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July 23, 2001
Cricket |
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The Ashes Tour
While taking the catch of Darren Gough to end the England innings, Australian Mark Waugh with 158 catches became the fieldsman with maximum catches in Test cricket history. He bettered the previous highest tally of 157 catches by former Australian Mark Taylor. England's premier batsman Graham Thorpe was struck yet again by a quick delivery from Brett Lee and will be seeing a specialist to determine the extent of his injury. Thorpe has just returned to the side after a while during which time he was resting a calf injury. England are hampered as it is by injury problems to their main players including skipper Nasser Hussain, batsman Michael Vaughan and pace bowler Matthew Hoggard.
As an incentive for the Lord's Tests to be played against Sri Lanka and India next year, the MCC have offered half priced tickets for the fourth day's play. The decision was made after only 90 minutes of play took place on the fourth day yesterday before Australia wrapped up the Lord's Test by eight wickets. Spectators who witnessed the just concluded Lord's series will now get a rebate for the next year's Lord's Test matches. 
Coca-Cola Triangular in Sri Lanka
West Indies in Zimbabwe
When Zimbabwe ended the third day at 112-0 needing 404 to make the tourists bat again, one thought the home team would make a fight of it. However sixty overs later on the fourth day at Bulawayo the home team had collapsed to an innings defeat with none of the Zimbabwe batsmen other than Guy Whittall (10 not out) reaching double figures. After a 164 run first wicket partnership between Dion Ebrahim (75) and Alistair Campbell (103) who fell six runs later, the rest of the home team batsmen could not put anything together and slumped for a dismal 228. West Indies won by a massive innings and 176 runs.
News from Pakistan The chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Lt Gen Tauqir Zia said that he was unaware that India would have to take fresh approval from the government after the talks at the Agra summit between the two countries had failed. According to him India would be coming on September 12 to play a match for the Asian Test Championship and would stay on to play the West Indies, Zimbabwe and Pakistan in a quadrangular one-day competition. He further confirmed that the A-sides from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will play a triangular in October in India, while the Pakistan Under-19 will play its counterparts in India and Sri Lanka as a build up for the 2002 Junior World Cup. Meanwhile the Pakistan Cricket Board is making fool-proof arrangements with regard to security at Lahore when India play Pakistan in the Asian Test Championships from September 12-16. When India last played a Test in Pakistan in 1989, a religious party activist attacked the then Indian captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth during the Karachi Test. Tauqir Zia confirmed that there would be no exemption for players like Wasim Akram and Shoaib Akhtar from playing domestic matches. He said no exemptions will be made to the fast bowling duo who will be required to prove their fitness by making themselves available on the domestic circuit.
News from Pakistan
Former Test players Ashok Malhotra, Madan Lal, Roger Binny and WV Raman have been appointed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as Development Officers (DO) for the Asian Cricket Foundation (ACF). The ACF are to meet on July 31 to finalise the panel of DOs. Sri Lanka and Pakistan have already sent in their nominations. Former skippers Mushtaq Mohammed and Zaheer Abbas and leg-spinning all-rounder Iqbal Sikander have been appointed by the PCB, while the Sri Lankan Board has recommended former batsman and coach Roy Dias, pace bowler Rumesh Ratnayeke and wicketkeeper-batsman Brendon Kuruppu for the position. The cricket committee of the International Cricket Council (ICC) led by Sunil Gavaskar is in the process of finalising a report that will see Kenya become the eleventh Test playing nation. Gavaskar on his part is contacting players to go to Kenya as observers and submit their reports, however to date only Australian Allan Border has confirmed his willingness to do so. According to a Cricketers Benefit Fund Series, Sharjah (CBFS) release, a London High Court has passed a judgment in its favour with regard to their defamation case against The Asian Age (a daily newspaper) for publishing certain libelous statements against the former. The judgment allowed for an amount to be assessed at a later date and more importantly an injunction now prevents the newspaper from publishing similar libels in future.
Scores at a glance:
ENGLAND vs AUSTRALIA - 2nd Test at Lords, London, Day 4
Result: Australia won by 8 wickets
ZIMBABWE vs WEST INDIES - 1st Test at Bulawayo, Day 4
Result: West Indies won by an innings and 176 runs
COCA-COLA TRIANGULAR ONE-DAY SERIES
Result: Sri Lanka won by 6 runs
Yesterday's News ......................... News Roll archive |
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Resuming at the overnight score of 163-4, England collapsed to 227 all out leaving the Aussies to score just 14 runs for a second win. McGrath (3-60) and Gillespie (5-53) took three wickets each as England were dismissed within the first hour of the morning. The Australians then rattled up the required runs in three overs despite losing 2 wickets in the process to win by 8 wickets. The Australians now lead the five match Ashes series two-nil. 
Michael Atherton who took over the reins of captaincy for the second Test against Australia said he was sure of bouncing back against the Australians. He said the England team has been together for a while now and has become a close knit unit. He said with three more matches to go in the series the team would stick together and aim at pulling off the impossible.
Sri Lanka outsmarted India in an absorbing last over finish in the third match of the Coca-Cola triangular at Colombo yesterday. Sri Lanka batting first made 221-9, with useful scores coming from skipper Sanath Jayasuriya (34), Avishka Gunawardene (63) and Romesh Kaluwitharana (36). 
South African skipper Hansie Cronje is reported to have at least 19 bank accounts and property worth millions of rand. The King Commission landed on this information when they ordered a forensic audit into Cronje's financial dealings. Cronje is reported to have made deposits of 10.5 million rand (about 1 million pound) between the years 1995-2000. The source or individual who paid Cronje the money has not been uncovered.