V V S Laxman & Rahul Dravid

Laxman and Dravid
on record spree

KOLKATA, Mar 14: New star V V S Laxman re-wrote history books today, making an unbeaten 275 .....more

Sunil Gavaskar

It was truly a
wonderful knock
by Laxman: Gavaskar

MUMBAI, Mar 14: Former India captain, Sunil Gavaskar, whose highest individual test score of 236 ......more

Ranji Trophy
Orissa beat J&K by
420 runs, moves to
quarter-finals

CUTTACK, Mar 14: East Zone champion Orissa today entered the Ranji Trophy quarter finals in .....more

West Indies conjure draw
after run of 7 defeats

GEORGETOWN, Mar 14: New captain Carl Hooper and his West Indies side ended.....more

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Mar 14: The CDA (Combined Defence Accounts) today defeated MES (Military Engineering Service) 2-1 to reach the semi-finals of the Badminton in the ongoing Central Government Employees Welfare Coordination Committee (CGEWCC) Sports Meet at Indoor halls, M A Stadium, here..........more

Samooh Club wins
Gulbadhan Memorial
Cricket Tourney

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Mar 14: Samooh Cricket Club lifted the winners trophy in the 2nd Amar Shaheed Gulbadhan Singh Memorial Cricket (Cosco ball) Tournament beating Karan Nagar (Senior) Cricket Club in the final by four wickets at BJD grounds, Paloura, here.....more

87 Bn bags BSF
Inter-Battalion
Weightlifting Champ

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Mar 14: The 87 Bn today bagged the overall championship trophy in the BSF Inter-Battalion .....more

HSS Kathua win District
Wrestling Championship

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

KATHUA, Mar 14: Government Higher Secondary School, Kathua lifted the overall championship trophy in the Kathua District.....more

 
IG, R V Raju giving away winner trophy to Samooh Cricket Club at Jammu.

Laxman and Dravid on record spree

KOLKATA, Mar 14: New star V V S Laxman re-wrote history books today, making an unbeaten 275 to lead a great Indian fightback against Australia in the second test here with the help of Rahul Dravid who batted heroically for an undefeated 155.

The feared Australian bowling attack failed toe wicket through the day as the two Indian batsmen added a record 357 runs for the fifth wicket and were unseparated at the close of the fourth day’s play with India having made 589 for four.

Laxman surpassed Sunil Gavaskar’s 236 not out to make the highest individual score by an Indian in 70 years since the country started playing test cricket and in the process left open a host of possibilities on the final day of the test tomorrow — a draw, an Indian win or an Australian win — in a match the visitors hoped to wrap up in three days as they had done in Mumbai.

With India already having a lead of 315, skipper Saurav Ganguly may declare before lunch tomorrow to have a go at the formidable Australians.

Both Laxman and Dravid broke a number of records during their marathon unfinished partnership as they made a mockery of the famed Australian bowling attack on a highly eventful day which brought back smiles in the Indian dressing room.

Resuming at the overnight score of 254 for four with India still needing 20 runs to avoid an innings defeat, both Laxman and Dravid negotiated the second new ball cautiously before unleashing a flurry of strokes on both sides of the wicket to unsettle the Australian bowlers.

Dravid, who looked a trifle tentative in the initial stages of his knock, seemed to be inspired by the free-flowing Laxman at the other end and started executing some glorious shots after getting his eye in.

The two Indian batsmen made light of the Aussie bowling as they accumulated runs with ease smashing one boundary after another on what appeared to be a good batting track.

Captain Steve Waugh kept rotating his bowlers and also used part-timers like Ricky Ponting, Mathew Hayden and Michael Slater in a bid to break the marathon partnership but without much success.

Laxman and Dravid rewrote many a record on their way to a heroic fifth wicket partnership which not only pulled the hosts out of the pits but took them to a position from where they could exert some pressure on the visitors.

Showing no signs of fatigue, the in-form Laxman drove off spinner Mark Waugh to the cover fence to notch up his maiden double century shortly after the drinks break in the post-lunch session.

Dravid, who was under fire for a series of lackluster performances, silents when he stroked a delightful drive to the long on fence off Shane Warne to complete his ninth test century about 15 minutes before tea.

The Indian batsmen continued to pile on the agony on the Australians who were hoping to clinch a dream series win on Indian soil after a long gap of 31 years.

The Aussies, put under pressure by the Indian onslaught, seemed to be a demoralised lot on the field as the bowlers lost their sting and the fielders also started making lapses helping the Indian cause.

In the last session of play Laxman became the highest scorer in India’s test history when he reached 237 by taking a single off Hayden. He eclipsed the previous record of Sunil Gavaskar who had scored 236 not out against the West Indies in Chennai in the 1983-84 series.

Required to put their best foot forward after conceding a huge first innings lead of 274, the Indian batsmen who drew a lot of flak for succumbing tamely in the first test in Mumbai and the first innings here, eventually got their act together in magnificent fashion to restore honour to Indian cricket. (PTI)

SCOREBOARD

Australia first innings 445 all out

India first innings 171 all out

India second innings (overnight 254 for 4)

Shib Sundar Das hit wicket b Jason Gillespie 39

Sadagoppan Ramesh c Mark Waugh b Shane Warne 30

V V S Laxman batting 275

Sachin Tendulkar c Adam Gilchrist b Jason Gillespie 10

Saurav Ganguly c Adam Gilchrist b Glenn McGrath 48

Rahul Dravid batting 155

Extras: (bys 6, lbys 12, wbs 2, nbs 12) 32

Total (for four wickets) 589

Fall of wickets: 1/52, 2/97, 3/115, 4/232

Bowling analysis: Glenn McGrath: 33—12—081—01;

Jason Gillespie: 31—06—115—02; Shane Warne: 34—03—152—01; Mark Waugh: 18—01—058—00; Michael Kasprowicz: 28—06—093—00; Ricky Ponting: 12—01—041—00; Mathew Hayden: 06—00—024—00; Michael Slater: 02—01—004—00; Justin Langer: 01—00—003—00. (UNI)

It was truly a wonderful knock by Laxman: Gavaskar

MUMBAI, Mar 14: Former India captain, Sunil Gavaskar, whose highest individual test score of 236 was bettered by V V S Laxman today in the second test match against Australia, described the latter’s innings as ‘truly wonderful’ and hoped ‘this will just be the first of many such knocks from Laxman’.

Gavaskar, the second highest test run getter with more that 10,000 runs to his credit, in a statement, said Laxman being a staunch devotee of Sathya Sai Baba it is even more a happier occasion to celebrate. Gavaskar too is a follower of Satya Sai Baba.

"My congratulations to Laxman for scoring an unbeaten 275 on the fourth day of the Kolkata test and I am very happy for him because of the circumstances under which the record came about’, the statement adds.

‘For a country that has been playing test cricket for close to seven decades, 236 was a pretty poor highest individual score especially with players from other countries scoring highest individual scores nearer the triple century mark despite their countries getting test status decades later’, the statement said.

‘It is for this reason I had been virtually pleading for someone to go past it and carry on to many more individual milestones’, the statement added. (PTI)

Ranji Trophy
Orissa beat J&K by 420 runs, moves to quarter-finals

CUTTACK, Mar 14: East Zone champion Orissa today entered the Ranji Trophy quarter finals in style by registering a thumping 420 runs victory over Jammu and Kashmir in the Ranji Trophy pre-quarter final match being played at the Barabati Stadium here.

Resuming their overnight score of 228 for 4 in the second innings, Orissa declared 299 for 4 with an unbeaten century by skipper Sanjaya Raul(113) and a half century by pace bowler Debashish Mahanty(50).

Needing 649 runs to win Jammu and Kashmir collapsed to 229 all out.

Orissa will now play the quarter-final Ranji Trophy match with the winners of Madhya Pradesh vs Andhra Pradesh on March 22.

This is the second time in the history of Orissa cricket that it has reached the quarter finals stage.

Sanjaya Raul who was unbeaten at draw of stumps yesterday posted his century and waited for his partner Debashis to score his half century before declaring the innings. Raul added 23 runs to his overnight score of 90 while debashis added 48 to his overnight score of 2. The two batsmen added 71 runs to the overnight total of 228 in 17 overs today.

Debashis used the long handle hitting two sixes and as many fours to reach 50 of just 61 balls.

Faced with a daunting task of saving the match, Jammu and Kashmir batsmen were under pressure right from the beginning when simmer Debashis mahanty struck in the third over of the innings by claiming opener Ranjit Bali for 1 with the total reading 22.

This brought in the first innings hero Kawaljit Singh to the crease. Kamaljeet and opener Vidyavaskar took the score to 41 when Vidyavaskar was dismissed by Hayachandra. The J&K innings was steadied by a third wicket partnership between Kawaljeet and Vikrant Tagger. They added 93 runs before Vikrant fell to Orissa skipper Sanjaya Raul for 33.

Kamaljeet followed soon when he was claimed by lefthand spinner Satpathy. Both the wickets fell at the score of 134. Dhruva Mahajan and Sashi Kumar put up a brave fight with a 55 run partnership before simmer Debashis Mahanty returned to strike once again claiming the wickets of Dhruv and Aswani Gupta. The rest of the J&K batsmnen departed in quick succession and their innings folded at 229.

Kamaljeet who had scored 57 in the first innings, top scored once again hitting 67 with nine fours. Lefthand spinner Sanjaya Satpathy claimed four second innings wickets for 51 runs to take his match figures to 8 for 90. Debashis Mahanty took three for 21 in the second innings while Jayachandra,Jagannath Das and Sanjaya Raul claimed one wicket each.

SCOREBOARD

Orissa: 2nd innings (resuming at overnight 228 for 4)

Sanjaya Raul not out 113

Debashis Mahanty not out 50

Extras ( b 12,nb 1, wb 1 )

Total: 299 for 4 declared in 82 overs.

Bowling analysis: Abdul Qyaoom 15-2-52-0 Surender Singh 16-1-60-1 Vijaya Sharma 6-1-26-0 Sashi Kumar 6-1-33-0 Jagtar Singh 28-3-65-3 Dhruv Mahajan 11-1-51-0.

Jammu and Kashmir (2nd innings )

Vijaya Bhaskar c. R C Das (sub) B Jayachandra 27

Ranjit Bali b Debashis Mahanty 01

Kamaljit Singh c R R Das (sub) B Satpathy 67

Vikrant Tagger c R R Parida b Raul 33

Dhruva Mahajan c Goutam Gopal b Debashis Mahanty 32

Sashi Kumar c Barik b Satpathy 39

Ashwani Gupta lbw Debashis Mahanty 13

Vijaya Sharma stumped Goutam Gopal b Satpathy 00

Abdul Qyaoom not out 06

Surendra Singh c Goutam Gopal b Jagganth 00

Jagtar Singh c Suresh b Satpathy 00

Extras( b 4, lb 4,nb 3) Total 229 all out in 76.4 overs.

Fall of wickets:1/22,2/41.3/134, 4/134, 5/189/, 6/205, 7/212, 8/224, 9/224, 10/229.

Bowling analysis: Ajaya Barik 8-0-36-0 Debashis Mahnaty 9-2-21-3 P Jayachandra 5-0-23-1 S K Satpathy 25.4-11-51-4 Jagannath Das 16-4-48-1 Pradeep Das 3-0-8-0 Sanjaya Raul 10-1-34-1 Result (Orissa won by 420 runs). (UNI)

West Indies conjure draw after run of 7 defeats

GEORGETOWN, Mar 14: New captain Carl Hooper and his West Indies side ended a seven-test run of defeats with a draw against South Africa.

South Africa, set 306 to win the opening test off a minimum 76 overs, were 142 for two when the game ended yesterday.

Opener Herschelle Gibbs hit an unbeaten 83.

West Indies fast bowler Courtney Walsh failed to take a wicket in the second innings and still needs four more to become the first player to achieve 500 dismissals in test cricket.

Ramnaresh Sarwan Narrowly missed a maiden test century when he was run out for 91 in a West Indies second innings total of 333 for seven declared.

Hooper — the fourth West Indies skipper in five years, opted for safety first on the final day and delayed his declaration until one hour into the morning session.

South Africa, unbeaten in their last eight tests, were never tempted to chase the target and plodded to 100 for one off 45 overs by tea.

Gibbs and Gary Kirsten, who scored 150 in the first innings, saw South Africa safely through to lunch with all their wickets intact.

They survived an early scare when Gibbs, having made four, was dropped at second slip after getting a thick edge to a Mervyn Dillon delivery.

After that, South Africa never looked in danger.

Walsh, who started the match with 494 test wickets and added two more in the first innings, had a nought for 19 return off 10 overs at the start of the South African innings.

Gibbs survived two loud appeals for caught behind just after lunch but it was Kirsten who was out first, caught for 24 at forward short leg by Wavell Hinds off Dinanath Ramnarine with the score on 66.

Earlier, Sarwan who began under pressure after averaging 9.00 on the Australia tour, was run out by a piece of brilliant fielding by Gibbs.

Nixon McLean was lbw to Nicky Boje next ball.

Boje also removed hooper for 35, caught by Daryll Cullinan at short third man.

The end was an anti-climax after an intriguing first four days, played under a blazing sun on a ground usually associated with high rainfall.

But West Indies, whose run of defeats began with the fourth test in England last year and continued with a 5-0 rout in Australia, showed far more discipline and determination.(REUTERS)

CGEWCC’s Sports Meet
CDA enters semis of Badminton

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Mar 14: The CDA (Combined Defence Accounts) today defeated MES (Military Engineering Service) 2-1 to reach the semi-finals of the Badminton in the ongoing Central Government Employees Welfare Coordination Committee (CGEWCC) Sports Meet at Indoor halls, M A Stadium, here.

In the first singles, Balbir Syal of MES beat Manan Gupta in straight sets of 15-2, 15-2. The lead was equalised by the CDA by winning the doubles through Manan and Rajinder Sidhu, who beat Balbir and Hoshiar Singh 15-8, 15-12. In the reverse singles, Rajinder outplayed Hoshiar Singh to make it a 2-1 victory for CDA.

Earlier, in the first round, MES defeated RRL 2-0. In the singles, Balbir Syal beat Samar Singh 15-3, 15-2. And in doubles, the pair of Balbir and Hoshiar Singh beat Samar and Benjuman in equal essay straight sets of 15-2, 15-2. Whereas, CDA found berth in the second round of quarters for being the defending champion.

In the second first round match, National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) beat Railways 2-0. Singles—Mahesh beat Rajinder 1-0, 15-2. In doubles— Mahesh and Rajesh beat Rajinder and Daljeet Singh 15-5, 15-2.

Another scheduled match between Income Tax and Postal Services could not take place due to non-arrival of both the teams. According to the organisers, both the departments had sent their entries for the participation, but failed to turn up for their match.

Those witnessed today’s matches were the members of the organising committee including Dr B R Mani of ASI; Capt Parshad of ASI; V K Sharma; Gulzar Singh; Ashok Chada; Dushant Sharma; Desh Kumar; Shashi Jamwal and Sham Kumar.

Rakesh Koul enter

second round of

TT individual

JAMMU: Rakesh Kour of CDA reached the second round of the Table Tennis individual competitions which began at Indoor Complex, M A Stadium, today.

Rakesh defeated Arvind Dogra of AG 21-16, 21-12. In the first match, Rakesh beat Sunder Mohan of Survey of India 21-16, 21-14. In another second round match Rajinder Sadhu of CDA beat Sanjeev of SoI 21-17, 21-15.

Other first round matches: Thakur (AG) beat Shashi (SoI) 21-9, 21-18; Bilowria (AG) beat Darshan (SoI) 21-16, 21-18; Sanjeev (SoI) beat Razdan of AG 21-12, 21-12; Arvind Dogra of AG beat Ajeet Kumar of IT 21-12, 21-15; I P Sharma of CDA beat Vikas Sharma of IT 21-12, 21-16;

SoI gets walkover

against MES in

Cricket

JAMMU: Survey of India (SoI) got walkover against Military Engineering Service (MES) in the second scheduled match at M A Stadium, here today.

In tomorrow’s match, Telecom Department will take on Railways.