BANGALORE, Dec 21: Masterly knocks from Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag were the only redeeming features for India as the home team found itself struggling to avoid conceding a first innings lead to England on the third day of the third and final cricket test here today...........more

Hussain advises
restraint to his players

BANGALORE, Dec 21: "Keep the verbals (with the Indian players) down", was England skipper Nasser Hussain’s instruction to his teammates before they took ground on the third day of the third and final cricket test against India here today..............more

Tendulkar completes
1000 runs this
calendar year

BANGALORE, Dec 21: Even as India continued to struggle in the third and final test against England here today, Master batsman Sachin Tendulkar reached a personal milestone by completing 1000 test runs.........more

Kiwis looks like winners
after two full days

HAMILTON, Dec 21: New Zealand had Bangladesh on the ropes after the fourth day of the first cricket ......more

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 21: The Hindustan Scouts and Guides Association will set-up a full-fledged......more

Inter-college competitions
Science College, MAM
to fight for Men’s Kho-
Kho title today

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 21: The GGM Science College and Government MAM College today sailed into the final of the.....more

Inter-college
cricket tourney
held at Purkhoo

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 21: As part of the UTSAV-2001, the annual function programme launched by the Jamwal Group.....more

Garhi Club to meet
Jammu juniors in
Volleyball final

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

UDHAMPUR, Dec 21: Garhi Club and Jammu Juniors today reached the final.....more

Despite Sachin’s knock India struggle to avoid lead

BANGALORE, Dec 21: Masterly knocks from Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag were the only redeeming features for India as the home team found itself struggling to avoid conceding a first innings lead to England on the third day of the third and final cricket test here today.

After a highly patient batting to counter the negative bowling by the Englishmen yesterday, Tendulkar took the attack to the opposition camp in the company of Sehwag before both got out leaving the task unfinished.

Play was abandoned due to rains after tea and that stage India were 218 for seven, still 118 runs behind the England total of 336. Anil Kumble was batting on 10 while Harbhajan Singh has yet to open his account.

Tendulkar was the top-scorer with 90 before being stumped for the first time in his test career while Sehwag’s attractive 66-run knock came to an end just before the tea break in a session extended to compensate for the two rain interruptions earlier in the day.

After being forced to lie low in this test till now, India showed their attacking instincts for the first time when Sehwag and Tendulkar came out to bat after lunch.

It was Sehwag who went on the offensive first, stepping out to left-arm spinner Ashley Giles thrice in an over before finally being able to loft him over mid-on for a four. Giles had frustrated Tendulkar for the entire day yesterday by bowling over the stumps and outside the leg-stump to deny the Indian master any opportunity to score runs.

A patient Tendulkar had been simply padding him away but Sehwag did not have that much patience and he looked determined to change the course of the test.

Tendulkar took a cue from his junior partner and he too started using his feet in the next over of Giles. Tendulkar stepped out to hit him over mid-on and then swept square of fine leg for two successive fours. One ball later he drove the bowler through the mid-wicket to take two runs that completed his 1,000 runs in tests this year.

Tendulkar, who is the fifth batsman this year to score over 1,000 runs, reached the milestone in his tenth test.

The sudden change in the attitude of the Indians did force a rethink by the Englishmen over their strategy of bowling wide outside the leg-stump but they decided to persist with it for some more time and it produced result also.

In the next over from Giles, Tendulkar again padded four deliveries before running out of patience to dance down the pitch in a bid to go over the top. But Giles seemed to have anticipated that and pitched it short and Tendulkar missed it completely to be stumped for the first time in tests. His 263 minute stay at the crease was studded with 13 boundaries.

However, Sehwag did not let the dismissal affect his conce-ntration and continued to bat in the same attacking mould.

Play, which was disrupted twice earlier in the day - a 30 minute delay before the start in the morning and a one hour 20 minutes delay after lunch - due to light showers and poor light, was again held up for some time with Sehwag stranded on 49 and Anil Kumble on six. (PTI)

SCOREBOARD

England 1st innings: 336

India 1st innings:

S S Das b Flintoff 28

D Dasgupta c Trescothick b Flintoff 0

V V S Laxman b Flintoff 12

S Tendulkar st Foster b Giles 90

R Dravid c Foster b Hoggard 3

S Ganguly c Butcher b Hoggard 0

V Sehwag c Foster b Hoggard 66

A Kumble batting 10

Harbhajan Singh batting 0

Extras (b-4, lb-3, nb-2) 9

Total (for 7 wkts, 86 overs) 218

Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-22, 3-88, 4-121, 5-121, 6-173, 7-218.

Bowling: Hoggard 20-6-65-3, Flintoff 24-9-46-3, Giles 34-18-74-1, White 8-2-26-0. (PTI)

Hussain advises restraint to his players

BANGALORE, Dec 21: "Keep the verbals (with the Indian players) down", was England skipper Nasser Hussain’s instruction to his teammates before they took ground on the third day of the third and final cricket test against India here today.

Hussain, who was embroiled in a verbal duel with Master batsman Sachin Tendulkar yesterday over the negative bowling by Andrew Flintoff and left-arm spinner Ashley Giles, was simply passing on the message of match-referee Denis Lindsay who had advised restraint by the players, English paceman Matthew Hoggard told reporters today.

"He (Hussain) asked us to keep the verbals down. He said the match-referee had spoken to him about sledging," Hoggard said. "It was just two seconds (Hussain’s talk with his players) and it was dismissed."

Hoggard also admitted that the English bowers were trying to frustrate Tendulkar by not letting him score runs. "Its a different ball game bowling at Tendulkar.... He is a classic batsman... He is the best batsman in the world that I have bowled to. Its very hard to dislodge him".

Despite just two days remaining in the test and not even a single innings completed, Hoggard was hopeful of England’s chances in the match. "Who knows, there will be pressure on India and they will crumble. We will push for victory."

Hoggard, who took three big wickets today, also cracked a joke at himself. "They (some people) say when he (Hoggard) bowls well, he will take wickets. When he bowls badly, he will get all the wickets." (PTI)

Tendulkar completes 1000 runs this calendar year

BANGALORE, Dec 21: Even as India continued to struggle in the third and final test against England here today, Master batsman Sachin Tendulkar reached a personal milestone by completing 1000 test runs in a single calendar year.

Playing in his 10th test, Tendulkar reached the 1000th run with a two off left-arm spinner Ashley Giles which took him to 88. He is the fifth batsman to score 1000 or more runs this year.

Two runs later, Tendulkar was stumped by wicketkeeper James Foster off the same bowler and that was the first time in his test career that he was dismissed in this fashion.

Tendulkar’s 1000 runs become all the more creditable considering he missed the three-test series in Sri Lanka due to a foot injury.

Matthew Hayden is the leading run-scorer this year, having accumulated 1451 runs from 12 tests. The others to have scored 1000 runs or more are Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka), Herschelle Gibbs (South Africa) and Brian Lara (West Indies).

Except Lara, all have played more tests than Tendulkar. Lara, who had a magnificent series against Sri Lanka completed his 1000 runs from just nine tests. (PTI)

Kiwis looks like winners after two full days

HAMILTON, Dec 21: New Zealand had Bangladesh on the ropes after the fourth day of the first cricket test, having forced the visitors to follow on and then taking four wickets before stumps today.

New Zealand’s bowlers ranged from ordinary to just above average but it was enough to finish off Bangladesh’s first innings for 205 runs then have them 90 for four wickets at stumps in the follow on.

It left them trailing by 70 runs overall after New Zealand declared its first innings this morning at 365 for nine to set the visitors 216 runs to avoid automatically batting twice.

After the first two days were washed out due to rain, the crowd of about 1,000 today saw 354 runs scored and 18 wickets fall in the 100 overs bowled on a rare sun-drenched day.

Should the match finish with a New Zealand win by mid-tomorrow, it will be the second consecutive test here to last barely two days after New Zealand’s innings and 185 runs win against Pakistan in March.

Despite useful knocks from Habibul Bashar, debutant Sanuar Hossain and Khaled Mahmud, New Zealand managed to skittle the tourists in 58 overs of entertaining but sometimes reckless batting.

Star allrounder Chris Cairns was still far from his best but improved later while speedster Shane Bond and spinner Daniel Vettori were the most consistent, Bond taking four for 47 off 13.1 overs. (AP)

National Scouting Centre to be set up in Udhampur
*Hindustan Scouts and Guides evolves new strategies in 2-day workshop

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 21: The Hindustan Scouts and Guides Association will set-up a full-fledged National Scouting Centre at Ramnagar in district Udhampur in the near future to provide the expertise coaching to the management and commissioners (unit heads).

This was disclosed by the national commissioner of the Hindustan Scouts and Guides, Syed Asgar Ali, who is Director, Youth Services and Sports Department in a press conference here this afternoon.

He said for the centre, an appropriate site has already been identified and the work on the project will soon start with the funding from the Union Human Resource Development Ministry. Besides this, a number of other things were also discussed at length in the two-day workshop of the association held at Youth Hostel, Nagrota.

The Minister for Sports, Harbans Singh, who yesterday took oath as president of Hindustan Scouts and Guides, J&K, was to address the newsmen, but could not turn-up despite half an hour wait by the association members.

The Hindustan Scouts and Guides, a parallel body of the nearly 50 years old Bharat Scouts and Guides, has decided to enroll more and more youngsters in its fold, which they alleged latter has failed to do.

Mr H Y Ramiah, who is state secretary of Karnataka and was in Jammu to attend the two-day workshop said, "during all these years of its existence the Bharat Scouts and Guides was able to enroll merely one per cent of the total population to their fold, which is a quite meager number. Besides ignoring the strength the management of the Bharat Scouts and Guides misappropriated the funds meant for the social works".

"Being part of an organisation which has forfeited its basic purpose of involving more and more youth in the ‘Scouts and Guides’ was never acceptable to us and we depart from the Bharat Scouts and Guides and form Hindustan Scouts and Guides Association", he maintained.

However, Mr Ramiah mentioned that the Hindustan Scouts and Guides will take five years to cover one percent of the total population of the country.