The Indian team for the tour of Sri Lanka that begins on July 18 will be selected in Mumbai after the team returns from Zimbabwe on July 8. Skipper Sourav Ganguly and coach John Wright will also be a part of the selection. The team is scheduled to leave for Sri Lanka on July 15 and will play a triangular series with Sri Lanka and New Zealand besides three Tests that are scheduled from August 14-18 (at Galle), August 22-26 (at Kandy) and August 29-September 2 (at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo).

The Anti Corruption Unit (ACU) of the ICC has postponed a proposed meeting with former New Zealand cricketer Martin Crowe. Crowe is to be interviewed regarding the allegations made by Indian bookie Mukesh Gupta that he accepted money for information. The ACU has delayed its meeting with Crowe until July 1, when it is hoped Gupta will make his evidence concretely available to the ACU. Gupta has so far only made verbal allegations and the ACU is looking for something more concrete.

New Zealand's hunt for a coach for the national team still continues. The current coach David Trist is to step down after New Zealand's tour of Sri Lanka. The three leading contenders for the post were John Wright, (who is now unavailable now as he is coach of the Indian team) and former off-spinners and all-rounders John Bracewell and Dipak Patel. Bracewell is at present the Director of the English county side Gloucestershire and hence is unavailable, while Patel, who was certain to take over the job has now ruled himself out saying he was unhappy with the job profile.

The BCCI has confirmed that the England team will play the five one-day matches in Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Mohali and Mumbai in January-February next year. England will be visiting India in December 2001 and play three Tests, followed by a break for Christmas and New Year, when they return to England and come back in January for the five-match one-day series.

South African fast bowler Mfuneko Ngam will not be selected for the Zimbabwe's tour of South Africa but will be rested to be fresh by the time the Indians get there. Ngam, who made a stunning debut against New Zealand last year has however had his share of injuries and has been out of action for a while. He also missed the South African tour to the Caribbean earlier this year. Ngam has been told to play for his province as part of a rehabilitation program.

The United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA) is waiting to hear from Daryll Cullinan regarding his availability. The UCBSA did not give Cullinan a national contract as he was already under a contract with the English county side Kent.
However following injury Cullinan has been forced to break his contract with Kent and has now expressed his desire to meet South Afican officials to give him a chance to play for his country. Meanwhile, Cullinan will meet Alan Kourie, Gauteng Cricket Board's director of cricket, in London to negotiate a contract this weekend.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) Trophy tournament that is being played currently in Toronto has been plagued by player qualification problems. Twenty-four associate countries of the ICC are vying for a place among the three teams that are to play the 2003 World cup in South Africa.
Eligibility and visa problems have been the highlight of this year's event. Italy pulled out of the tournament after four of their players were denied selection including Peter Di Venuto (brother of Australian cricketer Michael Di Venuto). The players are of Italian ancestry and that should have been enough to qualify them to play for their country in most sport, but not cricket.
The reason for nationality being an important aspect to qualify to play cricket was due to the fact that the UAE team that won the tournament in 1994, had ten players of foreign nationality. Following complaints from other nations the ICC ruled that every team should have at least nine players qualified to represent the country by birth or citizenship.
Then to make matters worse, the Canadian government giving no reasons, also denied visas to a few players from UAE and Nepal and this meant that the players had to be replaced at the last moment. Incidentally, one million dollars will be shared by the top three teams, besides a chance to play in the 2003 World Cup.

India's former middle-order batsman Dilip Vengsarkar, has been reinstated as chairman of selectors of Mumbai Cricket Association, while former Indian opening batsman Lalchand Rajput is the new coach. Rajput replaces Ashok Mankad. The senior selection committee now consists of Dilip Vengsarkar (chairman), Raju Kulkarni, Abdul Ismail, and Sudhir Naik.

In a clash between the two unbeaten teams of the series, India meet West Indies for the first time in the Coca-Cola Triangular series in Bulawayo today. This incidentally will be the first match on Zimbabwe soil, not to involve the home side after 44 ODI matches. India with two straight wins are sitting pretty and are sure to reach the final, while the West Indies who won their first encounter over Zimbabwe in a convincing fashion are also a young and confident side. West Indies have the upper hand over India as far as past records between the two teams go, with the former winning 40 out of the 63 matches played, while India winning only 21. But the recent poor showing by the West Indies will give India hope that they can pull off a victory against a depleted side, without Brain Lara.

Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly has been running mild temperature since yesterday. However manager Chetan Chauhan was confident that Ganguly will be well enough to participate in the match. With four points from two matches India should be looking to rest a few of their main players to give some of the youngsters a game. Ashish Nehra, Ajit Agarkar and VVS Laxman are to be rested, while Debasish Mohanty, Harvinder Singh and Reetinder Sodhi are likely to be given a game.

With the first Ashes Test due to begin on July 5, the race has begun in the Australian team for berths in the final eleven. Damien Matryn stepped up his chances with an unbeaten century (114) against Essex in the warm up game at Chelmsford. Australia's top order batsmen failed again with Justin Langer, Matthew Hayden and Michael Slater still struggling to find form in England.
Australia declared their innings at 405-5, with Adam Gilchrist making an unbeaten 150 in 149 balls. Martyn and Gilchrist put on an unbeaten 251 for the sixth wicket. At close Essex was 16-1 with England skipper Nasser Hussain batting on seven.

Judge Edwin King yesterday ruled in his report on cricket corruption in the country that former South African skipper Hansie Cronje would be left open to prosecution. Cronje's lawyers had earlier struck an agreement with the Government that Cronje should be excused from criminal charges if he made a complete disclosure of all he knew about match fixing.
The indemnity from criminal charges was to be granted to Cronje only on the condition that the judge was convinced he had disclosed all he knew. In his final report however Judge King said he could not grant indemnity as he was not sure if Cronje was a credible enough witness or not.

Meanwhile, Hansie Cronje though not granted indemnity from prosecution is likely to be able to retain the fortune he made by selling his story to the media for an estimated £1 million.

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