Sania, Bopanna advance in Oz Open doubles........

Shoaib Malik injury puts PCB in a fix on captaincy.........

India fritter away good position with two late dismissals..............

Lee defends Aussie sledging, says it’s gamesmanship

PERTH, Jan 16: The Australian cricket team has coped a fair amount of criticism for on-field sledging but their pace spearhead Brett Lee remained adamant that engaging opposition sides in a war of words was a legitimate tactic to get under their skin.

"I wouldn’t call it sledging. It’s actually gamesmanship. A way to get under the batsman’s skin," Lee said, defending the Australian aggression, which at times borders on abrasive.

The 31-year-old pacer also dismissed criticism that the world champions are arrogant.

"We are known as the competitive Aussie. I don’t think we are arrogant... We play the game fair. But yes, people can perceive us differently. Actually it’s two sides of the same coin but I think you can be a terrific bloke and at the same time win lot of matches," he said.

Lee, who enjoys a sizeable fan following in India, was at the centre of the furore in Sydney as, reportedly, Andrew Symonds’ spat with Harbhajan Singh started after the latter hit Lee on the backside.

Lee, on his part, has chosen to remain on the matter but hoped that the acrimony of the past week has been forgotten as cricket once again took centrestage in the third Test here.

"I think both sides are professional and have their focus on Cricket," he said, when asked whether the events in the Sydney Test will cast a shadow here. (PTI)

Enjoyed discussing cricket with
Karunanidhi: Muralitharan

COLOMBO, Jan 16: Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan says he enjoyed discussing cricket with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on a recent trip to his in-laws’ home in Chennai.

Muralitharan said he came in touch with Karunanidhi through his in-laws who are good friends of the CM’s family.

"He (Karunanidhi) loves cricket and discussed the game with me (in Chennai)," Muralitharan said.

The 35-year-old off-spinner, who holds the world record for most number of test wickets, said he has another three years of International Cricket left in him.

"I may be able to play another two or three years of cricket. But I have enjoyed my game due to support from my country, my parents, my friends and my wife," he told a local television channel last night.

Muralitharan reached the world record test bowling milestone in his 116th Test.

A circular stamp to mark Muralitharan’s world record was issued by the philatelic bureau of the Department of Posts of Sri Lanka.

Muralitharan said he believed in being cool and smiling while playing as one must enjoy what he does.

Muralitharan said Sri Lanka’s World Cup Cricket win in 1996 was one of his most cherished moments in his 17-year long career. (PTI)

No security concerns for Zimbabwe
players in Pak: Taibu

KARACHI, Jan 16: Former captain Tatenda Taibu today gave the PCB a shot in the arm by claiming that the visiting Zimbabwean cricketers did not have any security concerns in Pakistan despite the volatile situation in the country.

Zimbabwe went ahead with the tour despite violence erupting in Pakistan in the aftermath of the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto last month.

Yesterday, they decided to continue with their trip despite a bomb blast here on Monday night that killed 10 people.

"Every country has some security or other problems. My family, my wife and son are here with me and I have no worries being in Pakistan. I feel sportsmen are safe everywhere," he said.

Taibu, the first black captain of Zimbabwe, said sports in general is meant to unite people. He said the cause of sports is damaged whenever it is mixed up with politics and security issues.

"The cause of sport is to bring people together and I believe political and security issues should not be allowed to damage any sport particularly cricket," he said.

Taibu’s remarks come at a time when countries like England and Australia are constantly pressing for a sporting boycott of Zimbabwe due to what they claim is the poor human rights record of the Robert Mugabe regime.

One of the most experienced players in the present Zimbabwe side with 24 tests and 91 one-day international appearances, Taibu took over from Heath Streak at the age of 21 after a players’ revolt in early 2004 against the Zimbabwe Cricket Union saw top players depart from the country.

He resigned in November 2005 from captaincy and retired from International Cricket after a second players’ revolt against the Zimbabwe Cricket Union and its policies, only to return to Zimbabwe colours in mid 2007.

Taibu is also hopeful that Zimbabwe would regain Test-status soon and playing more four-day matches would hasten the return.

"It is not a matter of time when we get our Test status back. The more four-dayers we play we will get better. We have some good young players coming up.

"If we play 15 to 20 four-dayers in a year like the one we are playing now regularly than we dont have to wait for five to seven years to be on top of the game," Taibu said.

Zimbabwe is currently playing a four-day tour match here and they are scheduled to take on Pakistan in five One-Day Internationals. (PTI)

K C Public School students get International Award

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Jan 16: The International Award for Young People (The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award) Authority, United Kingdom have awarded bronze medals to 22 students of K C Public School, Jammu.

The students awarded included Chakshu Koul, Akanksha Kotwal, Shiva Nagri, Krishan Anand, Shriya Bhasin, Ebba Shri, Aishwarya Sharma, Mehak Gupta and Akashdeep from 10th standard and Mokshi Pandita, Suhani Sharma, Sehrish Sheikh, Tasleen Kaur, Palak Nischal, Arjun Singh Bhau, Supreeti Gupta, Arik Sharma, Prikshit Wazir, Harshjyot Singh, Aastha Sharma, Aditya Kachroo and Sahaj Aggarwal from 9th standard.

The IAYP is a global forum of youth work and development programme for the young, which aims to encourage 14-25 years old to engage in beneficial hobbies, enjoyable experiences, acquiring knowledge and social skills. The award offers young people the opportunity to set personal goals and achieve them.

Meanwhile, Principal Jorawar Singh have congratulated the awardees and also appreciated the efforts of award leader of the school Sunil Sharma for organizing this activity on behalf of the school.

Rimo Club enters final of Ice-Hockey C’ship

Excelsior Correspondent

LEH, Jan 16: In the second semi-final match of the ongoing ‘First CEC Ice-Hockey Championship’ played today at Karzu Ice Hockey Rink, Rimo Club defeated Skara Club by 3-2 goals.

Tommorow, a match between Army Red and Skara Club would be played for third place. However, the final will be held between Rimo Club and ITBP on January 18 at the same venue. Member Parliament Thupstan Chhewang would be the chief guest while CEC Chering Dorje and MP from Canada Patrick Brown will be the guest of honors during the final.

Gurvinder lifts "108 Panthal Kesari-08" title

Excelsior Correspondent

KATRA, Jan 16: Gurvinder Singh of Amritsar (Punjab) has lifted the "108 Panthal Kesari 2008" title by defeating Praveen (national junior silver medalist) of Guru Hanuman Akhara, Delhi in the first Malli bout of 108th Annual Panthal Kesari Dangal organized by Shri 108 Swami Nitya Nand Wrestling Association under the aegis of J&K Indian Style Wrestling Association at Panthal in Katra today.

Gurvinder was adjudged as the best wrestler in the "dangal" and was given a cash prize of Rs 6000/- besides traditional "Silver Gurj and Patta" while a prize money of Rs 5000/- was given to Parveen.

The second main bout was played between Jagroop Pahalwan of Amritsar and Sonu of Himachal Pradesh, which Jagroop won in seven minutes. A prize money of Rs 4000/- and Rs 3500/- were given to Jagroop and Sonu respectively.

The third bout was played between Benia of Basantgarh (Ramnagar) and Puran Singh of Amritsar and Benia won the bout in 11 minutes. They were given Rs 3000/- and Rs 2000/- respectively and the fourth major bout was played between Anuj Raina (school national silver medalist) and Sunny of Hoshiarpur (Punjab), which ended in a draw after 23 minutes. Both were awarded Rs 2000/- each.

In other bouts, Sonu of Amritsar bt Akram of Jammu, Swarn Singh of Kot Bhalwal bt Ajay of Himachal Pradesh, Love of Amritsar bt Kala of Amritsar, Jagdish bt Inderjeet, Omkar Singh of BSF bt Dana, Kulbir Singh bt Inderjeet, Mohd Akram of Jammu bt Anuj Malik of Delhi and Onkar Singh of Jammu bt Shinda of Amritsar.

On the occasion, Dr Manoj Kumar was the chief guest who gave away prizes to the winners and runner ups. Shiv Kumar Sharma, president J&K Indian Style Wrestling Association and SHO Katra SS Sambyal were also present there.

Indu Bagal, Vandana Sharma bring laurels for State

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Jan 16: Indu Bagal and Vandana Sharma, students of Government College for Women Gandhi Nagar, have been awarded with a cash prize of Rs. 1000, a commendation certificate and a memento each for their excellent performance in the National Debating Competition held at Udaybhan Sinhji Regional Institute of Cooperative Management, Gandhi Nagar in Gujarat.

A four-member team comprising Indu Bagal, Vandana Sharma, Dimple Sharma and Vinay Sharma had represented the University of Jammu (JU) in the said inter-collegiate competition. The debate was held on "In the opinion of the house: Liberalization, Globalization and Privatization has opened up new opportunities for cooperatives" wherein 46 teams from various institutions and universities all over India participated. Dr Sushma Sharma, senior lecturer in Dogri had escorted the team.

Meanwhile, Vice Chancellor JU, Prof Amitabh Mattoo, Chairman Campus Cultural Committee, Prof N R Sharma and Dean Students Welfare Dr P S Pathania have congratulated the team for this distinction.

Inter-Collegiate Volleyball Championship
GDC Ramnagar, GDC Kathua, PG Deptt sail ahead

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Jan 16: In the ongoing "Inter-Collegiate Volleyball Championship 2007-08" at University of Jammu (JU), the teams of GDC Ramnagar and GDC Kathua won their respective ties while PG Department got walkover and advanced further today.

In first match, GDC Ramnagar easily defeated its opponent Govt B.Ed College with a margin of 3-0 sets. The match score remained 25-17, 25-17 and 25-19.

In second match, GDC Kathua defeated MAM College (Evening) with a margin of 3-0 sets. Roshan Lal and Harpreet Singh of GDC Kathua hitted powerful spikes against the opposition’s defence and brought home victory for their team. The match score was 25-6, 25-14 and 25-15.

Meanwhile, PG Department got walkover against SRS College, Jammu. The officials of the matches were Neeraj Sharma, Mulkh Raj and Rajesh.

Sania, Bopanna advance in Oz Open doubles

MELBOURNE, Jan 16: Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna won their respective doubles matches in contrasting style to make it an all-win day for the Indians in the Australian Open here today.

Sania and her Australian partner Alicia Molik, seeded sixth, won a two-hour battle against the unseeded Greco-German pair of Eleni Daniilidou and Jasmin Woehr 6-3 4-6 6-4 to advance to the second round.

Bopanna, on the other hand, teamed up with American-Indian Rajeev Ram to oust British-American duo of James Auckland and Sam Querrey 6-1 7-6 (4).

Bopanna and Ram will next be up against the winners of match between fifth seeded Indian-Australian team of Leander Paes and Paul Hanley and unseeded Luis Horna of Peru and Austrian Stefan Koubek.

Sania and Molik, meanwhile, will take on Russians Nadia Petrova and Elena Vesnina, who breezed past local favourites Sophie Ferguson and Trudi Musgrave 6-3 6-4.

Sania, who yesterday won her opening round singles encounter, and Molik were tested hard in the engrossing first-round clash.

The sixth seeds had no trouble in pocketing the opening set in just over half an hour, capitalising on their opponents poor serve and several unforced errors.

However, Sania and Molik were in for a shock in the second set as Daniilidou and Woehr broke them twice in the 40-minute contest to draw even and take the match into a third set.

The decider was also an even battle but Sania and Molik came out trumps after breaking their rivals thrice out of the six chances they got besides being slightly ahead in the overall winners tally.

In contrast, Bopanna and Ram were in fine form as they held serve and broke Auckland and Querrey twice to take the opening set in just 25 minutes.

The second set was a bit more testing but the Bopanna and Ram came through after their opponents failed to convert their chances. (PTI)

Shoaib Malik injury puts PCB in a fix on captaincy

KARACHI, Jan 16: Pakistani selectors face a tricky situation on appointing a skipper for the ODI series against Zimbabwe with incumbent Shoaib Malik still not fully fit and Younis Khan as reluctant as ever to lead the side.

Malik told reporters on the first day of training camp yesterday that he has still not recovered fully from his ankle injury and he does not want to play before being fully fit.

Younis had led Pakistan in the last two tests in India after Malik injured his ankle in New Delhi but PCB chairman Nasim Ashraf said despite the uncertainty over Malik’s fitness, Younis would not be made captain.

"I think Younis has made his position clear. He is a reluctant leader and wants to concentrate on his game which is fine with us. But if Malik does not clear fitness tests in the camp at present in Lahore then we will announce a captain for the first few games by Friday," he said.

Ashraf said if Malik is ruled out then he would consult the governing body members and announce a new captain for the first two ODIs of the Zimbabwe series.

The PCB will also announce on January 25 a new vice-captain, a role that Younis filled in the India tour on the request of Ashraf.

PCB sources said with the board ruling out Younis, the captaincy is likely to go to Misbah-ul-Haq who was impressive in the Test series in India and the vice-captaincy could fall either to Shahid Afridi or Kamran Akmal. (PTI)

India fritter away good position with two late dismissals

PERTH, Jan 16: Rahul Dravid marked his return to form with a gritty 93 but India gifted away a couple of wickets late in the day to allow Australia come back strongly in the third cricket Test here today.

Electing to bat, the visitors handled the extra bounce of the WACA track with aplomb but the late dismissals of Dravid and Laxman in quick succession tilted the scale slightly in favour of the home team.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Irfan Pathan negotiated the four overs with the second new ball to remain unseparated as India reached 297 for six at stumps on the opening day which saw no unsavoury incidents on the field.

Sachin Tendulkar continued his good run with the bat with a sparkling 71 but the Indians had themselves to blame for not finishing the day on a healthier position as both Dravid and Laxman got out to poor shots.

The visitors were cruising along comfortably at 278 for four but the complexion of the game changed in the last 20 minutes with part-timer Andrew Symonds getting the scalp of Dravid and Brett Lee accounting for Laxman (28).

The pre-match hype surrounding the WACA pitch, regarded as the fastest in the world, came a cropper as the track did not have disconcerting pace or bounce to really trouble the Indians on the opening day.

The Indians got the best start of the series so far with Virender Sehwag (29), coming back into the series after sitting out the first two tests, and Wasim Jaffer (16) putting on 57 runs for the first wicket. Dravid and Tendulkar then consolidated the position for the team with a 139-run partnership.

Brett Lee was the most impressive of all Australian quicks with 3 for 64, turning the day on its head after India appeared to be in control.

Lee first removed a dangerous Tendulkar from the middle though umpire Asad Rauf seemed to have misjudged the height of the delivery while ruling him leg before wicket.

This dismissal came at a critical time as Tendulkar and Dravid had put on 138 runs in nearly three hours of resolute batting.

Then with shadows lengthening, Lee returned with the second new ball to claim Laxman who made an ungainly pull and was caught at mid-off by Tait.

Lee had earlier accounted for his bunny Jaffer who fell to the express speedster for the fifth straight time in the series.

Jaffer, along with opener Virender Sehwag, had given India a rollicking start with 50 raised from the first nine overs of the innings.

Sehwag, like Jaffer, fell to a catch behind the stumps with Mitchell Johnson making the initial breakthrough.

Dravid had no one but himself to blame for making an ugly slog against Andrew Symonds and lobbing a catch in the covers.

Dravid not only denied himself a century and wasted his five hour effort, he also exposed the new man Mahendra Singh Dhoni to the second new ball, just a couple of overs away.

Dravid, who batted for 276 minutes and hit 14 fours from 183 balls, was lucky to have been reprieved early in his innings when he was dropped at first slip by Michael Clarke off Lee.

Tendulkar batted for 128 balls and 173 minutes and hit nine fours during his impressive knock before being undone by Rauf.

Australia met with another success when left-handed Sourav Ganguly (9) guided Mitchell Johnson to the second gully Mike Hussey.

Sehwag, in the first session, slammed several fours on the off-side and appeared to have seized the upperhand when he cut a lifting delivery into Gilchrist’s hands.

India quickly overcome the setback when Dravid was joined by Tendulkar, welcomed to the ground with a standing ovation by a nearly packed WACA ground.

Tendulkar, playing in WACA for probably the last time in his glittering career, played a gem of an innings where he deliberately tipped several strokes over the slip cordon.

Tendulkar unleashed several spectacular strokes in the afternoon, none better than the late tip which he executed on a Lee bouncer that hit the pickets over the slips heads.

Indeed, Tendulkar was to hit four such hits to the boundary and completed his half century with one such shot off Shaun Tait, having batted for 91 balls and hit eight fours.

Dravid too made several pleasing drives in front of the stumps and flicked with unerring accuracy.

The century stand between the two was up just before the tea break when Dravid drove Symonds into covers for a brace.

Dravid reached his half century with two fours in one over off Andrew Symonds, the second one a glorious off-drive that beat two fielders in the cover region.

The biggest disappointment for Australia was not only the WACA pitch but also the form of fast bowler Shaun Tait.

Tait was heralded as a wicket-taking machine before the match by captain Ricky Ponting but he was the easiest to negotiate for the Indian batsmen.

SCORE BOARD

India Ist Innings

Wasim Jaffer c Gilchrist b Lee 16 Virender Sehwag c Gilchrist b Johnson 29

Rahul Dravid c Ponting b Symonds 93

Sachin Tendulkar lbw b Lee 71

Sourav Ganguly c Hussey b Johnson 9

VVS Laxman c Tait b Lee 27

Mahendra Singh Dhoni batting 8

Irfan Pathan batting 8

Extras (lb-18, w-9, nb-9) 36

Total (for 6 wkts, 84 overs) 297

Fall of Wickets : 1-57, 2-59, 3-198, 4-214, 5-278, 6-284

Bowling: Brett Lee 19-3-64-3, Mitchell Johnson 21-5-61-2, Stuart Clark 15-3-44-0, Shaun Tait 13-1-59-0, Andrew Symonds 10-1-36-1, Michael Clarke 6-1-15-0. (PTI)