Anil Kumble

Astle makes unbeaten 68, Kiwis battle it out

AHMEDABAD, Oct 31: Nathan Astle struck a stubborn, unbeaten 68 as .....more

Woods on course
for 7th title of year

HOUSTON, Oct 31: Following a day off for Payne Stewart’s funeral, life at the....more

S Africa’s cricketsors lament defeat

BLOEMFONTEIN, Oct 31: The springboks’ defeat by ...more

Jasvir Singh’s knock
in vain as Haryana struggles

NEW DELHI, Oct 31: A valiant knock of 81 not out by....more

Jammu retain Inter-distt
girls Volleyball title

Excelsior Correspondent

RAMNAGAR, Oct 31: Jammu district retained the Inter-district girls ....more

Tiger Club winner in women
BSF Jammu lifts Ist Jammu Gold Cup Basketball trophy
Rohit, Priyanka bags best players award

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 31: Border Security Force (BSF), Jammu lifted the Ist Jammu .....more

BKD Belichrana beat GNC Nanak Nagar in Hockey

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 31: The BKD, Belichrana defeated Gurunanak Club, Nanak ......more

Godhi Memorial Cricket Tourney from Nov 14

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 31: Godhi Cricket Club, Akhnoor is organising the 7th Godhi....more

Astle makes unbeaten 68, Kiwis battle it out

AHMEDABAD, Oct 31: Nathan Astle struck a stubborn, unbeaten 68 as New Zealand were battling hard to avoid a follow on by reaching 211 for six wickets in their first innings despite losing three quick wickets in the morning on the third day of the third and final cricket test against India here today.

The Kiwis, all victory hopes to square the series dashed by India’s massive first innings total of 583 for seven declared yesterday, waged a grim battle against the Indian attack throughout the day to finish 173 runs adrift of avoiding the follow on stumps at the Sardar Patel stadium.

The unbeaten batsmen at close were Astle, who was batting confidently after a 287 minute vigil (68 - 6x4, 1x6), and all-rounder Chris Cairns (18 batting), who had held out for 106 minutes.

The pair frustrated the Indian attack as the tourists were 372 runs behind the Indian total with two days left.

Leg spinner Anil Kumble, with 14 wickets to his credit in the first two tests that enabled India go 1-0 up in the series, once again was the dangerman as he picked up three of the five wickets that fell today and had a haul of 4 for 55. Kumble, the spin ace in the Indian pack sent back both overnight not out batsmen Gary Stead (17) and nightwatchman Daniel Vettori (3) in the space of nine balls in the sixth and eighth overs of the day after the Kiwis resumed at their overnight score of 18 for one.

The visitors made a slight recovery from 33 for three to 65 when paceman Venkatesh Prasad struck in his second spell of the morning by sending back Craig Spearman (17) close to the lunch break, taken at 73 for four.

But the Kiwis showed lot of resilience as they stuck to their task of defending throughout the last two session mainly owing to diligent batting from their most consistent batsman, skipper Stephen Fleming (48 - 8x4) and Astle, who put on 70 runs for the fifth wicket.

Fleming, after notching up his third 40-plus score of the series with 73 at Mohali in the first test as his best effort so far from his ranks, fell edging pace spearhead Javagal Srinath behind the wicket, a quarter of an hour before tea.

The Kiwis, 145 for five at tea also lost Adam Parore who was trapped leg before by Kumble for his fourth wicket of the innings in the first hour of the last session.

But Astle, who survived a sharp chance at silly point off Harbhajan Singh when Ajay Jadeja could not latch on to the low catch, and Chris Cairns showed tremendous determination to deny the Indians any more success till close, after surviving the second new ball taken seven overs left for end of play. But the task of saving the match looked very difficult on a pitch where the odd ball has started to keep low.

The day began very productively when Kumble drew first blood in the sixth over by having Vettori caught bat-pad at short leg by Vijay Bharadwaj, substituting for Rahul Dravid.

Kumble then induced opener stead - who looked confident playing his first match after arriving as replacement for the injured Craig Mcmillan - into unwisely playing against the turn. The leading edge was well taken with a forward dive by Saurav Ganguly at short extra cover and the Kiwis slid from 29 for one to 33 for three in just 15 balls.

It could have been 33 for four had Bharadwaj showed the reflex to pouch a sharp catch at short leg off the leg spinner as Fleming turned him off his pads.

Benefitting from the escape, the Kiwi skipper batted responsibly in the company of Spearman to take the total to 65 when the latter edged Prasad to second slip Sadagopan Ramesh who took a good catch diving to his left.

After lunch, Fleming and new man Astle started playing shots against the Indian bowlers whenever the chance arose.

The left-handed Fleming, who had flicked Kumble for two successive fours in the first session, on-drove and slashed Srinath for two fours in the fourth over after the break and them drove Harbhajan twice to the straight fence.

Astle too grew in confidence and played some superb square cuts. Just when the going looked good, Fleming needlessly chased a delivery angled away from him and stumper M S K Prasad moved to his left to accept the outside edge to give Srinath his first wicket of the innings. (PTI)

Woods on course for 7th title of year

HOUSTON, Oct 31: Following a day off for Payne Stewart’s funeral, life at the tour championship was somewhat closer to normal with Tiger Woods dominating yet another golf tournament.

Bidding to become the first PGA tour player since Johnny Miller in 1974 to win as many as seven tournaments in a single year, Woods yesterday fired his third sub-70 score to take a three-shot lead over Chris Perry into today’s final round at Champions Golf Club.

Woods finished at 13-under-par 200 with birdies on two of the final three holes under very wet and difficult conditions.

Perry completed his 27 holes at 10-under 203, with Brent Geiberger and Steve Pate tied for third another two shots back at 205.

History favours another victory for the world’s top-ranked player. Since the inaugural tour championship in 1987, a player who either led or held a share of the lead after 54 holes has gone on to win the title eight out of 12 times.

Woods said he felt more at peace with his game and his emotions after the closure provided by Friday’s service for fellow golfer and Ryder Cup teammate Stewart, who died in a plane crash.

"Nothing compares to yesterday," Woods said of the emotional service in Orlando attended by the entire tour championships field. "But if Tracy (Stewart’s wife) had that kind of strength to stand up and speak like she did, than we should be able to do what we have to do."

As they did Thursday, golfers played 27 holes to make up for Friday’s dark day. They will finish up with 18 holes today before most of the elite field heads to Spain for the final event in the New World Golf Championship series.

World number two and second-leading money winner David Duval has decided to pass up next week’s tournament, although he did not give an official reason for his decision.

Woods showed no ill effects from the arm injury he sustained late Thursday when his club struck a rock while he attempted to dislodge his ball from its resting place between the rock and a tree in the rough on the 15th hole.

He was tied through 36 holes at nine-under-par 133 with Davis Love, who led after the first 27, but finished strong over his final nine holes.

After a bogey on the par 4 second hole, Woods put together four straight pars then sank a 10-foot birdie putt on the par-4 seventh hole and added a two-putt birdie under steady rain on the par-5 ninth.

Love stumbled to a third-round 73 and heads into the final round six strokes off the pace, along with defending champion Hal Sutton and Duffy Waldorf.

Perry, enjoying the most successful year of his 15-year pro career, celebrated the 63rd birthday of his father, former baseball pitcher Jim Perry, with a four-birdie, two-bogey round, including a birdie on his final hole that took him within three shots of Woods.

"It was a very tough day because of the rain and we’re still dealing with Payne’s death," Perry said. "He was a friend of all of ours and we’re never going to forget him."

PGA Tour officials said Stewart’s family would receive 80,000 dollars, the equivalent of the last-place prize in a 30-man field. In deference to Stewart the field was kept at 29, rather than have the next player on the money list take the US Open champion’s place. (REUTERS)

S Africa’s cricketsors lament defeat

BLOEMFONTEIN, Oct 31: The springboks’ defeat by Australia in the rugby World Cup was a severe blow for South Africa’s cricket team who suffered a heart-breaking exit from the Cricket World Cup at the hands of Australia in June.

Hansie Cronje and his team had finished play in the first test against Zimbabwe by the time the Twickenham Epic went into extra time. They stared at the dressing room television set in stunned disbelief as the boks went down 27-21 in London.

Australia and South Africa tied their cricket World Cup semifinal in Birmingham, England, but Australia went through because of results earlier in the tournament.

South African team manager Goolam Rajah had said his players would not be permitted to watch the match while play in the cricket test was in progress. But patriotism took over and the television was tuned to the rugby before the kick-off.

However, only senior players seemed to have the right to watch, with Boeta Dippenaar, Mark Boucher and Paul Adams banished to the players’ balcony. (UNI)

Jasvir Singh’s knock in vain as Haryana struggles

NEW DELHI, Oct 31: A valiant knock of 81 not out by Jasvir Singh went in vain as Delhi speedsters Amit Bhandari (3/39) and Ashish Nehra (3/50) sent Haryana crashing to 166 all out in their first innings on the first day of their four-day Ranji Trophy cricket tie here today.

Bowling out Haryana 37 minutes after tea, Delhi were 17 without loss at close with Devendra Sharma (9) and Ashu Dani (6) at crease.

Haryana skipper Parinder Sharma’s decision to bat first after winning the toss proved disastrous as he saw his off-stump uprooted by Nehra with just eight runs on the board.

Amit Bhandari removed the other opener, Jitender Singh (12), before Jasvir Singh began the fightback. His unbeaten 81 (272m, 179b, 12 x 4), however, did not find much support as wickets kept falling at regular intervals.

Nehra claimed his second victim when he bowled middle-order batsman Amarjeet Kaypee (8) with the total at 38. Two balls later, he had Rajesh Puri (0) caught by Akash Malhotra.

Ajay Ratra (25), who came in after Nikhil Chopra had Sanjay Dalal (18) caught by wicketkeeper Vijay Dahiya, built a brief patnership of 50 runs with Jasvir for the sixth wicket before he fell to Delhi skipper Ajay Sharma.

With the top order back in pavilion, off-spinner Rahul Sanghvi (1/29) and medium pacer Bhandari wiped off the tail.

Brief scores: Haryana - 166 (Jasvir Singh 81 no, A Ratra 25 Amit Bhandari 3/39, Ashish Nehra 3/50, Ajay Sharma 2/15).

Delhi - 17 for no loss (Devendra Sharma batting 9, Ashu Dani batting 6). (PTI)