April 3, 2001
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Wicket-keeper batsman Ridley Jacobs created history of sorts by becoming the first West Indian batsman to score a century against South Africa at Bridgetown. His unbeaten innings of 113 included 11 fours and 4 sixes was also his maiden Test century of his career. The previous highest score by a West Indian against South Africa was the unbeaten 93 by Jacobs, himself in the second Test of this series at Port of Spain. The ICC has barred West Indian batsman Brian Lara from using a logo on his bat that endorses an internet company, Intertops.com. The decision was made by the ICC match referee England's Mike Denness in the ongoing South Africa-West Indies Test series at Bridgetown. The company has apparently signed up Mervyn Dillon and Courtney Walsh as well to use clothing and equipment supposedly manufactured by the company. ICC regulations state that all logos have to be cleared by them before they can be used by players in international matches. It was a dramatic end to what seemed a straightforward task for the West Indies - bat out the last session for a draw. The home who were at tea were 21 without loss, was reduced to 82-7 soon after. However the tail-enders managed to stay on reach 88-7 at stumps on the last day. Earlier South Africa who declared at 197-9 half hour before tea, left the West Indies the final session in which to score 265 runs. The West Indians resorted to time wasting tactics when Dinanath Ramnaraine called on the physio to treat the cramps in his legs. South African fast bowler Allan Donald is most likely ruled out of the fourth Test against South Africa that starts at St John's at Antigua on Friday, due to a hamstring injury that he suffered in the third Test at Bridgetown.  Sanath Jayasuriya will skipper Sri Lanka in the Coca-Cola Sharjah Cup beginning from Sunday, April 8. Although he lost the Test series 2-1, Jayasuriya hit back to take the one-day series 3-0 against England. The team is as follows: S Jayasuriya (Capt), M Atapattu, K Dharmasena, R Kaluwitharana, C Vaas, M Muralitharan, M Jayawardene, K Sangakkara, R Arnold, T Dilshan, I de Saram, N Zoysa, D Fernando, T Samaraweera, A Ganegama. The BCCI today confirmed that it would abide by the Government's decision not to send the cricket team to Sharjah for the April tournament. AC Muthiah, president of the BCCI, however reassured the retired cricketers that their interests would be taken care of by making alternate arrangements. Indian and Pakistani cricketers have been beneficiaries in these tournaments held over the past 20 years and have received money from the Cricketers Benefit Fund Series (CBFS). The three Indians that were to benefit this year are Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Farukh Engineer and Chetan Sharma. The CBFS meanwhile has threatened legal action against the BCCI for breach of contract. India's three-year contract with the CBFS was to expire this year. According to a source, the Indian government's decision of not allowing the Indian team to play at Sharjah, Toronto and Singapore is a punishment meted out to the BCCI, for all the controversies the Board have been involved, specially with regard to match-fixing, in the past one-year. In fact the CBI in its report had also blamed the BCCI for it ineffectiveness to control the players who have been involved in match-fixing since the past many years. Moreover, the government is also aware that the matches played at these venues do not come directly under the jurisdiction of the ICC and hence this decision.
The fourth one-day international between India and Australia will be played at the south-eastern coastal city of Vishakapatnam in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Skipper Sourav Ganguly should be back as opener trying to regain his lost form. In the third one dayer his move of batting lower down the order failed as makeshift opener Rahul Dravid, as well as Ganguly who batted at number 4 failed to make any impression. The Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly spoke out against the Australian team management whom he accused of school boyish behaviour. He said he was surprised that such a good team had started complaining about every little thing on the tour. Regarding the controversy of the toss at Indore, he said that he had only asked the match referee if the coin was heads or tails and not argued with him as was made out in the media (which was actually instigated by television commentator Tony Greig). Ganguly said if these were part of the tactics of unsettling him, they would not work as the end result was that India had won the Test series and are ahead in the one-dayers.
Stories that were carried in the media yesterday regarding the team manager's report on the Pakistani players on tour in New Zealand could not be confirmed. The Pakistan Cricket Board denied that it had deliberately leaked the confidential reports saying that there were unable to verify the truth of the media reports as Fakir Aizazuddin, the Pakistani manager's report is yet to reach the PCB office. Pakistan skipper Moin Khan and his vice-captain Inzamam ul Haq will be called upon to give an explanation to the PCB authorities regarding and interview the duo had given to the New Zealand Herald. Under the contract the players are supposed to seek permission of the tour management before talking to the press. After Moin gave the interview the PCB chairman is said to have spoken to him of the phone at length where Moin expressed unhappiness on the way he has been treated. The PCB has stated that it had a clear cut stand on the India issue and reconfirmed that Pakistan would not play India any where. This would also mean that Pakistan would not participate in the 2002 ICC Knock out tournament if it was held in India. In the event of this political crisis the ICC may award the 2002 event to Australia. Former Ranji Trophy champions, Mumbai lost to New Zealand's Central Districts by 106 runs in the Perth Champions Cup competition to suffer its third straight loss. India's Test opener Shiv Sunder Das will lead Orissa against Baroda in the semi-final of the Ranji Trophy to be played at Baroda from April 8. Orissa have entered the semi-final of the tournament for the first time. In the other semi-final Railways will play Punjab at Delhi.
3rd Test at Bridgetown (day 5) South Africa: 454 (HH Gibbs 34, D Cullinan 134, ND McKenzie 72, N Boje 34, SM Pollock 109 not out; M Dillon 4-154, CA Walsh 3-87) 197-9 d (DJ Cullinan 82, SM Pollock 40; D Ramnaraine 5-78) West Indies: 387 (CH Gayle 40, BC Lara 83, C Hooper 74, RD Jacobs 113 not out; JH Kallis 6-67) 88-7 (GH Gayle 48, N Boje 4-17) Result: Match Drawn (South Africa lead the 5-match series 1-0) Man of the match: DJ Cullinan (SA) 5th match: At Perth, Australia Mumbai vs Central Districts Central Districts: 268-9 in 50 overs (JMH How 40, JDP Oram 74, GD Sulzberger 57; S Saxena 3-39, Nilesh Kulkarni 3-38) Mumbai: 162 in 38.3 overs (VR Mane 53, SV Bahutule 38; AM Schwass 3-41) Result: Central Districts won by 106 runs Man of the match: JDP Oram (CD) Points table
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Compiled by: Mohandas Menon
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