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Late McGrath wickets rock England in Ashes Test

PERTH, Dec 17: Veteran bowler Glenn McGrath’s two late wickets in three balls had Australia on the verge of reclaiming the Ashes after an intriguing fourth day of the third Test at the WACA ground here today.

A defiant century by young opener Alastair Cook kept the tourists in the match and with one day still to play, England were 265 for five in their second innings, still needing another 292 for an incredible win.

Their only other hope to keep the series alive is to bat out the final day and force a draw.

Kevin Pietersen carried English hopes of saving the series and was not out on 37, with captain Andrew Flintoff having just joined him at the crease on two.

Just when it seemed England would go into the final day with seven wickets in hand after six hours of gritty batting, the determined Cook fell in the third last over of the day as McGrath (2-50) had him caught behind for 116.

England sent in nightwatchman Matthew Hoggard, but the move backfired when he was bowled second ball by a McGrath yorker.

Australia are already 2-0 up in the five-Test series and victory here would see them regain the Ashes they lost in 2005.

A little worryingly for the Australians, an early shower or two is forecast for the final day. More Cook, who scored a double century for Essex against the touring Australians in 2005, delivered on his pre-match promise to make runs and notched his fourth Test century and his first against Australia.

The left-hander showed great powers of concentration to cope with a searching and extended examination from champion leg-spinner Shane Warne on another hot and humid day.

He also endeavoured to leave the balls just outside his off stump from fast bowlers, which have been his downfall this series, preferring to accumulate runs mainly through the leg side.

Cook finally reached triple figures after 335 obstinate minutes and 257 balls at the crease, having hit only eight boundaries.

It was a richly deserved century but he did enjoy some luck, being dropped by Matthew Hayden at first slip from the part-time off-spin of Andrew Symonds on 83.

He survived a confident lbw appeal padding up to Warne on 72, while a pull shot off Warne just cleared McGrath at deep mid-wicket after the veteran Australian paceman misjudged the flight.

Just when it seemed he would bat through the day, he pushed forward and got an outside edge through to Adam Gilchrist, ending 390 minutes and 290 balls of defiance.

Cook’s 170-run second-wicket partnership with Ian Bell raised English hopes in the first two sessions.

England resumed at 19 for one and the pair defied the Australian attack for more than half the day.

Bell was denied a century when he became Shane Warne’s 696^{th Test wicket from
the last ball of the day’s 51st
over. (AFP)}

^{The
diminutive right-hander had batted with a
perfect mixture of patience and
strokeplay to frustrate the Australians,
but got under a fullish delivery from
Warne and drove it straight to Justin
Langer at short mid-off.}

^{He
had been at the crease for 234 minutes,
faced 163 balls and hit eight fours and
two sixes.}

^{Bell
generally played Warne well, using his
feet when appropriate and twice lofting
the leg-spinner straight down the ground
for six.}

^{He
did enjoy a life on 73 when Gilchrist
grassed a catch off the bowling of Brett
Lee.}

^{Paul
Collingwood made just five before being
caught behind from the under-utilised
Stuart Clark.}

^{There
was little assistance from the wicket for
Australia’s fast bowling trio of
Lee, McGrath and Clark.}

^{Warne
extracted plenty of turn and bowled
unchanged from the northern end between
lunch and tea, but endured a generally
frustrating day. (AGENCIES)}

India finish runners-up at World Cup for Blind

LAHORE, Dec 17: Defending champions Pakistan outplayed India by six wickets in the final to retain the Cricket World Cup for the Blind in Islamabad.

Pakistan won the toss and invited India to bat first. The Indians scored 225 for seven in their 40 overs before the defending champions overhauled the target in 29.2 overs to become World Champions for the second successive time.

The hosts lost only four wickets during their chase at the Pindi Cricket Stadium.

For the Indians, Shahbash Boya top-scored with 54. His efforts were complemented by Daleep Mandis who fell just three runs short of his fifty.

However, the duo’s efforts were negated by the Pakistani fielders, who were athletic in the field and built pressure on the Indians, making them struggle for every run.

India managed to put on 225 in their 40 overs and the total proved inadequate as Noor Qureshi slammed an unbeaten 102 to guide the hosts to victory with more than 10 overs in hands.

Muhammad Akram (62) and Aamir Isfaq (47) also chipped in as Pakistan flayed the Indian attack.

Daleep Mandis and Nana Gee shared a wicket apiece for India. Noor Qureshi was declared man of the match for his brilliant hundred. (UNI)

American tennis star Davenport to hang
up her racket: report

WASHINGTON, Dec 17: American tennis star and former Grand Slam winner Lindsay Davenport, who is expecting her first child, told ESPN.Com she expects to retire from the sport once her baby is born.

"I hate the word ‘retirement’, but this season was such a struggle physically for me, and I can’t imagine playing again," the three-time Grand Slam winner said in an interview posted on the cable sports network’s website.

"I can’t say there’s any sadness yet about missing tennis. My life is with my husband and my future child," Davenport told ESPN.

"I feel like the second part of my life is about to begin, and I feel so lucky that if everything goes well, I’m able to go out like this. The timing couldn’t be better."

The 30-year-old American is expecting her first child with her husband of three years, Jonathan Leach. The baby is due in early summer.

Davenport has won 51 career WTA singles events, and she captured the gold medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

She won the US Open in 1998, Wimbledon in 1999 and the Australian Open in 2000.

Last season, she missed both the French Open and Wimbledon due to injuries.

Having ended the season as the world number one four times in her career, Davenport finished this year ranked 25^{th.
(AGENCIES)}

Fletcher defends himself amidst Ashes ruins

MELBOURNE, Dec 17: England coach Duncan Fletcher, who has taken a lot of stick for England’s seemingly doomed Ashes campaign, has defended overlooking Chris Read and Monty Panesar for the first two Tests of the ongoing series.

Fletcher said he had been criticised for seven years in his role and stood by England’s on-tour selection policy.

"People forget we’ve lost only one (recent) Test series with this system, so it must have proved pretty successful," he was qouted by ‘The Age’ today.

"From my point of view, it’s fine," he said.

Panesar proved his talents in Perth to compound England’s error in overlooking him in Brisbane and Adelaide because of Ashley Giles’ presumably better batting.

Even that reasoning came back to haunt the tourists, as Panesar showed a solid technique and broad stroke range.

Fletcher acknowledged Panesar was a better batsman than his record suggested, but had never got a decent chance to prove himself because his captains always assumed he could not bat.

"We’ve seen it where he does look pretty accomplished," he said.

"We’ve seen how he bats and he did the job and we’ll have to look at making a change in that order," Fletcher added.

Fletcher has also been blasted for sticking with Geraint Jones as wicketkeeper instead of the more accomplished Chris Read again because of batting depth.

Jones’s continuing struggles with the willow could mean Read plays in the fourth Test in Melbourne.

The coach also backed captain Andrew Flintoff, the team’s star all-rounder, who has failed to repeat his heroics of the 2005 Ashes series here so far.

Flintoff took an inspiring four-wicket haul in the first innings of the first Test, but has been a shadow of the man of last year’s series, especially with the bat, managing 69 runs to the half-way point with three bad dismissals.

He has also struggled to publicly defend his side’s poor performances, but Fletcher said he and England management had warned Flintoff before the tour began of what to expect.

"It’s going to be difficult captaining England, especially in Australia," Fletcher said adding "He’s enjoyed it, the captaincy side of it, but he’s just a little frustrated that he hasn’t made some runs."

England’s tour has been plagued by bad selections, costly lapses and the departures of Marcus Trescothick (depression) and Giles (whose wife is seriously ill).

But Fletcher denied it had been a case of whatever could go wrong, did.

"The last time we were here (2002-03), it was more difficult," he said.

"That was a series where there were more injuries and we felt then we didn’t have the players to compete. Here we feel we haven’t played as well as we could," he added. (PTI)

Sangram’s century put HP in commanding position

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 17: A brilliant unbeaten knock of 132 runs by Sangram Singh helped Himachal Pradesh to pile up 337 runs in 84 overs on the first day of the Ranji Trophy match against J&K at GGM Science College Hostel Ground today. The match was stopped before the scheduled time due to bad light with 6 overs to be bowled.

Earlier, HP skipper Sandeep Sharma won the toss and opted to bat first. They got off to a shaky start as opener Munish Gupta was retired hurt off the bowling of Abid Nabi when he scored just 4 runs. Skipper Sandeep Sharma played an impressive knock of 65 runs comprising of 2 sixes and 6 hits to the fence.

He was caught by Hardeep Singh off the bowling of Samir Khajuria. Paras Dogra also contributed useful 20 runs before he was trapped lbw by Abid Nabi. He struck 4 boundaries.

But the day went to Sangram Singh, who played a crafty knock with tremendous exhibition of stroke play. He completed his century in style lofting six over long on. He struck 16 fours and 2 sixes.

He faced 218 balls for his 132 runs with 274 minutes stay at the wicket. and stayed at the wicket. Manvinder Singh on the other hand, looked determined to complete his century on the second day. He faced 114 balls for his 86 runs studded with 8 fours and a six.

Besides Sangram’s century, the highlight of the match is the unbeaten 191 runs partnership between Sangram and Manvinder which really looking threatening from J&K’s point of view. It was a tough day for the J&K bowlers who proved too expensive. Abid Nabi and Sameer Khajuria took 1 wicket each. Jagtar Singh was the most expensive bowler, who gave away 80 runs in 16 overs. There were 30 extras. The umpires in the match were Surinder Singh and Tej Handoo from Mumbai. Vijyendra Yadav was the Match Referee. The scorer was Ashwani Sharma.

Kids Martial Arts Championship concludes

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 17: The two day long General 1st Kid’s Martial Arts Championship organised by General Zorawar Singh Sports Society was concluded at Handa College, Sainik Colony today. About 170 students from different Schools and clubs of Jammu are participated in the Championship. Raja Ijaz, IGP, Home Guard was the chief guest on the occasion, who distributed prizes among the winners. Vinod Bhalla, Joint Secretary, NC, Dupali Handa, Gurpreet Handa, Principal Tiny Tots Higher Secondary School and Anil Nanda, President GZSSS were the Guests of Honour.

The Medal Winners: Sub Junior GirlsBelow 13kg: Anshita (1st), Rishita (2nd) and Arshpreet (3rd).

Below 15kg: Tawishi (1st), Sgreya (2nd) and Amanpreet (3rd).

Below 20kg: Fiza (1st), Saanya (2nd) and Parul (3rd).

Below 25kg: Sakshi (1st), Nandini (2nd) and Khushboo (3rd).

Below 30kg: Shree Bhagvi (1st), Aarushi (2nd) and Ankita (3rd).

30-35kg: Apoorva (1st), Taranjeet (2nd) and Monika (3rd).

35-40kg: Bhumika (1st), Tanveer (2nd) and Nikita (3rd).

Sub Junior Boys Below 13kg: Parvash (1st), Aryaman (2nd) and Shiven (3rd0.

Below 15kg: Anish (1st), Nakul (2nd) and Anchitya (3rd0.

Below 15kg(B): Anant Rohmetra (1st), Khitez (2nd) and Tushar (3rd).

Below 17kg: Saiyam (1st), Paviter (2nd) and Bhuvnesh (3rd).

Below 17kg(B): Ronak (1st), Arjun (2nd) and Simar Pal (3rd).

Below 20kg: Shahjahan (1st), Vihaan (2nd) and Amitoj (3rd).

Below 25kg: Gursiman (1st), Sakul (2nd) and Krishna (3rd).

Below 30kg: Vedhant (1st), Ritish (2nd) and Arya Abrol (3rd).

30-35kg: Amogh Rohmetra (1st), Animesh Rohmetra (2nd) and Aryan Kapoor (3rd).

35-40kg: Akasat (1st), Rahul (2nd) and Abhilash (3rd).

35-40kg(A): Binny (1st), Parth (2nd) and Jaspreet (3rd).

Junior Boys: 20-23kg: Sahishnu (1st), Udit Dubey (2nd) and Shaksha (3rd).

23-25kg:Arjun (1ast), Karan (2nd) and Anmol (3rd).

26-30kg: Rahat (1st), Balveer (2nd) and Akshay (3rd).

30-35kg: Arjun (1st), Jatin (2nd) and Sahil (3rd).

35-40kg: Rishi (1st), Shahnawaz (2nd) and Pankaj Raj (3rd).

Senior Boys: 40-45kg: Udhav (1st) and Ashish (2nd).

45-50kg: Manu (1st), Abhay (2nd) and Amit Pal (3rd).

J&K Bank clinches 1st Christmas
Gold Cup Football Tournament

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

Jammu, Dec 17: J&K Bank clinched 1st Christmas Gold Cup Football Tournament defeating JCT Academy, Phagwara by a solitary goal in the final played at Mini Stadium, Parade today.

The final was a well contested match as both teams played absorbing football. J&K Bank took the lead in the 12th minute, when Rizwan Sheikh scored a brilliant field goal after receiving pass from Yusuf.

At half time, J&K Bank was leading by 1-0. In the second half, JCT Academy tried their best to level the lead but were in the end it was J&K Bank who emerged as a winner team.

Two yellow cards were also shown to J&K players namely Yusuf and Kamaljeet in the 30th and 57th minute respectively.

The officials in the match were Nazeer Ahmad, Suresh Gupta, Chetan Kumar and Farooq Ahmad.

Mangat Ram Sharma, Minister of State for Health and Medical Education was the chief guest on the occasion, who gave away winner and runner up trophies to the teams.

Naveen Aggarwal, IGP Home Guard, Abdul Rahim Rather, Ex Minister, S M Gill, Ex MLC, Shiv pal Sharma and other members of J&K Football Association were also present on the occasion.

The tournament was organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Christian Welfare Association in collaboration with Jammu and Kashmir Football Association.

TDC beats AISF XI by 4 runs

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 16: Trikuta Degree College trounced AISF Law XI by 4 runs today in the ongoing Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh Memorial Cricket Tournament being played at GGM Science College Ground.

TDC won the toss and decided to bat first. They accumulated 108 runs in the allotted 20 overs. Ravi Pandita and Paramjeet Singh were the top scorers with 38 and 29 runs respectively.

For AISF XI, Tauheed bowled a devastating spell to scalp 6 wickets.

In reply, AISF XI, fell short of just 4 runs as they were all out for 104 runs in 19.4 overs. Jahanzat and Safad were the main contributors with 27 and 25 runs respectively.

For TDC, Celev, Ankush and Paramjeet took 2 wickets each. Paramjeet was declared the Man of the Match.

The umpires in the match were Santa Singh and Rajeev Kumar. The scorers were Rakesh Kumar and B B Verma.