Daily Excelsior.........sports

Little known Griggs
frustrates India

NAPIER, Dec 7: Ajit Agarkar’s exploits with the ball were countered by a gutsy Bevan Griggs who posted an unbeaten maiden century to give Central Districts an 86-run first innings lead.....more

East Bengal favourites in
today’s derby against
Mohun Bagan

KOLKATA, Dec 7: An in-form East Bengal would go into tomorrow’s derby match against Mohun Bagan as favourites with an all-win record in this edition of National Football League.............more

ICC hopeful of getting
info from BCCI on
players’ terms

LONDON, Dec 7: The International Cricket Council has expressed optimism that the Indian cricket board would be able to indicate the .........more

Sports Minister says no to
cricket ties with Pakistan

NEW DELHI, Dec 7: Union Sports Minister Vikram Verma today categorically rejected President Pervez Musharraf’s........more

Inter-College Football
MAM College
moves into final

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 7: Government MAM College today sailed into the final of the Inter-college Football Tournament beating Bhargwa College......more

JU women all set
to qualify pool in
NE Zone Basketball

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 7: With two wins in their hand, the women Basketball team of the University.......more

Manish leading JU cricket
team for NZ tourney

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 7: The 16-member cricket team of the University of Jammu led by Manish........more

Distt Udhampur Softball
Tourney from Dec 12

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

UDHAMPUR, Dec 7: Jammu and Kashmir Softball Association is holding District.....more

Little known Griggs frustrates India

NAPIER, Dec 7: Ajit Agarkar’s exploits with the ball were countered by a gutsy Bevan Griggs who posted an unbeaten maiden century to give Central Districts an 86-run first innings lead against India on a truncated second day of the warm-up match here today.

A little known 24-year old Griggs, coming to bat at number six, drove the Indians up the wall in frustration as the visitors were in a position of strength at one stage having reduced the hosts to 153 for seven.

Agarkar claimed four wickets, including three in a five over spell, to help the visitors bounce back into the match before Griggs’ 100 not out put the brakes on the slide as the Central Districts declared their first innings at 295 for nine.

On a day when bad light and rain twice forced an interruption, India declined to start their second innings in poor light in the final session after the umpires offered them the choice with still 20-odd overs remaining to be bowled.

Agarkar led the charge in the morning session but the inability of the Indian bowlers to polish off the tail cost them dearly as Griggs added 142 runs with the late order batsmen Michael Mason, B Hefford and Lance Hamilton.

After adding 47 for the eighth wicket with Mason (21) and 37 with Hefford (9) for the ninth, Griggs put on an undefeated 58 runs with last man Hamilton (9 not out) as the Indians struggled to break the central districts resistance in the post-lunch session.

Griggs was picked for the match only for his batting ability even though he is a recognised wicketkeeper. His form must have delighted national selectors who have delayed naming of the squad for the first test next week because of the woeful form of their top batsmen including captain Stephen Fleming who fared poorly in a state game for Wellington.

Indians, on the other hand, must be disappointed by the form of their bowlers as they struggled in the afternoon on a wicket which increasingly got flatter.

Left-arm seamer Ashish Nehra failed to impress as the swing bowler just could not find the right length to bowl in seaming conditions, either pitching it too up or bowling too short, much to the bastman’s delight.

Griggs, who dominated the afternoon session completely, was also pleased to see nehra being brought on to bowl just after Agarkar had made twin strikes in one over.

"I was surprised because Agarkar was the pick of their bowlers who moved the ball well at a good pace and generally kept it low on the the off stump," Griggs said.

Griggs reached his century off the second new ball with a streaky edge in the slips where a leaping VVS Laxman at second slip could only touch it before it disappeared into the pickets.

Griggs, whose previous best in first class cricket was 76 against Northern Districts made last year, said his heart came to his mouth when he saw laxman leap up in the air and make a bid for the catch.

Griggs’ century came off 150 balls with the help of 11 fours and a mighty six over deep midwicket off Harbhajan Singh.

"It took me some time to work out Harbhajan Singh who is really a world class bowler but the wicket got flatter as the day progressed," said Griggs.

Earlier, resuming at the overnight score of 69 for one, the home side cruised along with half centuries by captain Craig Spearman and Mathew Sinclair.

Spearman stroked all around the park to bring his fifty in just 59 balls and before getting out for 58 - astonishingly caught on the follow through by Tinu Yohannan - he put on 92 for the second wicket with Sinclair (52).

Spearman’s dismissal started the rot as Glen Sulzberger (8) was caught low on his left by V V S Laxman at third slip off Sanjay Bangar and Jamie How (8) departed leg before to Harbhajan Singh.

Agarkar, brought on to bowl after the first hour’s play, then took three wickets in just five overs, including two scalps in one over, to break the back of home batting.

The slim medium-pacer began with Sinclair’s wicket, caught by Harbhajan Singh at gully, having faced 84 balls for his knock with nine fours.

Agarkar then earned a positive response to a leg-before shout against Martyn Sigley (1) and claimed Andrew Schwass (0) low down by wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel in the same over.

Central Districts were in trouble at 153 for seven before Mike Mason struck a few hefty blows against Harbhajan Singh, including a lofted six wide of long on, to push the hosts nearer the visitors’ total. (PTI)

East Bengal favourites in today’s derby
against Mohun Bagan

KOLKATA, Dec 7: An in-form East Bengal would go into tomorrow’s derby match against Mohun Bagan as favourites with an all-win record in this edition of National Football League.

East Bengal is likely to come out with the ace up their Sleeves, Gilmar Da Silva Gonsalves, who is tipped to start up front with in-form Nigerian striker Mike Okoro in the match which has already generated much enthusiasm among traditional supporters of the two teams.

Brazilian striker Gilmar, having last played one and a half months back in the Italian serie B, is expected to be a perfect foil to Okoro, who has scored two goals in the three matches that the red and yellow brigade has played in the ongoing league.

However, the strong East Bengal defence, which is yet to concede a goal in this year’s NFL, suffered a minor hitch with Suley Musah being down with injury though their Brazilian star recruit Douglas would provide the necessary fulcrum for the backline.

The tension-filled encounter would be attended by over a lakh spectators at the flood-lit Salt Lake Stadium with most of the tickets having already been sold out.

While East Bengal has nine points from three matches, the green and maroon outfit could manage only five from the same number of outings as their arch rivals, with one win and two drawn encounters.

The Bagan team seemed to be worried with their star striker Baichung Bhutia suffering from a calf muscle injury. Bhutia would, however, be fielded in spite of not being 100 per cent fit. (PTI)

ICC hopeful of getting info from BCCI on players’ terms

LONDON, Dec 7: The International Cricket Council has expressed optimism that the Indian cricket board would be able to indicate the progress in resolving the issue of players’ terms for next year’s World Cup when the two sides meet in Kolkata on Monday.

"Hopefully during the meeting the bcci will be able to indicate that it is now more confident of being able to meet its commitments to the ICC and to the other cricketing nations," ICC chief executive officer Malcolm Speed said in a statement here.

"This meeting will allow the ICC to hear directly from Jagmohan Dalmiya, BCCI president and Anil Kumble, representing the players, on how their discussions are proceeding," Speed said.

He said the ICC welcomed the opportunity to meet with both Dalmiya and Kumble in Kolkata next week on the issue.

He said a member of the ICC’s World Cup Contracts Committee, Justice Ahmad Ebrahim and ICC general manager -cricket, David Richardson, will travel to India on Monday for an update from the BCCI and the players on their negotiations.

Speed said the meeting would be another important step in finding a solution to the issue.

"Since the Champions Trophy, the ICC has been working on finding a way of ensuring that cricket’s commercial partners are protected while assisting the boards to meet their commitments," Speed said.

"Over recent weeks we have been able to hold several very constructive and reasonable discussions with our commercial partners and representatives of the players from most countries.

"These discussions have seen progress with many boards on the key areas of the use of player attributes and the restrictions placed on players. They deal with the issues that were raised prior to the Champions Trophy," he said.

In november, the BCCI advised the ICC that it would take responsibility for handling the negotiations on these issues with its players and Dalmiya has been leading these parleys.

The meeting will be the first time that the ICC has been able to meet with a representative of the Indian players since its discussion with several members of the team in the lead-up to the ICC Champions Trophy.

The lead-up to the Champions Trophy highlighted that while all boards had given contractual undertakings to the ICC in early 2002 for the World Cup through their Participating Nations Agreements (PNA), some boards were likely to have difficulty getting the agreement of their players to the players’ terms that were part of the PNA. "The ICC remains committed to ensuring that the best players play in the ICC cricket World Cup and to finding a pragmatic solution to this issue to allow this to happen," Speed said. (PTI)

Inter-College Football
MAM College moves into final

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 7: Government MAM College today sailed into the final of the Inter-college Football Tournament beating Bhargwa College, Samba 3-0 in the semi-finals played at Campus grounds, here today.

In the first half, Bhargwa College tackled the MAM College attack well but only for the first 30 minutes of the goal. In the 30th minute Bhargwa College conceded first goal when Ramneek Slathia directed the ball right into the goal after getting a well judged pass from Mir Miraz.

In the second half, again Bhargwa College boys fought well but due to lack of stamina and experience, they could not show their resistance to the MAM College attack, especially in the last minutes, resulting into addition of two more goals against them.

The second goal was again scored by Ramneek Slathia on a powerful direct hit in the 60th minute off the 70 minutes match. The third goal of the match came through Mohit Verma, who made a solo effort in the 65th minute.

In the second match of the day, PG Arts thrashed ASCOMS 4-0 to reach the semi-finals position.

Ravi Kumar had scored first blood for the winners, PG Arts, in the 20th minute, whereas the remaining three goals came after the breather.

Noor-Ul-Hassan (40), Sanzin (60) and Sonam Galson (68) added one goal each for the PG Arts in the second half making it a big 4-0 win.

Today’s matches were officiated by David Masih, R C Vaid, Dr G P Sharma and Dr Brij Baloria.