Indian colts have edge on Lankans
MUMBAI, Feb 26 — The Indian under-19 cricket team led by all-rounder Reetinder Singh Sodhi of Punjab have the edge on the visiting Sri Lankans in the one-off four-day Test match starting here at Wankhede Stadium tomorrow.

COLOMBO : Indian bowler Harbhajan Singh (centre) celebrates with teammates after Sri Lankan batsman Aravinda De Silva was clean bowled by Singh during the Asian Test Championship between India and Sri Lanka at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Friday — AP/PTI

Kafelnikov in line for No 1
LONDON, Feb 26 — Russia’s Yevgeny Kafelnikov is just one match from becoming world number one after beating Byron Black in the London Indoor Tournament last night.

Murali to play for Lancashire
LONDON, Feb 26 — Controversial Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan will join English county Lancashire as their overseas player next season, a club spokesman has confirmed.

McMillan tenders apology
CAPE TOWN, Feb 26 — Former South African Test all-rounder Brian McMillan made a public apology on Thursday for racially offensive 'sledging' during a match.

Davenport, Seles in US Fed Cup team
WHITE PLAINS (New York), Feb 26 (AFP) — Lindsay Davenport, Monica Seles and sisters Venus and Serena Williams were among 10 players selected to the 1999 USA Federation Cup team, captain Billie Jean King has announced.

Indian eves beat Thailand in Fed Cup
SAMUTPAKARN (Thailand), Feb 26 — India ended its Fed Cup campaign on a high note by finishing second in their pool behind favourites Chinese Taipei when they beat Thailand 2-1 in the last round robin league match in Asia-Oceania group-I qualifiers here today.

Jitender slams ton in drawn match
RANCHI, Feb 26 — Haryana bagged five points for their first innings lead and Bihar got three points as their Ranji Trophy super league match ended in a draw here today.

Defensive lapse helps Bagan win
MARGAO, Feb 26 — A defensive lapse by defender Prabhjot Singh helped Mohun Bagan to win by a solitary goal over a fighting F.C. Kochin in the first leg of the National Football Super League here today.

Ganesh fashions Karnataka win
BANGALORE, Feb 26 — Defending champions Karnataka today earned a semi-final berth in the Ranji Trophy when they defeated Saurashtra by 197 runs on the final day of the super league tie here today.

RSB, Shillong champs
AMBALA, Feb 26 — Regional Sports Board, Shillong, clinched the men's title defeating Chennai 3-2 in a well-contested match in All-India Civil Services Badminton Tournament at the War Heroes memorial Stadium here in Cantonment today.

Mutola sets 1000m record
STOCKHOLM, Feb 26 — Mozambique’s Maria Mutola broke her own world indoor 1,000 metres record yesterday, minutes after Nicole Humbert of Germany had broken the indoor pole vault mark at the Stockholm Grand Prix.

Parida, Das rescue Orissa
PUNE, Feb 26 — An unbeaten knock of 95 by R.R. Parida and 69 runs by opener S.S. Das saved Orissa from further collapse against hosts Maharashtra as the match ended in a tame draw on the final day of the four day Ranji Super-League tie here today.

Jayawardena's unbeaten ton bolsters Lanka
From K.J.M. Varma

COLOMBO, Feb 26 (PTI) — With Sri Lanka barely 26 runs away from averting follow-on with six wickets in hand against India’s first innings score of 518 for seven, rain and bad light brought an abrupt end to the third day’s play shortly after tea in the Asian Test Championship match here today.

India failed to capitalise on two early wickets including that of star batsman Arvinda de Silva as Sri Lanka rode on a chancy century by young batsman Mahela Jayawardena and another captain’s knock by Arjuna Ranatunga to frustrate the visitors’s hope of a collapse and reached 293 for four.

The Indian bowlers came up with a resolute show in the morning to send back nightwatchman Chandika Haturasinghe (14) and Arvinda de Silva (23), but an unbeaten 109-run fifth wicket stand between Mahela Jayawardene (128) and skipper Arjuna Ranatunga (66) took them to a position of safety.

Jayawardena, overnight 59, made the Indians pay for their lapses as he went on to score second century of his brief Test career. The right-hander, who made his debut against India here last year, thrived on the three "lives" he received on being dropped at 25, 63 and 97.

Though the Lankans were still 225 runs short of India’s first innings total of 518 for seven declared, they were looking well set for a big total with six first innings wickets in hand.

Earlier, Venkatesh Prasad made the breakthrough for the visitors when he trapped Hathurasinghe plumb before the wicket in the eighth over of the day, after the home side had added seven runs to their overnight 121 for two.

De Silva, who joined Jayawardena, looked in fine form in his first Test after an injury-enforced layoff during the recent Australian tour, and began middling the ball well from the outset, executing a couple of well-timed boundaries, including a fine pull off rookie left-arm seamer Ashish Nehra.

He added 49-runs with Jayawardena for the fourth wicket before being bowled by off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, missing a sweep off a turning ball.

But when the Indians looked like running through the hosts’ batting order, skipper Ranatunga stood like a rock at the other end and with Jayawardena also showing purpose, the duo ensured that Sri Lanka did not lose any more wickets.

The day belonged to Jayawardena whole took complete advantage of the lacklusture fielding by the Indians, particularly V.V.S. Laxman and Saurav Ganguly who dropped the young batsman, and played some good shots despite being bogged down by the bowling at times.

Jayawardena, who raced to his fifty yesterday after getting the benefit of the doubt on a very close lbw appeal from Harbhajan, was subdued today and appeared very nervous in his 90s, but was helped by two lives during that period.

He reached his century in style with a six off Harbhajan Singh. He achieved the landmark off 209 balls and hit 17 boundaries and a six.

Jayawardena went into shell after scoring his century while Ranatunga took advantage of the situation to race to his half-century as the Indian bowlers failed to capitalise on the second new ball, which skipper Mohd Azharuddin claimed after 80 overs.

The Lankan skipper was troubled by a pulled hamstring while taking a quick single and had to undergo treatment in the middle.

Nehra, probably on cue from his seniors, banged two deliveries short to the struggling Ranatunga, now playing with a runner, forcing the umpires to call off the play.

The humid conditions at the SSC ground gave way to heavy drizzle minutes after stoppage. Though the rain stopped soon, the soggy ground conditions and poor light made no play possible.

The Indians, who have 10 bonus points thus far from the two games and desperately need a win while with two more specialist batsmen, Hashan Tilakaratne and Romesh Kaluwitharana and the tail to follow, Sri Lanka appear to be well poised to further frustrate the Indians and gain more bonus points which will come handy in final analysis as they still have a game against Pakistan.

In this case taking their catches would certainly have gained India more bowling points with the possibility of forcing Sri Lanka to follow on. Laxaman dropped Jayawardena at second slip when he was 93 and Ganguly dropped him at slip off Harbhajan Singh when he was 97. Nobody drops a catch on purpose but the difference between the best team in the world — Australia — is that they drop a smaller percentage than everyone else. It is hard enough for bowlers to take 10 wickets on pitches as flat as this one in Colombo but if they have to take 13 or 14 wickets because catches aren't held then the task becomes impossible. It is vital that the player with the best catching instinct, fields in the most important catching position. India possesses one of the great slip fielders in captain Azza and I can't understand why he was in the outfield allowing lesser slip fielders to take his place. Perhaps Azza would have dropped them — he is human like everyone else — but if I were a bowler I would want my 'nicks' to go to Azza. He has proved over a long period that he can and does catch a very high percentage. He is wasted in the outfield.

Jayawardena took advantage of missed chances to score a century. Although he looks to have a sound tight defensive technique with a liking for the hook shot he has been a lucky boy. I felt he was out LBW to Singh on Thursday evening. He attempted to pull an off-spinner which hit him on the back leg. I was amazed when he was given not out as I felt the ball was missing off stump and missing leg stump — but hitting middle!! With the missed catches he had four innings!

The Test match has produced some good batting but there has been no contest between bat and ball because the pitch is too good — too flat — no pace or bounce. Even when the spinners bowl, the spin is predictable and all the batsmen have so much time to wait and play the ball late. It makes batting too easy and bowlers are "cannon fodder"!

Sri Lanka are worthy world champions of one day cricket. Everyone is thrilled to watch them and enjoy their star stroke makers but if they are to become a force in Test cricket the pitches here have to change. Flat batting pitches are fine to score runs on a achieve draws but Sri Lanka needs result-oriented pitches — whether they help the seam bowlers or the spinners doesn't matter but high scoring draws will not bring the public in. Also the players get into a negative frame of mind. Sri Lanka needs to take a giant stride forward by trying to win more matches. Somebody has to be brave enough to produce more interesting pitches than this one. By trying to win matches they will lose some but it will make Sri Lankan players and team a better Test match force and may be get more spectators into the ground.

This pitch dragged everyone down. Both sets of players bowled their overs slowly — batsmen wasted time — captains took a long time to set fields — captains and bowlers in long discussions when the batsmen was ready to receive the bowling. All this messing about with numerous stoppages added up to denying the paying customers and TV viewers a better product. Test match cricket is under threat with many Test matches played in front of only a handful of spectators. The players have a responsibility to get on with the game to show some urgency. If they won't do it themselves then the ICC should find ways and means to enforce it. Players earn so much money now that they don't care if they have to pay fines for bowling their overs slowly.

I would fine a team 10 runs for every over they are behind the required over rate and give the runs as extras to the batting side. Umpires should be instructed to be severe on batsmen who are not ready when the bowler is ready to bowl. — PMG

Indian colts have edge on Lankans

MUMBAI, Feb 26 (PTI) — The Indian under-19 cricket team led by all-rounder Reetinder Singh Sodhi of Punjab have the edge on the visiting Sri Lankans in the one-off four-day Test match starting here at Wankhede Stadium tomorrow.

The Indian cricket manager and former Test star Krishnamachari Srikkanth told reporters here today after net practice that "it is very difficult to predict the outcome of the match. However, going by the visitors’ performance in their tour opener against the Board President’s XI, where they lost by nine wickets at the Brabourne Stadium on Wednesday, I think my boys have a clear edge".

Both the teams would announce their respective playing eleven just before the start of the match after taking a final look at the wicket.

The Indian new ball bowlers, Mrutunjay Tripathi of Uttar Uttar Pradesh and local lad Swapneel Hazare, who between them took 13 Lankan wickets in the three-day match, would be the key bowlers for the hosts along with Mumbai Ranji left arm spinner Rajesh Pawar, Andhra’s off spinner Venugopal Rao and Bengal legspinner Wrichik Mujumdar.

Pallav Vora of Gujarat is the wicketkeeper while middle order batsman Mohammed Kaif of Uttar Pradesh will be Sodhi’s deputy.

The Indian juniors have a good batting line up as well. Opening batsman Anshu Jain of Rajasthan got a gritty 48 in the three-day tie playing for Board President’s XI against the visitors.

Sodhi, Mohammed Kaif, left handers Yuvraj Singh of Punjab, Sunil Vishwanath of Tamil Nadu and Neeraj Patel of Gujarat have all got runs in domestic cricket and should do well against the Lankans.

All-rounder Rajat Bhatia of Tamil Nadu and left arm medium pacer Salabh Srivastav of Uttar Pradesh are the other two who would be staking their claim in the playing eleven.

The visitors, led by Upeka Fernando, have pruned their team to 13 players leaving out Sathpath Kalum, Jerome Fernando and Nalin Wijesinghe.

Despite being shot our for a paltry 58 runs in the first innings against the Board President’s XI, the visitors put up a better show in the second through fighting knocks from Chamara Silva (73) and Upeka Fernando (49) before losing by nine wickets.

Duminda Perera, Prabath Nissanka and Ruwan Sujeewa de Silva are the three new ball bowlers while off spinner Jehan Mubarak, left arm spinner Ranil Dhammika and Test leg spinner Malinga Bandara are the three spinners in the team.

Prasanna Jayawardena is the wicketkeeper while Pubudu Senevirathne, Ian Daniels, left hander Thilina Kandambi and Chamara Silva are the batting main stays in the squad.

Mumbai’s M.R. Singh and P.A. Jamula are the two umpires for the match.

Teams (from)

India: Reetinder Singh Sodhi (Capt), Mohammed Kaif (vice-captain), Pallav Vora (wk), Yuvraj Singh, Anshu Jain, Rajat Bhatia, Neeraj Patel, Sunil Vishwanath, Venugopal Rao, Wrichik Mujumdar, Salabh Srivastav, Mrutunjay Tripathi, Swapneel Hazare and Rajesh Pawar.

Coach: Krishnamachari Srikkanth.

Sri Lanka: Upeka Fernando (Capt), Prasanna Jayawardena (wk), Pubudu Seneviratne, Ian Daniels, Thilina Kandambi, Duminda Perera, Chamara Silva, Malinga Bandara, Ruwan Sujeewa De Silva, Prabath Nissanka, Malintha Gajanayake, Jehan Mubarak, Ranil Dhammika, Nalin Wijesinghe, Sathpath Kalum and Jerome Fernando.

Coach: Carlton Bernadus.

Kafelnikov in line for No 1

LONDON, Feb 26 (Reuters) — Russia’s Yevgeny Kafelnikov is just one match from becoming world number one after beating Byron Black in the London Indoor Tournament last night.

The top seed’s 6-3 6-2 victory over the Zimbabwean earned him a quarterfinal clash with Sweden’s Thomas Johansson, and victory in that match will see Kafelnikov topple Pete Sampras from the top spot.

Sampras has spent a total of 260 weeks at number one and is gunning for Ivan Lendl’s record of 270.

Third seed Greg Rusedski beat former Australian Open champion Petr Korda for a place in the quarters finals against Thomas Enqvist.

The clash had been billed as a "grudge match" as Rusedski had been critical of the leniency of Korda’s punishment after he tested positive for a banned steroid at Wimbledon last year.

Scorching groundstrokes by Kafelnikov especially from backhand wing kept the 31st-ranked Black scurrying around the court and he was always under pressure to hold his serve in the second set.

Taking the returns almost on the half-volley at times, Kafelnikov exploited the angles, leaving Black, double-fisted on both sides, lunging for everything.

Kafelnikov broke in the very first game of second set and again in the fifth for a 4-1 lead before comfortably serving out after 63 minutes of play in the specially-erected tent.

Fifth seed Karol Kucera of Slovakia coasted through his second-round match against France’s Guillaume Raoux 6-2, 6-0. He plays Dutch fourth seed Richard Krajicek in the quarterfinals.

Earlier, eighth-seeded Johansson booked his quarterfinal spot with a 6-0 6-7 6-2 victory over Davide Sanguinetti.

PARIS: Australian Open runner-up Amelie Mauresmo set up a revenge match with Swiss Martina Hingis when she qualified for the Paris Open quarterfinals on Thursday.

The strongly-built French player tamed Slovakia’s Karina Habsudova 6-2, 6-1 in the second round and appeared confident before facing Hingis who had called her "half a man" ahead of the Melbourne final.

"I was easier today and I think I’m really into the tournament now. This was my second game since the Australian Open and my stamina is improving every day", the 19-year old Mauresmo said.

"Playing Martina Hingis is obviously going to be a tough task. We know each other and I’m expecting a physical challenge", she said.

In other action yesterday, France’s Julie Halard-Decugis and Nathalie Dechy also reached the last eight. Seventh-seed Halard-Decugis trounced compatriot Anne-Gaelli Sidot 6-1, 6-2 while Dechy overcame strong opposition from Croatia’s Iva Majoli to win 6-2, 2-6, 6-2. Halard-Decugis now meets American teenager Serena Williams.

OKLAHOMA CITY (USA): Venus Williams opened defence of her first WTA tour singles championship last night with a 6-1 7-6 (7-3) win over Kimberly PO in the second round of the $180,000, IGA Superthrift Tennis Classic.

Williams is fresh from a runner-up finish to Jana Novotna in the finals of the $ 520,000 Faber Grand Prix last week in Hanover, Germany.

Third-seeded Amanda Coetzer of South Africa had an easy time of it with a 6-1, 6-3 romp past Elena Wagner of Germany.

Qualifier Lilia Osterloh, ranked 119th, advanced with a win over Japan’s Miho Saeki. Cara Black of Zimbawabe also reached the quarterfinals by beating Alexia Dechaume-Ballert of France 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-5).

Williams, who will play Alexandra Stevenson next, is the only seeded player left in her side of the bracket.

Murali to play for Lancashire

LONDON, Feb 26 (Reuters) — Controversial Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan will join English county Lancashire as their overseas player next season, a club spokesman has confirmed.

Doubts had arisen over his signing, originally announced last September, after Sri Lankan cricket authorities were reported to be opposed to the move.

They were said to be concerned he would be over-used in the demanding English county scene.

But Lancashire spokesman Dave Edmundson yesterday said Muralitharan would join the club after the world cup in June. "We are pleased and looking forward to seeing him perform for us," Mr Edmundson said.

Muralitharan, who took 16 wickets in Sri Lanka’s win in a one-off Test against England at the Oval last season, was called for throwing during the tri-nations series in Australia last month.

Muralitharan has a congenital deformity to his right elbow that stops him from straightening his bowling arm and has been closely watched by umpires since he began his international career. The International Cricket Council (ICC) have given his action the all-clear.

He will replace Pakistan’s Wasim Akram as Lancashire’s one permitted overseas player.

Kiwis have clear home advantage

AUCKLAND, Feb 26 (Reuters) — New Zealand, who thrashed South Africa in the third one-day international at Eden Park, have a clear home advantage for the first Test starting at the same venue tomorrow.

The New Zealanders are looking to complete their best international season for a decade after beating India 1-0 in a three-Test series.

They drew the one-day series against India 2-2 and are currently leading South Africa 2-1 in their one-day contest.

New Zealand won their third one-day international by seven wickets as the South African struggled to come to terms with the slow, low pitch.

"It will be slow and low for sure," said Nathan Astle, the match-winner in both of New Zealand’s one-day victories with 95 in Dunedin and 100 not out at Eden Park.

"But guys like Allan Donald are quick on anything. You still have to be prepared to take blows on the body and I am.

"Javagal Srinath broke my hand in the Indian series but it hasn’t broken my spirit. I’m still up for the challenge."

Pace bowler Simon Doull, architect of the series win over India with a match-winning haul of seven for 65 in the second Test, said the spinners would hold the key.

"It will definitely favour them," he said. "There won’t be any pace or bounce and the spinners will dominate."

New Zealand have selected a second left-arm spinner in Matthew Hart to complement Daniel Vettori while South Africa will rely on their left-arm wrist spinner Paul Adams.

Hart scored his maiden first class century for Northern Districts in their drawn three-day match against the tourists.

He is, though, the likely 12th man with slow-medium pacer Chris Harris providing the backup to Vettori.

New Zealand will take the field without their regular captain Stephen Fleming and all-rounder Chris Cairns who are both injured. All-rounder Dion Nash will lead New Zealand in a Test match for the first time.

South Africa, who thrashed West Indies 5-0 in their last home series, have so far failed to come to terms with the local pitches and have been distracted by political criticism at home.

United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA) President Ray White issued a statement from Johannesburg, without asking the team management in New Zealand, criticising the selection of all-white teams for the second and third one-dayers.

South Africa captain Hansie Cronje expressed disappointment at the criticism.

"Whatever mistakes have been made have been honest cricket mistakes. There has been no political context to any of the selections made, they have all been purely cricketing decisions."

Cronje said off-field events would not affect the team’s confidence.

"We’re still hurting pretty badly after the one-dayers and everyone wants to make up for that," he said. "I don’t think off-field events will affect our focus.

"We have become used to playing on pitches like this when we go overseas and we have learned to bowl on them. We’ll do our talking on the field now."

History certainly favours the South African who have not lost a series to New Zealand or a Test on New Zealand soil.

Teams: (from)

New Zealand: Matt Horne, Matthew Bell, Roger Twose, Craig McMillan, Nathan Astle, Chris Harris, Adam Parore, Dion Nash (captain), Daniel Vettori, Matthew Hart, Simon Doull, Geoff Allot.

South Africa: Gary Kirsten, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Daryll Cullinan, Hansie Cronje (captain), Jonty Rhodes, Shaun Pollock, Mark Boucher, Lance Klusner, Allan Donald, Paul Adams.

McMillan tenders apology

CAPE TOWN, Feb 26 (Reuters) — Former South African Test all-rounder Brian McMillan made a public apology on Thursday for racially offensive 'sledging' during a match.

McMillan had been severely reprimanded by a United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCB) disciplinary committee for advising a Western Province team mate to deliver a 'coolie creeper' to a non-white Kwazulu Natal batsman in a first-class game earlier this month.

The phrase is South African cricketing jargon for a ball that shoots along the ground after pitching. "Coolie" is an apartheid era term for a labourer of Indian descent.

McMillan was initially unrepentant. He told reporters on Wednesday that he would not apologise.

In a prepared statement read out in front of television cameras after the first day of a four-day match at Newlands on Thursday he said: "I would like to reiterate that the term "coolie creeper" in my cricketing terminology means a ball keeping low. "However, I now believe that such a term may be interpreted to be offensive in the South African environment. "If I have offended anybody by using this term, I wish to apologise."

McMillan declined to be questioned on his change of heart.

Western Province Chief Executive Arthur Turner said: "UCB has sent out a fax saying it will review all cricketing terms such as coolie creeper, chinaman and the like so that they will be politically correct in wider terms of the South Africa."

In a separate incident, a provincial second XI player was banned until January 1, 2001, after he was found guilty of using crude and abusive language.

Davenport, Seles in US Fed Cup team

WHITE PLAINS (New York), Feb 26 (AFP) — Lindsay Davenport, Monica Seles and sisters Venus and Serena Williams were among 10 players selected to the 1999 USA Federation Cup team, captain Billie Jean King has announced.

King yesterday also announced that Davenport, who missed the semifinal loss to Spain last year, will play in the first-round match against Croatia in Zagreb on April 17 and 18.

Lisa Raymond, Chanda Rubin, Amy Frazier, Corina Morariu, Tara Snyder and Mary Joe Fernandez round out the US Federation Cup pool, which comprised the top 10 ranked American players.

"The concept of team sports is very important to me, and Fed Cup is the pinnacle in women’s team tennis," King said. "By naming this squad of top Americans for the Fed Cup, we can assemble the best teams for each tie. We are putting all our efforts into bringing back the Fed Cup to the USA before the year 2000."

Davenport, currently ranked second in the world, has been a member of the US Fed Cup team since 1994 and played on the 1996 title-winning team. She has compiled a 21-2 lifetime record in the Fed Cup, including two wins in last year's first-round sweep of the Netherlands.

Indian eves beat Thailand in Fed Cup

SAMUTPAKARN (Thailand), Feb 26 (PTI) — India ended its Fed Cup campaign on a high note by finishing second in their pool behind favourites Chinese Taipei when they beat Thailand 2-1 in the last round robin league match in Asia-Oceania group-I qualifiers here today.

A confident India displayed classy tennis to subdue the hosts’ players and a partisan crowd by winning both the singles. In the inconsequential doubles tie, Thailand scored a consolation win.

National champion Uzma Khan scripted a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Montika Anuchan in just under an hour to give India a good start.

The Indians, who already knew that today’s tie had no bearing on final standings in its pool-A, however were in a positive frame of mind against their opponents.

Uzma never faced breakpoint against higher rated Montika and utilised her physical fitness to full use. The Indian played her natural baseline game to frustrate the Thai girl.

Top Indian Nirupama Vaidyanathan also had no trouble downing Suvimol Duangchen 6-3, 6-3 to give India a deserving 2-0 lead.

In the doubles tie, Sai Jayalakshmi and Shruti Dhawan lost to Montika-Marissa Niroj pair 2-6, 6-7, (4/6).

Chinese Taipei and South Korea who topped their respective pools will clash in a play-off tomorrow to decide who moves into the world group-II regional qualifying in July.

India remain in the Asia-Oceania group-I for year 2000.

Jitender slams ton in drawn match

RANCHI, Feb 26 (PTI) — Haryana bagged five points for their first innings lead and Bihar got three points as their Ranji Trophy super league match ended in a draw here today.

Resuming at their overnight score of 329 for four, Bihar were all out for 397 in reply to Haryana’s first innings total of 506 for nine (declared). Sunil Kumar played a captain’s knock of 124 and added 176 runs for the fifth wicket with Syed Arfi.

Arfi who resumed at an overnight score of 63 added only nine runs before he was out off a Vineet Jain delivery. Kumar’s knock was marked with 13 boundaries, while Arfi hit eight fours.

None of the tailenders except Sandip Rai (21 not out) could reach double figures as Sumit Panda (four), Vikas Kumar (four) and Dheeraj Kumar (eight) fell cheaply.

Vineet Jain claimed four wickets for Haryana, while Pankaj Thakur took three, Subhash Chaudhry two and Dhanraj Singh bagged one.

Haryana were 203 for one when the match was called off. Jitender Singh scored an unbeaten knock of 102 with the help of eight boundaries and Parinder Sharma made a quickfire 55 before retiring hurt.

SCOREBOARD

Haryana (Ist innings): 506 for nine declared):

Bihar (Ist innings): (overnight score of 329 for four)

Nikhilesh Ranjan c Ratra b Jain 0, Zeeshan Ali c S. Khan b Jain 33, Tariq-ur-Rehman c Ratra b Subhash Chaudhry 40, Rajeev Kumar b Dhanraj Singh 44, Sunil Kumar c Ratra b Pankaj Thakur 124, S. Arfi c Ratra b Jain 72, Sandip Rai not out 21, Sumit Panda lbw b Jain 4, Vikas Kumar c S. Dalal b Pankaj 4, D. Kumar lbw b S. Choudhry 8, K.V.O. Rao b Pankaj Thakur 0, Extras (B-7. LB-7, W-1, NB-32) 47, Total (all out) 397.

Fow: 1-0-, 2-94, 3-112, 4-181, 5-357, 6-363, 7-368, 8-373, 9-396.

Bowling: B. Jain 30-15-117-4; D. Singh 24-10-67-1; Parinder Sharma 2-2-0-0-; P. Thakur 50.5-13-126-3; S. Choudhury 23-9-31-2; S. Dalal 8-0-28-0; J. Singh 3-0-14-0.

Haryana (IInd innings):

J. Singh not out 103, Parinder Sharma retired hurt 55, A. Ratra c V. Kumar b Tariq 14, Pankaj Kumar not out 15, Extras (B-4, LB-1, W-3, NB-8) 16, Total (for one wicket) 203.

Fow: 1-167.

Bowling: S. Panda 9-2-33-0; D. Kumar 4-1-6-0; V. Kumar 12-2-40-0; N. Ranjan 11-0-43-0; Tariq-ur-Rahman 12-2-48-1; S. Arfi 9-0-28-0

Defensive lapse helps Bagan win

MARGAO, Feb 26 (PTI) — A defensive lapse by defender Prabhjot Singh helped Mohun Bagan to win by a solitary goal over a fighting F.C. Kochin in the first leg of the National Football Super League here today.

The all-important goal was scored in the 62nd minute, after a barren first half, through substitute I.M. Vijayan.

Satyajit Chatterjee, who took the flag kick from the left floated the ball into the goal mouth. Defender Prabhjot Singh failed to clear the ball to safety with his head and opportunistic I.M. Vijayan made no mistake to kick the ball to the far end of the net.

Substitute I.M. Vijayan, who came in place of injured Cheema Okeri with three mintues left for the interval, could have increased the lead but his header from the top of the box hit the right post and rebounded across from Basim Yonan.

With this win, their first, Bagan now have four points from a win, a draw and loss.

F.C. Kochin, who matched their rival, could have restored parity in the 76th minute but Nitin Pradhan failed to direct his header into the goal from defender Prabhjot Singh.

F.C. Kochin who suffered their third defeat are still to open their account.

Referee Gulab Chauhan showed yellow cards to Debjit Ghosh and I.M. Vijayan of Bagan and C. Karunakar Raj of F.C. Kochi.

Both the teams started on a cautious note trying to gauge each other’s strength but there was hardly any good move from either side.

F.C. Kochin, with their forceful play and speedy counter moves, were almost successful in their effort with speedy Nitin Pradhan from the middle hoodwinking the entire rival defence and entering the box but Najeeb was a trifle slow to get to the ball.

Bagan, who could not raise their potential had a good chance in the 29th minute when Bassim was put through by Cheema. But Bassim’s shot was collected by the keeper.

After the change of ends, Bagan attack shaped up with I.M. Vijayan and Jo Paul Ancheri with good support from medio Satyajit Chatterjee, Bassim Yonan and hardworking Khenthang Paite kept up the pressure.

They could have surged ahead in the 56th minute but a move between Vijayan and Ancheri was foiled in time by defender Firoz before Ancheri could take a shot at the goal.

Bagan kept on pressing hard for a goal and took the lead in the 62nd minute when substitute I.M. Vijayan headed home off a flag kick taken by Satyajit Chaterjee after defender Prabhjot Singh failed to clear the ball. The goal turned to be the match winner.

A few minutes later Vijayan could have increased the lead but his header hit the post and rebounded into play.

F.C. Kochin, who made occasional forays could have found the equaliser but Nitin Pradhan failed to direct his header from inside the box off a cross from Prabhjot Singh from the right.

Ganesh fashions Karnataka win

BANGALORE, Feb 26 (PTI) — Defending champions Karnataka today earned a semi-final berth in the Ranji Trophy when they defeated Saurashtra by 197 runs on the final day of the super league tie here today.

With the victory today at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, Karnataka now have 21 points from three matches (five points against Madhya Pradesh and eight each against Haryana and Saurashtra).

The last match against Bihar here next month has been rendered inconsequential.

Karnataka, spearheaded by paceman Dodda Ganesh, played an attacking game. Ganesh took five wickets, second time in the match and finished with an analysis of 18-4-65-5.

The visitors were bundled out 20 minutes after lunch, after adding 160 runs to the overnight score of 22 for two.

Saurashtra skipper Sitanshu Kotak was the only batsman to put up some resistance and score 88 runs. But his effort went in vain. He had also done his duty with the ball yesterday picking up six wickets for 81 runs.

SCOREBOARD

Karnataka (Ist innings) 389

Saurashtra (Ist innings) 245

Karnataka (IInd innings) 235

Saurashtra (IInd innings) 182 all out.

Sudhir Tanna c F. Khaleel b D. Ganesh 0, Altaf Merchant c R. Vijay b D. Ganesh 17, Rajesh Garsondia c Shiruguppi b D. Ganesh 4, Bimal Jedja c R. Vijay b D. Ganesh 7, Sitanshu Kotak c D. Ganesh b A. Yalvigi 88, Prakash Bhat c F. Khaleel b Umesh 1, Hitesh Parsana c Arun Kumar b A. Talvigi 12, Manoj Parmar c A. Vijay b A. Yalvigi 22, Yusuf Bambhaniya not out 0, Narendra Rana lbw b D. Ganesh 0, Kamal Chawda c A. Vijay b Aa. Yalvigi 0, Extras (bye 4, LB-6, W-1) 11,.

Total: (all out in 54 overs) 182.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-8, 3-32, 4-33, 5-50, 6-99, 7-134, 8-170, 9-171.

Bowling: D. Ganesh 18-4-65-5, Umesh 14-4-38-1, A. Yalvigi 15-4-49-4, Arun Kumar 3-0-13-0, Anand Katti 4-1-7-0.

RSB, Shillong champs
From Our Correspondent

AMBALA, Feb 26 — Regional Sports Board, Shillong, clinched the men's title defeating Chennai 3-2 in a well-contested match in All-India Civil Services Badminton Tournament at the War Heroes memorial Stadium here in Cantonment today. In the women's final, Madhya Pradesh emerged toppers, defeating Delhi 2-0.

In the first singles T. Yabnag prevailed over T. Maran 15-2, 15-2. In the second singles, A. Bweagohain (Shillong) lost to K.R. Shiv Kumar (Chennai) 15-1, 15-6. In the first doubles, Chennai pair of T. Maran and S. Dravid defeated Padma K. and R. Joshi of Shillong 15-6, 15-6. In the third singles, R. Joshi (Shillong) beat R. Shri Niwas Reddy (Chennai) 15-7, 15-9. In the deciding doubles match, B. Burman and T. Yabang (Shillong) edged our K.R. Shive Kumar and Shri Niwas Reddy (Chennai) 15-9, 15-8.

In the first singles of the women's final, Sangeeta (M.P.) got a walk over from Amarjeet Kaur of Delhi. In the doubles, Sangeeta and Vandana (M.P.) defeated Amarjeet Kaur and Renu Balla of Delhi 15-3, 15-4.

Earlier, in the first semi-final of the men's category, Regional Sports Board (RSB) Shillong prevailed over R.S.B. Kanpur 3-0. In the first singles, T. Yabang beat Dinesh Kapoor 15-7 and 15-1 while in the second singles, A. Bweagohin defeated Rajiv Verma 15-9, 15-12. In the doubles, Padma Kumar Das and Raju Joshi (Shillong) defeated Rajiv and Dinesh (Kanpur) 15-2, 15-8. In the second semi-final, Chennai R.S.B. trounced R.S.B. Calcutta 3-1.

In the first singles K.R. Shiv Kumar beat Taps Biswas 15-6, 15-9 while in the second singles R. Shri Niwas Reddy (Chennai) lost to S. Bhardwaj (Calcutta) 8-15, 15-12, 15-13. In the doubles, S. David Anand and T. Maran scored an easy win over T. Biswas and H. Goswami by 15-3, 15-5. In the third singles, T. Maran (Chennai) defeated H. Goswami (Calcutta) 15-10, 15-6.

In the first semifinal in the women's category, Delhi State defeated Central Secretariat, Delhi, 2-0. In the first singles, Amarjeet Kaur (Delhi) drubbed Varsha Kohli (Delhi Central Secretariat) 11-0, 11-2. In the doubles, Delhi Pair of Amarjeet Kaur and Renu Balla sailed past Meera and Rakhi of Delhi Central Secretariat 15-2, 15-0.

In the second semi-final, M.P. blanked Karnataka 2-0. In the first singles. Sangeeta Rajgopal (M.P.) got an easy win over Rajeshwari (Karnataka) 11-1, 11-0. In the doubles, Sangeeta and Vandana (M.P.) defeated Rajeshwari and S.N. Jayashree (Karnataka) 15-2, 15-2.

Mutola sets 1000m record

STOCKHOLM, Feb 26 (Reuters) — Mozambique’s Maria Mutola broke her own world indoor 1,000 metres record yesterday, minutes after Nicole Humbert of Germany had broken the indoor pole vault mark at the Stockholm Grand Prix.

The Oregon-based Commonwealth 800 metres champion beat her own 1996 indoor record of two minutes 31.23 by almost half a second, set at the same Stockholm track, by clocking an official time of 2:30.94.

The time was first given as an unofficial 2:30.96, later confirmed to be 2:30.94.

This was sweet revenge for the three-times world indoor champion Mutola after she just missed the 800 mark in Lievin, France, last Sunday.

"I feel good, it’s fantastic really, but I’m in pain, my legs hurt like hell," an exhausted Mutola, who could almost not walk after the race, told Reuters.

"I’ve been trying to win a record and I was so near with the 800 metres in Lievin," said Mutola, who clocked under two minutes as she passed the 800 mark in Stockholm, way ahead of the other runners.

She had set out second in the pack and kept steady behind the pace maker enabling her to win by a convincing margin over Russia’s Larisa Mikhaylova who clocked 2:37.31.

Parida, Das rescue Orissa

PUNE, Feb 26 (PTI) — An unbeaten knock of 95 by R.R. Parida and 69 runs by opener S.S. Das saved Orissa from further collapse against hosts Maharashtra as the match ended in a tame draw on the final day of the four day Ranji Super-League tie here today.

Resuming at their overnight score of 175 for 5 in 61 overs, Orissa rattled 375 all out in 118.2 overs in their second innings.

The visitors today added 200 for the loss remaining five wickets. At close of stumps, Maharashtra made 76 for 4 in 26 overs (including 8 mandatory overs), with opener Jaideep Narse 35 and Iqbal Siddique 14, both remaining not out at the close of the match.

Orissa were all out 9 minutes before tea, setting a target of 274 runs for the hosts, which was a daunting task for the home team.

Parida slammed 95 in 193 balls, S.S. Das 69 in 174 balls, P. Mullick 54 in 111 balls, Gautam Gopal 52 in 96 balls, and Ajay Barik 25 were the main run getters, who saved Orissa from further destruction.

Medium pacer Sachin Nair 4 for 116, Milind Kulkarni 3 for 56 and Iqbal Siddique 2 for 92 fetched wickets for the hosts team while medium pacer, Ajay Barik claimed all the four wickets for Orissa.

The hosts team secured 15 points from three outings while Orissa got 8 points from two ties. Maharashtra will take on Tamil Nadu here from March 13.

Selectors to meet on March 3

MUMBAI, Feb 26 (PTI) — The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) today confirmed that the national selectors would meet here on March 3 to prune the World Cup probables list from 30 to 19.

"The meeting has been fixed for 1200 hours on March 3", board’s executive secretary Sharad Diwadkar said here today.

Yesterday BCCI’s secretary Jaywant Lele, while announcing from Baroda the postponement of the meeting to the first week of March, had said that it has been tentatively fixed for next Wednesday.

The board had sought and secured special permission from the England and Wales board — organisers of the May 14 to June 20 mega event — a few days’ grace period for pruning the probables list to 19.

As per the tournament rules each team has to send the names of 19 players to the organisers on or before February 28 and the final list of 15 players and four standbyes by March 31.

The Indian board had specifically requested for the grace period as it wanted coach Anshuman Gaekwad, skipper Mohd Azharuddin, team physio Andrew Kokinos and doctor Ravinder Chadha to see first-hand Mumbai stars Vinod Kambli and Ajit Agarkar in a special nets session after returning from Colombo.

Both these players have been out of the national team for lengthy periods because of injuries and had submitted fitness certificates to the board on Monday.

Punjab volleyball

LUDHIANA, Feb 26 (FOSR) — All the district teams along with teams of the BSF, PAP, PSEB and the PRTC will take part in the Punjab State Senior Volleyball Championship for men and women at the Golebagh, Amritsar, from March 19 to 21, according to Mr Raj Kumar, Secretary General, Punjab Volleyball Association. Entries close on March 16 with Mr Rajpaul Gupta, organising Secretary, at Amritsar.

Best athletes

BATHINDA, Feb 26 (TNS) — Sat Pal Singh and Beant Kaur of commerce and arts sections respectively, have been declared best male and female athletes in 47th annual sports meet of the Government Rajindra College which concluded here today. Mr G.P.S. Sahi, Principal Secretary, Education, gave away the prizes to winners. About 100 athletes took part in the meet.

Mr S.R. Ladhar, Deputy Commissioner, who inaugurated the meet yesterday announced a grant of Rs 2 lakh for construction of separate commerce block and Rs 50,000 for creating sports infrastructure in the college.