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Pace bowler Manjural Islam's 6-81 will do little to relieve the struggle that Bangladesh face to save their first ever Test on foreign soil at Bulawaya against Zimbabwe. Bangladesh was 91-2 at close on the third day and is still 109 runs behind as bad light stopped play early. Bangladesh's wicket keeper batsman Khaled Masud is unlikely to bat due to a fractured fibula. Earlier Zimbabwe was dismissed for 457 with skipper Heath Streak making a fine 67.
A much more disciplined batting performance from the Baroda batsmen, unlike their poor first innings show, helped the home team erase the first innings deficit of 151 runs and reach a score of 183-2 on the third day of the five-day Ranji Trophy final. Baroda opener Satyajit Parab, who was dismissed off the first ball of the match in the first innings is still batting on 98. Baroda is now 32 runs ahead with 8 wickets in hand and two days of play left.
Adrian Dale of Glamorgan scored the first double-century of this year's English county season against Northamptonshire at Northampton. Dale made 204 studded with 31 boundaries. He and Keith Newell (102) added 248 for the fifth wicket. This enabled Glamorgan declare at 548 for six.
Graeme Hick's little cameo knock, brightened an otherwise dull day where rain restricted play in the Middlesex v Worcestershire game at Lord's. Hick made an unbeaten 37 of 67 balls with 6 fours in Worcestershire's total of 73-1. He was batting with Kanpur born Anurag Singh (22) when rain stopped play. Former England batsman Neil Fairbrother put Lancashire in a strong position with an unbeaten 179 in the match against Somerset. Fairbrother who was let off on three occasions reached his hundred in 138 balls and raced to 179 off a further 68 balls.
The Indian national selectors have retained Sourav Ganguly as captain for the coming Zimbabwe tour. Although Ganguly was in poor form with the bat, his captaincy had inspired India to win the Test series 2-1 against the formidable Aussies last month.
The Indian tour to Zimbabwe will begin on May 28 with a three-day game against a Zimbabwe Cricket Academy at Harare from May 28 to 30, followed by a game against the Zimbabwe A at Mutare from June 2-4. The first Test will be played at Harare from June 7-11 while the second will be from June 15-19 at Bulawayo. India will also be involved in a triangular tournament in Zimbabwe from June 23 to July 24. The other teams in the tri-nation tournament will be hosts Zimbabwe and the West Indies. The City of Joy - Kolkata has decided to honour its favorite sportsman by naming a road after him. The Gopalpur Municipality chairman Tapas Chatterjee said the municipality has approved a proposal to name a one and a half kilo meter road as the Sourav Ganguly Avenue.
The probe that was looking into the elections of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) will have to delay submitting its findings as the three-member committee, headed by Director General of BKSP Brig Gen Ahsan Habib failed to submit their observations in time. The allegations of corruption in the elections that were held in February initiated the probe. It was alleged that Bangladesh Olympic Association (BOA) secretary general Zafar Imam and Sheikh Nizamuddin, a director of the Board, had raised money in the name of the district organisers' forum for manipulating the results of the elections. The deadline for submitting the reports has now been extended to April end. A betting racket was uncovered in New Delhi during the Pakistan-Sri Lanka final that was played two days ago. Documents have been seized that reveal the stakes were as high as Rs 40 lakhs (approx US$ 85, 000) during the final. Police also recovered mobile phones, a car, a scooter, a television set and a CD recorder allegedly used for betting. The three member investigative committee appointed by Abdul Rehman Bukhatir to clear the name of Sharjah will meet and question Sanath Jayasuriya regarding the bribe he was offered in Sharjah by Indian bookie Mukesh Gupta. Jayasuriya reportedly told his friends immediately about the offer that he had rejected. Although Jayasuriya's name does not figure in the CBI report, the names his two former captains Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda de Silva are mentioned. The investigative panel is headed by former West Indian captain Clive Lloyd. The other two members are K Alif Al Moalla, the executive chief police officer in Sharjah and Sir George Staple, a former member of the British anti-fraud bureau. It is now confirmed that the president, secretary and the treasurer of the Goa Cricket Association had masterminded the plan involving the printing of fake tickets that resulted in more tickets being sold than the stadium's capacity during the India-Australia one-dayer on April 6. The trio Dayanand Narvekar, Vinod Phadke and Rama Shankardass are now in police custody. The tenders were manipulated in favour of a contractor who reportedly paid 2 lakhs each to the three guilty officials. It may be recalled that police had to resort to baton charge after huge crowds gathered at the stadium, but could not get in. Many genuine ticket holders were not allowed to witness the match. Meanwhile a local court in Goa has rejected Dayanand Narvekar's application for anticipatory bail. Narvekar, the president of the Goa Cricket Association and a former Deputy chief minister of Goa, had moved the sessions court seeking anticipatory bail after the police began their investigations into the fake-ticket scam. A South African Colts team belonging to the Chatworth United Club is on a visit to India to play four matches at the club level. The side is also scheduled to play a Mumbai Cricket Association XI at the Wankhede Stadium besides playing in Chennai and Bangalore. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has decided to set up a register of approved player agents jointly with the Professional Players Association (PCA). The registered agents will have to sign an undertaking to be open and fair with the players they represent and abide by all rules and regulations of the ECB. As per the new system counties will not make any payments to the agent. Players could still use unregistered agents but the ECB will not involve itself in case of any fall out between the two. An annual agents seminar is also proposed that will keep the agents informed on the developments in the game. The five Kerala boys who were reported missing in Adelaide have been found and are safe with a friend, named Jose, who also hails from the Thrissur district of Kerala. Interestingly, this friend had also gone to Adelaide, a couple of years ago on a short coaching stint with the Australian Cricket Academy. But he managed a job in Adelaide and has settled there.
INTERNATIONAL CRICKET 5th Test: West Indies vs South Africa at Kingston (3rd day) West Indies: 225 (BC Lara 81, D Ramnaraine 35 not out; A Donald 4-54, S Pollock 5-28) 255-7 (CH Gayle 32, M Samuels 59, R Jacobs 67 not out; S Pollock 3-56) South Africa: 141 (ND McKenzie 45; C Walsh 3-31, M Dillon 4-32)
1st Test: Zimbabwe vs Bangladesh at Bulawayo (3rd day)
DOMESTIC CRICKET
Yesterday's News
News Roll archive
Compiled by: Mohandas Menon
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West Indies have tightened their grip on the fifth and final Test match at Kingston, Jamaica with an overall lead of 339 at close on the third day. Keeper-batsman Ridley Jacobs is still batting on 67 after all-rounder Marlon Samuels had made 59. West Indies now has a good chance to force a result in this Test match. South Africa however has won the series two-nil by virtue of their victories at Port of Spain (by 69 runs) and at St. John's (by 82 runs).
VVS Laxman's cap will be one of the many that will be on show in an exhibition of caps at the State Library at New South Wales in Sydney. Laxman's cap will be in the company of late Sir Don Bradman, Sir Gary Sobers and Sir Viv Richards. Laxman has received a letter to this effect from the Bradman Copyright Materials.
