PORT ELIZABETH, Nov 16: India were left moaning the absence of an extra seamer in the side as Herschelle Gibbs put South Africa in comfortable position on the opening day of the second cricket test match here today..........more

Andy Flower, Wishart
pound Bangladesh
in second test

CHITTAGONG, Nov 16: Craig Wishart and Andy Flower smashed identical centuries as Zimbabwe took charge of the second cricket test against Bangladesh here today............more

West Indies struggle
to avoid defeat

GALLE (Sri Lanka), Nov 16: Hashan Tillakaratne hit an unbeaten 105 as Sri Lanka tightened the screws on the West Indies on the fourth day of the first cricket test here today........more

National Stadium’s
astroturf among best
in the world: IHF

NEW DELHI, Nov 16: The newly-laid astroturf at the National Stadium here rates among the best in........more

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 16: Quarter-finals position has been cleared in the Cadets boys singles event in the very first day of the......more

Veteran football player
Chuni Lal passes away

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 16: Renowned football player of his time, who remained in lime-light for two decades (1965 to 1985) for......more

BJDCC beats KNCC(Jr)
to reach final of
Gulbadhan Cricket

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 16: Baba Jamuna Dass Cricket Club (BJDCC) today sailed into the final of the 3rd DySP Gulbadhan......more

Surinder Singh to play
against England

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 16: Left-hand medium pacer Surinder Singh Bagal of Jammu and Kashmir....more

Students in colourful dresses celebrating Children’s Day.

Gibbs places SAfrica in a healthy position

PORT ELIZABETH, Nov 16: India were left moaning the absence of an extra seamer in the side as Herschelle Gibbs put South Africa in comfortable position on the opening day of the second cricket test match here today.

Skipper Sourav Ganguly did the predictable, and probably the right thing, in putting the opposition in to bat on a lush green wicket after winning the toss. But with just two fast bowlers in their ranks, the Indians lacked the fire power to extract maximum advantage from the favourable pitch.

And Gibbs took full advantage of India’s limited resources with a commanding unbeaten 155 as he took his team to a fairly decent total of 237 for five at close.

Gibbs milked the Indian bowling and did the bulk of the scoring. The other batsmen did not score much but did well to lend good support to gibbs who was in total control of the situation.

To be fair to the Indian spinners Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, who Ganguly included in the side after much deliberations, they did not bowl all that bad. In fact, Harbhajan was the only bowler to have caused some problems to Gibbs who seemed to hardly understood the off-spinner.

But both of them lacked the sting and were not very threatening on a pitch where many would have preferred to go with an all pace attack.

Javagal Srinath was the pick of the Indian bowlers, taking three wickets for 51 runs while Ajit Agarkar and Harbhajan claimed one each.

However, it was Gibbs who dominated the proceedings on the opening day. The flamboyant right hander applied himself well and planned his innings to perfection.

Realising that India had only two seamers, Gibbs preferred to see off their first spells before opening up. He struck some beautiful shots through the off-side but was generally cautious in his approach in the initial overs. He was also lucky to have survived when an easy bat and pad chance went begging as Shiv Sunder Das was standing slightly deep at forward short leg. He was on nine at that time and India were left rueing their miss throughout the day.

Ganguly came to bowl in the 14th over but Gibbs dispatched him for five boundaries in two overs and the Indian captain promptly withdrew himself.

Harbhajan and Kumble then bowled in tandem for quite some time but they failed to produce a breakthrough. Harbhajan foxed the batsmen on many occasions but couldn’t get a wicket.

Gibbs and Jacques Kallis added 70 runs for the second wicket after Srinath had dismissed kirsten for four when the total was on 17.

Just before the lunch break, Srinath, coming for his second spell, struck again and clean bowled Kallis with a sharply incoming delivery that went through the bat and pads to crash into the stumps. Kallis made 24.

Shortly thereafter, Gibbs reached his half-century with his ninth boundary. South Africa took lunch at 91 for two with Gibbs on 56 and Neil McKenzie on four.

Harbhajan gave India the third wicket immediately after lunch when McKenzie was bowled off an inside edge for 12.

That brought Gibbs and Boeta Dippenaar together in the most fruitful partnership of the day. The duo added 105 runs for the fourth wicket, a South African record against India.

Once again, it was Gibbs who did the majority of the scoring. Dippenaar played a patient knock of 29 off 138 balls but he provided able support to his senior partner for more than two and half hours.

Gibbs went on to complete his fifth test century and his second successive in this series following the 107 he scored in the first innings at Bloemfontein. He also reached 2000 runs in test cricket at 108.

At tea, South Africa were strongly placed at 167 for three with Gibbs on 111 and Dippenaar batting on 13. They frustrated the Indian bowlers for almost the entire last session before Dippenaar got out.

The Indians delayed taking of the second new ball in the hope that the spinners would be able to get the breakthrough. However, when the South Africans showed no signs of trouble against them, Ganguly asked for the new ball in the 84th over and immediately got the result.

Agarkar, who was preferred over the two left-arm seamers Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan, produced an outside edge off Dippenaar’s bat and wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta took a good catch.

Srinath then took his third wicket two overs later when he had Lance Klusener caught by V V S Laxman in the second slip. Klusener, who had started with a characteristic flourish dispatching the very first ball he faced to the boundary, was caught fishing outside the off-stump and gave a regulation catch in the slips.

Laxman had earlier taken a good reflex catch to dismiss Kirsten in the morning session. Kirsten was invited to drive a full-length delivery by Srinath and the batsman obliged. The ball was widish and Kirsten went for an extravagant shot, only managing a nick to the slips. Virender Sehwag got a hand to it at third slip but couldn’t hold on and Laxman, at second slip, did well to complete the catch.

Gibbs remained unfazed by the two quick dismissals and concentrated hard. He crossed the 150-mark with a boundary and then registered the highest score by a South African against India surpassing the 153 by Daryll Cullinan at Kolkata in 1996-97 series. (PTI)

SCOREBOARD

South Africa 1st innings

H Gibbs batting 155

G Kirsten c Laxman b Srinath 4

J Kallis b Srinath 24

N McKenzie b Harbhajan Singh 12

B Dippenaar c Dasgupta b Agarkar 29

L Klusener c Laxman b Srinath 9

S Pollock batting 0

Extras (lb-1, nb-3) 4

Total (for 5 wkts, 92 overs) 237

Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-87, 3-116, 4-221, 5-230.

Bowling: Srinath 22-5-51-3, Agarkar 16-2-61-1, Ganguly 2-0-21-0, Kumble 22-9-36-0, Harbhajan Singh 30-6-67-1. (PTI)

Andy Flower, Wishart pound Bangladesh in second test

CHITTAGONG, Nov 16: Craig Wishart and Andy Flower smashed identical centuries as Zimbabwe took charge of the second cricket test against Bangladesh here today.

Wishart hit a strokeful 114 and left-handed Andy Flower remained unbeaten on the same score to lift Zimbabwe to 542 for seven declared in their first innings at the Aziz Stadium.

Bangladesh ended the second day’s play on 57-1, with opener Al Shariar (25) and Habibul Bashar (21) surviving till close after the early dismissal of Javed Omar.

The agony piled up for the hosts as Andy Flower and Wishart joined Trevor Gripper with three-figure knocks in the innings.

Wishart’s maiden test century came with the help of 12 boundaries and two sixes.

Luck finally favoured the 27-year-old after he had fallen for 94 in the first test at the West Indies at Harare earlier this year.

There were no hiccups this time as Wishart raced to the three-figure mark with a push to long on off left-arm spinner Enamul Haq.

When Wishart fell to young leg-spinner Mohammad Ashraful, the prolific andy flower took over. Flower hit 11 fours in his 12th test century, which came with his trademark reverse-sweep off part-time spinner Aminul Islam.

Douglas Marillier was the other notable contributor in the Zimbabwe innings, getting 52 off 93 balls.

Zimbabwe have three days to force a win after being denied victory in the first test when the last two days were washed out. (AFP)

SCOREBOARD

Zimbabwe 1st innings (overnight 236-4):

D Ebrahim b Mortaza 41

T Gripper run out 112

S Carlisle lbw b Haque 14

G Flower c Rahman b Haque 33

A Flower not out 114

G Brent c Bashar b Mortaza 25

C Wishart c Sharif b Ashraful 114

D Marillier c Bashar b Islam 52

H Streak not out 16

Extras (b-2, lb-5, w-2, nb-12) 21

Total (for 7 wkts decl, 160 overs) 542

Fall of wickets : 1-108, 2-145, 3-210, 4-214, 5-280, 6-479, 7-496.

Bowling: Bin Mortaza 28-4-101-2, Mohammad Sharif 29-7-118-0, Enamul Haque 54-12-134-2, Naimur Rahman 15-2-54-0, Mohammad Ashraful 17-0-62-1, Aminul Islam 17-1-66-1. (PTI)

West Indies struggle to avoid defeat

GALLE (Sri Lanka), Nov 16: Hashan Tillakaratne hit an unbeaten 105 as Sri Lanka tightened the screws on the West Indies on the fourth day of the first cricket test here today.

The left-hander’s eighth test century enabled Sri Lanka pile up 590 for nine declared in their first innings, a lead of 142.

West Indies, facing the daunting task of keeping Muttiah Muralitharan at bay on a wearing fifth-day wicket, were 9-1 at stumps in their second knock.

Opener Chris Gayle was dismissed for one by left-arm seamer Chaminda Vaas, who shared the new ball with spinner Niroshan Bandaratilleke.

At close, Daren Ganga was on three and Ramnaresh Sarwan was on five.

West Indies need to play out a minimum of 90 overs tomorrow to force a draw in the first of three tests.

The hosts were indebted to Tillakaratne for putting the West Indies under pressure. He added 154 for the sixth wicket with Thilan Samaraweera (77) to enable Sri Lanka take a big lead.

The pair defied the West Indian attack, relying on singles and twos to build the innings after the fall of two quick wickets in the morning session.

Tillakaratne hit three fours in his 249-ball knock and Samaraweera only one in his 181-ball innings.

The West Indians appeared to have the match in control when they removed overnight batsmen Kumar Sangakkara and Russel Arnold early in the day.

Arnold was trapped leg-before by Dinanath Ramnarine for 33 in the day’s fourth over.

Sangakkara, 126 overnight, was run out for 140 after hitting 16 boundaries in his career-best knock.

West Indies required the third new ball to earn their next wicket, but not before Samaraweera and Tillakaratne had put their team in a commanding position.

Samaraweera top-edged a pull off Mervyn Dillon to be caught by wicket-keeper Ridley Jacobs.

Tillakaratne, however, continued to grind the attack and reached his century when he cut Ramnarine for three runs. (AFP)

National Stadium’s astroturf among best in the world: IHF

NEW DELHI, Nov 16: The newly-laid astroturf at the National Stadium here rates among the best in the world, according to a team of International Hockey Federation officials which was here recently to inspect the facilities.

Stadium officials today told Sports Minister Uma Bharti, who was here to evaluate the facilities upgraded for the Afro-Asian Games, that after testing of a sample of the astroturf the ihf had praised the quality of the artificial track.

"The ihf has verbally communicated to us that the astroturf track is among the best in the world. We are expecting a final report from them very soon," an official said.

Bharti was all praise for the Sports Authority of India and other officials for carrying out the upgradation work in record time and at par with international standards.

Bharti also inspected the warm-up facility adjacent to the main ground and expressed satisfaction with the relaid track.

The Minister thereafter proceeded to the main venue -Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium for the proposed games - and was impressed by flashing Taiwanese giant screens and the German tracks.

"It is unfortunate that the Afro-Asian Games had to be scrapped due to unforseen circumstances otherwise we would have shown to the world that we are ready to welcome them in style," Bharti said referring the indefinite postponement of the inaugural games following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US. (PTI)

Anant Aditya, Shivam, Navjot among eight enter Cadet QFs

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 16: Quarter-finals position has been cleared in the Cadets boys singles event in the very first day of the State Table Tennis Championship which began at Indoor halls, M A Stadium, here today.

Those reached the third round of quarter-finals are Anant Aditya, Arjun Kholi, Gaganpreet Singh, Vikramjeet Singh, Shivam Soni, Priyankur Datta, Abhimanyu Jamwal and Novjot Singh (Poonch).

The prizes for this State Championship, which is being organised by the J&K Table Tennis Association and sponsored by the State Sports Council, are sponsored by the Shaurya Motors.

In all, 250 peddlers are taking part in the championship wherein both singles and doubles events will be organised in all the age groups.

Earlier, the championship was declared open by the JKTTA president, V K Magoo. Prominent among those present in the inaugural function were Messrs Ajit Singh Wazir, Sanjeev Gupta, Som Raj Gupta, Saleem Bandey (Poonch), Tulal Ahmed (Srinagar), Devinder Sharma (Udhampur) and Rajesh Sharma.

First day results

Pre-quarterfinals: Anant Aditya beat Amanpreet Singh 11-5, 11-6; Arjun Kholi beat Gautam Daluja 11-1, 11-7; Gaganpreet Singh beat Arjun Anand 11-3, 11-5; Vikramjeet Singh beat Sumit Jamwal 11-6, 12-10; Shivam Soni beat Mehran (Srinagar) 11-6, 11-1; Priyanka Datta beat Swayam Gupta 11-2, 11-5; Abhimanyu Jamwal beat Rohitpal Singh 11-4, 12-10; Navjot Singh (Poonch) beat Navneet Gupta of Udhampur 11-9, 15-13.

First round: Arjun Kholi beat Baljeet Singh (Poonch) 11-5, 11-6; Gaganpreet Singh (Poonch) beat Showkat (Srinagar) 11-9, 11-7; Sumit Jamwal beat Rohan Kakkar 11-6, 11-6; Mehran (Srinagar) beat Manmeet Singh 11-2, 8-11, 12-10; Navneet (Udhampur) beat Minan (Srinagar) 11-8, 11-5; Kanav Sharma beat Pranav Mahajan 11-4, 11-8; Navjot Singh (Poonch) beat Aditya 11-5, 11-5.