UDHAMPUR, Nov 29: Dr G L Dogra defeated Lt Col. Surjeet Gosh to claim the Men’s title in the IIIrd Open District Chess Championship.......more

Senior National Hockey Champ
Mandeep guides
J&K’s victory over
Bhopal in Pool-F

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 29: Left-hander Mandeep Singh helped hosts Jammu and Kashmir register its first win in ........more

State Billiards and Snooker Champ
Power failure disturbs
scheduled league matches

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 29: Unscheduled power cuts today badly disturbed the afternoon session of the senior .....more

APS Udhampur bags
champions trophy in quiz

Excelsior Correspondent

UDHAMPUR, Nov 29: Army Public School, Udhampur won the district level science quiz competition organised by the Department ....more

Flower blooms with double ton in honourable
draw for Zimbabwe

NAGPUR, Nov 29: India’s attempt to make a clean-sweep in the series was thwarted by a resilient Zimbabwe spearheaded by Andy Flower, who slammed an unbeaten 232 to write his name in the record books for being the only fourth from his country to score a double century as the second test ended in a draw here today.

The match was over when the two captains decided to call it a day when Zimbabwe had made 503-6 leaving India a humanly impossible target of 277 in the remaining 10 mandatory overs.

The former Zimbabwe skipper was in full flow as he made mincemeat of the home attack which looked jaded after over 17 hours in the field and Indian captain Saurav Ganguly was in no mood to ask his players to bat, and decided to call it off.

There was, however, a bit of confusion as the Zimbabwean players walked off the ground whether the tourists had declared their innings, but the later it was made clear that the two skippers had decided to abandon the match.

Forced to follow-on with 227 runs behind India, Zimbabwe made a brilliant recovery and batted through the fifth day to deny the hosts any chance of sweeping the series.

India, however, won the two-test series 1-0 after having defeated Zimbabwe in the first test at delhi last week by seven wickets.

Deservingly, Andy Flower was named both man-of-the-match and man-of-the-series after salvaging Zimbabwe from a precarious 61 for three yesterday for fruitful fourth and sixth wicket partnerships with Alistair Campbell (102) and Dirk Viljoen (38) respectively.

Flower, who hit 183 not out in the first innings of Delhi test, and followed with knocks of 70 and 55 in the next two innings, became the fourth Zimbabwean to score a double century after David Houghton (266), Guy Whittall (203) and his younger brother Grant Flower (201).

He ended the series with 540 runs from four innings for a staggering average of 270 which earned him the dual awards.

The left-hander first added a record 209 runs with another former skipper Campbell and then compiled 113 for the sixth wicket with Viljoen before tea.

The Campbell-Andy Flower partnership was the best for Zimbabwe against India as the hosts tried to break the ice without any success.

Hosts employed all their players except wicket-keeper Vijay Dahiya to bowl at flower but the in-form Zimbabwean stuck on.

Rookie off-spinner Sharandeep Singh was the most successful Indian bowler claiming four for 136 in the second innings for a haul of six wickets in his first test.

Earlier the test appeared headed for a keen finish when India grabbed two quick wickets in the first hour to make it 292 for five after Campbell and Andy Flower had resumed at their overnight score of 238 for three with both in their 80s.

Both raced to their tons with a flurry of boundaries -Campbell hitting three fours in four balls to bring up his first test century in 47 matches and flower pushing a single of left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi to mid-off after having hit the same bowler to the fence twice in the over.

But soon after completing the ton, Campbell departed for 102 pulling a short ball from Zaheer Khan to the midwicket where Joshi snapped a chest-high catch.

Ganguly took the new ball after 81 overs with Zimbabwe score reading 255 for three and was rewarded immediately when Campbell mistimed an attempted hook.

Though India managed to get the first innings’ centurian Grant Flower (16) quickly, caught by Ganguly at first slip off Joshi, Dirk Viljoen and Andy Flower frustrated the Indians with a valuable 113-run sixth wicket partnership.

The giving of a life to Viljoen when on zero by Shiv Sunder Das at forward short leg off Joshi, proved very costly for the hosts as they struggled to get at the lower order.

The pair batted till 20 minutes before tea when Sharandeep Singh forced left-handed Viljoen to edge a catch in the slips to Ganguly.

The tired Indians were further frustrated when a strong appeal for bat-pad catch of Zimbabwe skipper Heath Streak, by Ramesh off Joshi, before opening account, was rejected by New Zealand umpire Steve Dunne.

The high-scoring series also saw Rahul Dravid run up 200 not out, 70, and 162, while Sachin Tendulkar hit 122 and an unbeaten 201.

The batting form of the two teams augurs well for the five-match one-day series starting in Cuttack on Saturday. (PTI)

SCOREBOARD

India 1st innings 609-6 decl.

Zimbabwe 1st innings 382

Zimbabwe 2nd innings

G Whittall c Tendulkar b Sharandeep Singh 11

G Rennie c Ganguly b Sharandeep Singh 37

S Carlisle c Tendulkar b Sharandeep Singh 8

A Campbell c Joshi b Zaheer not out 232

G Flower c Ganguly b Joshi 16

D Viljoen c Ganguly b Sharandeep Singh 38

H Streak not out 29

Extras (lb-14, b-12, nb-4) 30

Total (for 6 wkts, decl in 161 overs) 503

Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-60, 3-61, 4-270, 5-292, 6-405.

Bowling: Z Khan 17-5-48-1, A Agarkar 14-3-29-0, Sharandeep Singh 49-10-136-4, S Joshi 41-6-153-1, S Tendulkar 11-3-19-0, J Srinath 15-5-53-0, S Ramesh 3-0-14-0, R Dravid 7-0-15-0, Ganguly 1-0-3-0, S S Das 3-0-7-0. (PTI)

CBI has degraded our prestige: BCCI

CALCUTTA, Nov 29: The Cricket Board today alleged that CBI had degraded its prestige in the public eye and negated its good work by furnishing erroneous facts and figures.

Expressing ‘disappointment, ‘surprise’ and ‘concern’ with some of the observations made by the premier investigative agency about the functioning of the Board in its ‘report on cricket match-fixing and related malpractices’, BCCI said "the uncharitable observations are the least the Board deserves. This may prompt many to say ‘it’s not cricket’".

Giving a point-by-point rebuttal of the observations made about its functioning in the CBI report, BCCI claimed in a booklet published after its special general meeting here that the incidents of match-fixing and under-performance should not be looked upon as a result of the "Board’s shortcomings".

"The members felt that when the report has been furnished by a premier organisation like CBI, the erroneous facts and figures negated the good work done by the Board over the years by a stroke of the pen and degraded its prestige in the public eye," the 55-page booklet `observations on the report of the Central Bureau of Investigation on cricket match fixing and related malpractices’ said.

Observing that bcci was not aware that CBI’s terms of reference included the Board’s functioning despite it being an autonomous body, the booklet said "had the Government informed the Board about CBI’s jurisdiction, the Board could have made appropriate representation before CBI through its members or legal advisors".

In a strong indictment of the third part of the CBI report which dealt with the Board’s functioning, the booklet said the agency should have verified the facts and figures from it before using them in its report.

"This could have at least prevented CBI from stating incorrect facts and figures. It need not be emphasised that erroneous facts and figures would only lead to erroneous conclusions".

Describing the CBI’s observations as ‘more like a moral story in nature, devoid of substance’, the booklet regretted the investigative agency had failed to specify its recommendations to the Central and State Governments or their relevant agencies on the actions needed to be taken.

"It appears that the contents of this section of the CBI report are based on assumptions and presumptions, rather then due regard of the history of Indian cricket and the board or full knowledge of the game and its administration", the booklet said.

It wanted to know the sources from which CBI had collected the ‘erroneous facts and figures’ and asked how the agency could expect the board, instead of the law enforcing agencies, to tackle the matter having implications ‘for national security as a whole’. (PTI)

Upset Ganguly compliments Andy Flower

NAGPUR, Nov 29: Indian captain Sourav Ganguly today paid the highest compliment to Andy Flower, whose career-best knock of 232 today saved the match for Zimbabwe, saying that he has not seen any visiting batsmen like Andy who has played so well in India.

Speaking after the end of the match, Ganguly said that he was disappointed that India could not force a win here especially after the batsmen had batted so well to put on such a big score. "However, Andy played an outstanding knock and when some one plays so well it is difficult. He hardly mistimed anything," Ganguly added.

Ganguly also had a word of praise for Sharandeep, who, he said bowled very well in just his first test. He, however, admitted that the team did drop some catches. "We will have to improve our fielding if we have to win consistently in tests."

On the coming one-day series against Zimbabwe, he said, "one-day cricket is a different ball game altogether and they are a good one-day side. However, we have been playing well for the last four five months so I am confident that we will do well."

Ganguly said, "we missed Kumble, but this gave us a chance to try the youngsters. "With Kumble in the team, the result might have been different," he claimed. (UNI)

Dravid not returning to Kent

LONDON, Nov 29: English County Kent are being forced to look for another overseas import following confirmation that Indian batsman Rahul Dravid will not be returning next season.

Dravid made his decision due to India’s busy international calendar and admitted: "I’m obviously very disappointed not to be able to return.

"The proposed schedule for the Indian team makes it impossible for me to participate in county cricket.

"I’ve enjoyed every minute of my time with kent and am very grateful for all the support I’ve received."

Matthew Fleming, reappointed kent captain for a third year running recently, added: "Rahul made an outstanding contribution to the team both on and off the field.

"He was a great example to all of us and it is a great pity that he is not able to return’’.

"We have already started to examine the options available to us."

Dravid’s situation is typical of that facing many top-flight test stars and their participation in County Cricket looks set to decrease as international schedules become increasingly congested. (AFP)