Swann makes it England's day

CHENNAI: Spinner Graeme Swann became only the second bowler in Test history to claim two wickets in his very first over on debut as England ripped through India's famed top-order batsmen to put themselves in the driver's seat in the first Test.

After restricting England to 316 in the first innings, the Indians lost the plot completely as a shocking batting collapse left them tottering at 155 for six at close on an eventful second day.

It was off-spinner Swann who started India's slide with his sensational twin blows which accounted for the prized scalps of Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid and the Indians could never really recover from those early jolts. MS Dhoni (24) and Harbhajan Singh (13) were at the crease at stumps with India still trailing by 161 runs.

Debutant Swann thus became only the second bowler to take two wickets in his very first over in Test cricket. Richard Johnson of England was the first cricketer to achieve the feat against Zimbabwe in 2003. None of the Indian batsmen could hang around for long on a MA Chidambaram track which has started providing some assistance to the bowlers.

With the pitch expected to deteriorate further, the Indians will have to ensure that they don't concede a big first innings lead since they have to bat last. (AP Photo)

Ashwin emerges sole leader among boys in Asian junior chess

Chennai (PTI): World Under-16 champion B Adhiban blew up his chances and went down to Ashwin Jayaram, who emerged sole leader after the seventh round of the Asian Junior Chess Championship hereon Friday.

With two more rounds remaining, the championship is thrown open, as six players are trailing Ashwin, who has seven points, by only half a point.

As Mary Ann Gommes, the defending champion got the better of joint leader Bhakthi Kulkarni, she and top seed Kruttika Nadig share the lead in the girls' section with 6 points apiece in the women's section.

Ashwin employed the Sicilian defence and both players set up a fast aggressive pace. Adhiban offered exchange sacrifice, which was accepted by Ashwin.

Adhiban had many a chances to claim a draw under 3 fold repetition rule and that too under heavy time pressure with a few seconds left on the clock. The spirited fight helped Ashwin to pocket a point in 63 moves.

Deep Sen Gupta, a former under-12 world champion suffered his second loss in the championship, losing to Tamil Nadu's youngster S Nitin. Nitin sacrificed a knight and recovered splendidly to go three pawns up in the end game.

Mary had a promising position from the word go and maintained it to defeat Bhakti on the top board.

Nadig also won without much ado against the promising youngster Padmini Rout, the world under 14 champion.

Simi shoots three-under to win DLF women's title

New Delhi (PTI): Simi Mehra turned in a card of three-under 69 to win the sixth leg of the DLF Women's Professional Golf Tour by 14 strokes from her nearest competitor Shalini Malik at the Classic Golf Resort on Friday.

Simi, overnight two-over 146, birdied the 4th and 6th holes in the front nine and picked up another shot on the 10th. She dropped a stroke on the par three 11th hole but made amends with a birdie finish on the 18th and taking his three day total to one-under 215.

Shalini improved from her five-over in the second round to return a card of two-over 74 on the final day and take the runners-up trophy at 13-over 229.

Vandana Agarwal, who started the day at tied second place, had a disappointing round of eight-over 80 to finish tied third along with Nalini Singh. Both finished the tournament at 19-over 235.

Selection trial for 8-ball, 9-ball pool next month

New Delhi (PTI): Selection trials for eight-ball and nine-ball pool for men and women for next year's international tournaments will be held in Noida, Uttar Pradesh from January 8 to 11, the Billiards and Snooker Federation of India (BSFI) announced in New Delhi on Friday.

Manan Chandra and Alok Kumar, who were among the top eight men in the national championships, and Vidya Pillai and Anuja Chandra, from the top four women finishers in nationals, will also feature in the trial.

"Players emerging on the top two positions in the trials will qualify for the internationals event of next year," said BSFI Vice-President Ravi Tandon.

Seven Indians in top 50 IAAF individual rankings

New Delhi (PTI): Seven Indians athletes made it to the top 50 of the latest IAAF individual rankings list with national champion woman discus thrower Krishna Poonia being the best placed at 15th spot.

Poonia, who failed to reach the discus final in the Beijing Olympics, has teammate Harwant Kaur in 37th place, an Athletics Federation of India release stated.

Among men, Beijing Olympian discus thrower Vikas Gowda was ranked 23rd while javelin thrower Anil Kumar Singh was at 36th place.

Three heptathletes made it to the top 50 with G Pramila Aiyappa at 34th, JJ Shobha at 41st and Sushmita Singha Roy at 45th place.

The women's 4x400m relay team were placed 21st, down from the 13th place they were at the Beijing Olympics.

Swann's one over pegged us back: Dhoni

Chennai (PTI): India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Friday admitted that the two crucial dismissals in the last over before tea by Graeme Swann put the hosts on the back foot but asserted his side was very much in the game against England here.

India were 155 for six at the end of the second day and Dhoni said the home team would be looking to add at least another 50 runs in their first innings with four wickets still intact.

"We had a bad day in office. England bowled really well in the right areas. Just before tea we lost two wickets that was very crucial. (Graeme) Swann bowled well. If you see the wickets that he had taken they were of perfect balls. The ball that he bowled to Rahul (Dravid) was a really good ball," Dhoni said after the match.

"Credit goes to England, they bowled well with the new ball. They have the upper hand right now but we will look to score 50 runs to start off with the lower order. It will be tough but I think if we can reach 200-250 it will be good. In the past we have seen opponents getting 100 odd runs lead and still losing the game," he added.

"Tomorrow is important? how long we stay at the crease and how much we score accordingly we can say the target. The pitch has started to assist the spinners. But it is still not alarming. The odd ball is bouncing. We have seen worst wickets than this."

Dhoni also admitted that his boys did not have much match practice before the Test series but made it clear that he was not looking for any excuses.

"Yes we didn't get enough time. Before the Australian series we had a 15-day camp. But it all happens, we are not here to blame anything," he said.

Aussie players wary of traveling India for IPL second season

Melbourne (PTI): Australian cricketers are wary of travelling to India for the second season of Indian Premier League (IPL) in April-May next year after the recent Mumbai terror attacks, according to a report.

A report in The Australian said senior Australian players are uncertain about going to India in the near future and player managers have also expressed concern.

Australian vice-captain Michael Clarke said security was one of the issues he had to weigh up when considering signing for the second edition of the IPL next year.

"I have a lot of things to consider. I have to think about the amount of cricket, I am trying to plan a wedding as well and I have to think about what happened there recently," said Clarke who did not join an IPL franchise this year and is yet to make up his mind about entering the Twenty20 event's second season next year.

"I am going to play this Test series (against South Africa) and then I can sit down with Lara (his fiance) and my family and make a decision. I certainly would love to be part of the IPL, but it is a matter of timing. If I am right to go I will look forward to that." he added.

The report said other Australian players also said the terror attacks on the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai, where they had stayed many times, had created anxiety about returning for IPL in April-May next year.

One player manager said he had not been approached by any IPL-contracted cricketers with security concerns, but he said they would all be nervous.

"If something happens to one of teams I think cricketers will head for the hills and I can't blame them," he said.

"However, India is a very resilient place and tends to bounce back from these sort of things."

Indian, English cricketers pay respects to Mumbai terror victims

Chennai (PTI): Indian and England cricketers on Thursday observed a one-minute silence in memory of the Mumbai terror attack victims before the start of the first Test here.

The cricketers and the match officials lined up at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here before the match and stood in silence for one minute to pay their respects to the terror victims.

The players and the match officials also wore black arm bands in memory of the terror victims.

Hashim Amla condemns Mumbai terror attacks

Melbourne (PTI): Himself once referred to as "terrorist" by a commentator, South African batsman Hashim Amla condemned acts of terrorism, such as the recent Mumbai attacks, in no uncertain terms.

"I'm not involved in politics but if you look at Islam, the way I have been taught and the way I have learnt Islam it gives me a lot of stability and discipline. If a Muslim is doing something like that (terror attacks) it is certainly condemned in Islam," said Amla, who was once was called a "terrorist" by Dean Jones in an off-air comment during a Test in Colombo two years ago.

"As a person playing cricket, I don't think people have to separate religion and sport," he was quoted as saying by The Australian.

The bearded batsman has been sometimes describes as Asian but 25-year old Amla does not give much thought on such things.

"People may see you as an Indian, or a Muslim, or whatever the case is, but I don't put that in my mind."

Asked about his team-mates having a beer sponsor blazed across their clothing, which he does not have, Amla said, "It is nothing new. Since I made my debut in 2004 it was an issue then but fortunately South Africa is a country that is very understanding."

"We do come from a difficult past with racial prejudices. So our country is very much accepting to differences. I put in the request to the United Cricket Board at the time. They accepted and the sponsors were very accommodating as well. For me the issue is dead and buried with the team and the South African people."

England make steady start, 63 for no loss at lunch

Chennai (PTI): England made a slow but steady start, scoring 63 without loss in 27 overs in an uneventful morning session on the opening day of their first cricket Test against India in Chennai on Thursday.

Electing to bat after winning the toss, England openers Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss adapted to the slow track which offered little for the fast bowlers in front of a moderate working day crowd that thronged the stadium braving the unprecedented police security.

At the lunch break, Strauss and Cook were on identical 31 after facing 80 and 82 balls respectively.

Starting the match after observing two minutes of silence by players of both the teams and match officials, besides wearing black arm bands in memory of the Mumbai terror attack victims, the left handed openers struck three boundaries each for their identical 31 to give England a steady start.

They made their intentions clear by not taking any risk and rarely stepping out to both new ball bowlers, Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma.

Zaheer and Ishant could not extract any swing and movement on the air on a slow track even though they made the England openers hard to score runs.

Even the two spinners -- Harbhajan Singh and Amit Sharma -- got little help from the Chepauk pitch. Harbhajan, who was brought in for Zaheer, in the ninth over of the innings, gave fours runs -- all to fine leg -- in his first over.

Strauss and Cook were cautious in their approach. The duo could not score more than two runs an over in the first hour which saw only one hit to the boundary -- in the sixth over.

Dinesh joins Akhil in World Cup semis

Moscow (PTI): Dinesh Kumar became the second Indian to assure himself of a medal at the AIBA Boxing World Cup after he defeated Algeria's Abdelhafid Benchabla 17-11 to enter the semifinals of the light heavy weight division here.

The Haryana boxer will face Vladimir Cheles in the semifinals on December 13 after the Russian beat Artur Beterbeiv of Maldives 5-1 in the other quarterfinal.

Wednesday night's win was a sweet revenge for the Haryana boxer, who lost to Benchabla in the first round of Beijing Olympics.

"The win is a great morale-booster for me. My next bout is a tough one but hopefully I will be able to come good," Dinesh said after his bout.

India has a four-strong presence at the event and bantam weight pugilist Akhil Kumar has already advanced to the semifinals. Jitender Kumar (51kg) and A L Lakra (57kg) will open their campaign later in the evening.

The World Cup is a prize-money tournament, which offers USD 10,000 for the gold medallist and USD 5,000 and USD 2,500 for the silver and bronze winners respectively.

Thank god, I don't have to bowl Tendulkar: Ishant

New Delhi (PTI): India paceman Ishant Sharma might have acquired the reputation of bumping off top batsmen like Ricky Ponting but he thanks his stars for not having Sachin Tendulkar as an opponent.

"Sachin Tendulkar is one batsman who is not easy to bowl to. Be it in nets or in the middle, he always bats as if he is playing a match. I am thankful to god that I play in his team. His experience is equal to my age," Ishant said.

The gangling Delhi bowler said besides Tendulkar, Ponting and Hayden were among his favourite batsman.

"Other than Sachin and Ponting, my favourite batsmen are Matthew Hayden and Rahul Dravid," he said.

Ishant said he was trying to bowl fast consistently but also focusing on maintaining the right line and length to trap the batsmen.

"I am trying to bowl at 100 mph but what is more important is which areas I hit. If you get that speed but the delivery is short- or over-pitched and ball goes across the boundary than there is no use of it.

"Instead, if I bowl at 140-145 kph and swing it, batsmen could be in trouble," he told NDTV.

"I know my limitations and try to be in my limits," he added.

The 20-year-old fast bowler also said he did not believe in experimenting in the match and relies on whatever he practised in nets.

Maradona trains his guns on Pele

Kolkata (IANS): Diego Maradona's dislike for Pele is well-known and the Argentine again minced no words in saying that the Brazilian never had the respect of players that he commands.

"The biggest and main difference between Pele and Maradona is I have the respect of all footballers, which Pele does not have. Pele is a friend of those who manages football. I am not friends with them. I am with the players," Maradona told a private TV channel Kolkata TV, on the last day of his two-day trip here on Sunday.

"I do not have anything against Pele, but Pele has against me. Because he was second to Ayrton Senna (triple Formula One World Champion), and second to Maradona as well," he said. During a FIFA poll to judge Footballer of the 20th century, Pele came second to Maradona. But later FIFA declared both as the best footballers of the 20th century.

Maradona also recalled his friendship with former Cuban President Fidel Castro and described the Communist leader as a bright man. "You get enriched every moment you spent with him, even when you say hello. We talked about football, politics, baseball. We talked of the USA as well. We talked about the dark sides of imperialism," he said.

Describing imperialism and its policies as the root cause of world economic problems, Maradona came down heavily on the US.

"The problems have been mainly created by the US. They say they are big, others small. They decide, and then we have to go by their decisions. But now, after what has happened to the US (economy), the time has come for every nation to take their own decisions," he said.

Maradona regretted terrorist strikes in the world, saying they were awful. "We have to stop this because there are many innocent people, innocent kids, paying the price. They should not be paying the price," he said.

Injured Diarra out for 6-9 months

Madrid (AP): Real Madrid midfielder Mahamadou Diarra will be out for six-to-nine months because of a right knee injury.

Madrid said on Monday in a statement on its website that the 27-year-old Mali international had surgery on the injury, which he sustained while playing for his country on October 11.

Diarra was out of action for two weeks after hurting his knee but returned to play on October 30. A month later, however, he aggravated the injury in a league match, the club said.

Real Madrid is in fifth place in the Spanish league, nine points behind leader Barcelona, and has nearly half its team injured. Ruud van Nistelrooy, the club's leading striker, is also out for the remainder of the season after knee surgery.

On Monday, midfielder Royston Drenthe left training early with right knee problems and looked to be in doubt for the team's Champions League match against Zenit St. Petersburg on Wednesday. In the Spanish League, Madrid's next match is at Barcelona on Saturday.

Saina is the most promising player of the year

New Delhi (PTI): After breaking into the elite zone of top 10 players, ace shuttler Saina Nehwal on Monday became the first Indian woman shuttler to be named as the most promising player of the year by the Badminton World Federation (BWF).

The decision was taken in the council meeting of the BWF in Seoul on December 6, according to a statement issued by BWF Vice-President V K Verma here on Monday.

The 18-year-old Saina's name was proposed along with three other players by the World badminton players federation.

Saina has had an incredible run this year, becoming the first woman shuttler to win the Chinese Taipei Open, apart from winning the World Junior Badminton and Commonwealth Youth Games gold medal in Pune.

She also reached the quarterfinals in the Beijing Olympics earlier this year.

Elated at being bestowed with the honour, Saina said, "I am very excited and happy to get this honour. I never expected such an award but now that I have got it, it has motivated me a lot and given me a big boost.

"I just want to work even harder now and get more results," she added.

Dhoni & Co sweat out, Harbhajan skips nets

Chennai (PTI): India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his teammates, except for off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, had a rigorous practice session for more than two hours at the MA Chidambaram stadium here amid tight security ahead of their first Test against England on Monday.

Sachin Tendulkar and Ishant Sharma were late by about 15 minutes in joining their teammates at the 150-minute practice session that started at 1400 hrs this afternoon. They first had light exercises including running a lap of the ground around the boundary before hitting the nets.

Tamil Nadu stars S Badrinath and M Vijay were the first to pad up for batting practice at the nets, followed by Rahul Dravid, Dhoni, Tendulkar and VVS Laxman. All the players had hits at the fast track and the spin strip for about 10 minutes each.

Dhoni was also seen behind the stumps at the spin track, while Laxman was seen getting batting practice with a soft ball threw at him by coach Gary Kirsten.

Sports scribe body condemns 'attack', urges CM to probe

Kolkata (PTI): The Calcutta Sports Journalists' Club on Monday condemned "attack"on the scribes covering football legend Diego Maradona's visit to former Chief Minster Jyoti Basu at Salt Lake on Sunday and urged Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee to probe the incident.

In a letter to the Chief Minister, Club Secretary S Raha said "having faced this unworkable situation where journalists are being targetted and stopped from performing their duty, we would request you to kindly investigate the whiole incident and take proper action".

Raha described the entire incident as unfortunate and condemnable.

Dhoni retains top spot in ODI rankings

Dubai (PTI): Team India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni maintained his top slot in the ICC ODI rankings for batsmen while Zaheer Khan is now just one step away from breaking into the bowler's top 10.

Apart from Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, at sixth, is the only other Indian batsman in the top 10 while Sachin Tendulkar is ranked 12th. In the bowlers' chart, Indian pace spearhead Zaheer rose a step to 11th while offie Harbhajan Singh (20th) climbed two rungs to break into the top 20.

Outside India, Sri Lanka's up-and-coming pacer Nuwan Kulasekara gained 11 places to 14th place after a successful series against Zimbabwe.

Ajantha Mendis, leading wicket-taker in the series with 15 scalps, has gained 19 places and now occupies the 25th position in the rankings while senior spin colleague Muttiah Muralitharan gained three spots to be back into the top five in third position.

Australia's Nathan Bracken still retains his place as the top-ranked ODI bowler in the world with New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori close behind in second.

In the batsmen's chart, Kumar Sangakkara is up one place to 15th after finishing top-scorer in the series against Zimbabwe with 182 runs in what was a tour essentially dominated by the ball. There are no changes in the top 10 batsmen with Dhoni being followed by Michael Hussey of Australia in second place and South Africa's Graeme Smith in third.

Mithali wants tips from Sachin and Dhoni

New Delhi (PTI): Star Indian batswoman Mithali Raj is seeking tips from Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni to prepare better for next year's Women's World Cup in Australia.

The former skipper of the Indian women's cricket team said that since they hardly have opportunities to play international matches before the quadrennial event in March, suggestions from the star duo of the men's team would help them prepare well.

"The level, at which they play, their opinion would be significant for us. If I get a chance I would love to take some tips from Sachin about my batting," Mithali, who turns 26 on Wednesday, told PTI-Bhasha.

The former skipper is also an admirer of men's team captain Dhoni and said she would love to learn some tricks of the trade from the Khel Ratna awardee.

"I want to take some tips from Dhoni on leading the side in big tournaments. Advice of all the senior players of the men's cricket team would be helpful for us because they belong to a different league altogether," she said.

The Indian women's team is relying on domestic cricket matches and training camps in the next three months to prepare for the World Cup as no international matches are scheduled in this period.

However, Mithali is not worried as she believes the recently concluded ODI series in Australia has given them a chance to get familiarised with conditions Down Under.

ECB security expert leaves for India

London (IANS): England and Cricket Board's (ECB) security expert Reg Dickason left for Chennai on Tuesday to assess the venues for the Test series against India.

The Indian cricket board have changed both the venues as per ECB's request. Chennai (Dec 11) and Mohali (Dec 19) are scheduled to host the Test matches. But a final decision will be taken after Dickason's assessment of the security situation.

Dickason will work on how security can be best implemented in Chennai and will face the tough task of preparing a thorough briefing for the team before Wednesday.

Friday now appears to be the earliest possible date of departure to India. If given a green signal by Dickason, ECB will have to convince its players to tour India, though it is unlikely they will return to India with squad of same 15 players.

With ECB, leaving the decision on players and not enforcing penalties for skipping the tour, some of the top players like Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison have expressed their reluctance to tour India. The national selector, Geoff Miller, too, made it clear that no one should agree to resume the tour if he had a sense of fear.

"If there's a sense of fear then you can't be fully focused on the job you are trying to do. These are difficult circumstances, difficult times, and you've got to have a very strong character to be able to do that," Miller was quoted as saying The Guardian.

The players had their meeting in India and discussed things, although there was very little they could discuss while waiting to see what Reg and the security people said. Now they will make their own personal decisions and once they have all done that we will reassess it, but we have to reassess it quickly because the turnaround is rapid.

The England players arrived home on Saturday following the terror attacks in Mumbai. They had lost the first five of their scheduled seven ODIs one-day internationals.