Sports India

Sourav Ganguly’s 51-ball blitzkrieg of 73 powered Northamptonshire to an 11-run victory at the home ground over Worcestershire in the Twenty20 Cup match.

The former India captain also grabbed a Worcestershire wicket with his gentle medium pace to cap a fruitful outing.

Northamptonshire overcame an early jitter and got off to a flier as Ganguly (73) and Rob White (66) came up with their personal best and put together a 105-run partnership.

Ganguly brought up his half-century and the 100 partnership in style when he launched Roger Sillence into the stands.

His 51-ball knock included four towering sixes, besides seven hits to the fence before he was run out.

Graeme Hick (55) and Lou Vincent (40) led a spirited chase for Worcestershire but Monty Panesar removed both just when things threatened to go out of control and Ganguly then claimed the wicket of Ben Smith. Ganguly’s bowling figures read 4-0-32-1.

Sourav Ganguly was back among runs, making an unbeaten 44 for Northamptonshire who beat Worcestershire by nine wickets in a Twenty20 cup match at New Road.

Chasing a paltry target of 87 in 20 overs, the former India captain, who opened the innings with Usman Afzaal, hit five fours in his 53-ball knock.

He added 68 for the unbroken second wicket stand with David Sales who remained unbeaten on 34. The visitors achieved the target in 16.3 overs.

Zaheer Khan, playing for Worcestershire, bowled three unsuccessful overs giving away 15 runs.

Earlier, the hosts elected to bat on winning the toss, but the decision backfired as the team was bowled out for 86 in 19.3 overs. Matthew Nicholson and Ben Philips reduced them to 18 for six and it was Zaheer Khan`s top-score of 26 which helped the hosts reach the score they did.

Ganguly also chipped in with the wicket of Zimbabwean Ray Price in his spell of four overs which cost 21 runs.

The Indians, following up on their first-innings 200, skittled the West Indies for 103 - their lowest ever score against india. Then, led by Dravid’s second half-century of the match, 62 not out, India reached 128-6 - a second-innings lead of 225 with four wickets still standing

Whatever happens from here, it means the West Indies will have to make by far the biggest score of the match when they return to the crease if they are to win the game and by extension, their first Test series since beating lowly Bangladesh in the Caribbean two seasons ago.

This, on a pitch that yesterday was as challenging for batsmen as it was on the first day, with some deliveries popping and spitting from a length, while a few stayed low.

In setting up the crucial 97-run first innings lead, India’s bowlers were led by the turbaned off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who sliced through the middle- and lower-order West Indies batting in just 4.3 overs, taking 5-15.
Harbhajan was completing a job started by the seamers S Sreesanth (2-34), Munaf Patel (1-24) and wrist-spinner Anil Kumble (1-32).

For the West Indies, only Daren Ganga with 40 and skipper Brian Lara, 26, who looked in good form before falling to a length-ball kicker from Sreesanth, seemed to have the goods to handle the varied Indian attack on the untrustworthy pitch.

Then, despite another fine performance by 22 year-old pacer Jerome Taylor, who closed the day with 3-28, and Corey Collymore, 2-31, Dravid - as he had done in the first innings - held India together to ensure their advantage at day’s end.
The elegant and technically efficient Dravid, who became the sixth batsman to go past 9,000 Test runs during yesterday’s knock, has so far hit 11 fours in his 130-ball stay and rarely looked troubled despite the difficult conditions.

As was the case in the first innings, the 33-year-old Indian champion came to the crease with his side stumbling at 6-2 after Taylor, cheered on by the small but enthusiastic gathering on hand despite the pull of the FIFA World Cup quarter-finals, struck twice.

First, Wasim Jaffer (1) was miraculously held one-handed by Marlon Samuels soaring to his right at gully. Then Virender Sehwag (4) was trapped leg-before on the backfoot by one that flew through at half stump height.
VVS Laxman (16) stayed with his skipper in a stand of 43 before falling to Collymore - his edge to a loose drive well taken low down by Lara at second slip.

Lara would follow up with his 159th Test catch, placing him second in the all-time (non-wicketkeeper’s) list when the left-handed Yuvraj Singh (13) edged Collymore for a comfortable waist-high offering.
Mohammed Kaif (6) inside-edged a loose drive against left-armer Pedro Collins onto his stumps at 76-5.

MS Dhoni (19) further extended India’s lead in partnership with Dravid before Taylor returned for a second spell to hit middle and leg stump with another delivery that kept worryingly low.
Anil Kumble, who heroically supported Dravid in the first innings, will resume with his captain today unbeaten on two - intent on doing it all over again.

Earlier, the West Indies batting debacle started with the fourth ball of the morning. Chris Gayle, misjudging the line completely, lost his offstump to S Sreesanth’s length delivery, swinging back in towards the left-hander.
Lara, walking at No 3 because Ramnaresh Sarwan was nursing a knee injury sustained while fielding on the opening day, shared 42 for the second wicket with a composed Ganga.

The West Indies captain, looking good and anxious to dispatch anything loose, had hit five fours in 40 balls when a Sreesanth delivery on or around offstump, kicked sharply from a length and left the batsman helpless. The sharply lifting delivery hit the shoulder of the bat and possibly glove as well to lob Wasim Jaffer at third slip.

There was a non-stop procession after that. Samuels (2), drawn forward by Anil Kumble, missed his forward defensive stroke and was smartly stumped by MS Dhoni as the right-hander’s backfoot dragged over the line.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul made 10 before edging Patel’s wide delivery through to ‘keeper Dhoni at 72-4.

Ganga lifted the spirits of West Indians with elegant boundaries through midwicket and mid-on off Kumble. But when he perished on the stroke of lunch, trapped leg-before as he played back and across the line in Harbhajan’s first over, everyone knew the West Indies would be conceding a big lead to the visitors.

How big a lead was soon apparent as Harbhajan’s generous turn and bounce ran through the lower order like a hot knife through butter.

With those in the temporary media enclosure striving to simultaneously watch cricket as well as the tense penalty shoot-out between England and Portugal, Dwayne Bravo (0) was caught bat/pad as he pushed forward to Harbhajan.

Sarwan (7), batting with a runner, hit out against the off-spinner for Kaif to take the skied catch at midwicket.
Denesh Ramdin (10) gave another bat/pad catch to Yuvraj Singh at forward short leg.

Taylor (6), who pushed the West Indies past 100 with a clubbed boundary back past Patel, was run-out as an inattentive Collins failed to respond to his call and the latter then hit a catch to long on to hand Harbhajan his fifth wicket.

Such was the disappointment of the West Indies supporters in the George Headley Stand, boos rang out as Collins and Collymore (not out 0) made their way to the dressing room with the triumphant Indians in their wake.

Scoreboard

INDIA 1st Innings 200 (R Dravid 81; J Taylor 5-50)

WEST INDIES 1st Innings

C Gayle b Sreesanth 0
D Ganga lbw b Harbhajan Singh 40
B Lara c Jaffer b Sreesanth 26
M Samuels st Dhoni b Kumble 2
S Chanderpaul c wkpr Dhoni b Patel 10
D Bravo c Yuvraj Singh b Harbhajan Singh 0
R Sarwan c Kaif b Harbhajan Singh 7
D Ramdin c Y Singh b Harbhajan Singh 10
J Taylor run out (Sehwag) 6
P Collins c Sehwag b Harbhajan Singh 0
C Collymore not out 0
Extras (w1, nb1) 2

TOTAL (all out) 103

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-42, 3-53, 4-72, 5-80, 6-81, 7-88, 8-99, 9-103. Bowling: Sreesanth 9-3-34-2; Patel 12-5-24-1 (w1); Kumble 8-3-32-1 (nb1); Harbhajan Singh 4.3-0-13-5. Overs: 33.3

INDIA 2nd Innings

W Jaffer c (sub) Morton b Taylor 1
V Sehwag lbw b Taylor 4
V Laxman c Lara b Collymore 16
R Dravid not out 62
Y Singh c Lara b Collymore 13
M Kaif b Collins 6
M Dhoni b Taylor 19
A Kumble not out 2
Extras (lb3, w1, nb1) 5

TOTAL (for 6 wkts) 128

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-6, 3-49, 4-63, 5-76, 6-122.
Bowling: Collins 19-7-56-1 (nb1); Taylor 10-3-28-3; Collymore 16-5-31-2; Bravo 4-1-10-0 (w1). Overs: 49
Position: India lead by 225 runs with four second innings wickets standing.

Umpires: R Koertzen, B Jerling
TV Replays: N Malcolm, Reserve: C Fletcher
Match Referee: J Crowe.

Jeev Milkha Singh continues his globe-trotting ways at the Smurfit European Open at The K Club on Thursday bidding for a ticket to The Open Championship later this month.

The resurgent Indian star, the leader of the Asian Tour’s UBS Order of Merit, takes on a star-studded cast in the European Tour event and will be joined by compatriot Jyoti Randhawa and Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee.

Since mid-April, Singh has been raking in the air miles travelling the world’s airways, riding on his new-found form which saw him lift the Volvo China Open for his first title in seven years.

The triumph sparked a terrific run of form where he went on to post five other top-10s in Asia and the Japan Golf Tour over a span of 10 tournaments.

In between, Singh also qualified and played in all four rounds at the US Open in New York and his second trip to Europe this season will see him bid for a place at The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, England later this month.

Singh is also slated to play in next week’s Barclays Scottish Open and the leading player in the top-10, not otherwise exempt for The Open, in the two European Tour events will earn at ticket to Royal Liverpool, something Singh is yearning for.

Last week’s tied ninth finish at the UBS Japan Golf Tour Championship was his eighth top-10 of the year but Singh knows he must improve on his putting if he is to challenge in Ireland and Scotland over the next fortnight.

“I think I hit the ball the best I have this year actually, but I just did not convert anything. I had 33 putts (in the final round last week), which does not help,” said Singh.

“I think putting is all mental and I need to concentrate more on that than anything else. I have been putting well, but I am not trusting it. I am normally a very good putter. I just have to work harder on the putting and we will sort it out,” said Singh.

Singh has never played in The Open before and came close at the Mizuno Open in Japan two weeks ago. The top-four finishers qualified for Royal Liverpool but Singh finished tied sixth.

Amongst the top stars Singh must contend with this week include Retief Goosen, Michael Campbell, Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington. The K Club will also host the Ryder Cup later in September.

Sania Mirza and Pavel Vizner of Czech Republic nipped a late challenge by Fenando Verdasco and Anabel Medina Garrigues to move into the second round of the Wimbledon Grand Slam mixed doubles tennis here on Saturday.

Sania and Vizner defeated the Spanish duo 6-2 7-5 in the first round to set up a clash with Czech Republic’s Leos Friedl and Liezl Huber of South Africa.

Fourth seeds Leander Paes and Samantha Stosur, who had a bye in the first round, were level with Australian Paul Hanley and Tatiana Perebiynis of Ukraine 4-6 6-3 9-9 in the second round tie when play was suspended due to bad light.

The match will be continued on Monday.

Mahesh Bhupathi and China’s Zi Yan, seeded 11th, also had a first round bye. They will be up against Americans Bob Bryan and Venus Williams in the second round.

IT was their first series win in the Caribbean in 35 years, but it was not enough to prevent the visitors from dropping in the LG ICC Test Championship table.

According to the latest revision of the table, India has lost two points and therefore, due to the close points difference between the top six teams, and the shift has implications in the positions.

The slip means that India, the number three ranked test team prior to the start of the series against the West Indies, now sits in fourth spot, below Pakistan. India was expected prior to the start of the series to whip the lowly ranked West Indies team convincingly in both test and One Day International (ODI) series. That was not the case as the West Indies won the ODI series by a 4-1 margin and narrowly lost the test series by 0-1 margin in four tests, by 49 runs at Sabina Park.

Australia still leads the test rankings, with India now holding the number four spot, with the West Indies making marginal gains of two points to still hold the number eight spot. The regional side has 74 points, still 23 points adrift of Sri Lanka and New Zealand in sixth and seventh places respectively.

Indian captain Rahul Dravid enjoyed excellent form in the test series and this has allowed him to maintain his number two ranking. The consistency has allowed Dravid to move within ten points of number one ranked Australian captain, Ricky Ponting. Dravid finished with an impressive 496 runs at 82.66 while he crafted one hundred and four fifties, including two fifties in the crucial fourth test match which his side won by 49 runs. West Indies captain Brian Lara, despite only scoring 211 runs at 26.37, remains the highest ranked West Indies player, and the only one in the top 20. Other big movers for the regional side, according to the latest update, include Daren Ganga up 11 spots to 57 and Denesh Ramdin up 14 spots to 73. For the Indians, Virender Sehwag occupies number 16.

Indias Anil Kumble, with his 23 wickets in the recent series remains at number eight, while Corey Collymore with 15 wickets at 22.46 has moved up seven spots to number 10.

Charity twenty-20 Match for Oct 8 Quake affectees between Pakistan and International Eleven would be played on July 10 in Oval.

Indian Capitan Rahul Dravid would lead the International Eleven team while little master Sachin Tendulkar is likely to participate in charity match, Chief Executive County Paul Sheldon said.

He said others players of international eleven include Mahindera Singh Dhoni, Muttih Muralitharan, Brian Lara, Chris Cains, Ntiny, Andrew Hall, Scoot Styrs, Azhar Mehmood, Muhammad Akram and Saqlain Mushtaq while veteran Inzamam-ul-Haq will lead the Pakistani team.

He said all the income of the match would be utilized for the rehabilitation of Quake affectees of Pakistan.

The match is being organized Surrey Country cricket club.

Saina Nehwal lost a close match as India made an early exit from the mixed team event of the Asian junior badminton championship after fourth seeded Indonesia thrashed it 3-0 here on Tuesday.

Saina, after winning the first game against Pia Zebadiah Bernadet, ran out of steam in the second and third games and lost the match 19-21, 21-16, 21-18.

Earlier in the boys’ singles, Jishnu Sanyal went down fighting to Bandar Sigit Pamungkas 16-21, 21-16, 19-21.

No match

Trailing 0-2, Indian duo of Jishnu and Akshay Dewalker proved no match for the Indonesian pair of Fernando Kurniawan and Subakti who won 21-13, 21-16 to wrap up the best-of-five match.

In girls’ singles, which begins on Wednesday, Saina is a strong contender for the title and she has been seeded second behind World No. 39 Jang Soo Young of South Korea.

The Hyderabadi teenager, who became the first Indian woman to win a four-star event at the Philippines Open, is now ranked 42 in the World.

In other mixed team event matches, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, South Korea, Malaysia, Japan and China won their matches against Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Pakistan, Vietnam and Singapore respectively with identical 3-0 margins, while North Korea beat Kazakhstan 3-1.

Saina Nehwal lost a close match as India made an early exit from the mixed team event of the Asian junior badminton championship after fourth seeded Indonesia thrashed it 3-0 here on Tuesday.

Saina, after winning the first game against Pia Zebadiah Bernadet, ran out of steam in the second and third games and lost the match 19-21, 21-16, 21-18.

Earlier in the boys’ singles, Jishnu Sanyal went down fighting to Bandar Sigit Pamungkas 16-21, 21-16, 19-21.

No match

Trailing 0-2, Indian duo of Jishnu and Akshay Dewalker proved no match for the Indonesian pair of Fernando Kurniawan and Subakti who won 21-13, 21-16 to wrap up the best-of-five match.

In girls’ singles, which begins on Wednesday, Saina is a strong contender for the title and she has been seeded second behind World No. 39 Jang Soo Young of South Korea.

The Hyderabadi teenager, who became the first Indian woman to win a four-star event at the Philippines Open, is now ranked 42 in the World.

In other mixed team event matches, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, South Korea, Malaysia, Japan and China won their matches against Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Pakistan, Vietnam and Singapore respectively with identical 3-0 margins, while North Korea beat Kazakhstan 3-1.

Saina Nehwal will attempt to add another golden chapter to her fledgling career when she begins her campaign as the second seed in women’s singles event of Asian Junior Badminton Championship in Kuala Lumpur.

Saina’s spectacular win at the Philippines Open last month elevated her to a new high in the badminton world and the giant-killer from Hyderabad possesses the grit to become the first Indian ever to win the crown of Asian Junior champion.

The 16-year-old sounded upbeat about her chances in the prestigious championship beginning in the Malaysian capital on Monday.

“I just want to win this title. I know I can do it if I play to my potential. But winning the crown will not be easy as the top seed is a Korean girl (Jang Soo Young) and also above me in the rankings. It will be a challenge for me,” a confident Saina said before leaving for Malaysia along with the rest of the 12-member Indian team.

Saina reached the pre-quarterfinals of the event last time but having blossomed at the international stage since and with a Grand Prix win under her belt, she has a realistic chance of bagging the singles title this time.

The main contender for Saina, whose world rankings soared to 42 after her historic win at Manila, will be Jang Soo Young of Korea, placed three notches above her, while third seed Xing Aiying, world number 44 from Singapore, could also pose a challenge to the Indian starlet.

“It would be a good exposure for me. There are several players in the other teams who are young and performing well at the top level. They are quite fast and I would meet them at the senior level as well.

“Everybody is doing well in the team and we are expecting a good result in the team championship also,” said Saina, who has got a bye in the first round of singles.

After the euphoria of winning Philippines Open, came the dampner as she failed to make much impact in the next three tournaments of the Asian Circuit but Saina is determined to return to her winning ways.

“It was a dream come true (victory at Philippines Open). I really worked hard and gave my hundred per cent in every game but I never believed that I could win it. I took it match by match but after beating world no. 4 (Xu Huwaien) I realised that I have a chance.”

“It was the first time that I had won a big title so I got tense in the rest of the tournaments. I made lots of mistakes. After coming back I started training from that day and took note of my errors,” she said.

The Pullela Gopichand protege seems to revel in beating higher-ranked players and has already scored some big upsets in her career.

“I am not scared by them (higher-ranked players). I always play me best against them. You should have belief in yourself. I do not feel any pressure because the pressure is on them. Even when I was 9-10, I used to beat players in the 16-17 age category.”

Saina’s penchant for toppling big names has made them watch out for this new Indian girl.

“They know that Saina is playing well and now they are careful. They see my game and note it down and work on their strategy. So I need to keep on working hard,” she said.

And how does it feel to be suddenly in the media glare?

“Everybody was talking about Sania (Mirza), now they have something else to talk about – Saina,” was her chirpy reply.

But on a serious note, she said, “it’s a bit distracting (media attention) but it is nice. My family is very happy with what I have done and I hope I would be able to stand up to everyone’s expectations.”