April 6, 2001
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The Nehru Stadium at Margoa is the venue of the last battle, as the plucky Indians led by a defiant captain get ready to defend their territory against the mighty Australians. With the series level 2-2 and the battle outside the field is as engrossing as that on the field, the final match is sure to set the pulse racing. Both teams are likely to put up their best eleven since a lot of pride is at stake as well. The Indian team lodged an official complaint to the ICC match referee Cammie Smith against the sledging indulged in by the Australian cricketers. Smith called for a meeting of the two captains and the coaches but however refused to divulge what was spoken at the meeting. The Australians on their part would say nothing of the Indian complaint, with vice-captain Adam Gilchrist saying he knew nothing about it. 
While West Indies are turning to spin to help them try and level the five match Test series, South Africa are looking to cap promising fast bowler Andrew Nel for the fourth Test beginning today at St John's, Antigua. Nel should replace Alan Donald who has a strained hamstring. South Africa on the other hand could be tempted like the West Indies to add an extra spinner in which case left-arm chinaman bowler Paul Adams will be played. Twenty years and 167 matches later former Pakistani captain Asif Iqbal has resigned from the Cricketers' Benefit Fund Series in Sharjah blaming the increase in politics as the reason for his abrupt quitting. Asif felt it was a joke to equate Sharjah along with other non-regular venues like Toronto and Singapore specially after the venue holds the record for hosting the maximum number of one-day internationals. An upbeat Sri Lankan team, meanwhile arrived in Sharjah, confident after the 3-0 whitewash of England in the one-day series. Sri Lanka takes on Pakistan in the first match of the tournament on Sunday 8 April in a day-night encounter. The crisis ridden Pakistan team in the meanwhile goes to Sharjah without a coach. The PCB felt that after the sacking of Javed Miandad as coach followng the New Zealand tour, there is not much time to find a replacement as the first match at Sharjah begins next week. However the Pakistani manager Yawar Saeed, will function as a temporary coach for this tournament. Zimbabwe fast bowler Henry Olonga has been left out of the side for the first one-day international against rookies Bangladesh to be played at Harare on April 7. Olonga had suffered a stress fracture of the back during his team's tour of New Zealand late last year.
The President of the Sri Lankan Cricket Board Tilanga Sumathipala said he would stay away from the management of the game after the government sacked his Board and announced an investigations into irregularities.
The Bible of Cricket the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 2001, which hit the stands yesterday, came down hard on the ICC over the handling of the match-fixing affair. It has named the ICC a "talking shop" for its failure to react immediately to the revelations of Hansie Cronje. The Australian dominance of world cricket continued with two of the five Wisden cricketers of the year being Australians. Justin Langer, the skipper of Middlesex and Darren Lehmann (Yorkshire) along with Englishmen Mark Alleyene (Gloucestershire), Andrew Caddick (Somerset), and Martin Bicknell (Surrey) have been named this year's five cricketers of the year.
The Australian Cricket Board has suggested a number of changes to the current set of rules to the ICC for discussion during the meeting, which is to be held this May. Important among them is the suggestion to ban the use of television replays for taking decisions on catches. The ACB feels that responsibility should rest with the on-field umpire and not on technology. Surely a move in the backward direction. However in a more sensible suggestion, the ACB also wants floodlights to be used at Test venues, where available, to make up for lost time. If the new pay deal for the Australian cricket players come through many of the top players can become millionaires. Representatives of the Australian Players Association (PCA) and the ACB are currently negotiating a deal for enhanced pay packet for the players. Former Australian skipper Greg Chappell said he would not be able to accept the offer to coach the Pakistan team even if he was offered it. Reacting to reports that he was being considered along with Barry Richards, Chappell said his commitments as manager of South Australia and others would not allow him to take on the job. Interestingly, Chappell was one of the candidates for this post for the Indian team, which eventually went to New Zealander John Wright. Chappell, in fact was interviewed by the BCCI for this position last October. Perhaps Chappell is aware of the problems within the Pakistan team. The Chatsworth United Cricket Club, a local league club from Durban, South Africa consisting mostly of players of Indian origin is to tour India next week. The team is scheduled to play matches in Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore. Punjab will meet Railways at Mohali while Baroda play Orissa at Baroda in the semi-finals of the 2000-01 Ranji Trophy tournament. A rather unlikely lineup for the semi-finals with the big guns of Indian cricket including Mumbai, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Hyderabad being knocked out of the last four by their lesser known foes. Orissa has emerged a new force in domestic cricket after SS Das and Debasish Mohanty emerged as international stars, while Punjab will be deprived of its main players - Harbhajan Singh, Sarandeep Singh, Yuvraj Singh and Dinesh Mongia who are currently on national duty. Earlier the BCCI had refused Punjab's request for a postponement of the semi-final tie to enable four of its players on national duty to appear in this vital match.
RANJI TROPHY SEMI-FINALS BARODA vs ORISSA 1st semi-final at Baroda (1st day) Baroda:319-2 (Satyajit Parab 60, CC Williams 35, Nayan Mongia 137 not out , Jacob Martin 70 not out) RAILWAYS vs PUNJAB 2nd semi-final at Mohali (1st day) Punjab: 247-8 (Ravneet Ricky 33, Vikram Rathore 44, Ankur Kakkar 53; Harvinder Singh 4-64)  Yesterday's News News Roll archive
Compiled by: Mohandas Menon
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