March 10, 2001
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It has been reported that the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) could not arrange net bowlers for the Aussies on Saturday morning. Because of "Holi" no net bowlers were available. However the Aussie skipper was adamant saying that they had intimated their training schedule three months ago. Australian batsman Michael Slater's recent radio interview has landed him in trouble, when the West Indian ICC Match referee Cammie Smith decided to suspend him from the second Test match at Kolkata beginning on Sunday. Smith has also imposed a 50 percent fine of his match fee from the first Test. Slater was involved in a confrontation with umpire Srinivas Venkatraghavan and later with Indian batsman Rahul Dravid and after his appeal for a low catch was turned down in the first Test in Mumbai. Slater was then let off lightly with a warning. However his recent radio interview on this subject had violated the player's code of conduct. Australian skipper Steve Waugh along with twin brother Mark, batsman Justin Langer, keeper Brad Haddin and coach John Buchanan visited Udayan, a home for children of leprosy parents in Kolkata. The cricketers gifted biscuits, chocolates and pencil boxes to the children. Steve Waugh incidentally is closely involved with this institute and has been helping them to raise money. The cricketers who played 'Holi" with flowers with the children, also had a photo session with them.  New Zealand recovered from a shaky start to reach 65-2 at the close on the second day of the opening Test against Pakistan at Eden Park, Auckland. Earlier the visitors were restricted to 346 with both the overnight batsmen Younis Khan (91) and Faisal Iqbal (42) failing to add to their respective scores. It was then left to skipper Moin Khan's 47 to repair the damage. Pace bowlers Daryl Tuffey and Chris Martin claimed four wickets each.
England has in good chance to win the second Test at Kandy and tie the series one-all. Facing a deficit of 90 runs, the home side is struggling at 98 for six in their second innings at close of play on the second day. Sri Lanka had won the first Test by an innings and 28 runs at Galle. The Indian ICC match referee Hanumant Singh has given the Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya a suspended sentence for two Tests and two ODIs for showing dissent after being given out caught behind by local umpire BC Cooray in the second innings of the Kandy Test. Jayasuriya threw his helmet in front of the team's dressing room is disgust. Television replays showed Jayasuriya was unlucky. However according to the match referee Jayasuriya had violated the ICC Players' Code of Conduct Nos. 3, 2 and 1 and had not fulfilled his additional responsibility as captain of ensuring that the game was played in the right spirit. Jayasuriya's suspended sentence is effective for six months from March 11 to September 10, 2001. He was also fined sixty percent of his match fee. Jayasuriya's comment that he would not talk to 'suddas' or 'white men' has got him in trouble again but this time with the touring British journalists who accused him of racism. However Sri Lankan cricket officials down played the controversy by explaining that the word 'sudda' was not derogatory and is a general term widely used in the island in reference to all Caucasians (white Europeans) regardless of origin and what their skipper meant was that he would not talk to the "foreign media". Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan Board has requested the ICC to review improvements in the technology available to umpires on decisions such as 'lbw' and 'bat-pad', which should be referred to the third umpire. This request will be taken up when the ICC's Cricket Committee-Playing (CCP), headed by Indian Sunil Gavaskar meet in May in London. West Indies were 232 for seven at the close of play on the first day of the first Test at Georgetown, Guyana. Opener Chris Gayle, making a comeback to the side top-scored with 81. South African pace bowler Allan Donald took two wickets in two balls. The new skipper Carl Hooper is still batting when stumps were drawn. Injured Australian pace bowler Brett Lee is confident he will be fit for this summer's Ashes series. He is recovering from an operation on his elbow, which forced him to miss the on going tour of India. The English county - Lancashire County Cricket Club have clinched a new three-year sponsorship deal, worth up to £750,000, with a company called 'LBM Solutions'. The deal is considered one of the biggest in the English county cricket scene. The new sponsors incidentally are one of the top 20 UK Direct Marketing companies and their name will appear on both the white kit and coloured clothing of the county players. Sony Entertainment Television (SET India) has announced its entry into cricket television programmes. The company has been working with a group of associates to develop an innovative, transparent 'made for television' cricket format using the latest available technology. Meanwhile Sony MAX, which has the telecast rights of cricket tournaments in Sharjah, Singapore and Bangladesh, would telecast live the Sharjah tournament in April even if India does not participate in the tournament. The Mumbai team to play in the Perth triangular tournament from March 30 to April 4 has been announced. The team: Samir Dighe (Capt/WK), Amol Muzumdar (V capt), Wasim Jaffer, Robin Morris, Vinod Kambli, Jatin Paranjpe, Sairaj Bahutule, Ramesh Powar, Paras Mhambrey, Santosh Saxena, Nilesh Kulkarni, Vinayak Mane, Sriram Kannan and Amit Dani. The coach is former Indian batsman Ashok Mankad, while the manager and the official are Mayank Khandwala and Ravi Sawant - the Jt. Secretary and the vice-president of the Mumbai CA respectively. Mumbai play Western Australia on March 30, the South African side Natal on April 1 and Central Districts from New Zealand the next day. The final is slated for April 4. 2nd Test at Kandy (3rd day) Sri Lanka: 297 (M Jayawardena 101, R Arnold 65, T Dilshan 36; D Gough 4-73, A Caddick 4-55) 98-6 (K Sangakkara 47 not out; D Gough 2-24, R Croft 2-7) England: 387 (N Hussain 109, G Thorpe 59, A Stewart 54, C White 39, R Croft 33 not out; M Muralitharan 4-127, S Jayasuriya 3-76) 1st Test at Auckland (2nd day) Pakistan: 346 (Yousuf Youhana 51, Younis Khan 91, Faisal Iqbal 42, Moin Khan 47;D Tuffey 4-96, C Martin 4-106) New Zealand:65-2 (M Sinclair 28 not out, S Fleming 32 not out) 1st Test at Georgetown (1st day) West Indies: 232-7 (C Gayle 81, M Samuels 40 B Lara 47; A Donald 2-31, L Klusener 2-31) Yesterday's News
Compiled by: Mohandas Menon
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