India in South Africa

The Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly admitted that he was completely stumped by the repeated failure of his team in big finals. He said he would have to find a solution to that but had no clue as to what it was. He said all the finals had been lost simply because of a poor performance from his side. The Indians have short break before the Test series against the home side begins on 3 November.

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South Africa fast bowler Nantie Hayward earned himself a place in the Test squad to play India at Bloemfontein. Hayward has been included in the place of Alan Donald who has been ruled out of the Test series following a thigh strain. Hayward is amongst the quickest bowlers in the current circuit along with Australia's Brett Lee and Pakistan's Shoaib Akhtar.
The South Africa team for the Tests is:
Shaun Pollock (Capt), Mark Boucher (wk), Nicky Boje, Boeta Dippenaar, Herschelle Gibbs, Mornantau Hayward, Jacques Kallis, Gary Kirsten, Lance Klusener, Charl Langeveldt, Neil McKenzie, Makhaya Ntini.

The England tour

The England selectors will decide on Sunday the possible replacements if necessary for the forthcoming tour of India. Five members of the 16-man squad have asked for time to decide if they want to make the trip or not. The problem for the English selectors is the five who are undecided form the core of the side.

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Meanwhile England batsman Mark Ramprakash has said that he thinks that considering the current political scenario he would possibly be safer in Mumbai or Bangalore rather than in London. He said being around Heathrow and the London tube are a much more dangerous proposition than making the tour of India. Ramprakash has agreed to make the tour provided the British foreign office gives the go ahead. He leaves behind a pregnant wife Vandana and a 4-year old daughter.

Khaleej Times Trophy, Sharjah

Sri Lanka pulled off a comfortable win over arch tournament rivals Pakistan in their second match of the Khaleej Times Trophy tournament. They beat Pakistan by 7 wickets in the second match of the tournament. Batting first Pakistan mainly due to some shoddy batting could only manage 177, a total that the islanders overtook with easer despite some fiery bowling in the initial overs from Wasim (6-2-7-0) and Shoaib Akhtar (7.1-0-39-2). For Sri Lanka Avishka Gunawardene top scored with 88.

Miscellaneous

Fifty-four matches will be played over 43 days in the biggest Cricket World Cup to be staged so far. The matches will be played in 3 countries of the African continent including South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya. The first match of the tournament will be a South Africa-West Indies encounter at Cape Town on February 9, 2003. Defending champions Australia play their first match against Pakistan on 11 February. The Semi-finals will be played at Durban and Port Elizabeth respectively with the finals being played at Wanderers on 16 March 2003.

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Television production house World Tel has reportedly pulled out of the deal to provide live coverage of the Bangladesh home series against Zimbabwe next moth reportedly citing the US attacks on Afghanistan as the reason. World Tel is having problems with the insurance of its equipment, and the refusal of many of its crew to travel to Bangladesh because of the Afghanistan crisis. World Tel possesses all right to telecast international matches in Bangladesh till 2005.

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Bangladesh A who have been touring India will be playing a three-day match against Bangladesh in Baroda from November 4-6. The Baroda team will be lead by Jacob Martin.

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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has approached noted bone-scan specialist Dr. Bhujang Pai of the Hinduja Hospital's to verify the age of the junior cricketers. This has been done to avoid overage players participating in the junior tournaments. The BCCI will foot all the bills of the bone-age tests, through x-rays of the wrist bones that will determine the possible age of the players and not allow over-aged players to participate in C. K. Naydu and Cooch Behar tournaments.

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Bubbly South African fielder Jonty Rhodes released a book called "Jonty in pictures" that boasts of some stunning photographs of his acrobatics on the field. Accompanying each photograph is a text by South Africa TV and radio commentator and sports journalist Andy Capostango. The book is the brainchild of a group of people responsible for Jonty's website www.jonty.co.za

Scores at a glance

Khaleej Times Trophy
Sri Lanka vs Pakistan (2nd match)
Played at Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah
Toss: Pakistan
Pakistan: 176 in 46.2 overs (Y Youhana 47; C Fernando 3-43, Jayasuriya 3-30)
Sri Lanka: 177-3 in 38.1 overs (A Gunawardene 88; Shoaib Akhtar 2-39)
Result: Sri Lanka won by 7 wickets
Man of the match: A Gunawardene (SL)

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