|
Australian left-arm pace bowler Nathan Bracken has been ruled himself out of the Ashes Test series. Bracken suffered a shoulder injury during Australia's match against Middlesex and has been unable to recover since then. Bracken, who missed the entire NatWest series because of this injury, will be sent home and he will be replaced by Queensland's 24-year old right arm pace bowler Ashley Noffke. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) will shortly decide if the post presentation ceremonies for the Ashes Test matches need to be conducted indoors. Following the crowd trouble at Lord's after the NatWest Trophy final, the presentation was conducted indoors in the player's dining room. Meanwhile, the chief executive Tim Lamb who was in a quandary over this said it was difficult to decide if genuine lovers of the game have to suffer because of "one lunatic". Senior players Mark Waugh, Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting, Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath will be rested for Australia's next match against a MCC XI at Arundel to be played today. Replacing them will be Michael Slater, Justin Langer, Simon Katich, Colin Miller and wicket keeper Wade Seccombe, who all will be playing their first match of the tour.
India stamped its superiority over the hosts in its first match at the triangular series with an emphatic nine-wicket win over Zimbabwe at Harare. Dogged by off field hassles the hosts never looked to be in the match while losing the all important toss on a pitch that was being used for the second consecutive day. India struck straight away with debutant Ashish Nehra getting a wicket of the second ball of the match. From them it was India all the way. The hosts who were at one stage 82-7 mustered 133, thanks to some tail end resistance. Opener Dion Ebrahim top-scored with 32. Skipper Ganguly's woes with the bat continued after yet another single digit score. But Sachin Tendulkar and Hemang Badani saw the team home through with no further tensions. The Delhi police have arrested four persons on charges of betting during the match between Zimbabwe and West Indies on Saturday. The four were arrested from a hotel in Rajendra Nagar area. The police acted on a tip off and nabbed Rajesh (believed to be a kingpin of the local betting racket) and three of his accomplices. Meanwhile, Heath Streak resumed his captaincy of the Zimbabwe side against Indian after dropping out from this position in the first match against the West Indies on Saturday. Grant Flower had deputised him for this match. Streak also confirmed that his resignation was a protest since he and the selectors do not agree on certain issues on team selection. Andy Flower, who is having a thumb injury, will undergo a surgery on Tuesday. Meanwhile, in a television interview, Flower confirmed that he could not play for Zimbabwe in this tri-series only because of this injury and not because of any pay disputes with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union.
Pakistan coach Richard Pybus, who had said before the NatWest final that Pakistan would refuse to be bullied by the Australians, has now acknowledged that the current Aussie side was one of the greatest sides to play cricket. Richard Pybus has had discussions with the Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Tauqir Zia on his contract with the Pakistan team, however no decision has been yet taken. Pybus is expected to continue as coach for Pakistan's home series against New Zealand. Banned former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin participated in a charity match in Ripley, Surrey. Playing for David English's Bunbury XI, Azhar made a wristy 39. The proceeds of the match will go to the children's ward of the Royal Surrey County Hospital in London. The most wanted bookie in the match fixing case Mukesh Gupta will soon coming out with a book on his whole experience. The book is likely to further blow the whistle on many more prominent and not so prominent players and their roles in match fixing. Citing commercial profits to be the main motive behind this venture, the ICC's Anti Corruption Unit (ACU) said he had spoken freely to them and has confirmed all the allegations he had made, although he has refused to confirm it in writing. A CBI team from Delhi, headed by Nitin Duggal will be visiting the BCCI office in Mumbai to make enquires on the TV sponsorships deals made the Board's top officials for the 1996 World Cup and the 1997 Independence Cup. A CBI official also confirmed that this visit has nothing to do with Mukesh Gupta. The prize money for the 2003 World Cup, which will have a five-fold increase of US$ 5 million than what it was during the 1999 tournament in England, will now have 54 games in about 42 days, of which South Africa will host 46 and Zimbabwe 6 matches. Meanwhile, the ICC will decide by next month as to whether Kenya will be allowed to host two matches. The draw for the matches will be finalised by the end of September. In 1999, 42 matches were played in England, Scotland, Ireland and Netherlands. The competing teams in 2003 will have to make their recommendations as to how they would like to split the prize money of US$ 5 million. According to a report an estimated 750,000 tickets are expected to be sold during the 2003 World Cup. The United Arab Emirates' team left for Toronto to participate in the ICC Trophy without two of its players. Four of the team members all Pakistani expatriates were denied visas, but two were cleared in the last minute. Due to the visa hassles the team was forced to forego a warm up tour of England ahead of the ICC Trophy, which starts in Toronto on June 28 and runs until July 17. Earlier the Canadian authorities had denied visas to some the players from the UAE, Nepal and Uganda. Former Indian captain and opening batsman Sunil Gavaskar has rated Australian captain Steve Waugh as a better batsman than Sachin Tendulkar in modern Test cricket. Writing in a syndicated column in a newspaper, Gavaskar felt Waugh was superior because of his ablility to deliver the goods for his team. Tendulkar has been criticised by Gavaskar for throwing away his wicket in the second innings during the second Test match at Harare, which the Indians lost.
COCA COLA TRI SERIES IN ZIMBABWE ZIMBABWE vs INDIA (2nd match) Played at the Harare Sports Club ground. Toss:India Zimbabwe:133 in 41.5 overs (D Ebrahim 32, T Taibu 19 not out; A Agarkar 3-26) India: 137-1 in 26.2 overs (SR Tendulkar 70 not out, HK Badani 52 not out) Result: India won by 9 wickets Man of the match: SR Tendulkar (Ind)
 Compiled by: Mohandas Menon
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
