Short Corner — Chandigarh

Australians square series against Windies
A vintage performance with bat and ball from Shane Warne and some fielding magic by Ricky Ponting carried Australia to a 20-run win over West Indies in their fourth one-day international in Port of Spain yesterday. After being held to 189 for nine in their 50 overs, Australia dismissed West Indies for 169 with almost four overs remaining to square the seven-match series 2-2. Australia looked to be heading for defeat after paceman Mervyn Dillon claimed career-best figures of four for 20 to wreck their middle order and leave them on 104 for eight. But then Michael Bevan, with 59 not out, and Warne produced a record ninth-wicket stand to give Australia at least a competitive total.

Karnataka struggle
A fighting 86 by inform Vijay Bharadwaj and Sujit Somasundar’s 70 helped defending champions Karnataka close the opening day on 291 for nine in the Ranji Trophy final against Madhya Pradesh in Bangalore on Monday. Somasundar and J Arun Kumar gave the hosts a flying start with a 94-run opening-wicket stand after skipper Sunil Joshi won the toss and elected to bat. But Harvinder Singh Sodhi took 4 for 52 to wreck the middle order and reduce the hosts to 188 for five by tea.

BPL Award
Ajay Jadeja is the BPL Player of the Week for the period April 9 to April 15 1999. In yet another competitive week which saw close competition for the BPL Player of the Year, Ajay Jadeja was able to spin his magic on the three adjudicators Sunil Gavaskar, Vivian Richards and Tony Grieg beating back the challenge of S Ramesh, Darren Lehmann, Rahul Dravid and Graham Thorpe.

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Radhika wins
In a day of changes, Radhika Tulpule did her bit by scripting the exit of the second seed from the first leg of the $ 5000 ITF Women’s Circuit tennis tournament in Mumbai today. With a whole lot of players from the original draw pulling out, the entire draw and the seeding had to be re-written. Russia’s Anna Nefedova, ranked 595, was upset by Tulpule in the first round itself.

SAFF Cup
Tamil Nadu’s K Shankar and Michael Andrews of Kerala are among the seven referees who have been chosen by the Asian Football Confederation for supervising the South Asian Football Federation Cup tournament to be played in Margao from April 22 to May 1. Manit Sridranop of Thailand has been appointed match commissioner for the tournament.