April 9, 2001
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Zimbabwe won the second one-dayer of the three-match series against the touring Bangladesh at Harare by 127 runs. Alistair Campbell's 103 enabled Zimbabwe to post 230 while batting first. In reply Bangladesh could only manage 103. Opening batsman Javed Omar carried his bat through the entire innings for just 33 runs in 86 balls This is the least runs scored by any batsman while carrying their bat in a ODI match since Sunil Gavaskar's dubious unbeaten 36 in 174 balls against England at Lords during the 1975 World Cup.  Sri Lanka will be without their attacking opening batsman and wicket-keeper Romesh Kaluwitharana who had to return to Sri Lanka following the sudden demise of his mother. Kaluwitharana had top-cored with 63 in the first match of the tournament on Sunday. Kumar Sangakkara is expected to don the wicket-keeping gloves against New Zealand. Last minute entrants to the Sharjah tri-nation tournament, New Zealand will feel the heat as they take on Sri Lanka in their first match of the tournament. The young new look side lead by Craig McMillan have had just two days to adjust to the climatic conditions. New Zealand have been offered an appearance fee of $ 200,000, but more importantly cricket administrators at home felt it would be a valuable lesson for the young team that is slated to tour Pakistan and Sri Lanka later this year.
After bowling out West Indies for 140, South Africa reached 122-3 in the second innings on the third day of the third Test against West Indies at St John's Antigua. Much of the South African second innings was plagued by some negative bowling by leg-spinner Dinanath Ramnaraine who kept bowling outside the leg stump allowing the batsmen to just pad the ball away. With such defensive field setting Herschelle Gibbs and Daryll Cullinan could only manage 36 runs in the last session although South Africa now have a lead of 193 with still seven wickets in hand. Indian captain Sourav Ganguly has accused the departing Australians of school boyish behaviour. He said they complained about just about everything. He added that Steve Waugh had targeted him even much before the tour began with verbal messages and when they came to India and realised that there were others too who could play the mental game as well, they just could not take it. Ganguly stressed that he had respect for the game and all its players and whatever words were exchanged on the field were only in the heat of the moment. Ganguly also added that he was glad India proved that the Aussies are not unbeatable after all. On his return to Kolkata for a well earned rest Sourav Ganguly said he is likely to meet former Indian opening batsman Sunil Gavaskar in an attempt to sort out his batting form. Ganguly feels Gavaskar would be of help in sorting out the technical problems regarding his poor batting form. But the most important reason for Ganguly to meet the former skipper could be to thank him for his most inspiring columns during the tour. Ganguly said that while the Indian team was being criticised by the entire media Gavaskar's columns were inspiring and encouraging. Ganguly lamented that he wished the Indian media had stood by the Indian team the way that the Aussie print media had stood by theirs. It is learnt Ganguly wants to thank Gavaskar on behalf of the entire team. The office of the Goa Cricket Association has been sealed and an investigation has begun regarding the selling of fake tickets and passes for the fifth and final one-day international between India and Australia held there on April 6. No arrests have been made so far. Political parties in Goa have been outraged and condemned the mismanagement. They added that the negative remarks that have appeared in the media on Goa have brought shame to the Goans.
Pakistan Cricket Board has ordered an inquiry into the poor performance of the cricket team following Javed Miandad's allegations of match fixing in New Zealand. The inquiry will however cover only the player's attitude, injury problems and below par performance and would not probe match fixing. Former left-hand batsman John Reid and now New Zealand's cricket operations manager said he was sickened to hear Javed Miandad's allegations that the recent one-day series in New Zealand were fixed. He said after all that has happened in the recent past that it was a real kick in the guts for the game of cricket. He said he would like Pakistan and the ICC to do something about the allegations and said he would be happy to provide any assistance to prove or disprove it. He also added that there was no evidence that any of the New Zealand players were involved in it. Meanwhile an angry Javed Miandad has accused the senior players of prevailing on the youngsters to influence them and his ouster as coach of the Pakistan team. He claimed that the senior players held secret meetings in the evenings. The junior boys were discouraged by the seniors and said that players refused to listen to him or obey his instructions. Miandad challenged any foreign coach to better the performance of a side filled with players who just would not co-operate. He lamented that no coach could do anything if the players were unwilling to listen to him.
The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting scheduled to be held in Dubai on April 15, has been postponed at India's request. Confirming this the secretary of the BCCI said that the Board needed time to discuss the matters that would come up during the meeting. The India probables for the forthcoming Zimbabwe tour will attend a week-long camp from May 12 to 18, which is likely to be held in Bangalore. The team will be selected on the last day of the camp, while the list of probables will be decided on the last day of the Ranji Trophy final on April 23. The first batch of 24 young West Indian cricketers will join the newly opened St George's University Cricket Academy in Grenada. The training at the Academy will be 70% cricket oriented and 30% educational. The Academy is the brainchild of Dr Rudi Webster who has designed the Academy on the lines of the one in Adelaide. The cricketers will be taught money management, analytical skills, media relations, fitness and conditioning, and mental development skills. Although Railways need just 199 runs to register an outright win over Punjab at Mohali on the last day of the Ranji semi-final, the latter also has a good chance of winning the match if they are able to get the ten Railway wickets. Meanwhile, in the other semi-final Baroda put the issue beyond Orissa by extending their lead to a mammoth 697 runs.
International matches Zimbabwe v Bangladesh 2nd One day International at Harare Zimbabwe: 230-7 in 50 overs (A Campbell 103, S Carlisle 56; Manjural Islan 3-37, Mohd Sharif 3-48) Bangladesh: 103 in 30.4 overs (Javed Omar 33 not out, D mutendera 3-23) Result: Zimbabwe won by 127 runs (Zimbabwe lead the three match series 2-0) Man of the match: ADR Campbell (Zim) West Indies vs South Africa 4th Test at St John's, Antigua (3rd day) South Africa: 247 (HH Gibbs 85, ND McKenzie 35, S Pollock 48 not out, N Boje 36; N McGarrell 4-72) 122-3 (HH Gibbs 45, ND McKenzie 44 not out, D Cullinan 1 not out) West Indies: 140 (S Chanderpaul 40, RR Sarwan 25; L Klusener 3-15) RANJI TROPHY SEMI-FINALS Baroda vs Orissa 1st semi-final at Baroda (4th day) Baroda: 568 (Satyajit Parab 60, CC Williams 35, Nayan Mongia 181, Jacob Martin 86, TB Arothe 86, I Pathan 48 not out; DS Mohanty 3-110, Sanjay Raul 3-76) 409-9 (Satyajit Parab 56, HR Jadhav 78, JJ martin 33, TB Arothe 62, NR Mongia 53, AP Bhoite 45) Orissa: 280 (SS Das 54, RR Parida 94, P Jayachandra 48, SK Satpathy 30; Valmik Buch 4-82, Ajit Bhoite 3-32) Railways vs Punjab 2nd semi-final at Mohali (4th day) Punjab: 249 (Ravneet Ricky 33, Vikram Rathore 44, Ankur Kakkar 53; Harvinder Singh 5-66) 356 (RS Ricky 54, Manish Sharma 61, V Rathour 31, P Dharmani 77, RS Sodhi 89; TP Singh 3-132) Railways: 407 (Sanjay Bangar 89, Abhay Sharma 53, SN Khanolkar 48, KS Karida 36 not out, Zakir Hussain 30; Babloo Kumar 3-48) 3-0 (AA Pagnis 2 not out, S Bangar 1 not out) Railways need 199 runs for an outright win and a place in the Finals Yesterday's News News Roll archive 
Compiled by: Mohandas Menon
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