The New Nation - Internet Edition

India take 3-0 lead over England

AP, Kanpur

India's 16-run win over England on Thursday left the tourists 3-0 down in the series and frustrated at the outcome of a game decided under the Duckworth-Lewis method for shortened matches.

England was bowled out for 240 and India had reached 198-5 off 40 overs, 16 runs ahead of the par score of 182 - under the Duckworth-Lewis calculation - when fading light ended play.

England captain Kevin Pietersen had a conversation with the umpires when play was called off and was seen leaving the ground shaking his head at the circumstances of the result.

The start of the match was delayed for 45 minutes by a local haze, yet the length of the match was only reduced by one over per side. The lunch break was also not reduced from the allocated 30 minutes, taking away what proved to be valuable time.

Virender Sehwag hit an aggressive 68 to kickstart India's innings, and his contribution proved vital as it allowed India to preserve wickets and remain ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis asking rate.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (29 not out) was fully aware of that asking rate and was able to guide India accordingly through the closing overs.

Continuing the form that got him centuries in the previous two one-dayers, Yuvraj Singh hit an important 38 and shared a 52-run partnership for the fifth wicket with Dhoni.

Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan (12 not out) accepted the umpires' offer of light, aware that India was ahead.

Pace bowler Andrew Flintoff was the pick of England's attack as he claimed 3-31 from his nine overs.

Earlier, England won the toss but squandered the benefits of a 79-run opening partnership between Ravi Bopara (60) and Ian Bell (46).

The middle order fumbled against the accurate spinners who managed to generate some turn from the track.

Promoted from No. 7 in the batting order to open the innings, Bopara played a composed knock while Bell struck eight boundaries off 47 balls before nicking a delivery from pace bowler Munaf Patel to wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Bell's departure was soon followed by that of Pietersen (13) and Paul Collingwood (1) as India's bowlers took the upper hand, leaving England at 106-3.

Harbhajan Singh claimed 3-31 and reached 200 wickets in one-day internationals when Owais Shah (40) lofted him into the hands of Zaheer Khan at long-off.

Dhoni got his second stumping, from the bowling of Yuvraj, to end a compact innings by Bopara, whose confidence grew as the innings proceeded, striking eight boundaries off 82 deliveries.

Flintoff made 26 from 46 balls before falling lbw to off-spinner Pathan and England's innings unraveled from there.

Pace bowler Ishant Sharma, returning after missing the previous two one-dayers with a sprained ankle, dismissed Samit Patel (26) and Matt Prior (5) with successive deliveries.

India's chase got off to a jittery start as it lost opener Gautam Gambhir (14) and Suresh Raina (1) cheaply to totter at 34-2.

The early setbacks did not curb Sehwag, who struck a six and eight fours off 109 deliveries, dominating a 73-run partnership for the third wicket with Rohit Sharma (28).

Uttar Baridhara blank Bassabo

Sports Reporter

Uttar Baridhara Club blanked Bassabo Tarun Sangha 4-0 in the day's lone match of the Second Divsion Football League at the Kamalapur Bir Sreshtha Shaheed Sepoy Mohammad Mostafa Stadium on Thursday.

Dulal of Uttar Baridhara scored two goals and his teammates Shawpan, Azad netted one each.

With yesterda'ys win, Uttar Baridhara Club secured 33 points from 13 matches while Bassabo Tarun Sangha earned 17 points from 14 matches.

Today Kadamtala Sangsad will play against BG Press S&RC at the same venue.

Tokai Kabaddi Stadium, Dholpur win

Sports Reporter

Stadium Tokai Kabaddi team and Dholpur Tokai Kabaddi team registered wins in their respective matches of the Orient Bread Second Tokai Kabaddi Competition on Thursday.

In the day's first match, Stadium Tokai Kabaddi team outplayed Jatrabari Tokai Kabaddi team by 61-21 points with four lonas at the Dhaka Kabaddi Stadium.

In the day's second match, Dholpur Tokai Kabaddi team beat Mirpur Tokai Kabaddi team by 50-44 points amid two lonas at the same venue.

Bangladesh President XI lose to Indian Petroleum Corporation

Sports Reporter

Bangladesh President XI team lost to Indian Petroleum Corporation by 5-1 goals in their first match of the 45th Jawaherlal Nehru Cup Hockey Tournament in Hariana on Thursday.Bangladesh President XI played against their counterpart without their seven key players.

Today Bangladesh President Xi will meet South Centre Railway team of India.

Khulna struggle at 93/5 in 2nd innings

UNB, Dhaka

Sylhet Division were struggling at 93 for 5 in 37 overs in the 2nd innings at stumps to take 29 runs over all lead against Khulna Division on the 3rd day of the four-day sixth round match of the Ispahani Mirzapore Tea 10th National Cricket League at the Sylhet Stadium on Thursday.

Earlier, in the morning, Khulna Division resumed their first innings with overnight 250 for 5 in 82 overs and were all out for 364, in reply to Sylhet Division first innings total of 300 for all in 96.3 overs.

Kamrul Islam and Rezaul Haq remained unbeaten on 12 and 10 runs respectively as the bails were drawn for the third day today.

Atiqur Rahman bagged two wickets for 13 runs while Ziaur Rahman and Robiul Islam took one wicket each for 27 and 29 runs respectively.

Brief score: Sylhet Division 1st innings- 300 all out in 96.3 overs (overnight 286 for 9 in 91 overs); Mohammad Mithun 106, Saikat Ali 88, Rajin Saleh not out 49, Rezaul Haque 17, extras 12, Robiul Islam 3/58, Raihan Anas 2/41, Dollar Mahmud 2/50, Atiqur Rahman 2/82.

2nd innings - 93 for 5 in 37 overs, Mithun 25, Rajin Saleh 20, Golam Rahman 3, Saikat Ali 3, Imtiaz Hossain 13, Kamrul Islam bating 12, Rezaul Karim batting 10, extras 7, Atiqur 2/13, Ziaur 1/27, Robiul 1/29.

Khulna Division 1st innings - 364 for all in 132.1 overs; Ashraful Aziz 105, Raihan Anas 73, Mohammad Salim 48, Amit Majumder 34, Tushar Imran 25, Nahidul Haq 18, Dollar Mahmud 13, Ziaur Rahman 12, Atiqur Rahman not out 3, Robiul 1, extras 23, Nabil Samad 5/81, Tapash Gosh 3/47, Rashedur 1/74, Monir 1/91.

Pakistan PM promises security to Indian team

AP, Islamabad

Pakistan prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said Thursday that security will be stepped up to persuade India to go ahead with its scheduled tour of Pakistan in January.

"The game of cricket is loved by the people of both India and Pakistan and the government (of Pakistan) will ensure proper security arrangements for organizing the forthcoming Pak-India cricket series," Gilani said in a statement.

The prime minister met with the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ejaz Butt, and promised to personally ask the Indian prime minister to allow the Indian team to visit Pakistan.

India is scheduled to play three tests, five one-day internationals and a Twenty20 international against Pakistan during it's Jan. 4-Feb. 19 tour. However the tour was put in doubt earlier this month when the Indian government cited security concerns in preventing its hockey team visiting its neighbor.

"This (cricket tour) is a very high profile tour and Indian government would be provided assurance regarding their security concerns," Gilani said.

Security worries meant Pakistan did not play a test match at home this year. Australia postponed its tour in March, then in September the Champions Trophy one-day tournament was also postponed. A one-day series against the West Indies earlier this month was played in neutral Abu Dhabi.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India said the status of the Pakistan tour was contingent on government security assessments.

"The tour will be finalized only when we get the clearance from the government. Nothing can be confirmed before that," BCCI president Shashank Manohar said.

Prize giving ceremony of quiz competition of UAP held

Sports Reporter

The prize giving ceremony of Quiz Competition arranged by Law and Human Rights Department (LHRD) of the University of Asia Pacific (UAP) was held on Wednesday at 11-30 AM in the campus area.

Prof Dr Abdul Matin Patwari, Vice-Chancellor of UAP, distributed the prizes among the winners.

Prof Dr A M Patwari advised the student to devote not only to studies but also to participate in different extra-curricular activities. Air Commodore (Rtd) Isfaque Elahi Chowdhury, Registrar and Dr Mir Shamsur Rahman, Head of LHRD also spoke on the occasion.