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

Kallis slams ton to steer South Africa to safety

KOLKATA, Nov 28: Jacques Kallis cracked a heroic century to bail South Africa out of early trouble but the Indian seamers did just enough to ensure that the decisive second cricket Test was evenly poised here today. ........more

South Africa aim at a first innings total of 400-450

KOLKATA, Nov 28: South African captain Graeme Smith today said the visitors, who scored 227 for five on the opening day of the second cricket Test here, were aiming at a first innings total of 400-450 to put pressure on India. ...........more

India go down 2-3 against Spain in hockey series

CHANDIGARH, Nov 28: India squandered a two-goal lead to go down 2-3 against Olympic semi-finalists Spain in the first of the two-match hockey Test series here today. A rollicking start saw the hosts going up 2-0 by the 18th minute but the ..............more

Aussies strangling Kiwis with runs in second Test

ADELAIDE, Nov 28: Captain Ricky Ponting opted against enforcing the follow-on armed with a crushing 324-run innings lead as Australia set New Zealand up for the knockout punch in the second cricket Test at Adelaide Oval today. The ruthless Australians, who declared their first innings at 575 for eight, bowled the Kiwis out for 251 today — 124 runs adrift of the follow-on — and instead of sending the. . .............more

Nishant, Kuldeep among
5 enter QFs

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 28: Top seed, Kuldeep Sharma, seeded cueist Nishant Azad among five have qualified for the quarterfinals of junior snooker in the ongoing 14th State billiards and snooker championships underway at MA Stadium, here.Whereas, Nadeem Malik from Srinagar had a lucky black ball ..............more

Double title for Chandpreet; Shefali, Jyesh win in cadet

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 28: Chandpreet Kour clinched both women and junior girls singles titles while Shefali and Jyesh won in cadet groups in the ongoing 26th Stag-Airtel state table tennis championship at MA Stadium, here..................more

Haryana aims at big win over JKCA

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 28: Haryana aims at a big win over Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) XI after visitors made a big score of 257 in reply ............more

Karthik buoyant with Eden performance

KOLKATA, Nov 28: Rookie keeper Dinesh Karthik today said it was thrilling to play in the ampitheatre like stadium of Eden Gardens and begin the day with the fabulous catch to return South African skipper Graeme Smith. .......more

Kallis slams ton to steer South Africa to safety

The experienced Kallis gave a fine exhibition of skill and temperament to notch up his 17th Test century, his first against India, as the visitors recovered from early jolts to reach 227 for five at close on an absorbing opening day.

The hosts, desperate to win their first home series in two years, hit back in the last session with three important scalps after Kallis and Jaques Rudolph (61) had performed the salvage job with a 109-run third wicket partnership on an eden Gardens track that provided some assistance to the bowlers.

Kallis was batting on 103 and Zander De Bruyn was giving him company on 15 before play was called off with 6.3 overs remaining because of bad light.

Captain Sourav Ganguly lost his fourth consecutive toss but the Indians had the tourists on the mat from the very first over of the match with Irfan Pathan accounting for rival captain Graeme Smith off the second ball and then Zaheer Khan dismissing first innings centurion Andrew Hall (7) in the sixth over.

But Kallis and Rudolph ensured that there were no further setbacks by playing cautiously on a day which saw both the famed Indian spinners Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh going wicketless.

After the dreary proceedings of Kanpur, it was an enterprising day’s cricket at the Eden Gardens. Never mind the large vacant stands that was only two weeks ago jam-packed for the Platinum Jubilee one-dayer against Pakistan.

Given the dry surface and low bounce nature of the pitch, batsmen should have dominated the day. That it was not signified the splendid performance of Pathan (3-61) and Zaheer Khan (2-46).

If Pathan showed once again what a natural talent he is with his energetic bowling, Zaheer proved that his comeback from the series of setbacks due to injury is complete.

The two left handed seamers rattled the South Africans, supposedly good players of fast bowling, with their differing abilities.

Pathan made an immediate impact with his burst of energy right from the word go. If his opening spell pushed the visitors on the backfoot the very first over, his return spell after lunch was even more praise worthy for craft and control.

He was unlucky then to not get the wicket of Rudolph whom he troubled repeatedly with his dipping inswingers.

But the 21-year old had his rewards in the last session when he cleaned up debutant Hashim Amla and then had Boeta Dippenaar caught behind in the space of 13 balls.

Zaheer on the other hand was remarkable in getting the ball move off the seam both ways, with the new as well as the old ball.

There was a distinct drop in Zaheer’s pace towards the fag end of the day, but then it was natural considering the workload the Baroda paceman had shared with his state teammate.

But Kallis’ century, alongwith Rudolph’s knock, will raise question on the slow bowlers. Harbhajan Singh once again went wicketless but Kumble was even less effective.

With the track offering less bounce, the batsmen had little trouble in negotiating them. The Karnataka leg-spinner adopted an outside off line in order to cut out the scoring opportunities.

Rudolph was cautious in his approach, probably his dismissal to Kumble in Kanpur weighed largely in his mind.

But the 23-year old managed to adjust his strokes in the last minute.

Kallis at the other end continued the increasing trend of visiting batsmen’s success on Indian pitches.

The 29-year old right hander reminded of Australian middle order batsman Damien Martyn’s prolific scoring in the recent weeks.

What was common in both’s batting was the time they gave themselves to play their shots against the slow bowlers.

The visiting coach Ray Jennings had warned the Indians about Kallis coming at them hard with his bowling, but the South Africans needed him more as a batsman on this tour, packed as their squad was with so many youngsters.

The side strain injury during the match against Board President’s XI meant that Kallis would not bowl in the series, but that had helped him funnel his energy into his batting.

That showed today when every shot he played was the most appropriate for the ball. Even when he was still settling into his groove in the morning, he had the self belief to loft Harbhajan Singh over mid-on for four.

He slowed down after the fall of Rudolph, with whom he added 109 runs for the third wicket. But the runs began to flow from his bat after the tea break.

Kallis reached his century in style with a back foot square drive off Pathan in 207 balls and 11 fours.

The landmark was achieved in 319 minutes of 207 balls and contained 11 lusty hits to the fence on a ground which offered little assistance to the bowlers except in the morning session.

Rudolph (61) was the other prominent scorer of the South African innings.

The match started off sensationally with Smith, who elected to bat on winning the toss, departed off the very second ball even before his side had opened the account, giving the home crowd much to cheer for.

Smith, who had to clear a fitness Test this morning after having injured his left foot in a freak accident yesterday, went out to an outrageous shot. (PTI)

SCOREBOARD

South Africa 1st innings:

G Smith c Kaarthick b Pathan 0

A Hall c Kaarthick b Zaheer 7

J Rudoph b Zaheer 61

J Kallis batting 103

H Amla b Pathan 24

B Dippenaar c Kaarthick b Pathan 1

Z De Bruyn batting 15

Extras (lb-9, nb-7) 16

Total (for 5 wkts in 83.3 overs) 227

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-21, 3-130, 4-176, 5-182.

Bowling: Pathan 22-4-61-3, Zaheer 16.3-4-46-2, Kumble 18-3-48-0, Ganguly 3-2-1-0, Harbhajan 21-6-54-0, Tendulkar 3-0-8-0. (PTI)

South Africa aim at a first innings total of 400-450

"A score of 400-450 is what I am looking at. It should be a good total. We want to push on tomorrow to get a big total to put pressure on India," Smith told reporters after the day’s play.

Though disappointed at the early setbacks, which saw the tourists lose two wickets with only 21 runs on the board, Smith said he was satisfied with the day’s performance and was hoping for a good partnership between the two unbeaten batsmen Jacques Kallis and Zander De Bruyn tomorrow.

Heaping praise on Kallis, who scored his maiden Test hundred against India — the previous best being 95 in Bangalore Test in 1999-2000 — Smith said "we are really proud of him."

Asked if Kallis, who skipped the press conference due to fatigue, would be able to bowl in the Indian innings, smith said "I cannot say at the moment. But may be as the match progresses, he will be able to."

Commenting about the Eden track, the 23-year-old skipper said it looked dryer than the Kanpur wicket on the surface, but helped the Indian seamers, which was a positive sign for South Africa "as we depend a lot on the pace attack."

Smith, who defended his decision to choose to bat first after winning the toss, said he was disappointed with his own dismissal without scoring a run.

"There is no excuse for that shot. I let the team down. But I will try to do my best in the second innings."

He, however, was impressed with debutant Hasim Amla, who made 24 before being castled by Irfan Pathan.

"I was very impressed by how calm he looked today. It was unfortunate that he got out in the 20s."

The skipper also hailed the efforts of Jacques Rudolph, who along with Kallis pulled the visitors out of the rut with a 109-run partnership for the third wicket.

"Rudoplh had a good start. He should have carried on for a big score like Kallis," Smith said.

About the lively crowd at Eden, Smith said "its good to see 40,000 people coming for a test match."

Asked if he expected any result from the series deciding match, Smith said "I believe in playing tests to win." (PTI)

India go down 2-3 against Spain in hockey series

CHANDIGARH, Nov 28: India squandered a two-goal lead to go down 2-3 against Olympic semi-finalists Spain in the first of the two-match hockey Test series here today.

A rollicking start saw the hosts going up 2-0 by the 18th minute but the Spaniards bounced back to level the scores in the first half itself.

Eduard Arbos scored the winner just three minutes before the final whistle of the match that was played as part of preparations for next week’s champions trophy in Pakistan.

Sandeep Singh’s penalty corner conversion gave the team a 1-0 lead in the 14th minute before Hari Prasad swelled it further with a field goal four minutes later to put the visitors on the back foot.

But Spain got their act together, despite being under tremendous pressure, and levelled the score within a span of four minutes.

Santiago Freixa’s double strike in the 26th and 30th minute took the teams to the half-time with a 2-2 scoreline. India paid the price for failing to capitalise on some easy chances after the break as the visitors grew in confidence and kept on attacking the Indian defence with some well executed moves.

Immediately after resumption, India wasted as many as four easy chances. Poor finishing made their task all the more difficult and prevented them from taking the lead against the Spaniards who looked a lot more composed in the second half.

India’s failure to put up good defence in the dying stages proved costly yet again as Arbos scored just minutes before close, much to the delight of his teammates.

Poor conversion of penalty corners continued to haunt the hosts who scored just once from the four penalty corners they earned during the match.

Spain also had trouble in converting from set-pieces, missing all the three penalty corners they got.

Captain Dilip Tirkey went off the ground for a few minutes during the match due to an ankle problem and his temporary absence compounded the problems for the Indians. (PTI)

Aussies strangling Kiwis with runs in second Test

The ruthless Australians, who declared their first innings at 575 for eight, bowled the Kiwis out for 251 today — 124 runs adrift of the follow-on — and instead of sending the battered black caps back in to bat, Ponting searched for even more runs.

At the close, Australia were 57 without loss and had built their overall lead to 381 runs with Justin Langer on 31 and Matthew Hayden on 21.

When Hayden reached 10 he became the first batsman to score 1,000 test runs in four consecutive calendar years.

Ponting’s decision, primarily to ease the workload on his four star bowlers in the Adelaide heat with three home Tests fast approaching against Pakistan, virtually ensured the Test would enter a fifth day on Tuesday.

The Kiwis have been outclassed in the series, skittled for 76 in their second innings to capitulate to an innings and 156-run defeat in last week’s Gabba Test and they are, weather permitting, on course for another hiding here.

The balmy spell of weather is forecast to change with a cold front and rain predicted on Tuesday, so Ponting will have to judge his second innings declaration to give his refreshed bowlers enough overs to bowl out the Kiwis for a second time here and claim victory.

The Kiwis are lurching towards their sixth defeat in their last eight Tests, with the only two wins coming against win-less Bangladesh last month.

New Zealand’s main hopes of negotiating the challenging 376 follow-on target evaporated when skipper Stephen Fleming (83) and senior batsman Nathan Astle (52) were dismissed in the space of four overs in the hour after lunch Sunday.

Much hung on Fleming to stay and lead the fight against world cricket’s all-beaters but he fell to a catch behind off the toe of his bat giving Glenn McGrath the first of his four wickets in the innings.

Fleming "walked" before West Indian umpire Steve Bucknor raised his finger ending a defiant 212-minute vigil with 10 fours.

Fleming ranks as the greatest all-time New Zealand Test run-getter with 5,660 runs in his 89th Test ahead of Martin Crowe’s 5,444 runs in 77 Tests.

The second body blow soon followed when McGrath coaxed Astle to dolly a catch to Langer at mid-wicket just four balls after he raised his 19th Test half-century with a cover-drive off the Aussie pace spearhead.

Brisbane Test century-maker Jacob Oram only lasted 28 balls before edging Jason Gillespie to Adam Gilchrist for 12, leaving the Kiwis at 183 for six. (AFP)

Nishant, Kuldeep among 5 enter QFs

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

Whereas, Nadeem Malik from Srinagar had a lucky black ball game in the deciding fifth frame which he won by a margin of one point 57-56. The score: 76-66, 68-48, 39-57, 33-62, 57-56.

To enter the last eight stage, Kuldeep outplayed Aditya Beri in straight frames while Nishant Azad defeated Shah Nawaz Hussain 3-1. Others, who won their respective quarterfinals were Ishuk Chowdhary and Nikhil Kapahi.

Detailed results: Junior snooker: Sumesh Turki bt Sourav Mahajan 51-22, 56-26, 62-10, 62-12; Sunny Arora bt Avish Sharma 59-20, 72-45, 39-72, 48-23; Ankush Gupta bt Owais Maqsood 67-40, 61-28, 53-26; Yuvraj Singh bt Miya Bashir 64-25, 48-49, 69-20, 69-39; Nikhil Kapahi bt Karan Anand 50-21, 59-20, 48-26; Varun Gupta bt Harshit Wani 54-38, 62-56, 71-6; Nadeem Malik bt Ishan Chowdhary 76-66, 68-48, 39-57, 33-62, 57-56; Kuldeep Sharma bt Aditya Beri 71-31, 83-37, 68-20; Ishuk Chowdhary bt Azain Amin 7-48, 84-56, 70-32, 22-50, 46-50; Nikhil Kapahi bt Sunny Arora 31-77, 72-31, 56-36, 68-34; Arjun got walkover Ankush Langer; Nishant Azad bt Shah Nawaz Hussain 54-17, 59-23, 38-54, 57-50.