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The young New Zealand team will leave Sharjah in a better frame of mind after they scored a consolation win over Sri Lanka in the sixth match of the ARY Gold Cup yesterday. After scoring 248-6 in 50 overs, thanks to an unbeaten 118 by opener Mathew Sinclair, the Kiwis put up a good show in the field to restrict the Sri Lankans. Some good pace bowling by New Zealand's Kyle Mills had reduced Sri Lanka to 97-7, who could not recover thereafter. The Sri Lankans just chose to play out the entire fifty overs to ensure they had a better run-rate than the Kiwis. Although both Sri Lanka and New Zealand finished with the same number of points, the former will meet Pakistan in Friday's final.
The Zimbabwe cricket selectors have named three uncapped players (Andy Blignaut, Brighton Watambwa. and Dion Ebrahim) for the first Test against Bangladesh beginning tomorrow at Bulawayo. The team does not feature veterans Henry Olonga and Bryan Strang. All-rounder Ray Price makes a comeback after appearing in a Test match against Sri Lanka at Harare in December 1999. The team is as follows. Heath Streak (capt), Guy Whittall (vice-capt), Andy Flower, (wk), Andy Blignaut, Alistair Campbell, Stuart Carlisle, Grant Flower, Brian Murphy, Mluleki Nkala, Brighton Watambwa, Raymond Price, Dion Ebrahim.
The South African cricketers will wear black bands during the fifth Test against West Indies, which starts tomorrow at Kingston, Jamaica, in condolence to the 43 football fans that were killed in a stampede at Ellis Park, in South Africa last week. The South African Cricket Board has also pledged to donate $25,000 to the families of the victims. The South African team manager Goolam Rajah has also issued a statement offering his and the team's condolences to the families of the people who died.
Now that all the speculation of team selection is over, the Australian sports analysts are concentrating on the team that has been selected. Reports in the Australian media have said that the current Australian team to tour England for the Ashes is the oldest for the last 50 years or so. They pointed out that the average age of the current team is above 30. Analysts felt the current Australian team could fall into the same trend as the West Indies team of the eighties that steadily declined after 1988 once the senior established players quit playing. They lamented the fact that no exciting new talent has been thrown up in the domestic season. The reasons are attributed to the regimented training programmes followed in Australia and the loss in interest in Australian cricket in general.
The Lashings Cricket Club in Kent will have Brian Lara playing for them this season. He will play his first match for the club on May 18. Lara will not be paid by the club for his services, although a bat sponsorship deal has been worked out for him. The club has also managed to rope in West Indians Richie Richardson, Junior Murray, Stuart Williams and Jimmy Adams. Due to his international cricket commitments Lara will not be available to the club for one and a half months from June 10. Former Australian Test all-rounder Greg Matthews was one of the many arrested over the Easter weekend for drunken driving. The police confirmed that on testing they found the former cricketer's blood alcohol level to be three times above the legal limit. Matthews, 41, was here in India last month to participate in the replay match of the tied Chennai Test match. The president of the Goa Cricket Association, Dayanand Narvekar has filed an application seeking anticipatory bail in connection to the fake ticket scam during the India-Australia Goa one-dayer on April 6. The sessions judge has fixed the date of the hearing as April 18 and has also directed that Narvekar need not be held in custody till the disposal of the application. Last week. Narvekar did not appear before the police for interrogation citing his mother's illness. The East Zone's Cricket Academy will be launched on May 1 at the SAI center in Kolkata. The first batch of 20 trainees includes eight players from Bengal. Former Test cricketer Arun Lal will head the East Zone academy. Former president of the BCCI and currently the chairman of the National Cricket Academy, Raj Singh Dungarpur, has suggested setting up of a three-member sub-committee comprising of former Test cricketers Bishan Singh Bedi, Arun Lal and former NCA coach Vasu Paranjpe to restructure domestic cricket.
After the Australians, the English and the South Africans it will be the turn of the Pakistanis players to be awarded yearly contracts. The Pakistan Board is looking at the possibility of signing at least 15 to 20 players on an annual contract. The PCB is also considering a proposal of appointing full-time professional selectors, who will be a part of the team so as to evaluate the player's performances on a daily basis. In the meanwhile the PCB has also appointed Khalid Butt as a full time media manager. The CEO of Pakistan's military government General Parvez Musharraf has ruled out any changes in the Pakistan Cricket Board. Expressing satisfaction of the working of the cricket board under Tauqir Zia, the General confirmed that PCB will continue to be headed by Zia. He further added that the PCB was in a mess before Zia took over and he has streamlined the administration.
ARY GOLD CUP, Sharjah
Yesterday's News
News Roll archive
Compiled by: Mohandas Menon
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Former West Indian skipper and all-rounder Gary Sobers in an interview lashed out at the contemporary players for their poor behaviour on the field. He said the constant appealing of the players indicated the decline in sportsmanship. He said the individual players must take responsibility for their own actions and not appeal when they are well aware that there is no need to. He further added some the player's behaviour is "disgusting".
Mohammad Asauddin Abbas (aged 11) and Ayazuddin Omer (9), sons of former Indian cricket captain Mohammed Azharuddin are currently undergoing training at the Arshad Ayub Cricket Academy in Hyderabad. The eldest sibling Asauddin Abbas is a left-handed batsman, while the other has the makings of an all-rounder.
