NEW DELHI, Dec 3: Thanks to some fine spin bowling by Karan Rahit, Delhi registered a thumping 10-wicket victory over Jammu and Kashmir in the under-17 Vijay Merchant Trophy, after subjecting them to follow on..................more

Ganguly ready to
face the "chin music"

BRISBANE, Dec 3: Indian captain Sourav Ganguly today brushed aside Shane Warne’s comment on his vulnerability to short-pitched bowling, saying he was prepared to face the "chin music" planned by the Australians...............more

England taste Muralitharan
tweakers as Lanka
bounces back

GALLE (Sri Lanka), Dec 3: Sri Lanka’s prolific off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan gave England a glimpse of his sharp tweakers today breaching its top order on the second day of their opening Test...............more

Pak trounce Kiwis
despite Marshall’s
fighting ton

FAISALABAD, Dec 3: Pakistan beat New Zealand by 51 runs in the third one-day international cricket match here today and won the five match series 3-0 despite opener Hamish Marshall’s maiden unbeaten hundred...........more

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 3: Jammu and Kashmir today registered an historic win over Bihar on the home turf, beating latter by five wickets on the third day of the four-day Ranji Trophy league match.....more

Sher-i-Kashmir Gold
Cup Kabaddi today

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 3: Changing the nomenclature of the state championships, Jammu and Kashmir Amateur Kabaddi Association is holding a three-day.........more

Inter-college Hockey meet
Semis line-up drawn
in men’s Hockey

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 3: The semi-finals position has been cleared in the ongoing inter-college men’s Hockey tournament being........more

J&K Roll Ball team leaves
for Sub-Jr Nationals

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 3: Jammu and Kashmir Roll Ball team today left for Ist Sub-junior National Championship scheduled to be held at Delhi from December 5 to 7......more

Poonch district Athletic meet begins.....

State Yoga Championship tomorrow.....

India-Pak veterans to play one-dayers this month.....

Delhi thrash J&K, bag bonus point

NEW DELHI, Dec 3: Thanks to some fine spin bowling by Karan Rahit, Delhi registered a thumping 10-wicket victory over Jammu and Kashmir in the under-17 Vijay Merchant Trophy, after subjecting them to follow on.

In the three-day match that concluded yesterday at the Harbaksh Stadium here, Delhi made a first innings total of 254 all out in 82.1 overs with Robin Bisht top scoring for them with 48. In reply J&K first innings collapsed at 102 in 72.3 overs with Rahit claiming five wickets conceding 30 runs.

Asked to follow on, J&K second innings was hardly better as they were all out for 163 in 92 overs. Chasing a target of 12, Delhi scored the needful in only 1.5 overs without losing any wicket.

Delhi now has five points, including a bonus they got from this match.

Brief score:

Delhi first innings 254 all out in 82.1 overs

J&K first innings 102 all out in 72.3 overs

J&K second innings 163 all out in 92 overs

Delhi second innings 12 for no loss in 1.5 overs (UNI)

Ganguly ready to face the "chin music"

BRISBANE, Dec 3: Indian captain Sourav Ganguly today brushed aside Shane Warne’s comment on his vulnerability to short-pitched bowling, saying he was prepared to face the "chin music" planned by the Australians.

Ganguly said it was not unusual for a test player to be tested with short pitched-deliveries but he has been in international cricket long enough to be able to handle such rising balls.

"That’s typical of how Australia play their cricket -32 hundreds," Ganguly told reporters on the eve of the first Test against Australia.

Warne had yesterday commented on Ganguly’s weakness against short-pitched stuff and said the Australians would be looking to relentlessly Test him with lifting deliveries.

"When you play cricket you don’t expect everything pitched up to you. We, who have played Test cricket for a longer period of time have received short deliveries," said Ganguly.

"I do not think about it. Fortunately or unfortunately, they don’t leave the newspaper under my door in my hotel, so I don’t get to read most of them," he said.

Ganguly termed the present series as a big challenge for his young team but did not forget to add that the Australians would not find it easy either.

"It’s a big challenge to our ability and we really want to find out how good we are at the end of the series," Ganguly said.

"But then every side is vulnerable. Australia know it is only India which has beaten them in the last six years. They know at the back of their mind we could throw them up a challenge."

Ganguly drew hope from the performance of Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra, his left-arm pace bowlers, on foreign soil and said his side travel far better than a few Indian teams in the past.

"I think it has changed. We like being on tour. We get to do a lot of things we can’t do at home. If you ask a lot of boys, they like touring.

"The difference has been the composition of the side. Now we rely on fast bowlers to take wickets and to be honest, zaheer and Ashish have bowled well on previous tours and given us confidence.

"The key for our bowlers in this series is to hit the length consistently. If we expect them to take wickets on the first day of the Test, it is too much for them."

Ganguly did not want to get too worked up on the toss at a greentop Gabba wicket tomorrow and said toss was an over-rated thing in Test cricket.

"It is how you do on five days which matters. In the past Waugh has chosen to field at Gabba. We won the toss at Headingley last year, batted on a damp wicket and won the Test.

"I don’t think bowling or batting first was a sign of weakness. It’s how good you are which makes the difference," he said. (PTI)

England taste Muralitharan tweakers as
Lanka bounces back

GALLE (Sri Lanka), Dec 3: Sri Lanka’s prolific off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan gave England a glimpse of his sharp tweakers today breaching its top order on the second day of their opening Test.

Muralitharan reduced England to 97 for two in reply to Sri Lanka’s first innings total of 371.

Brought on after the pace bowlers failed to make an impression, Muralitharan (2 for 15) dismissed the opening pair of Marcus Trescothick (23) and Skipper Michael Vaughan (24) in the space of 11 runs.

Sri Lanka has won six of the eight Tests played in this southern coastal town - including the last five - and has been beaten only once.

Kumar Sangakkara emerged as Sri Lanka’s top scorer with a 210-minute knock of 71, but it was Muralitharan’s cameo 38 that took Sri Lanka past the 300-run mark.

Left-handed Trescothick survived a glance against pacer Chaminda Vaas when wicketkeeper Sangakkara did not dive for the catch, but he was unlucky to be ruled caught behind off Muralitharan later when the ball appeared to miss his defensive bat.

Australian umpire Daryl Harper responded positively to Sangakkara’s appeal, but television replays showed he did not snick the ball. Vaughan was bowled through his legs by a sharp turner that dislodged his off stump.

Muralitharan came close do dismissing Mark Butcher (15 not out), but Sangakkara failed to snap a gloved catch in the closing stages. Keeping Butcher company at the draw of stumps was Graham Thorpe on 20.

Earlier, last batsman Muralitharan dominated a 10th-wicket stand of 40 with Vaas (22 not out), who added 40 for the eighth wicket with Dharmasena (27), as Sri Lanka’s tailenders batted through an entire session. (AP)

Pak trounce Kiwis despite Marshall’s fighting ton

FAISALABAD, Dec 3: Pakistan beat New Zealand by 51 runs in the third one-day international cricket match here today and won the five match series 3-0 despite opener Hamish Marshall’s maiden unbeaten hundred.

The 24-year-old Marshall, from Auckland, finished with 101 not out and hit his career’s first century in the 50th over with the match already in the home team’s pocket.

Pakistan gained an unassailable 3-0 lead with two matches to go. This is their third home one-day series win in four attempts in the past 18 months.

Pakistan, electing to bat, made a mammoth 314 for seven in their allotted 50 overs before restricting New Zealand to 263 for seven in the same number of overs.

For Pakistan opener Imran Farhat missing his maiden one-day century by nine runs.

The tourists, chasing a run rate of more than six an over, were never in the hunt as they lost opener Craig Cumming in Shoaib Akhtar’s second over for 10.

Marshall batted without any support for 109 balls, hitting seven boundaries and two sixes.

Mathew Sinclair and Richard Jones repaired the early loss through a second wicket stand of 46 before sinclair fell run out for 32 and Jones fell to Abdul Razzaq for 23.

Marshall partnered with Chris Harris in a solid but slow stand of 107 but the asking rate was creeping with the visitors needing a highly unlikely 141 in the last 10 overs. Mohammad Sami, who took five for 10 in the second match, came for his second spell to remove Harris for 46 and in his next two overs had dangerous Chris Cairns caught for nine and trapped Brendon McCullum for one to finish with three for 22.

Farhat’s 91 off 110 balls included five boundaries and a six. Yousuf Youhana with an attractive 64 and Abdul Razzaq with 34 off just 16 balls also cashed in.

Pakistan’s score soared in the last 10 overs as Razzaq and Youhana added 53 off just 18 balls with Razzaq hitting two fours and two sixes.

Youhana hit five boundaries and a six off just 53 balls before he fell to Matthew Walker who finished with for for 49.

Razzaq hit Michael Mason for 23 runs in the 47th over to finish with 34 off just 16 deliveries to help Pakistan add 113 in the last 10 overs.

Inzamam, who made 25, became the seventh player in all and second Pakistani to appear in his 300th one-day.

"It’s a great honour to play 300 one-day games and the win is icing on the cake for me," Inzamam said.

Pakistan’s recently retired fast bowler Wasim Akram heads the list with 356 matches, followed by Indian Mohammad Azharuddin (334), Australia’s Steve Waugh (325), Indian Sachin Tendulkar (321), and the Sri Lankan duo of Aravinda de Silva (308) and Sanath Jayasuriya (308).

Inzamam, who missed the second match due to throat infection, was one of two changes in the home side with Shoaib also returning after serving a two-match ban imposed during Pakistan’s home series against South Africa last month.

The fourth and fifth match will be played in Rawalpindi on Friday and Sunday. (AFP)

J&K downs Bihar by 5-wkt in Ranji

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 3: Jammu and Kashmir today registered an historic win over Bihar on the home turf, beating latter by five wickets on the third day of the four-day Ranji Trophy league match.

The early win came after all-rounder, Vijay Sharma displayed excellent batting who with his unbeaten 61 off just 65 deliveries with the help of one hit over the fence and nine fours helped J&K chase 189 runs before tea.

Another all-round and senior cricketer, Ashwani Gupta was other half-century maker with unbeaten 51 made with the help of five boundaries. The victory shot was also played by Ashwani, who hit the sixth delivery of the 81st over to the fence, thereby guiding J&K to a five-wicket win.

Earlier, resuming their innings from overnight score of 28 for one in 14 overs, J&K achieved their target of 217, adding 189 more runs, just before the tea break playing 81 overs.

It was second wicket 67 runs partnership between experienced and former skipper, Kanvaljeet Singh, who alongwith Vikrant Taggar which brought brought hosts from seven for one to a comfortable position of 74 for two. Vikrant played true test innings and lost his wicket adding 29 runs to the score off 127 deliveries. Kanvaljeet, who was playing at 15 yesterday, added 21 more runs before he was caught by Mohit Goel off Sunny Gupta at 36.

Another valuable partnership was between skipper Dhruv Mahajan and Ashwani Gupta who together added 47 runs for the fourth wicket partnership.

Shahid Khan was the only bowler from Bihar who could intrude into the strong batting talent shown by J&K. He took four wickets for 42 runs in 32 overs. Another wicket was taken by Sunny Gupta.

Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Players Association (JKPCA) has congratulated the Dhruv Mahajan led J&K team and the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) for today’s historic win against Bihar.

Terming the win as a moral booster, vice-president and spokesman JKPCA, Ranjeet Kalra said that inspite of initial differences the team played like an integrated unit and all the players contributed in this win.

He had special appreciation for Sameer Khajuria, Kanvaljeet Singh, Vikrant Taggar, Ashwani Gupta and Vijay Sharma for their excellent performance.

Ranjeet hoped that the team will maintain this zeal and spirit in the forthcoming matches also.

Scoreboard

Bihar Ist innings 172

J&K Ist innings 115

Bihar second innings 159

J&K second innings

Vikrant Taggar c&b Shahid Khan 29

Sajjad lbw Shahid 2

Kanvaljeet Singh c Mohit Goel

b Sunny Gupta 36

Ashwani Gupta not out 51

Dhruv c Satya Prakash b Shahid 24

Majid Dar lbw Shahid 5

Vijay Sharma not out 6

Extras: (lb-2, b-2, nb-4, w-1) 9

Total (for five in 81 overs) 217

Fall of wkts: 1-7, 2-74, 3-78, 4-119, 5-131.

Bowling analysis: Shahid Khan 32-17-42-4; Sumit Panda 8-1-24-0; Mihir Diwakar 11-1-24-0; Sunny Gupta 10-2-40-1; Mohit Goel 4-0-18-0; Anant Parkash 2-0-13-0; S B Chobay 14-2-52-0.