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Rain calls final shot

India, SA joint champions

SPORTS REPORTER
The TVS Cup tri-nation tournament that began in glorious sunshine on April 11 was blown away by rain at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.
It was a damp finish to the 10-day event after rain forced another futile attempt to hold the final between India and South Africa for a second successive day.
On Sunday the contest of between two worthy opponents did not take off because of heavy showers, forcing the match to go into Monday, a reserve day.
But after only 17.1 overs in front of a good crowd, the elements played spoilsport forcing a sad end to the competition, which had not seen a drop of rain during the preliminary phase.
Both India and South Africa were
declared joint champions.
But South Africa could claim themselves morale victors after they had India on the ropes at 46-3.
Indian captain Saurav Ganguly won the toss and decided to bat. But his team's success ended at that point as opening bowlers Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini bowled with precision.
Nitini took two wickets after Pollock removed dangerman Virender Sehwag in the seventh over. Ganguly (11) was fighting to hold the fort together with fellow southpaw Yuvraj Singh when the rain came down heavily.
The bright blue sky turned ominously dark as a strong breeze started to blow over the big bowl. The nor'wester even forced an early FROM PAGE 12
drinks break. But when play resumed and Andrew Hall had delivered his first ball, rain drove the cricketers off the field.
The groundsmen spent two-and-a-half hours battling to make the ground playable after the 25-minute downpour. The organisers even flew in a chopper to dry out the wet areas.
But the combined effort of technology and human endeavor could not win over nature.
With the crowd anticipating a curtailed match after match referee West Indian Clive Lloyed inspected the ground, the heavens opened again. And everybody knew it was game over.
"It was disappointing. But I have reasons to be happy. We have come a long way in this tournament and there were a lot of positives at this stage. And we have two Test matches ahead of us to carry on the momentum.
It's hard to say what would have happened, but obviously in seventeen overs we had India in trouble. The match had along way to go, but we pushed them," said South African Graeme Smith.
"And today the guys were magnificent in the first 15 overs. I think that put India under serious pressure. Then the rain came to stop play," said the 22-
year-old Smith after the presentation ceremony.
South Africa and India both won a game each in the preliminary stage.
"I'm very happy we have come a long way from the first game as a team. We have learnt certain things and we are starting to play the kind of cricket that we know we can play."
"After the one heavy defeat against India we came back fighting with the bowlers adapting to the conditions quickly. It feels good to put India under pressure on their own kind of conditions," he added.
Medium-pacer Allan Dawson was the pick of the South African bowlers, claiming 11 wickets in the competition.
Man-of-the-series Dawson said that the secret of his success was his ability to mix his pace with slower deliveries and not bowling seam up on the slow wickets here.
Ganguly did not appear for the post-match briefing.
The India team will fly home today.
South Africa on the other hand will stay in the city for another day before heading for Chittagong, where they will play the first Test against Bangladesh on April 24. (SCOREBOARD ON PAGE 13)