BREAKINGNEWS

Indian seamers rock Australian cricketers

India's seamers rocked the Australian top order on the second day of the third Test at the WACA ground here Thursday.

After the Indians lost their last four wickets to be all out for 330, they struck back with the ball to have Australia reeling at 61 for five.

At tea the home side had recovered to 148 for five as the oppressive heat took some of the sting out of the Indian attack.

For the second Test in a row, Andrew Symonds made the most of some good fortune to be 56 not out, with Adam Gilchrist on 34.

The pair had added 87, but Symonds was extremely lucky to still be at the crease.

He miscued countless times and when he was only three, Sachin Tendulkar inexplicably grassed an easy chance at first slip off Irfan Pathan.

On 14, he got an inside edge to RP Singh and the ball appeared to be heading straight for middle stump, only to spin at right angles and just miss.

Earlier in the day, India squandered the good foundation provided by Rahul Dravid (93) and Tendulkar (71) when they collapsed from 328 for six, losing their last four wickets in 17 balls.

However, Pathan (2-46) turned their fortunes around with a superb opening spell in his first Test of the series.

Selected ahead of spinner Harbhajan Singh, Pathan was swinging the ball prodigiously and trapped local debutant Chris Rogers LBW for four in front of a disappointed home crowd.

He then snared Australia's other opener, Phil Jaques, who was caught by VVX Laxman at second slip for eight as Australia slumped to 13 for two.

RP Singh then joined the party, with the prolific Mike Hussey caught behind by Mahendra Singh Dhoni for a duck.

Australia were 14 for three and seven wickets had fallen for just 16 runs in 45 minutes of amazing cricket.

Ricky Ponting was next to go, caught by a diving Dravid in the slips for 20 off Ishant Sharma.

Sharma (2-34) also claimed the wicket of Michael Clarke, caught behind for 23, before Symonds and Gilchrist steadied the innings.

There seemed to be little in the pitch for the bowlers early in the day, with overnight batsmen Pathan and Dhoni taking the score along comfortably.

But Dhoni's dismissal for 19, to a dubious LBW from the bowling of Stuart Clark, sparked the loss of four wickets in just 17 balls.

Clark also removed Anil Kumble, brilliantly caught by Rogers at point for one, while Mitchell Johnson picked up Pathan (28) and RP Singh for a duck.

Johnson finished with 4-86, although Brett Lee was the most impressive of the Australian bowlers with 3-71.

Australia are 2-0 ahead in the four-Test series and have already retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, but are aiming for a world record 17th Test win in succession.

Scoreboard: India 1st innings: W. Jaffer c Gilchrist b Lee 16 V. Sehwag c Gilchrist b Johnson 29 R. Dravid c Ponting b Symonds 93 S. Tendulkar lbw b Lee 71 S. Ganguly c Hussey b Johnson 9 VVS. Laxman c Tait b Lee 27 MS. Dhoni lbw b Clark 19 I. Pathan lbw b Johnson 28 A. Kumble c Rogers b Clark 1 RP. Singh c Hussey b Johnson 0 I. Sharma not out 0 Extras 19lb, 9w, 9nb 37 Total all out 330 Fall of wkts: 1-57, 2-59, 3-198, 4-214, 5-278, 6-284, 7-328, 8-330, 9-330 Bowling: Lee 24-5-71-3 (5w, 6nb) Johnson 28.2-7-86-4 (2w) Clark 17-2-45-2 (1w) Tait 13-1-59-0 (1w,3nb) Symonds 10-1-36-1 Clarke 6-1-14-0 Overs: 98.2 Australia 1st innings: P. Jaques c Laxman b Pathan 8 C. Rogers lbw b Pathan 4 R. Ponting c Dravid b Sharma 20 M. Hussey c Dhoni b RP Singh 0 M. Clarke c Dhoni b Sharma 23 A. Symonds not out 56 A. Gilchrist not out 34 Extras 3w 3 Total for 5 wkts 148 Fall of wkts: 1-12, 2-13, 3-14, 4-43, 5-61 Bowling: RP Singh 10-0-52-1 (1w) Pathan 12-2-46-2 (1w) Sharma 7-0-34-2 (1w) Kumble 2-0-16-0. Overs: 31

India win Sydney Test

SYDNEY/NEW DELHI: India's tour of Australia, facing sudden death after atrocious umpiring and a three-match ban on Harbhajan Singh, limped back to life on Tuesday as the International Cricket Council blinked in the face of Team India and BCCI's unrelenting stand.

Steve Bucknor has been sacked from the team of umpires for the third Test in Perth and Harbhajan can now play, with the ban set aside till the appeal against it is decided. Further, match referee Mike Procter will hear a charge against Aussie spinner Brad Hogg for alleged abuses against Indian captain Anil Kumble and vice-captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni before the next Test.

Following these placatory moves, the working committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, decided that the tour would go ahead "for the present" and Team India, which had been camping in Sydney after the controversy-marred Sydney Test ended, will move on to Canberra for a tour match scheduled to start on Thursday.

It was clear, however, that neither BCCI nor the team was willing to see this as a satisfactory solution to the issues threatening the tour. Not only did BCCI make it clear that it would "review the tour and other developments continuously", it insisted that this was "only an interim arrangement". Sources revealed to TOI that BCCI's tough stance was driven by the team's insistence that patchwork measures will not do and nothing short of Harbhajan being completely absolved of the racism charge would be acceptable.

The team is learnt to be unhappy with the flawed peace, but has decided to abide by BCCI's instructions to go to Canberra after being reassured that the board would not let the pressure on the Bhajji issue slacken. The players remained in touch with BCCI officials through the day and confabulations with them continued even during the two-hour meeting of the board's working committee.

In another measure to defuse the crisis, ICC announced that its chief match referee, Sri Lankan Ranjan Madugalle, will fly to Australia to act as a mediator between the two rival captains in an attempt to keep tempers under check for the remaining two matches of the Test series.

BCCI came out strongly on the proceedings against Harbhajan, describing the charges as "obnoxious and baseless" and the ban as "patently illegal". It insisted that the ICC should deal with the appeal expeditiously "in terms of Regulation H11(e) of ICC's code of conduct for players and officials". The regulation stipulates: "The Appeals Commissioner shall hear and determine the appeal within 7 days of his appointment by the ICC Legal Counsel."

Earlier in the day, ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed had indicated that a very senior judge would be appointed appeals commissioner "in the next 24 hours". Taken in conjunction with BCCI's insistence on Reg H11(e) being adhered to, this would mean that Bhajji's appeal should be disposed of by the time the Perth Test begins on January 16. According to sources, the appointment of the appeals commissioner would be done in consultation with BCCI.

Hopman Cup: India beat Australia

Press Trust of India Tuesday, January 1, 2008 (Perth) Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna beat Australia 2-1 in a Group A encounter to keep India afloat in the Hopman Cup in Perth on Tuesday.

Sania overcame a stiff challenge from Alicia Molik to win the women's singles clash 6-2 2-6 6-4 to give India a 1-0 lead.

However, Bopanna lost to Peter Luczak 7-6 6-3 as the sixth-seeded hosts levelled the contest.

Sania and Bopanna then defeated Molik and Luczak in a closely fought mixed doubles encounter to pull off their first victory in the tournament.

The Indian duo won the deciding match 6-2 4-6 7-6 (13/11) after a tussle lasting 77 minutes.

The Indian pair, which lost its opening tie to the United States, have one win and one loss. The top team in each group advances to Friday's final.

Sania, who almost lost the final set after being 5-1 up, acknowledged that it was never easy against a tough opponent like Molik.

"I almost lost that one. 15-40, love-40, it does not matter, she can come up with a big serve at any time," she said.

In their next group engagement on January 3, seventh-seeded India will take on Czech Republic, seeded third in the tournament.

Dynamos blanks Steelers

Chandigarh: Defending Champion Orissa Steelers crashed to its second successive defeat in the Premier Hockey League (PHL) here on Saturday, losing to local favourite Chandigarh Dynamos 2-0.

The Dynamos got an early lead when a move by skipper Rajpal Singh and Deepak Thakur in the 5th minute yielded result as Prabhjot made no mistake.

Down by a goal at the break, the Steelers tried to fight hard in the third quarter and earned a penalty corner in the seventh minute of that quarter. Just when the Steelers started celebrating thinking that Joga Singh had scored the goal for them of the penalty corner, umpire Raghu Prasad disallowed the goal citing dangerous play.

High drama continued for a few minutes on the field, with the Steelers insisting that the goal was genuine. Even its regular captain Dilip Tirkey, who is out due to injury, joined in and tried to put pressure on the umpire to refer the matter to the third umpire.

Tournament Director Kukoo Walia had to intervene, but umpire Prasad after brief consultation with other on-field umpire Bhupinder Singh, stood his ground.

The Steelers were in for more trouble when Prabhjot Singh fired his second goal in the dying moments of the third quarter to take his team 2-0 up.

Rajpal Singh built up a good move by dodging many players before finally deflecting it to Deepak Thakur, who gave a beautiful pass to Prabhjot to seal the Steelers’ fate.

In another match Hyderabad Sultans caused an upset by blanking Sher-e-Jalandhar 3-0.

Warm-up: India 110 for 3 at stumps on Day 1

Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid repaired a pathetic start by the Indians on a rain-affected first day of their warm-up match against Victoria at the Junction Oval on Thursday.

Ganguly (51) scored his half century at the stroke of tea, gliding one down to point region while Rahul Dravid, attuned himself to the role of an opener with a sedate 33 as India closed the day at 110 for 3 from 38 overs.

The duo's damage-control partnership came when the visitors were reeling at 38 for 3 inside the first hour after the early session was washed out.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the stand-in captain in the absence of Anil Kumble who chose to skip the game, won the toss and promptly decided to give his batsmen the much-needed practice in the Australian conditions.

However, the Indians were rocked by little known left-arm paceman Allan Wise who claimed all three wickets to fall in the second session of the day's play.

It still looked a long day for the Indians, who struggled to come to terms with the conditions.

Dravid, however, took his role as opener seriously and was doggedly unbeaten, flicking off his hips and steering on the offside being his major strokes.

Ganguly, all set for his 100th Test in Melbourne next week, was giving Dravid company with an equally sedate innings before shifting gears towards the end of the session.

The left-hander stroked the ball sweetly on the offside and came down the track to spinners even as clouds again gathered on the horizon.

Ganguly completed his half century off the last ball before tea and his 86-ball innings included eight hits to the fence.

The two thus settled a few early nerves in the dressing room after the loss of three quick wickets.

Wasim Jaffer (0) set the tone for the miserable afternoon when his attempted pull went high up for the mid-off fielder to take an easy catch.

VVS Laxman (1) lazily flicked a delivery for wicketkeeper Matthew Hade to bring off a smart catch on the legside.

Sachin Tendulkar (19) looked completely at ease as he stroked a few shots down the ground before he under-edged a cut on to his stumps.

The conditions were damp and the ball never quite came on to the bat which accentuated the batsmen's problems.

India desperately need to make the most of this game before they plunge headlong into the Test series, starting with the the Boxing Day Test at the MCG on December 26.

Teams:

Indians:Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt &wk), Wasim Jaffer, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan, RP Singh, Ishant Sharma, Pankaj Singh.

Victoria: David Hussey (capt), Nick Jewell, Rob Quiney, Aiden Blizzard, Aaron Finch, Andrew McDonald, Matthew Wade (wk), John Hastings, Peter Siddle, Bryce McGain, Allan Wise.

(With PTI inputs)

Brazilians Kaka and Marta win World Footballer of the Year

Brazilian footballers Kaka and Marta have been crowned World Footballers of the Year at a glittering ceremony in Zurich.

Offensive midfielder Kaka, who Sunday inspired his Italian club AC Milan to success in the World Club Cup, won the prestigious award for the first time, while his compatriot Marta repeated her success from last year here Monday.

Kaka, 25, beat Argentine striker Lionel Messi, 20, and Manchester United's Portuguese international Cristiano Ronaldo in the annual poll conducted among national team coaches and captains by the world governing body FIFA.

He follows in the footsteps of compatriots Romario, Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho and said that it had been a wonderful year. "The best moment of course was winning the Champions League with Milan."

It was the second major individual award that the Brasilia-born player picked up in two weeks after being crowned the European Footballer of the Year.

He takes over the mantle as the best footballer in the world from Italian Fabio Cannavaro, who won the award last year from French Zinedine Zidane. Both players were in their 30's.

Kaka said that the fact that all three finalists this time around were so young showed that a new cycle has had begun. "This shows that football is getting younger."

The Brazilian was the overwhelming winner, beating Messi into second place by more than 500 points. Kaka had 1,047, while Messi received 504 points and Ronaldo had 426 points.

Marta's lead over German World Cup-winning captain Birgit Prinz was not as much, but still convincing. The Swedish-based player received 988 points, while Prinz had 507. Brazilian Cristiane was third with 150 points.

No decision on compensation: BCCI

After a crucial meeting, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has not taken any decision to change the guidelines for selectors.

Addressing a press conference after the Board's Special General Meeting and the Working Committe Meeting, BCCI Treasurer N Srinivasan said the issue was not discussed and hence the guidelines for the selectors stood in its present form.

The move comes after Board confronted with the issue of compensating chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar for stopping his newspaper columns. Vengsarkar has been at loggerheads with BCCI over the compensation issue.

A lot of promises were made to the Chairman of selectors, Dilip Vengsarkar but the issues of his disgruntlement were put on the backburner.

"The BCCI officials had laid down the guidelines. The Board felt if there are any issues, the office-bearers should deal with it," Srinivasan said.

On the issue of compensating Vengsarkar, Srinivasan said, "No decision was taken about any compensation. At present the guidelines stand."

The guidelines prevent the selectors from writing columns, prompting Vengsarkar to demand Rs 40 lakh from the board as compensation.

Vengsarkar had threatened to quit from the post and it needed intervention from BCCI President Sharad Pawar, who admitted it was a logical demand from the chief selector and assured a solution would soon be worked out.

The Working Committee also ratified the appointments of new Team India coach Gary Kirsten and Director of the National Cricket Academy Dav Whatmore.

The Board also decided to double its subsidy for state associations.

"We have decided to increase the infrastructure subsidy from Rs 25 crore to Rs 50 crore," Srinivasan said.

Another important decision taken in the Board meeting was to allow top two teams in the Ranji Trophy Plate group to compete between themselves before joining Super League teams in the knockout stage.

"This was done according to a suggestion from the Technical Committee. Some of the Plate group teams alleged that they did not feel like playing in a tournament like Ranji Trophy and hence the change in format," the BCCI treasurer said.

(With PTI inputs)

Australia beat New Zealand by 7 wickets

Australia beat New Zealand by seven wickets with 45 balls to spare in the opening Chappell-Hadlee Trophy cricket one-day match at the Adelaide Oval on Friday.

Skipper Ricky Ponting scored an unbeaten 107 off 108 balls for his 24th one-day century to steer the Australians home to a comprehensive victory.

Wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum fell four runs short of his maiden one-day century as New Zealand totalled 254 for seven off 50 overs batting first.

But the Australians did it comfortably with Adam Gilchrist smashing 51 off 29 balls with six fours and two sixes to set the platform which Ponting carried on stylishly.

The series continues with the second match in Sydney on Sunday with the third and final game in Hobart on Thursday.

Match scores: New Zealand 254 for 7 (50 overs), Australia 255 for 3 (42.3 overs).

Tiger wins Player of the Year award

Associated Press Wednesday, December 12, 2007 (California) No one came close to matching Tiger Woods on the US PGA Tour, which is becoming as predictable as Woods being voted the US PGA Tour player of the year.

With seven victories and another major championship, Woods won the award on Tuesday for the third straight season and the ninth time in his 11 years since he turned pro. The only questions now are whether he's playing his best golf, and how much better he can get.

"Is he spoiling everyone?" Brad Faxon asked after a pro-am round at the Target World Challenge. "I don't see anyone close. I don't see who the next guy is."

Phil Mickelson was the only other player on the tour ballot with three victories, including The Players Championship. Woods won the money title by more than $5 million over Mickelson, and Woods' stroke average was 1.4 shots per round lower than Ernie Els.

This was the seventh time that Woods swept the three biggest awards on tour the Jack Nicklaus Trophy for player of the year, the Arnold Palmer Award for leading the money list ($10.8 million) and the Byron Nelson Award for lowest scoring average (67.79).

But when asked to review his year, Woods spent a lot of time looking at lost shots.

He was tied for the lead at some point in the final round of the Masters and US Open and was a runner-up in both of them by a combined three shots. And the only tournament he failed to win during the tour playoffs was at the Deutsche Bank Championship, where he took nine more putts than Mickelson in the final round and finished two back.

So while he won one fewer event and one fewer major in 2007, Woods considers it a better season than 2006.

"I had a great chance to win three of the four majors this year," Woods said. "I finished second in two of them. I was just a few shots away from basically doing what I did in 2000. What did I finish, second to Phil? And then the two major championships. If I get those done, get those squared away, people would probably be comparing it to 2000, if not better."

The 2000 season has always been the benchmark for Woods, when he won nine of 20 starts on the US PGA Tour, including the final three majors. He won two of those majors by 23 shots, which is one reason that year draws so much attention.

But he was just as dominant at times this year, twice winning by eight shots.

"Every year has been an unbelievable year," Jeff Sluman said. "He's played well every week of every year."

The only seasons Woods did not win the US player of the year award were in 1998 and 2004, both times when he was revamping his swing. Mark O'Meara won two majors in 1998, while Vijay Singh won nine times and a major in 2004.

"Not only has he won, but he won and dominated with three swings," Sluman said, stopping to laugh at the preposterous nature of what he had just said. "To make changes and still be effective is impressive. And for him to say, 'I need to be better,' after winning the Masters in 1997 ... I don't know of anyone else who could look themselves in the mirror after winning like that and say, 'I need to be better.'"

Jay Haas was voted Champions Tour player of the year, while Nick Flanagan won the Nationwide award. The other US PGA Tour awards went to Steve Stricker, the first player to win comeback player of the year in consecutive seasons, and Brandt Snedeker, who won the rookie of the year for winning in Greensboro and reaching the FedEx Cup finale.

Woods had an astounding lead atop the world ranking after 2006, a 11.53 margin over Jim Furyk. His lead now is slightly larger, by 11.59 points, over Mickelson.

"I don't think it's getting closer," Stricker said when asked about the gap between Woods and everyone else. "Just playing with him toward the end of the season and watching what he does and what he's capable of doing kind of blows me away at times."

Stricker recalled the first time he played with Woods, in 1997 at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Stricker was coming off a strong year in which he won twice. Woods was in his first full season on the US PGA Tour.

"I looked at him to see how I could stack up," Stricker said. "I didn't stack up very well then, and I don't stack up very well against him now, either. I've learned you can't compare yourself to him. No one can. You just have to go about your own business and try to shoot the lowest score possible."

Light saves Pak but India win series

Chasing 374, Pakistan was 162 for seven on the final day of the third Test at Bangalore on Wednesday when bad light stopped play.

Sourav Ganguly was named Man of the Match for his magnificent double-hundred and second-innings 91. He was also the player of the series.

India won their first series in 27 years against Pakistan at home, but the margin was 1-0 after the Bangalore Test ended in a draw.

The fans though did get what they had hoped for, with plenty of last minute drama.

With Anil Kumble's five-wicket haul driving Pakistan to desperation, he will be disappointed for not having declared just a little bit earlier.

Pakistan lost four wickets in a span of just 10 runs, Anil Kumble and Yuvraj Singh joining hands to bring India back in to contention.

But India's hopes were dashed when poor light forced play to be stopped. With both teams having agreed to not use artificial lights through the Test series, India played the waiting game but in the end the umpires declared the match drawn.

Earlier, India declared their innings at 284 for six setting Pakistan a 374-run target.

Overnight batsmen Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid carried on in style early on Day 5, before both fell in the space of two balls.

Ganguly carried on his great touch and looked all set to complete another Test hundred.

Dravid and Ganguly put on 152 runs for the third wicket, before Dravid fell to Kaneria for 42.

On the crumbling Bangalore track, Ganguly looked quite at ease but was dismissed 3 balls later by Mohammad Sami for 91.

Sami struck again after that, dismissing birthday boy Yuvraj Singh for 2, but not before he completed 1000 Test runs.

There was a shocker for India though - VVS Laxman being hit by a Shoaib Akhtar delivery, that stayed very low.

Laxman was hit on the elbow and was clearly in a lot of pain. He retired hurt for 14 and was sent to the hospital for a precautionary scan. Laxman and Karthik put on a 41 run stand.

India may have lost the chance to force a result after managing a first innings lead of just 89 runs thanks to a Misbah-ul-Haq's century. But they finished Day 4 with an overall lead of 220 runs and with eight wickets still in hand.