MOHALI, Dec 1: A captain’s knock of 129 by Mithun Manhas took Delhi to a respectable total on the first day of the crucial elite group ‘A’ Ranji Trophy cricket match against Punjab here today................more

Sami’s 5-wkt haul
shocks Kiwis as
Pak record big win

LAHORE, Dec 1: Paceman Mohammad Sami rocked New Zealand with five wickets in 11 deliveries in Pakistan’s convincing 124-run victory in the second one-day cricket international here today.............more

PCB chief springs
a surprise, resigns
from post

ISLAMABAD, Dec 1: In a sudden development, Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Tauqir Zia today quit his post citing personal reasons and raising speculation of a reshuffle in the faction-ridden.............more

Indians should not
expect miracles
from Reid: Hadlee

MUMBAI, Dec 1: New Zealand great Richard Hadlee today said the Indian team, which has roped in Bruce Reid as its bowling coach for the four-match Test series against Australia, should not expect "miracles" from the former left-arm seamer...........more

By Sanjeev Sharma

JAMMU, Dec 1: The first Ranji trophy match of the season at Jammu’s Moulana Azad Stadium started today after one and half hour long high voltage drama.........more

13th State Billiards & Snooker Championships
Kamal, Kuldeep enter
semis of senior Snooker

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 1: Kamal Rohmetra and Kuldeep Sharma today entered into the semi-finals of senior snooker the 13th J&K State.........more

Jammu Gold Cup
Air Force, Govind
Club win in hockey

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 1: Air Force, Satwari and Govind Club, Chatha won their respective matches in the ongoing Jammu Gold Cup Hockey tournament being played at K K Hakhu Stadium, here today.......more

Open Volleyball
tourney from Dec 9

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 1: Youth wing of the National Conference, J&K is organising 2nd Sher-i-Kashmir Memorial Open......more

Sandeep bags Rural Chess trophy......

Ramesh makes strong case for Test selection.....

BCCI acted in "haste" in Kale matter: Wadekar.....

Mithun Manhas’ ton helps Delhi reach 274 for 7

MOHALI, Dec 1: A captain’s knock of 129 by Mithun Manhas took Delhi to a respectable total on the first day of the crucial elite group ‘A’ Ranji Trophy cricket match against Punjab here today.

An early innings slump saw Delhi tottering at 37 for four before Manhas’ knock took the score to 274 for seven at the PCA Stadium here today.

Manhas’ crucial fifth (98) and sixth wicket (114) partnerships with Pradeep Chawla (39) and Varun Kumar (batting 50) respectively helped the visitors, who are desperately needing a win to be in the hunt for a place in the semifinal from the group.

During the knock, which included 18 fours and a majestic six, Manhas also completed 3000 runs in Ranji Trophy cricket.

Earlier, Punjab’s decision to put Delhi into bat produced immediate results as both the openers Salil Oberoi (0) and Rajat Bhatia (4) returned to the pavilion with the scoreboard reading six for two.

Rajan Gupta (19) also did not last long and Ajay Jadeja (1), back in the side after missing the match against Railways due to a hamstring, disappointed before Manhas took charge of the proceedings.

He played excellent shots all around the park much to the frustration of the home bowlers, who otherwise looked quite impressive for most part of the day.

Home side bowler Gagandeep claimed three wickets while Vineet Sharma and Amit Uniyal bagged two each.

At stumps, Sarandeep Singh, on five, was giving company to Varun Kumar. (PTI)

Sami’s 5-wkt haul shocks Kiwis as Pak record big win

LAHORE, Dec 1: Paceman Mohammad Sami rocked New Zealand with five wickets in 11 deliveries in Pakistan’s convincing 124-run victory in the second one-day cricket international here today.

Sami, the 22-year-old right-arm paceman, skittled through the Kiwi tail with career-best five wickets for 10 runs as the tourists collapsed to 157 in 38.5 overs in reply to Pakistan’s healthy total of 281 for six off 50 overs.

Jacob Oram, debutante Tamma Canning, Paul Hitchcock and Brendon McCullum all were bowled by Sami’s rocketing pace while Daniel Vettori offered a dolly catch.

Opener Richard Jones top scored for the tourists with his slow 63 off 110 balls before sami returned for his second spell and wrapped up the innings in quick time. He claimed four wickets in his seventh over without conceding a run and then finished the match by clean bowling McCullum in his next over.

New Zealand, which made 291 in the first game before losing the high-scoring thriller by three wickets last Saturday, never looked to threaten Pakistan’s total once Chris Cairns was run out in the 28th over for 29.

Jones and Cairns were involved in a 69-run fourth wicket partnership off 79 balls before Cairns was run out.

Jones’ departure in the 36th over triggered the collapse as New Zealand lost its last six wickets for just two runs.

Earlier, Saleem Elahi returned to international cricket with a half century and Abdul Razzaq once again played an explosive knock of unbeaten 42 off 16 balls after stand-in captain Yousuf Youhana won the toss and elected to bat.

Elahi, who last played in the World Cup in South Africa in February this year, and half centuries by openers Imran Farhat (68) and Yasir Hameed (53) helped Pakistan finish at a strong 281 for six off its 50 overs.

However, it was Razzaq, who made rapid 47 off 22 balls two days ago, whose clean hitting took Pakistan to a tall total in the end today. He scored four boundaries and two sixes in his unbeaten innings as Pakistan made 103 runs in the last 10 overs — 30 in the last two overs.

Elahi was out in the last over of the innings when he drove uppishly to Daniel Vettori low in the covers after hitting six fours in his 69-ball knock. Elahi was included in the side after regular Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq, due to play his 300th international, had to miss the match due to a throat infection.

Farhat and Hameed laid a solid foundation and contributed 115 runs off 144 deliveries under perfect batting conditions at Gaddafi Stadium.

Left-arm spinner Vettori bowled an unchanged spell of 10 overs and got the scalps of both openers. Hameed top edged a sweep soon after completing his half century while left-handed Farhat holed out to paul hitchcock - one of the three changes in the Kiwis squad - in the deep after hammering eight fours and a six.

Vettori kept Pakistan’s progress in check with a tidy spell of 3-40 before Elahi and Razzaq stepped up the pace in the last 10 overs. Elahi brought up his half century with three successive boundaries off Oram and added 50 runs for the fifth wicket with Shoaib Malik (23) off 39 balls. (AP)

PCB chief springs a surprise, resigns from post

ISLAMABAD, Dec 1: In a sudden development, Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Tauqir Zia today quit his post citing personal reasons and raising speculation of a reshuffle in the faction-ridden establishment.

"Yes, I have resigned from the post because four years is a long period for which I was in charge. I have other things to do in my life," Zia told reporters in Lahore today.

His resignation has been accepted by President Pervez Musharraf who is also the patron of the PCB.

A replacement is yet to be announced though it was believed current chief executive Rameez Raja may be appointed as his successor.

PCB officials denied that the resignation of Zia was due to last week’s row between state run PTV and private TV channel, Geo over the rights to telecast live the ongoing five day one-day internationals between Pakistan and New Zealand.

The first match on Saturday could not be telecast live as PTV declined to grant uplinking facilities to geo which was granted the rights for five million dollars by Zia led PCB.

The row was finally settled last night after the intervention of Gen. Musharraf who asked both PTV and Geo to show the match.

They said the main reason why Zia quit the board was that he believed that his son Junaid Zia’s cricket career suffered due to his continuation as PCB chairman and hoped that Junaid’s career would take off with his resignation.

Zia, a close friend and associate of Musharraf, was miffed over persistent criticism from the media over inclusion of his son and budding fast bowler Junaid in the team.

Junaid was selected for the one-day tournament against Bangladesh two months ago but failed to click. He was subsequently selected to play in the ongoing one-day series against New Zealand but again dropped midway due to criticism.

The resignation of Zia, also known to be close to his Indian counterpart Jagmohan Dalimiya, comes ahead of the much awaited Pakistan-India home series in February next year. Zia had silently lobbied for the revival of the cricket ties between the arch-rivals.

The PCB chief’s resignation is expected to have an impact on the recent appointments like that of Aamir Sohail as chief selector.

During his four-year stint, Zia appointed and replaced many coaches and also forced wicketkeeper-captain Rashid Latif to resign from his post.

Zia, who retired as a Lieutenant General from the Pakistan Army few months ago, took over the post in 1999 after the military coup staged by Gen. Musharraf to overthrow the erstwhile Nawaz Sharif Government.

Since then Zia carried as an unquestioned head of the board until Pakistan cricket team failed to qualify for the preliminary rounds of the World Cup early this year.

As the criticism mounted against him, Zia tendered his resignation but it was immediately turned down by Musharraf. Zia had also quit his post in October last year when Pakistan was bowled out for 59 and 53 in the series against Australia in Sharjah, but it was not accepted. (PTI)

Indians should not expect miracles from Reid: Hadlee

MUMBAI, Dec 1: New Zealand great Richard Hadlee today said the Indian team, which has roped in Bruce Reid as its bowling coach for the four-match Test series against Australia, should not expect "miracles" from the former left-arm seamer.

"Reid cannot do miracles with the Indian team which does not have a very good bowling strength. He can only work with whatever talent is available at his disposal," said Hadlee, who was here for the launch of the Academy for Cricketing Excellence (ace) awards, in which he is a panel member.

Terming India’s tour down under as a "real tough" one, Hadlee said "the only way the visitors can beat the Aussies during their test series is by slowing down the Australian run rate and then improving upon it".

"The Australians try to score 350 to 400 runs per day so that by the third day of the test match they will be ready for the killer punch.

"So the important thing for the Indians is to slow them down and make them earn every run," he said.

"India’s batting line-up is pretty good. So when batting, they should try to score runs quickly to get the psychological advantage over the aussies," he added.

"The Indians should think positively from the word go as the Aussies will make things tough for the visitors and if the Indians fail to take up the challenge then they will be beaten." (PTI)

J&K-Bihar Ranji tie begins amidst high voltage drama

By Sanjeev Sharma

JAMMU, Dec 1: The first Ranji trophy match of the season at Jammu’s Moulana Azad Stadium started today after one and half hour long high voltage drama staged by the host vice-captain, Majid Dar, who was demanding more share from Kashmir in the already announced eleven.

Majid, who made his debut in J&K’s first drawn match against Haryana, was infact getting repeated phone calls on his mobile phone which he was carrying when the teams were lined-up for the introduction with the chief guest, Director General of Police, Gopal Sharma.

Soon after the chief guest left the stadium and Bihar opening pair, after winning the toss, entered the field, the vice-captain staged protest and asked other Kashmir players in the team not to enter the field. He virtually dictated terms to the top office-bearers of Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association for over one hour.

Seeing no end to the impasse and the visitors opening batsmen waiting in the field to bat, the JKCA bowed to the pressure tactics of those from Kashmir and accommodated one more player in the playing eleven at the cost of opener, Rajesh Gill.

The height of Majid’s ‘black mailing’ tactics was that he even demanded the ousting of ace bowler Surinder Singh Bagal, which, however, was never acceptable to the office bearers of the JKCA, insiders who were witness of the whole drama, told EXCELSIOR.

Sources further informed that at one point of time, working president of the JKCA, Mohd Aslam Goni, reacting to the ‘black mailing tactics’ asked those from Kashmir to leave the field and asked another promising cricketer, Shami Salaria to go to dressing room and put on the kit.

However, Goni’s stand could not work and few minutes later, another Kashmir player was accommodated in the playing eleven and Salaria was conveyed ‘sorry’.

What happened today was not anything new in J&K cricket, but something new was, change in the team after the toss was over. It may be recalled that in past there was practice of sending two teams to a single venue. In a match against Delhi, two teams, one from Kashmir and one from Jammu, had arrived the venue for the play. In another such incident, two years back a group of players from Kashmir had allegedly ‘ditched’ the Association by not accompanying the team at the eleventh hour.

Meanwhile, the senior cricketers have asked for strict action against those responsible for today’s drama. They were of the view that if written apology could be demanded from Rajesh Gill for some mis-behaviour during practice by the JKCA’s disciplinary committee, those involved in today’s ‘black mailing’ tactics should also be punished severely.