BANGALORE, Dec 19: Some quick wickets towards the end of the day saw India bouncing back into the game but England had still placed themselves in a comfortable position on the opening.........more

ECB has agreed to extra
1-dayer, says BCCI

NEW DELHI, Dec 19: Nothwithstanding to the denial issued by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), the Indian Board (BCCI) today maintained that ecb has agreed to its demand for playing an extra one-dayer next month............more

Punjab beat J&K
by 8 wkts

LUDHIANA, Dec 19: Punjab defeated Jammu and Kashmir by eight wickets in their third match of the North Zone Ranji Trophy one -day league encounter here today. J and K winning the toss and electing to bat were skittled out for 114 in 42.4 overs as Vineet Sharma and .......more

Sri Lanka beat West
Indies in tri-series final

COLOMBO, Dec 19: Sri Lanka beat the West Indies by 34 runs in the day-night final of the triangular cricket series here today.......more

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 19: Two unbeaten innings played by international player, Tarandeep Anand made it a one-sided......more

Deepak Memorial Volleyball Championship
City Club wins opening tie

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

UDHAMPUR, Dec 19: City Volleyball Club won the opening tie in the Deepak Memorial Volleyball.....more

IV Mobike Dirt Track Race
12 riders qualify
for semi-finals
*Young and first timer Pardeep Majotra emerging hot favourite

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 19: Young Pardeep Majotra, who has made his debut in the world of adventure...more

Jammu Club’s Sports Meet
Vasu-Sachin pair in TT final

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 19: Vasu Dewan and Sachin Sant have reached the final of Table Tennis doubles event.....more

England keep Kumble on tenterhooks

BANGALORE, Dec 19: Some quick wickets towards the end of the day saw India bouncing back into the game but England had still placed themselves in a comfortable position on the opening day of the third and final cricket test here today.

From a healthy 206 for three, England slipped to 219 for six before finishing the day at 255 for six when play was called off four overs before schedule due to bad light. Play had earlier been disrupted for about 20 minutes due to the same reason when 14 overs still needed to be bowled.

The Indian ploy of going in with three spinners did not seem to be working till Sarandeep Singh struck in the 68th over of the day to dismiss Andrew Flintoff. The off-spinner from Punjab, who was preferred over paceman Tinu Yohannan, sent back Mark Ramprakash two overs later to justify his inclusion in the side.

But it was a frustrating day for local hero Anil Kumble who is just one short of the 300 test wicket mark. Kumble, who claimed 18 wickets in the first two tests, was greeted with a thunderous applause from an expectant home crowd when he came on to bowl but even after toiling for 22 overs, the 300th victim remained elusive for him.

Overcast conditions in the morning had forced floodlights to be switched on and for the first time in its history a test match started under artificial lights.

England captain Nasser Hussain had no hesitation in electing to bat after winning the toss and despite the early loss of opener Marcus Trescothick, his team responded well to the decision.

Hussain himself was instrumental in setting an aggressive tone for the day, adding a brisk 47 runs for the second wicket with Mark Butcher after england had lost their first wicket at 21.

However, it was the 113-run fourth wicket partnership between Michael Vaughan and Mark Ramprakash that really put england on top. Coming together after Hussain became the second victim of Srinath in the third over after lunch, Vaughan and Ramprakash batted confidently for nearly three hours to take the score to 206.

Vaughan, who top-scored with 64 with eight fours, then fell to an indiscretion when he handled the ball after missing an attempted sweep shot off Sarandeep. He became the seventh batsman in test history and the second englishman, after former captain Graham Gooch, to be dismissed in this fashion.

Vaughan’s dismissal saw a minor collapse with Sarandeep having Andrew Flintoff caught by Sachin Tendulkar in the same over and then sending back Ramprakash two overs later.

With the score on 231 for six, the batsmen, Craig White and James Foster, when bad light disrupted play for about 20 minutes before the players took field again. But only ten overs were possible before play was called off for the day. White was batting on 30 at that stage While Foster was on 14. It was skipper Sourav Ganguly who opened the bowling with Srinath in the morning, sending down seven overs for 30 runs. Srinath, who like Kumble and vice-captain Rahul Dravid, was playing before his home crowd had an impressive opening spell of one for 20 off his seven overs.

Thereafter it was over to the spinners but the english batsmen seemed to have done their homework well. They attacked Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, who replaced Srinath and Ganguly after 14 overs, with Hussain being the more forthcoming with his shots.

Kumble was bang on target with his very first ball which hit the pads of Hussain prompting the entire Indian team to go up in appeal. However, Hussain remained unfazed and stepped out to the first ball of Harbhajan when the off-spinner came on to bowl from the other end in the next over. He missed that one but got it right one ball later, lofting Harbhajan over mid-on for a one-bounce four.

That positive approach remained throughout his innings and he was ably supported by Butcher who was more restrained. The two ran some quick singles to put the pressure on the indian fielders who were once again mediocre.

Sharp running between the wickets however became the nemesis of Butcher who was run out trying to steal a single at mid-off. He was half-way down the pitch when he realised that his partner and skipper Nasser Hussain had not moved from the crease. Dravid’s throw was on target and found the batsman, who tried to scamper back, well short of his crease. Butcher had batted for 96 minutes and faced 51 balls for his 27 runs which included four boundaries.

England took lunch at 82 for two with Hussain going strong on 43 in the company of Vaughan.

The Indians got the big breakthrough after the break when Srinath produced an outside edge off Hussain’s bat for an easy catch to wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta. Hussain hit five fours and a six during his 98-minute stay at the crease.

That brought Vaughan and Ramprakash together in the most fruitful partnership of the day. After the fall of Hussain, Vaughan took the responsibility of attacking the bowlers and played some fine drives on both sides of the wicket.

Once again, the englishmen showed a sense of urgency in their running between the wickets and frustrated the Indians with smart singles.

Ganguly shuffled his three spinners and even gave Tendulkar a three-over spell but the Indians had no success. Kumble and Harbhajan were far from their best and many a time strayed down the leg side which fetched easy runs for England.

Kumble, who had come tantalisingly close to getting his 300th wicket when Laxman failed to latch on to a fairly simple chance of Ramprakash when the batsman had not even opened his account, was hit for a couple of fours by Vaughan to compound his miseries.

The English duo took the score to 176 for three at lunch with Vaughan, who had reached his half-century two overs earlier, batting on 56 and Ramprakash on 33. (PTI)

SCOREBOARD

England 1st innings

M Butcher run out 27

M Trescothick c Laxman b Srinath 8

N Hussain c Dasgupta b Srinath 43

M Vaughan handled the ball 64

M Ramprakash c Dravid b Sarandeep 58

A Flintoff c Tendulkar b Sarandeep 0

C White batting 30

J Foster batting 14

Extras (b-5, lb-3, nb-3) 11

Total (for 6 wkts, 86 overs) 255

Fall of wickets: 1-21, 2-68, 3-93, 4-206, 5-206, 6-219.

Bowling: Srinath 18-6-49-2, Ganguly 7-0-30-0, Kumble 22-5-59-0, Harbhajan Singh 19-4-45-0, Sarandeep Singh 17-4-45-2, Tendulkar 3-0-19-0. (PTI)

ECB has agreed to extra 1-dayer, says BCCI

NEW DELHI, Dec 19: Nothwithstanding to the denial issued by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), the Indian Board (BCCI) today maintained that ecb has agreed to its demand for playing an extra one-dayer next month.

Contacted in Bangalore today, BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah refused to say anything more than "let’s leave it at that".

However, a BCCI official said that while ECB had agreed to play a sixth one-dayer on its team’s return here after Christmas and new year holidays, discussions were still on regarding India’s demand for an extra test during England’s tour of India in 2004-05.

A London report yesterday quoted an ECB spokesman as saying: "nothing has been agreed. We are still in ongoing discussions".

Shah had said yesterday that BCCI would like to play the match on January 19 before the Kolkata one-dayer either at Cuttack, Baroda or Rajkot. However, the exact date and venue would be known shortly as ECB wanted the team, which will comeback here on January 12 after a christmas and new year break, to play the sixth tie on February 5 after the Mumbai match on February 3, 2002.

Shah said ECB had written to him expressing readiness to play a sixth one-dayer. BCCI was also trying to get a five-test series during England’s tour of India in 2004-05.

The England team is scheduled to play a five-match one-day series in the new year at Kolkata (day-night) on January 22, Chennai (day-night) on January 25, Kanpur (day match) on January 28, Delhi (day match) on January 31 and Mumbai (day-night) on February 3. (PTI)

Punjab beat J&K by 8 wkts

LUDHIANA, Dec 19: Punjab defeated Jammu and Kashmir by eight wickets in their third match of the North Zone Ranji Trophy one -day league encounter here today.

J and K winning the toss and electing to bat were skittled out for 114 in 42.4 overs as Vineet Sharma and Babloo Kumar wrecked their innings taking four wickets each at personal cost of 20 and 24 runs respectively. Ashwani Gupta was the only batsman to defy their onslaught and stood at crease scoring 46 runs, comprising two hits to the fence of 93 balls. Amit Uniyal collected the wicket Dhruv Mahajan(four) while Pradeep bali was run out with his individual score of 16 runs from a direct hit by Yuvraj Singh.

Punjab accomoplished the task with an unbeaten knock of 65 of 54 balls by Dinesh Mongia. His knock consisted of a roaring six and seven hits to the fence. Surinder Singh captured the hosts wickets of Munish Sharma(six) and skipper Pankat Dharmani (17). Ankur Kakkar with eight runs remained unbeaten.

With this win Punjab has collected 12 points from three matches including the first one being washed out. Jammu and Kashmir had to be content with two points from the washed out match on December 15

Brief score: Jammu and Kashmir all out for 114 in 42.4 overs: Ashwani Gupta-46, Abdul Qayoom- not out-20, Pradeep Bali-16. Vineet Sharma four for 20, Babloo Kumar four for 24. Punjab: 115 for two in 15.1 overs: Dinesh Mongia not out-65, Pankaj Dharamani-17. Surinder Singh two for 34. (UNI)

Sri Lanka beat West Indies in tri-series final

COLOMBO, Dec 19: Sri Lanka beat the West Indies by 34 runs in the day-night final of the triangular cricket series here today.

The West Indies, needing 247 to win off 47 overs, scored 212-7. (AFP)

GCW Gandhi Nagar retains Kho-Kho Trophy
*Tarandeep’s unbeaten play turned the tables against GCW, Parade

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 19: Two unbeaten innings played by international player, Tarandeep Anand made it a one-sided affair for the Government College for Women, Gandhi Nagar, which retained the Inter-college Kho-Kho Trophy beating the arch rival Government College for Women (GCW), Parade in the final at University of Jammu grounds, here this afternoon.

For her unbeaten play Tarandeep remained in the lime-light through the final which ended in favour of Gandhi Nagar College 17-4. Others, who extended good support to Tarandeep in making it a one-sided affair were Bandana, Pooja and Nisha. From GCW, Parade, Madhu, Bindu and Ashima fought well.

Tarandeep, who played confidently, especially in the second turn, spared no chance for the Parade College followers, who made all out efforts to out her. She remained in action for nearly nine minutes till the final whistle was blown by the table referee.

Third year student, Tarandeep is an international player from Jammu and Kashmir, who has played the 1995-96 Asian Games. Besides this, she has a bronze medal in the North-zone Championship to her credit.

Soon after the final ended, the selectors named 19 girls for the coaching camp to select the Jammu University team for the North-Zone Inter-University Kho-Kho Tournament. The selected probables are Tarandeep Anand, Bandana Kumari, Pooja, Rukhsana, Sheetal Kumari, Neesha Sambyal, Ashu Jamwal, Amina Rajput, Nisha, Pooja Mandhar, Sunaina, Meenakshi, Bindu, Madhu, Sunita, Ashima, Seema, Gurdeep Kour (Degree College, Poonch) and Sunita of Government College for Women, Udhampur.

The final was officiated by Anil Gupta, Ajay Gupta and Naresh Abrol.

In the final, Dean, Faculty of Law, Prof Nissar Ahmed Ganai, was the chief guest, who witnessed the final and appreciated Tarandeep for her exceptional performance.

Meanwhile, in the Men’s Kho-Kho, all the scheduled matches ended in walkovers. Degree College, Rajouri got walkovers Post Graduate Departments, while Government MAM College sailed into the second round uncontested in the absence of Degree College, Poonch.

Another walkover was awarded in favour of Degree College, Kathua when Degree College, Bhaderwah failed to report at the venue.