April 4, 2001
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The third Test at Bridgetown, Barbados ended in dramatic fashion with the West Indies hanging on to prevent the Proteas from ripping through the batting. In what was seen as clear time wasting tactics, West Indian Dinanath Ramnaraine clearly took a long while between each delivery claiming he was suffering from cramps. Though both the umpires Steve Bucknor and Darrel Hair did issue a warning to Ramnaraine he still called the team physio onto the field claiming he needed treatment. The match ended in a draw. However South African skipper Shaun Pollock said that the West Indian players had apologised to him after the match. Meanwhile, ICC match referee England's Mike Denness refused to take any action against Ramnaraine as he felt that there was no deliberate attempt to delay the proceedings by the West Indian tail-enders, although they did slow down the game, which was a part and parcel of the game.  Waqar Younis will lead Pakistan in the Coca-Cola Cup in Sharjah that is to begin on April 8. He replaces the injured skipper Moin Khan. Batsman Inzamam-ul Haq led Pakistan in the third and final Test at Hamilton against New Zealand, where the visitors lost by a huge margin of an innings and 185 runs. Former Pakistan skipper Imran Khan has come out with a ridiculous statement that India are afraid of losing to Pakistan and are hence pulling out of the tri-nation tournament in Sharjah. Speaking to a Gulf newspaper, Imran said India's record in Sharjah has been so poor that it is this fear of losing that is the reason for the pull out. Meanwhile a retired Delhi high court Chief Justice Rajindar Sachar has criticized the government for not allowing the Indian cricket team for play at Sharjah. He also blamed the Hindu party RSS for influencing this decision.
Australia beat India by a comfortable margin of 93 runs in the fourth one-dayer of the five-match series to level the series two-all. The highlight of the Australian victory was two hundreds by in-form Matthew Hayden and out-of-form Ricky Ponting. Batting first in ideal conditions Australia put up a formidable 338 for the loss of just four wickets. In reply India was dismissed for 245 in 45 overs. Sachin Tendulkar scored an explosive 62 in just 38 balls for the losers. The hazards of holding one-day internationals at not so equipped stadia as the Indira Priyadarshini Municipal Stadium are many. Yesterday's one-day international held in the heat of summer saw spectators fuming over the lack of water. Apparently the police confiscated all food and water items that the spectators may have brought from home and were left to fend for themselves in the heat.
Javed Miandad will be replaced as coach of Pakistan. However he will be offered a post in the PCB headquarters in Lahore, that will involve looking after the day-to-day affairs. Miandad who was to coach the Pakistani team till the 2003 World Cup said that after his team's not so impressive performance in New Zealand he had offered to step down rather than be asked to resign. Former all-rounder Mudassar Nazar may take over as the new coach. Meanwhile, the manager of the Pakistan team to New Zealand Faqir Aizazuddin has blamed the team doctor Dr Tauseef Razzaq for Shoaib Akhtar's fitness problems on the tour. He said that after Shoaib suffered a hamstring injury in the first one-day international at Auckland the team doctor put a spray on his thigh that caused severe burns that later on became infected as well. He further confirmed that most of the frontline players were far from fit. The Australian Cricket Board (ACB) is to send its next batch of trainees to India this week. The team of eight will be in Chennai for 8 days and will play practice matches against emerging teams of the MRF Pace Foundation. Besides they will also have net sessions with Bishan Bedi and EAS Prasanna. Sri Lanka's sports minister Lakshman Kiriella has said that he would do everything to help the ICC probe the allegations against match fixing against Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda deSilva. Media reports in Sri Lanka claimed that the sports ministry was not doing much about the probe. He however said it would not be fair to accuse the players without proving the charges. Meanwhile the sports minister also said that the financial scandals within the Sri Lankan Cricket Board will also be investigated. Kiriella, had last week sacked the entire cricket board and appointed an interim committee to run the affairs of the Board. India's recent bit of success against the Aussies has helped them climb up a few steps in the ladder of rankings. It is these rankings that are eventually going to decide the groupings for the World Cup 2003 in South Africa. Going by the current standings India will be grouped along with Pakistan, Australia, West Indies and Zimbabwe along with two teams that will emerge from the ICC Trophy. A Hyderabad court has set April 16 as the date for hearing of the writ petition moved by former India skipper Mohammad Azharuddin challenging the life ban imposed on him by the BCCI. The BCCI has surprisingly rejected the request of the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) to postpone the Ranji Trophy semi-finals against the Railways to April 8, since four of their top players - Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Mongia and Sarandeep Singh - are doing national duty. The matches will now be played as per schedule between April 5-9. It seems rather strange that had Mumbai entered the semi-finals, the match would have been postponed to April 8 as the Mumbai team is currently in Australia playing in a tournament. At a time when the BCCI has been stressing the need for top players to participate in the domestic tournaments this refusal of permission to the Punjab CA seems strange. South African champions KwaZulu Natal will meet host Western Australia in the final of the Champions Cup at Perth on April 4. Yesterday Western Australia beat Central Districts by 108 runs. The New Zealand team was placed third, while Mumbai, who lost all its matches are placed last. INDIA VS AUSTRALIA 4th One day international at Indira Priyadarshini Stadium, Visakhapatanam Australia: 338-4 in 50 overs (M Hayden 111, R Ponting 101, M Bevan 43 not out, S Waugh 35) India: 245 in 45 overs (S Tendulkar 62, Harbhajan Singh 46; S Warne 3-38, S Waugh 3-29) Result: Australia won by 93 runs (Five match series level at 2-2) Man of the match: Mathew Hayden (Aus) 6th match: At Perth, Australia Western Australia vs Central Districts Western Australia: 257-8 50 overs (MJ North 56, PC Worthington 54, JL Langer 60) Central Districts: 149 in 32.2 overs (JMH How 39) Result: Western Australia won by 108 runs. Man of the match: MJ North (WA) Points table
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Compiled by: Mohandas Menon
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