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| England’s honeymoon ends in Pak LAHORE, Dec 3: Danish Kaneria and Shoaib Akhtar bowled Pakistan to victory today as England collapsed to lose by an innings and 100 runs in the third and final Test in Lahore. England, trailing by 348 runs on the first innings after Pakistan amassed .......more Cue sports
victim of AHMEDABAD, Dec 3: Unfair imposition of taxes by State Governments and few tournaments are to be blamed for cue sports not being much popular among the masses, feel .........more Mumbai
needs a new NASIK, Dec 3: Expressing concern over the present seating capacity of Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium, the newly elected president of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Sharad Pawar today said the city needs a big stadium. "The present seating capacity of the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.....more Dalmiya
resigns as chief KOLKATA, Dec 3: Jagmohan Dalmiya has resigned as president of the Asian Cricket Council and the Afro-Asian Cricket Cooperation. He tendered his resignation ....more |
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J&K rubbishes Sreesanth-Yohanan attack; takes first innings lead * Kerala’s 10-bowler attack useless as Kavaljeet, Dhruv hit tons Excelsior Sport Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 3: Experienced Kavaljeet Singh and skipper, Dhruv Mahajan today .......more JAMMU: The Kerala and Jammu and Kashmir Ranji Trophy teams this evening took part in the bonn-fire and crackers display celebrations being carried out in Jammu University stadium in connection with ongoing North Zone Youth Festival.......more NMN XI
enters semis Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 3: The NMN XI defeated Engineers XI to enter the semi-finals of 3rd Mulkh Raj Memorial cricket tournament being organised Ramnik Cricket Club here today.................more Excelsior Sports Correspondent DODA, Dec 3 : A 2-day annual athlete meet for boys and girls in the age group of under 14, 17 and 19 year concluded here today. The meet organized by Youth......more |
England’s honeymoon ends in Pak LAHORE, Dec 3: Danish Kaneria and Shoaib Akhtar bowled Pakistan to victory today as England collapsed to lose by an innings and 100 runs in the third and final Test in Lahore. England, trailing by 348 runs on the first innings after Pakistan amassed a massive 636-8, were bowled out for 248 in their second innings on the fifth and final day to lose the series 2-0. It was their first-ever Test series loss in two-and-a-half years under Michael Vaughan’s captaincy and was a rude awakening for a side who triumphed last summer over the mighty Australians in the Ashes. England had beaten the West Indies (twice), South Africa, New Zealand, Bangladesh and Australia before ending the Pakistan Test series on a highly disappointing note. The tourists lost their last eight wickets after lunch in the space of just 47 runs and 12.1 overs, with leg-spinner Kaneria grabbing four scalps and fast bowler Akhtar three. Akhtar finished with 5-71 for his 12th haul of five or more wickets in a Test innings and Kaneria with 4-52 as Pakistan clinched their maiden Test series in two years. Pakistan won the opening Test by 22 runs at Multan before England salvaged a draw in the second at Faisalabad. There was no hint of a dramatic collapse in the morning session as resolute Ian Bell (92) and Paul Collingwood (80) denied Pakistan success to raise England’s hopes of saving the match with a century stand for the third wicket. Resuming at 121-2, England were comfortably placed at 201-2 at lunch before the wickets came tumbling down. Kaneria turned the match upside-down in five deliveries after the lunch-break, removing all-rounder Collingwood, Kevin Pietersen (one) and Andrew Flintoff for a duck. The wily spinner, ineffective when bowling round the stumps in the morning session, tasted instant success bowling over the stumps when he had Collingwood caught by Hasan Raza in the slips with his fourth delivery after the break. Collingwood, who scored 96 in the first innings, struck 12 fours in his second successive Test half-century and was involved in a 175-run stand with bell. Kaneria then removed Ashes heroes Pietersen and Flintoff off successive balls in his next over to put England in deep trouble at 212-5. Pietersen was caught by Raza while Flintoff was bowled off a googly. Geraint Jones survived the hat-trick ball, but not before a confident appeal for leg-before. Akhtar also kept pressure from the other end, dismissing Bell and Jones in his opening spell after the lunch-break. Bell hit 13 fours in his 189-ball knock before being trapped leg-before. Jones fell to a dubious leg-before decision after contributing just five. Kaneria sparked celebrations when he bowled Matthew Hoggard in the 13th over of the post-lunch session. (AFP) |
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Cue sports victim of poor state policies AHMEDABAD, Dec 3: Unfair imposition of taxes by State Governments and few tournaments are to be blamed for cue sports not being much popular among the masses, feel snooker and billiards champions of yesteryears. Seven-time world billiards champion Geet Sethi says that inspite of cue sports being part of the Asian Games and former champions from India like Wilson Jones and Michael Ferrera making it big in the world arena, the sport had failed to gain mass popularity. "Few years ago, the sudden emergence of pool parlours in evey neighbourhood of major cities in India was seen as a kind a resurgence for cue sports," Sethi said. "But today the scenario has changed. The parlours which had sprung up in cities mainly in Maharashtra and Karnataka have vanished overnight," he said adding that heavy tax levied on these parlours led to their disappearance. "Today we are facing a shortage of infrastructure with regard to the number of tables available for cue sports in the country," said Sethi who had been the backbone of Indian cue sports before the 20-year-old sensation from Bangalore Pankaj Advani made it big in the international league. With pool parlours disappearing, the number of tables have fallen dramatically and the those surviving are restricted to expensive clubs, Sethi said. According to Sethi, pool parlours were a low-cost form of entertainment for cue enthusiasts. Former national snooker champion Yasin Merchant also says India have failed to cash in on the pool parlour boom. "We failed to spot probable champions of the future when a large number of aspiring youngsters had taken up cue during the (pool parlour) boom," Yasin remarked. Yasin felt that encouraging the development and growth of pool was one way of popularising and moulding players who could become future champions. "More and more tournaments should also be organised so that the sport gains more popularity inside the country," he said. "Few years ago in Mumbai, a series of squash tournaments were organised at different levels and the popularity of that game, at least in the city, picked up," he said adding that regular tournaments would help in spreading awareness about the sport. "But now after a large gap there is a series of tournaments lined up including the CCI billiards tournament (currently being held) in Mumbai, the international doubles tournament coming up in Mumbai from December 13-17 and the national championships of billiards and snooker slated after that," he said. Experimenting with different formats also seems to be an attempt aimed towards popularising the sport. Sethi, one of the organisers of the recently-concluded Indian cue master league 2005, has designed a new spectator friendly format which will be tried in the Hyderabad, Delhi and Mumbai legs of the league in the coming months. As per the unique format, all the three games including nine-ball pool (race to three), snooker (single frame) and billiards (50-points first) have been clubbed together. According to the former champion, the league has been introduced to generate spectators’ interest in the game. And it did achieve its desired result during the finals on November 27 when Yasin Merchant, cheered on by a young crowd, beat current IBSF world billiards champion Pankaj Advani in a thrilling encounter. "Though we have a good crop of young talent in Advani, Delhi’s Manan Chandra and Kolkata’s Saurav Kothari, a lot needs to be done to make the sport gain mass popularity," Sethi said. (PTI) |
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Mumbai needs a new cricket stadium: Pawar NASIK, Dec 3: Expressing concern over the present seating capacity of Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium, the newly elected president of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Sharad Pawar today said the city needs a big stadium. "The present seating capacity of the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai is 34,000. We want a big stadium there having seating capacity of 1.25 lakh so that MCA (Mumbai Cricket Association) will be able to provide more seats to the cricket lovers," Pawar, who is also the president of MCA, said at the felicitation organised by the Nasik District Circket Association (NDCA) at Anant Kanhere Grounds this morning. The Union Agriculture Minister said that due to the importance of international Test and ODIs, Ranji Trophy matches are losing its sheen. "There was a time when Ranaji Trophy matches were famous. But due to the popularity and live telecast of one-day matches Ranji has become less important," he said, adding that Ranji matches should be conducted at the district levels. The Mumbai Cricket Association chief said that he has no vested interest in team selection or other administrative matters. "As a president, I am not taking any initiative in selecting players or modifying stadium but I have put up the responsibility on former Test players like Madhavrao Apte, Milind Rege, Sunil Gavaskar and others, who meet and take collective decisions." Pawar said that there was a time in Test cricket that there were seven to eight players from Mumbai seen in it, but today the numbers have come down. He applauded Maharashtra Cricket Association president Ajay Shirke’s move to develop Nasik Stadium for Maharashtra-Tamil Nadu Ranji match, which is to be played here from December 17, and said that the administrator has developed grounds suitable for Ranji matches in 21 districts of the state. (PTI) |
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Excelsior Sport Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 3: Experienced Kavaljeet Singh and skipper, Dhruv Mahajan today proved the Kerala bowling attack, led by former Team India members, S Sreesanth and Tinu Yohanan, worthless and completed their centuries on the home turf in the Plate group-B match being played at M A Stadium, here. Kavaljeet, who lost his wicket when S Suresh trapped him leg before wicket, lost his wicket at 119 but by then the patient cricketer had already guided J&K to first innings lead over the visitors. Another unbeaten century by Dhruv Mahajan (102, 7x4) powered J&K to 358 for four in 169 overs at the end of day three play. With over 350 runs to their kitty, J&K has already managed a 111-run lead over the star-studded side. It was skipper’s second century in Ranji Trophy. Except openers, Sajjad Shahid and Vimarsh Kaw, who could not give J&K a good start, other incoming batsmen shouldered their responsibility like true professionals and guided the host to a commendable position. Kavaljeet Singh, who had planned to stick to the wicket and keeping one-end intact, thereby allowed other youngsters to score runs. He succeeded in his plans and yesterday scored just 29 runs after facing 157 deliveries, hitting only three boundaries. Today was Kavaljeet’s eighth hundred in first class cricket. He mastered a much needed 96-run third wicket partnership with Arshad Bhat. And, after Arshad was caught by Sunil Oasis of the bowling of S Suresh at a score of 64 (9x4), Kavaljeet laid foundation for another big partnership of 183 runs with Dhurv Mahajan. Kavaljeet continued playing true Test cricket and completed his century (119) playing a marathon innings for 505 minutes facing 396 balls and hitting 12 boundaries. J&K lost their fourth wicket in the shape of Kavaljeet at 319. However, the Kerala made all-out effort to break the partnerships earlier during the day, but were looked hapless throughout. Except the wicket-keeper, the whole team bowled but could not succeed in dislodging the J&K batting. All the three star cricketers of Kerala— S Ramesh, Tinu Yohanan and S Sreesanth failed to take any wicket. Whereas, skipper, Sree Kumar Nair and S Suresh managed two wickets each. Later, talking to EXCELSIOR, J&K skipper, Dhruv Mahajan said, "we are not thinking of a big total. Since just a day’s play is left our strategy tomorrow would be to add 70 or 75 more runs to the total thereby bringing the lead around 180 runs and make an attempt to bowl the opponents out in the remaining 75 or 80 overs." Relieved with team’s performance, Kavaljeet said, " we have high hopes on our spin attack led by Sameer Khajuria and Jagtar Singh tomorrow. Since, Sameer has already taken five wickets in the first innings, he is expected to make the difference tomorrow." Commending the team for making a great comeback in the second Ranji match against the start-studded side, Dhruv further said, " we are at a position from where we can bring Kerala under pressure tomorrow and I, hope the mixture of youth and experience will work in the team will work in our favour." SCOREBOARD Kerala Ist innings 247 J&K Ist innings Sajjad Sheikh b SK Nair 19 Vimarsh b A Kudwa b Nair 4 Arshad c S Oasis b S Suresh 65 Kavaljeet lbw S Suresh 119 Dhruv not out 102 Majid Dar not out 11 Extras: (lb-14, b-6, nb-13, w-5) 38 Total (for four in 169 overs) 358 Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-40, 3-136, 4-319 Bowling Analysis: Tinu Yohanan 30-8-63-0' S Sreesanth 23-9-51-0; Sree Kumar Nair 43-17-62-2; S Suresh 21-7-42-2; Anish S 5-0-20-0; M Suresh Kumar 34-7-73-0; Sunil Owais 8-1-15-0; V A Jagdeesh 1-0-1-0; S Ramesh 3-0-8-0; Ajay Kudwa 1-0-3-0. |
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JAMMU: The Kerala and Jammu and Kashmir Ranji Trophy teams this evening took part in the bonn-fire and crackers display celebrations being carried out in Jammu University stadium in connection with ongoing North Zone Youth Festival. The star-studded Kerala team, comprising of latest Indian pace sensation, Sreesanth (who made his debute against Sri Lanka this year) and former Indian opener, Sadagopalan Ramesh and Tinu Yohanan along with host J&K Ranji team participated in the celebrations. The teams were in the Jammu University on the request of the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Amitabh Mattoo. Later, talking to the newsmen, S Ramesh and Sreesanth said that they were happy to be a part of the Youth Festival and to interact with the participating students in the festival. J&K captain, Dhruv Mahajan,Kavaljeet Singh, Majid Dar and Indian under-19 cricketer, Abid Nabi as well as the coaches of the two teams, Parthasarthy Sharma and Dinesh Nanawaty also accompanied. Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Players Association (JKCPA), senior vice-president and member JU Cricket Committee, Ranjit Kalra was also present. |
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NMN XI enters semis of Mulkh Raj cricket Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 3: The NMN XI defeated Engineers XI to enter the semi-finals of 3rd Mulkh Raj Memorial cricket tournament being organised Ramnik Cricket Club here today. The NMN victory was decided on the basis of average in first ten overs after the bad light appeal was made by the batting side. Earlier, batting first, Engineers XI made 146 runs losing all their wickets in 19.3 overs. In reply, NMN XI were playing at 115 for five in 14 overs when bad light appeal was made by the batsmen. Varinder was declared man of the match for his four wickets haul including hat-trick. |
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Excelsior Sports Correspondent DODA, Dec 3 : A 2-day annual athlete meet for boys and girls in the age group of under 14, 17 and 19 year concluded here today. The meet organized by Youth Services and Sports Department Doda, was inaugurated by Chief Education Officer Doda Ashok Sein. Over 100 meritorious boys and girls from different zones of the district participated in the meet. Competition were held in 100, 200, 400 and 800 meters, long jump, high jump, shot-put and javelin. Speaking on the occasion the CEO lauded the role of Youth Services and Sports Department for holding sports activities across the district through out the year. He said that such events would explore the hidden talents of youth especially living in remote and far flung areas of the district. Congratulating the students who secured first position in their respective events CEO welcomed appreciated the attempts of other youth who participated in the meet. |
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Nagbani School girls win in Varun memorial basketball Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 3: Nagbani School girls won their match against Young Tigers in the ongoing 3rd Varun Sharma memorial basketball tournament at Mini-Stadium, Parade, here. Nagbani girls defeated Young Tigers 20-13 with Megha being the top scorer, followed by Nidhi (6) and Sheetal (4). Rupali (7), Vandana (4) and Sonu (2) were main scorers. In boys section, Tigers Sports Club outplayed Nagbani School in a one-sided contest 87-39. Anil (25), Rajinder Singh (23) and Tushar (11) were main scorers from winners. From Nagbani, Gurjot (18) and Sumeet (10) remained the top scorers. |
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Excelsior Sports Correspondent SRINAGAR, Dec 3: Pardeep Singh of J&K Police has lifted the Open Kashmir Squash trophy beating Tanvir Ahmed 10-8, 1-9, 9-4 in the final played at Amar Singh Club, here today. Whereas, in junior group, Ajaz clinched the winners trophy beating Shaida. In girls section, Sawaiya defeated Insha to claim the winners trophy. In the finals and prize distribution function, DIG (Armed), Kashmir Range, B A Dar was chief guest, who was chief guest. Prominent among others present was Commandant 60th Bn CRPF. Organised by J&K Squash Rackets Association, the championship was sponsored by J&K State Sports Council. Meanwhile, the general secretary of the Association, G S Bakshi said that the Jammu Open Squash Championship will start from December 15 at Jammu Club, followed by the J&K State Open Championship. |
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