Sports India

Flamboyant wicketkeeper-batsman Mahendra Dhoni has been voted as the MTV Youth Icon of the year 2006.

Dhoni garnered maximum number of votes to win the honour ahead of five other heavyweights – Navjot Singh Sidhu (television), Abhijeet Sawant (music), Vijay Mallaya (business), President A P J Abdul Kalam (science) and John Abraham (film).

The votes were cast by youngsters aged between 15 and 24 from ten cities – Ahmedabad, Chennai, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Indore, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, New Delhi and Pune – via online and SMS.

The Jharkhand cricketer now joins the elite league of former Youth Icon awardees like industrialist Anil Ambani, present captain of Indian cricket team Rahul Dravid and film star Shah Rukh Khan.

Brian Lara did not enforce the follow-on when India was dismissed for 362 on the fourth day of the third Test at St Kitts today and by stumps the West Indies had extended their lead to 362 runs.

The match appears certain to end in a draw with 98 overs to be bowled on the last day. The West Indies ended the day on 4-113.

India was dismissed 19 runs short of the follow-on mark for 362.

But Lara was hamstrung through the loss of Pedro Collins which left him without the required bowling strength to put the Indians under second innings pressure.

India started the day on 2-150 but Jerome Taylor proved the ace in the West Indies pack. He rocked the tourists with an early spell that accounted for Rahul Dravid (22), Yuvraj Singh (0) and Mohammad Kaif (0). That left India in trouble at 5-159.

VVS Laxman was left to try and recover the situation in tandem with Mahendra Singh Dhoni. However, Dhoni scored only 22 before being trapped leg before wicket when attempting to work a ball from Corey Collymore through the leg-side.

Laxman was joined by Anil Kumble and they added 77 runs during which time Laxman was rewarded for his efforts with a century but no sooner had he achieved it than he edged an outswinger to provide Denesh Ramdin with a chance which he held with a diving catch.

India was still 85 runs short and while Anil Kumble battled on but on 43 he top-edged an attempted pull shot and was held at fine leg to be out for 43.

Sreesanth was out almost immediately afterwards for a duck. Some hope was provided as Munaf Patel and Harbhajan Singh battled their way to 362 but at that point Patel was caught in the slips from Dwayne Bravo’s bowling for 13 runs.

Harbhajan was 38 not out. Collymore emerged the pick of the West Indies bowlers with 3-63 from his 25 overs. Taylor had 3-118 from 26.

When Collins was forced out of the attack he had 2-117 from 29.3 overs.

Sreesanth was quickly into action for India when claiming Chris Gayle in only the second over for 3 while he also claimed Ramnaresh Sarwan for 23.

Anil Kumble then claimed Lara’s wicket for 19 runs when having him stumped and then he caught and bowled Shivnarine Chanderpaul for 11. Darin Ganga was unbeaten on 41.

Sreesanth ended with 2-19 from six overs and Kumble had 2-36 from eight overs.

West Indies 1st innings 581
India 1st innings
Jaffer c Lara b Bravo 60
Sehwag c Lara b Collymore 31
Laxman c Ramdin b Collins 100
Dravid lbw b Taylor 22
Yuvraj Singh c Ramdin b Taylor 0
Kaif lbw b Taylor 0
Dhoni lbw b Collymore 29
Kumble c Collins b Collymore 43
Harbhajan Singh not out 38
Sreesanth c Lara b Collins 0
Patel c Ganga b Bravo 13
Extras (b 8, lb 5, nb 13) 26
Total (all out; 107 overs) 362
FoW: 1-61 (Sehwag), 2-124 (Jaffer), 3-157 (Dravid), 4-159 (Yuvraj Singh), 5-159 (Kaif), 6-220 (Dhoni), 7-297 (Laxman), 8-311 (Kumble), 9-315 (Sreesanth), 10-362 (Patel)

Bowling
Taylor 26-3-118-3
Collins 29.3-4-117-2 (10nb)
Collymore 25-4-63-3 (2nb)
Bravo 17.3-6-38-2 (1nb)
Gayle 2-0-3-0
Samuels 7-1-10-0

West Indies 2nd innings
Gayle c Dhoni b Sreesanth 3
Ganga not out 41
Sarwan c Dravid b Sreesanth 23
Lara st Dhoni b Kumble 19
Chanderpaul c & b Kumble 11
Bravo not out 9
Extras (lb 5, w 1, nb 1) 7
Total (4 wickets; 24 overs) 113
FoW: 1-3 (Gayle), 2-46 (Sarwan), 3-81 (Lara), 4-102 (Chanderpaul)

Bowling
Patel 7-0-43-0 (1nb)
Sreesanth 6-1-19-2
Kumble 8-0-36-2 (1w)
Harbhajan Singh 3-0-10-0

Within half an hour of the fourth day’s play, three wickets had eloped with Jerome Taylor. His first victim was Rahul Dravid, caught on 22 with the overnight score only rising by seven to 157. It changed expectations of a long day of Indian batting right up to another draw. When the next two ran off with the score unmoved on 159 - ducks to both Yuvraj Singh and Mohammed Kaif - expectations of at least a batting fiesta dimmed. All eyes had turned to Mahendra Singh Dhoni to inject some wildness into the equation, but with half an hour before lunch, he was lbw to Corey Collymore.

It was a day that surprised by how well it favoured the West Indian fast bowlers, especially given the flat nature of the pitch that demanded a workingman’s application to yield anything. Three wickets went to Collymore, the hardest working man on the team, as reward for his endurance. Two went to Pedro Collins, though at the end of the day he pulled up with cramps and had to leave the field. There is hope that overnight rest will restore him. Two went to Dwayne Bravo, the slowest of the quartet of bowlers.

But they all had their pickings mainly thanks to Taylor running off with the middle order. It must have been a boost to Taylor, struggling back after going empty-handed in the previous games. With only five Tests under his belt, one would have thought it would have merited a whole heap of celebration, but at the post-match press conference, he was strangely unenthusiastic.

Asked whether he had enjoyed the pitch, “absolutely not!” came his emphatic response. It was not a helpful pitch, he complained, it forced the bowler to have to work too hard. His captain didn’t mind that quality too much: “It’s a pitch where you have to work hard. It’s a good pitch, a bit of unevenness at times but you got to cater for that in a Test. I was quite pleased with the outcome of it. Guys have to work hard and they are putting in the hard work. With five days of cricket, any surface tends to deteriorate. We’re hoping that would happen tomorrow,” Lara said.

So it seemed odd to hear Taylor express such disdain to the demands of a pitch that had yielded three quickies in short time, but then he also admitted that he was happy with his captain’s choice not to send the Indian team back in even when they were 219 behind in the first innings. Lara’s choice to bat again had stumped most. Explaining that his bowlers were tired and Collins had seemed iffy, Lara said there was never any question in his mind about sending India back in. “Why will I enforce the follow-on with 221 runs when I have the chance to defend 400 and bowl the opposition out rather than asking them to bat and maybe having to bat again?” he asked impatiently. “It’s a situation where the pitch is going to deteriorate on the last day and you want as much of advantage as possible. You want your bowlers fresh and I don’t think there was any other way to look at it.”

It was clear that there would not have been support from his bowlers had he chosen to do otherwise. Taylor, at 22, might have been expected to be pumped up and ready to go given his early success. Indeed, in extraordinarily hot conditions, they had actually bowled out the opposition in one day. But Taylor was not at all enthusiastic at the prospect, coldly pointing out the fact that he had bowled 25 overs in the day and would be happier to have a break before coming back to bowl another 25. Fast bowlers are not known to love long spells, except maybe Wes Hall, but Taylor will find that sometimes duty calls beyond love. If Collins were to have been more seriously injured, Taylor’s 25 overs would have been just the beginning of a long spell if he, and the team, wanted an outright victory.

Lara said that he wanted to put the pressure on India and it is clear he is contemplating more than a draw. “Coming into the match we talked about doing what India had done to us in the previous games - putting runs on the board and putting pressure. That’s what happened. Getting 580-odd definitely put India on the back foot. India had to fight to get into a position of safety and so far they haven’t.” Once again, anything is possible.

West Indian fast bowler Jerome Taylor took three quick wickets to give his side an outside chance of victory on the fourth day of the third Test against India in St Kitts.

In combination with fellow paceman Corey Collymore, Taylor helped dismiss the visitors for 362 in their first innings in reply to West Indies’ 581.

Brian Lara declined to enforce the follow-on and at the close his side were 4 for 113 in their second innings, a lead of 332. The first two Tests in the four-match series were drawn.

The match seemed headed for a draw before Taylor struck with the 11th ball of the day’s play, trapping Rahul Dravid lbw for 22.

Taylor struck twice in three balls in his next over when he had a hesitant Yuvraj Singh caught behind by wicket-keeper Denesh Ramdin with an away swinger and dismissed Mohammad Kaif lbw. Both batsmen failed to score.

Mahendra Dhoni and VVS Laxman stabilised the innings with a partnership that reached 61 before Dhoni played across the line to a ball from Collymore in the sixth over before lunch and was trapped in front for 29.

Anil Kumble and Laxman added 77 runs for the seventh wicket in a positive partnership that was ended in the eighth over after tea when Laxman prodded forward and away from his body at a delivery from left-arm pace bowler Pedro Collins.

The edge flew low to the right of Ramdin, who dived to take a fine catch just above the turf. The patient Laxman had scored exactly 100, his 10th Test century from 231 balls with 15 fours.

Collymore had Kumble caught off the top edge by Collins at fine leg three overs later for a brave 43.

Six balls after that India were 9 for 315 after Shanta Sreesanth steered a cut off Collins into the hands of Lara at second slip to be dismissed for a duck.

Harbhajan Singh and Munaf Patel added 47 runs for the last wicket before they were separated when Patel, who scored 13, spooned a delivery from medium pacer Dwayne Bravo to Daren Ganga in the gully.

Harbhajan drove lustily for his unbeaten 38, which included eight fours. Taylor took 3 for 118, while Collymore claimed 3 for 63.

West Indies had a shaky start to their second innings when Sreesanth had Chris Gayle caught behind down the leg side by Dhoni for 3.

Ramnaresh Sarwan had hit four fours in his aggressive 23 when he drove at a wide delivery from Sreesanth and was caught by Dravid at second slip.

Lara drove Kumble for two sixes before attempting another off the same bowler and was stumped by Dhoni for 19.

In the fourth over before the close Kumble dived low to his left to take a difficult return catch to dismiss Shivnarine Chanderpaul for 11.

A superb unbeaten 121 from skipper Stephen Fleming gave Nottinghamshire victory over Northamptonshire with two balls to spare in the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy at Trent Bridge.

The 33-year-old Kiwi hit his first century of the season off 128 balls and completed the two-wicket win with a swept six off Ben Phillips.

Overseas batsman Sourav Ganguly top-scored for Northants with 71 in his second game for the county, but their total of 264 for seven proved just short of a winning score.

Northants had only won one of their previous eight games in the competition and got off to a poor start, losing two early wickets to the new ball pairing of Greg Smith and AJ Harris.

First to go was Stephen Peters, lbw to one that nipped back from Smith in the second over, before Usman Afzaal fell in identical fashion to his old Notts team-mate Harris for 11.

Ganguly slowly rebuilt the innings with skipper David Sales, who made 35 before he was bowled by Gareth Clough trying to hit to the leg-side.

After 37 overs the visitors were only on 152 for three and just as they looked to accelerate, Ganguly drove Clough straight to Fleming at cover.

But Bilal Shafayat, who hit a confident 53 on his old stamping ground, combined with Riki Wessels and Ben Phillips to strike 98 off the last 10 overs.

Shafayat brought up his 50 with a straight six off Harris but then hit the next delivery to Paul McMahon at long-off.

Phillips maintained the momentum with four fours and a six off Harris’ next over on his way to a quick-fire 36, with Wessels leg before to Samit Patel before the close.

In reply, Notts started in even worse fashion than the visitors, losing four wickets inside the first 11 overs.

All-rounder Phillips claimed the first three victims with edges to wicketkeeper Wessels, as Anurag Singh, Will Smith and Graeme Swann all quickly returned to the dressing room.

And when Samit Patel also feathered a catch to Wessels, Notts seemed set for a disappointing defeat, only for Fleming and Chris Read to stage a recovery.

The pair put on 113 for the fifth wicket and it took a piece of bad luck to remove former England wicketkeeper Read for a spirited 61, as Shafayat got a hand to a Fleming straight drive for a run-out with Read out of his ground backing up.

Paul Franks did not last long, bowled by Jason Brown for a single, but Gareth Clough kept the hosts within sight of victory with some quick running between the wickets.

Needing 40 to win with six overs left, former Australian Test seamer Matthew Nicholson returned to remove Clough lbw but found Fleming a tougher nut to crack.

It came down to six off the last over and even though Harris was run out for 14 off the second ball, Fleming kept his cool to finish off the match in style, hitting 11 fours and four sixes

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly returned to form with an innings of 71 in Northamptonshire’s defeat to Nottinghamshire by two wickets in the Cheltenham and Gloucester trophy.

Ganguly hit seven fours and a six in his knock but was overshadowed by New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming who made 121 not out for Notts.

At Lords, Middlesex edged out Kent by nine runs with a century from England international Owais Shah helping the hosts to 284 for five in their 50 overs.

In reply, Kent reached 275 for five in their 50 overs with Martin Van Jaarsveld making 58.

At New Road, Worcestershire defeated Yorkshire by 50 runs with Kiwi opener Lou Vincent top-scoring with 70 and England batsman Vikram Solanki making 49.

Gloucestershire edged out Sussex by two runs in a nail-biting match at Arundel.

In a low-scoring affair, Gloucestershire defended their paltry total of 98 after bowling out Sussex for 96 thanks to four-wicket hauls from James Averis and Carl Greenidge.

At Derby, Derbyshire beat Durham by five wickets despite an innings of 125 by Jimmy Maher for Durham.

Essex thrashed Sussex by six wickets at Chelmsford after surpassing their total of 128 in just 15 overs after a half-century from opener Mark Pettini.

Hampshire beat Glamorgan by 165 runs at the Rose Bowl after setting a formidable total of 310 then bowling out Glamorgan for 145.

Elsewhere, Leicestershire defeated Scotland by 53 runs, Lancashire edged out Warwickshire by three wickets and Somerset defeated Ireland by 73 runs.

London, June 25: Sourav Ganguly smashed an impressive half century to help Northamptonshire post 264 for seven against Nottinghamshire in the Cheltenham and gloucester Trophy one-day match at Trent Bridge today.

The former Indian captain, who had an uneventful last outing against Worcestershire, hit seven boundaries and one six in his knock of 71 off 106 balls after Northamptonshire won the toss and elected to bat.

The left-handed batsman opened the innings with S D Peters, who was trapped leg before wicket by G J Smith after mere seven balls, but Ganguly stood firm to lay a strong foundation and emerge the top scorer for the visitors.

He was caught by Stephen Fleming off G D Clough when Northants were 156 for four.

B M Shafayat was the only other batsman to score a half century as he made 53 off 63 balls which included five fours and one six.

Elsewhere, Dinesh Mongia disappointed as he was trapped LBW at a score of 14 while Leicestershire went on to make a huge score of 314 for three in their stipulated 50 overs against Scotland.

Opener D L Maddy hit an unbeaten 167 to while D Robinson (40), H D Ackermann (43) and J L Sadler (41) made useful contributions after LEicestershire won the toss and elected to bat.

Bureau Report

London, June. 25 (PTI): Following the footsteps of his senior India teammate Sachin Tendulkar, seamer Ajit Agarkar has joined Lashings celebrity cricket club for a short stint.

The Kent-based club announced the new arrival in their line-up on its website today.

“Just when you thought the Lashings line up couldn’t get anymore exciting, Lashings announce that they have also welcomed Ajit Agarkar to the side,” it said.

Agarkar would play three matches for Lashings World XI, led by former West Indies batsman Richie Richardson, in the next couple of weeks.

The Indian bowler will turn out for his first game, a match against Reigate Priory Cricket Club, Surrey, slated for today. He will also be seen in action against Middleton Cricket Club, West Sussex, on July 2 and versus Sutton Valence School, Kent on July 6.

Agarkar was India’s most impressive bowler in the recent one-day series against West Indies but was subsequently dropped from the Test squad.

Tendulkar, who is testing himself in match situations following an injury layoff, hit a scintillating century in his first game for the club last week.

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SACHIN Tendulkar is to make his return to cricket by playing several matches for an English all-star team starting on Wednesday.

The Indian batting hero, who underwent shoulder surgery in March, was forced to skip seven one-dayers at home against England before being ruled out of the ongoing tour of the West Indies.

Now he hopes to begin his comeback by playing five matches for the Lashings World XI, a team featuring former internationals such as West Indies duo Richie Richardson and Courtney Walsh that plays charity matches.

“This is a great opportunity for me to get back into cricket, to get some batting practice, and to play matches for Lashings World XI that will help to raise money for charity,” Tendulkar said.

“I get the chance to play alongside internationals players, but not in games where every run counts. The no pressure, relaxed environment of Lashings World XI will be a great way to work on my game and get back to match fitness.”

Tendulkar`s first match for his new side will be against Cambridge University on Wednesday.

The 33-year-old will then face Reigate CC on Sunday, June 25, before taking on Middleton CC in West Sussex the next weekend. He will conclude his stint with Lashings against Sutton Valence School in Kent, south-east England, on July 6.

Tendulkar holds the world record for Test match hundreds with 35 and was the first batsman to score 50 centuries in all international cricket.

In 132 Tests, he has scored 10,469 runs at an average of 55.39 with a best of 248 not out. His 362 one-day internationals have yielded 39 hundreds and 14,146 runs in all at an average of 44.20, an unbeaten 186 his highest score.

Cambridge (England), June 21: Sachin Tendulkar began his comeback from shoulder surgery here today by opening the batting for the Lashings World XI in a match against Cambridge University.

Tendulkar, who had the operation in March, was greeted back to cricket with a large cheer from the crowd as he walked out at Fenner’s, the University’s cricket ground.

That was as long as the hospitality lasted however with the legendary batsman on the receiving end of a bouncer for his first ball back at the crease.

It was not however a good enough delivery to trouble a batsman of Tendulkar’s quality and he was able to duck out of the way with ease.

The shoulder surgery forced Tendulkar to miss seven one-dayers at home against England as well as the ongoing tour of the West Indies.

Asked how his recovery was progressing before the start of the match, Tendulkar told AFP: “It is getting better.”

But he would not be drawn into predicting that he would definitely be ready for a triangular series in Sri Lanka in August, where India will face their hosts and South Africa.

“I’ll try (to be ready),” was as much as he would say on that subject.
Tendulkar is due to play five matches for Lashings, a charity fund-raising select that features former internationals such as West Indies duo Richie Richardson and Courtney Walsh.

He had said before that he was looking forward to easing himself back into cricket in a “no pressure, relaxed environment.”