London, November 5
British and Australian media today pointed accusing fingers to India saying that its enormous financial clout had played a major role in controversial Aussie umpire Darrell Hair’s sacking by the ICC.

With the headline 'Asian bloc flex muscle to remove Hair', a report by the Sunday Telegraph said a precedent has now been established that any umpire who in future makes a decision against the Asian Test-playing countries can expect their wrath to descend upon his head.

''Such is the financial clout of India that they can usually carry South Africa, Zimbabwe and West Indies with them to achieve a 7-3 majority,'' the newspaper said, alluding to the reported 7-3 voting by the ICC executive board on Friday in Mumbai to sack Hair from international umpiring.

The report also took potshots at Indian Board's attempt to buy the broadcasting rights for ICC events over the next eight years, which BCCI withdrew during the executive board meeting.

''The implications would have been enormous if the Indian board had overturned the existing rule which restricts bidding to broadcasters and agencies: the Indian board would have in effect run the next two World Cups and all intervening ICC events,'' it said.

''Half of the Test-playing countries made their opposition to the Indian board so apparent that they backed down when they realised they were not going to achieve the 7-3 majority needed to change the existing rule,'' the report added.

The Australian media echoed their British counterparts, holding that the Asian bloc usually got away with whatever they like.

Robert Craddock writes in Sunday Courier Mail under the headline 'Chilling rule of Asian overlords' that the Asian nations run world cricket now.

''Whether it be chasing the rights to host a World Cup, getting officials in important positions or getting rid of an umpire, the Asian bloc gets what it wants,'' Craddock wrote.

''The demise of Darrell Hair as an umpire is a classic example of this and sad for all sorts of reasons. It should never have been up to the Asian nations to decide Hair's fate. That decision should have been made by International Cricket Council officials.

''As it turns out, the opinions of ICC officials meant nothing compared to the views and voting power of officials from featherweight nations such as Zimbabwe and Bangladesh which fell dutifully into line with the new cricket kings on the block.

''Hair's axing sets a chilling precedent for other umpires.

They will now be running scared of offending any or all of the four subcontintent nations - India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.'' — UNI

Guwahati, November 5
North Zone made a strong 504 in their first innings and also picked up two East Zone wickets to put themselves in the driver’s seat on the second day of the Group B Duleep Trophy cricket match at the Nehru Stadium here today.

In reply to North Zone’s big total, built around Joginder Sharma’s 122, East Zone were tottering at 22 for 2 at close of play.

The disastrous start saw them losing Subhomoy Das in the second over and Shib Sundar Das in the next.

Skipper Sourav Ganguly (10 n.o.) and Abhisekh Jhunjhunwala (6 n.o.) were at the crease when play was called off 15 minutes before scheduled close due to bad light.

Earlier, resuming at their overnight score of 252 for four, North Zone made a heady start adding a quick 46 runs before Yashpal Singh was caught by Deep Dasgupta off Debashis Mohanty. Yashpal made an impressive 89, including 11 fours and two sixes.

Rawat was joined by Sharma, whose second consecutive century in a Duleep Trophy tie was the highlight of the day.

Their sixth-wicket partnership of 106 runs helped considerably in consolidating North Zone’s innings.

Sharma, who had scored a century in the last Duleep Trophy tie against Central Zone at Jamshedpur, stayed at the crease for 180 minutes and faced 166 balls to score 122, which included 18 fours and three sixes.

Fukoka, November 5
An injured wrist brought misfortune for Jeev Milkha Singh as the ace Indian golfer fell short by a shot to miss out on the title at the Asahiryokuken Yomiuri Memorial 2006 golf tournament.

Tatsu Ichihara, five shots behind Jeev after three rounds, turned in a sensational comeback on the final day to card a five-under 67 while the Indian, after spoiling three putts on the final hole, managed only a one-over 73 to finish second.

This is Jeev's best on the Japanese Tour this season and the third runner-up finish in the year.

Ichihara, who turns 28 on November 17, picked up his first title on Japan Tour. His previous best finish was tied second at the Mizuno Open earlier this year.

Toru Suzuki (67) was third and Hiroyuki Fujita (69) and Ike Je Chang (70) were tied fourth.

Jeev, who had 32 putts on the final day, was in line for an unique achievement to win back-to-back tournaments in two consecutive weeks. It would then have been his third title on a third different Tour after Asian and European Tours. It nevertheless meant a tenth top-10 finish in 15 starts and it moves Jeev to the 12th place in Japan Tour Money rankings.

Jeev needed a par to get into a play-off as both Ichihara and Jeev had birdies on the 15th which tied them at 17-under.

Ichihara had finished one flight ahead of Jeev and was waiting in the clubhouse as the Indian, who had at least a share of the lead for all of first three days, came towards the finish.

Jeev, who has been affected by a niggling wrist injury, which has often affected his putting last few weeks seemed to have been hit by it at the wrong time.

Jeev has never won in Japan and in 2004 he lost after leading by four shots after three rounds in Asia (Okinawa Open) and finished tied second.

Today, he had his first birdie of the day on the third but his back-to-back bogeys on eighth and ninth spelt trouble as he fell back in comparison to the fast approaching Ichihara, who from 13-under overnight climbed to 17-under with four birdies in first eight holes.

Jeev parred the first four holes of back nine, while Ichihara had birdies on 12th and 13th to tie with Jeev at 17-under at that stage.

The eighth and the ninth have been two of the toughest holes this week, though Jeev did eagle the par-five eighth on second day. — PTI

Chandigarh, November 5
Lohit Urs and co-driver Moosa Sherief emerged overall winners in the Power Pine Forest Rally after the fifth and penultimate round of the Motorsports Association of India’s Indian National Rally Championship at the Kala Gram grounds here today.

Trailing overnight leader Sunny Sidhu of Team JK Tyre by 40 seconds, Urs, who finished the rally in a total time of 2 hours, 24 minutes, 44 seconds to end a two-year drought, win the third overall INRC title of his career.

The last time Urs won an overall title was in 2004 at Chandigarh, when he driving as a privateer. Team JK Tyre took the next two places, with Sunny Sidhu finishing second in 2:24.39 and Vikram Mathias ending his barren streak, coming third-placed in 2:24.52.

The final day’s action began with Karandeep Singh going out of the rally in the first stage itself after the lower arm of his car broke. Karandeep was lying second overnight and was a strong bet to finish among the top three and enhance his position at the top of the points tally, but his ouster and the victory of Urs has now thrown wide open the title hunt, with the concluding round to be held in Goa.

Karandeep still leads with 34 points, while Gaurav Singh Gill is second with 31. Urs has tied with Naren Kumar for the third spot with 29 points and Sidhu is lying in fifth place with 26. Gill, who had the fastest timings on the day’s opening two stages, broke a strut in the final stage and had to pull out.

The results: Overall category: Lohit Urs/Moosa Sherief (Team MRF, Baleno) 2:24.27; Sunny Sidhu/Vivek Anandan (Team JK Tyre, Baleno) 2:24.39; Vikram Mathias/Nikhil Pail (Team JK Tyre, Baleno) 2:24.52; Prithvin Rajan/PVS Murthy (Team MRF, Baleno) 2:31.14; Sanket Shanbhag/Ramesh Shanbhag (Gypsy) 2:31.49.

1400cc: Anil Wadia/Anmol Rampal (Esteem) 2:46.15; Arindam Ghosh/Sourabh (Esteem) 3:01.28.

Rally Star Cup: Amanpreet Ahluwalia/Manoj Shadija (Esteem) 2:33.14; Rajesh Gadakh/Paritosh Kohok 2:36.56; Nibi Sayed/Noufel Sayed 2:44.29.

Gypsy Cup: Sanket Shanbhag/Ramesh Shanbhag 2:31.49; Capt. A S Brar/Capt. D Saraswat 2:35.39; Maj Rajesh Powar/Capt. Rohit Nayak 2:37.58.