March 19, 2001
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The usually critical and much hard to please English press came out in unison to laud the English teams efforts in claiming the Test series against Sri Lanka. For once in most of the newspapers, football was over-shadowed, as the Test series win took headlines. England has now won four consecutive series - two of which were at home (against Zimbabwe & West Indies) in 2000, while the next two were away series (in Pakistan & now Sri Lanka) during this season. England's all-rounder Andrew Flintoff will be given one last chance to prove his fitness on Monday. If he fails he will be sent home and will not be able to play the one-day series. Flintoff is one of the contracted players and as per contract he is obliged to inform the team management of any injuries. He however did not appraise them of a strained ankle ligament that he had suffered while playing football three weeks ago. The management who came to know of it only when he reached Sri Lanka did not take kindly to his not informing them The hero of the third Test at Colombo and England's man of the moment Graham Thorpe will lead England in the three match one-day series against Sri Lanka. Thorpe will replace skipper Nasser Hussain who suffered a thigh and groin injury. Hussain will be flying home tomorrow.  Fast bowler Allan Donald restricted West Indies to 250-7 in their first innings after South Africa had been dismissed for 286. Donald took the wickets of four frontline batsmen Hinds, Hooper, Samuels and Sarwan. Hinds who make a strokeful 56 survived several lbw appeals from Australian umpire Darrel Hair's end but was eventually given out to a ball that seemed to have brushed his pad. Still in search of elusive form Brian Lara could manage only 12.
It's not often that a winning combination is changed as drastically as the team for the third Test was after posting a historic win at Kolkata. Spin was the key word and one was reminded of the good old days of the spin trio (Prasanna, Bedi & Chandrashekar) when India went into the deciding Test of the series with three spinners (Harbhajan Singh, Nilesh Kulkarni and Sairaj Bahutule). On a flat Chepauk track the Indian bowling was thrashed black and blue by the powerful Matthew Hayden who scored his second hundred in three Tests. At close Australia were 326-3 - the maximum runs scored by any team on the first day of a Test match at Chepauk. Centurion of the first day Mathew Hayden said it was hard batting under the conditions that prevailed at Chennai. He agreed that he was not as good against spinners when he began his career but he has worked on it. He also revealed that he had practiced batting on slow wickets against spin bowling in Australia before he came over to India. Hayden had also come down to India about a year and a half ago with the precise intention of learning how to play in Indian conditions against spin bowling. On being asked if it was a planned decision to go after the spinners Hayden replied in the negative but said that he was keen not to let Harbhajan dominate the batsmen. Hayden hit five sixes off the spinners. Apparently injured wicket-keeper batsman Nayan Mongia was dropped for the third Test at Chennai just minutes before it began. What should have been a close door argument turned out to be a public one in full visibility of people and media. The Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly argued that Mongia was unfit while the selectors seemed to think otherwise. Better sense prevailed after coach John Wright and physio Andrew Leipus backed Ganguly regarding the fitness of Mongia. Leipus had certified that Mongia was physically fit but doubtful if he was mentally fit after taking a hit on the nose. Mongia's fitness was tested on field as 15 bouncers were hurled at him in the face. Eventually Ganguly was given what he wanted -Dighe in place of Mongia. Ganguly entered into this argument just before the toss. This probably explains why Steve Waugh was kept waiting for the toss (breaking cricketing etiquette) for a while before Ganguly arrived in the middle for it. The Board officials it seems were upset at the selectors for attempting to unsettle the skipper just before the beginning of a crucial match. The Golden Duck Club an organization in Australia that helps handicapped sports people found itself richer by $A19,500 after the Kolkata Test, which saw three golden ducks being scored by the Aussie batsman (2 from Gilchrist and 1 from Warne). The club requires its members to pay $A5 for each golden duck achieved by the Australian batsmen in a Test, the qualification being a first ball duck. Sweeping changes have also been made to the one-day side to play Australia in a five match series after the Tests. Five players who were part of the team that thrashed Zimbabwe 4-1 have been left out. The selectors said they were also exploring the possibility of Dravid keeping wickets, although Vijay Dahiya is the first choice wicket-keeper. The team is as follows: Saurav Ganguly (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Hemang Badani, Dinesh Mongia, Vijay Dahiya, Sunil Joshi, Harbhajan Singh, Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar, Robin Singh sr. and Virender Shewag. A tame draw seems to be the only likely result in the second Test at Christchurch. However the highlights of the penultimate day's play were the efficiently compiled double hundred (203) by Yousuf Youhana and a fighting unbeaten 98 by Saqlain Mushtaq as Pakistan took a lead of 85 runs.
The skipper of Kent Cricket County Matthew Fleming, who in his benefit year, hosted a ball in London where he auctioned several memorabilia of the James Bond 007 series, which raised nearly £100,000. Incidentally Fleming is the great nephew of Ian Fleming, the creator James Bond. He also plans to hold another event on a much smaller scale later this year. Sri Lankan skipper Sanath Jayasuriya is likely to be questioned by the ICC committee probing match fixing over a £330,000 bribe supposedly offered by Indian bookie Mukesh Gupta. The meeting which is to be held in Colombo will be in the presence of Sri Lanka's representative in the ICC's anti-corruption panel Desmond Fernando. Gupta reportedly offered Jayasuriya money in Dubai in 1996, which the Sri Lankan skipper refused to accept.
Australia in India 3rd Test at Chennai (1st day) Australia: 326-3 (M Hayden 147 not out, J Langer 35, M Waugh 70, S Waugh 43 not out) Pakistan vs New Zealand 2nd Test at Christchrurch (2nd day) New Zealand: 476 (M Richardson 46, M Bell 75, M Sinclair 204 not out, S Fleming 32, A Parore 46; Waqar Younis 3-114, Fazl-e-Akbar 3-87, Saqlain Mushtaq 3-134) Pakistan: 561-7 (Inzamam ul Haq 130, Yousuf Youhana 203, Saqlain Mushtaq 98 not out) Latest: At tea (5th day) Pakistan: 571-8 d (Inzamam ul Haq 130, Yousuf Youhana 203, Saqlain Mushtaq 101 not out) New Zealand: 133-1 (M Bell 40, M Richardson 45 not out, M Sinclair 26 not out) South Africa in West Indies 2nd Test at Port of Spain (2nd day) South Africa: 286 (HH Gibbs 34, JH Kallis 53, D Cullinan 103; N MacLean 3-60). West Indies: 250-7 (WW Hinds 56, M Samuels 35, R Sarwan 34, C Hooper 53; A Donald 4-67). Yesterday's News
Compiled by: Mohandas Menon
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