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The Times of India, New Delhi, Friday,December 5, 2003

Man U target Viduka Jacques without a ride Swede Johansson returns Manchester United manager Alex French rider Olivier Jacque, world 250cc champion in Australian Open champion in 2002, Ferguson is keen on snaring Aus- 2000, has failed to find a team for the 2004 Grand Prix Thomas Johansson of Sweden will return tralian Mark Viduka of Leeds United motorcycling season. “There was no one to satisfy his from an injury break of more than a year at when the transfer window opens ambitions in MotoGP,’’ his spokesman Francoise De- next month’s Adelaide hardcourt champi- in January. The coach is attached a pierre said. “I’ll miss the racing, but I didn’t want to onships. Johansson has not played a match price tag of $8.6 million on the striker play second fiddle,’’ said Jacque since November 2002 Mahindra United defeat Mohun Bagan in NFL India get a taste of Langer’s blade Reuters Brisbane: Justin Langer completed his 16th Test hundred as Australia's batsmen put India to the Scoreboard sword on the opening day of the first Test on Australia (1st innings): Thursday. Justin Langer 115, c Laxman b Ajit Ninan Langer hit an un- Zaheer 37, Ricky Ponting c Patel b Khan 54, Damien Mar- beaten 115 and tyn batting 36. Extras (b-4, lb-4, nb-10 w-2) 20 Ricky Ponting a Total (for two wickets) 262 sparkling half- Fall of wickets: 1-73, 2-162. century to help Still to bat: Steve Waugh, , Adam Gilchrist, the hosts reach Andy Bichel, Jason Gillespie, Nathan Bracken, Stuart MacGill 262 for two on a Bowling: 15-1-53-2 (nb-8), 15- rain-shortened 4-51-0 (nb-2), 17-2-74-0 (w-2), Harbhajan day at the Gabba. Singh 14-1-68-0, 1-0-8-0. India India: Aakash Chopra, , VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly made exactly the same mistake as , , Sourav Ganguly, Ajit England's Nasser Hussain 12 months ago when he Agarkar, Parthiv Patel, , Zaheer Khan, won the toss and sent the Australians into bat. Ashish Nehra. The wicket had a distinctive green tinge and there was plenty of early assistance for the fast bowlers but the pitch quickly settled into a perfect First Day, First Test Blues batting strip. Details of instances of player scoring century on the first None of the top order missed out completely but day of the India-Australia series Down Under: it was Langer (Incidentally, a langar also means a religious feast among the followers of Sikh reli- Players Score Venue Season Result gion) who made the most of the conditions, pa- D Bradman 160*(185) Brisbane 1947-48 Aus, Inn & 226 runs tiently building his century. D Boon 123 Adelaide 1985-86 Drawn The left-handed opener had a scare on eight when R Ponting 125 Adelaide 1999-00 Aus, 285 runs he was caught by Akash Chopra at bat-pad, only to S Waugh 117*(150) Adelaide 1999-00 Aus, 285 runs It’s a toss of get a reprieve when umpire Steve Bucknor called J Langer 115* Brisbane 2003-04 To be seen Ashish Nehra for a no-ball. Langer shared half-cen- Note: Figures in the brackets indicates final completed score. tury partnerships with Matthew Hayden and — Compiled by Anant Gaundalkar self belief Ponting and had added exactly 100 with Damien Martyn when play ended early because of bad light. By Ayaz Memon Langer was initially content to play the anchor role ‘India already in trouble’ as Hayden and Ponting savaged the bowlers but he hen in doubt, bat first’ ad- took a more aggressive stance once they departed. Brisbane: Australia batsman Justin Langer be- ‘Wvises the legendary Ran- Hayden hit six fours, including two off Zaheer lieves his team have struck a major psychological jitsinhji in his Jubilee Book of Khan in the day's third over, before he fell for 37 blow by taking the honours on the opening day of , published way back in with the total on 73 when Khan found the edge and the first Test against India. Langer predicted India 1899. I specify the year to establish Vangipurappu Laxman held a catch at second slip. would struggle to recover after failing to make the the vintage of this advice, and why Ponting was also in a determined mood, most of favourable conditions. it has become a dictum of sorts. striking seven fours and a six, as he set about the “We always aim to win the first day of the series But perhaps Sourav Ganguly was disappointment of his last tour to India when he and I think we did that,” Langer said. in no doubt. made a miserable total of 17 runs in the series. “They had very good conditions but we came When it rains all night, and the Harbhajan Singh away from it having lost only two wickets so I morning is overcast, what else dismissed Ponting each of think it was a huge day for us. We've learnt our les- should a captain do, but smack his the five times he batted but sons at the Gabba. If you can get through those lips in delight at winning the toss the Australian vice- first 20 overs or so when it’s really tough then you and choose to field first? There captain exacted some Justin Langer during the first day of the first Test between India and Australia at the Gabba on Friday. can really set up the game,” Langer said. “It was could, of course, be a case for some revenge on Thursday only 72 balls, but threw his wicket away on 54 Martyn also began slowly but grew in very hard out there, as hard as I’ve ever seen it, but pre-match research which would when he drove the off- when he skied an attempted hook off Khan and confidence, finding the boundary rope four times it started to have revealed to Ganguly that in spinner over his head and wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel took a simple catch. to end the day on 36. Only 7.2 overs were play okay as MORE ON OUR WEBSITE 1954, Len Hutton won the toss in into the second level of the Langer reached a patient 50 off 108 balls but completed before lunch after play was stopped long as you India vs Australia similar climes, inserted Australia stand for six. smashed nine quick boundaries to race to his because of rain. The umpires agreed to extend the watched the Live Score & Commentary in, saw them score 601-8 declared Ponting beat Langer to century in another 47 deliveries, reaching triple last two sessions to make up the lost time but bad ball carefully. and then bowl England out twice 50, reaching the mark off figures by sweeping Harbhajan for four. light forced them off prematurely. Reuters Reuters visit www.timesofindia.com for cheaply. Those were the days of uncov- ered wickets, it could be argued, but the principle of batting first — No point in trying to beat unless the pitch is discernibly moist — retains its credibility.This Gabba track looks a beauty, which Aussies at their own game will rile Ganguly even more. In- stead of playing to his strength — By Nathan Astle think have to have square of the wicket shots included, but by doing this I do not the batting power of Sehwag, Lax- ndia in Australia — what a good series mean become reckless hookers and man, Tendulkar, Dravid and him- this should be! Australia will still have I pullers. Just be selective when you do self — he chose to push the onus on memories from their last tour to India play those shots. his relatively inexperienced where they lost the Test series 2-1. That I One of the best things the Aussie’s do bowlers. As in the World Cup final, might add, is the best Test series I have the nervous attack flopped. It’s all ever seen - it had everything. Touring well is build pressure when they are uphill from here. Australia at the moment, I would think, bowling. They do not miss their line and There is nothing to commend de- is the hardest of all tours. If you do well length alot. This becomes very impor- fensiveness in sport and the Indians there you know you have competed with tant when your batting in the way you could learn a thing or two from the best. must make sure the bad ball is dealt with Justin Langer, who dispelled his The Aussie’s have changed the way for runs. If this is done well it makes the personal worries with a wonderful- cricket is played merely by the pace they bowler start to think differently and ly aggressive century.The least sung play the game and how! A lot of teams hopefully he will start to feel pressure player in Waugh’s great side, he had fall into the trap of trying to play them at and miss his line and length more often. been feeling the pressure from their own game. This however is taking On the other side of the coin when teams younger men, but raised his game a you away from the game you know your- are bowling to Australia this is one thing couple of notches at the right time. self and gives them a head start on you I feel they do so well and it allows them What makes this possible? straight away. to score so freely and quickly. My brief encounter with Langer We found on our last tour there it was They very rarely ever miss out scor- (even if as an onlooker) at Colom- best to put a plan together around the ing off a bad delivery.This to me comes bo airport in 1994 perhaps provides way we played our cricket. We know our down to knowing exactly what your per- a clue. He was en route to England strengths and by using our strengths sonal plan is and believing in it 100 per for the Ashes and sought out Ravi against their weaknesses it turned out cent because if you do not it creates self- Shastri (also at the airport) for ad- to be a very interesting tour. I feel India doubt which usually causes failure. vice. are going to be bombarded by short pitch This leads me onto my last point but Langer then was an ambitious bowling to start with and the way they to me the most important one, the top 2 24-year-old, desperately seeking a handle this first up I think, will dictate inches as we say. Cricket is such a men- place in the first eleven. “It may the way the tour will go. tal game at this level as everyone knows take a while,’’ he told Shastri, “but One thing India will struggle with is their technique and what they can do. once I get in, it will take a hell of a the extra bounce in TCM lot to get me out.’’ Australia, as it is Now we know. With 16 Test cen- well documented turies and almost 5000 runs, there that the pitches in is no better example of self-belief India do not have the and pride in performance. And as same bounce. Their far as is known, he has no endorse- own individual ments. Barring the Baggy Green. game plans when it comes to batting I In Bengal, menu comes before selection of squad By Sanjib Kumar Das selector told the chairman: ‘This play- ta University. They used to emerge TIMES NEWS NETWORK er ‘X’ is extremely talented, though he champions at the national level with hasn’t performed well of late. It’s just an enviable frequency. Now, we find it Kolkata: In the early ’90s the Bengal a bad patch, but he ought to be in the difficult to even cross the first hurdle. junior selection committee got togeth- squad’. The chairman replied: ‘But That’s because many undeserving ele- er to pick an under-17 side for a na- why don’t you let statistics speak for ments have made it to the teams just tional competition. And this was how him’. The member again pleaded: ‘He’s because a university games certificate it went, ac- an extremely gifted player’. The chair- comes in handy while seeking employ- cording to an man then queried: eye-witness. ‘I hope you seri- The focus shifts to West Bengal in “For the ously don’t want first 15-20 him in the XI, do Times News Network’s sixth minutes, the you?’ ‘Certainly chairman not, but he’s good investigative report on cricket in India was busy enough to be the seeking a 14th member’, the selector reasoned. ment,” he said. consensus on “And believe me, we actually started But the problem is that there’s no CRICKETGATE II whether to the meeting by noting down ‘X’ as the concrete evidence on the basis of have fish fry 14th member of the squad!” which the offenders can be booked. or something else during the selection Hilarious it may be, it was no joke. A former India player from Bengal meeting. Only after the majority opted And at least one former Bengal skip- preferred to explain the current sce- for fish fry,did we actually get down to per isn’t at all surprised with the out- nario in terms of social and behav- the task of picking a 14-member break of the Abhijit Kale incident. ioural aspects. “When we used to play squad! “Such things were always there and for India most of us didn’t even have “As soon as the meeting started, one that’s only natural. Look at the Calcut- the courage to walk up to a selector.”

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