India to South Africa

Left arm pace bowler Ashish Nehra is the latest casualty to be dropped from the team to tour South Africa on fitness grounds.
The team physiotherapist Andrew Leipus and BCCI's doctor Anant Joshi decided yesterday that Nehra would not be taking part in the one-day series beginning October 5.
Meanwhile Indian captain Sourav Ganguly said he was disappointed about the Delhi bowler's exclusion. Ganguly was of the opinion that Nehra was indeed fit and should have been in the squad. Nehra's replacement will be chosen from Ajit Agarkar, Debasis Mohanty and Rakesh Patel.

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With the uncertain situation prevailing around the world after the terrorist attacks in the United States, many cricket boards are keeping a close watch on the events as it unfolds in the Indian sub-continent.
New Zealand was the first team to cancel their October-November tour to Pakistan. The West Indies Cricket Board has announced that all future tours to be made by the national side are open to re-examination.
The team is scheduled to play in Sri Lanka in November and Pakistan in February next year. Even the English and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have decided to make a final assessment of their winter tour of India after considering the situation in December.

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Situated at a height of over 2,000 metres, Annadale in Simla, Himachal Pradesh is all set to become the highest cricket ground in the world.
If the proposal by Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association to construct a cricket stadium is accepted it will provide an ideal setting for the game of cricket.
The sprawling 6.5 hectare ground in this former summer capital of Britain's Indian empire, is now under the control of the Indian Army. If the HPCA gets hold of this land, they promise to bring Simla on the world cricket map by 2004.
The BCCI has promised to contribute Rs. 20 million towards building a stadium. The HPCA estimates that the total project will cost Rs. 100 million.

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The Justice Karamat Bhandari inquiry commission into match-fixing in the World Cup matches opened its proceedings on Saturday at the Lahore High Court.
However no one turned up to record their statements. The registrar of the commission, Kazim Ali Malik said that three persons including Ghazan Iqbal and Muhammad Illyas were supposed to appear before the commission and record their statements as they had sent in their names to the commission when it was registering names from the general public who had anything to say on the matter.
Summons have now been issued for all the three witnesses to appear before the commission at its next hearing on September 29.

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Pakistani leaders have ridiculed former cricket captain Imran Khan for comparing the terror attacks in the US to a game of cricket.
Imran was quoted as saying in Islamabad: "When I was playing cricket, if I was hit by a fast ball I never rubbed the area and let a fast bowler know I had been hurt, but America has shown its vulnerability".
"The existence of the mass media actually goes against America's security because people watch the pictures on television of the buildings being hit by aircraft, and they see the U.S. stock market collapsing," Khan said.
"I am almost for censorship on this occasion." He further added "I think the Americans don't understand that this is a complicated new ball game." Leaders of several Pakistani parties in Britain has criticised Imran's statements and some of them even terming it as "foolish".

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Former South African batsman Barry Richards, will conduct a programme in batting for about 20 coaches and 20 National level players in Sri Lanka's National Team.
Other players who will be participating are from the Sri Lanka `A' squad and Under 19 squad. Richards programme begins on the 25th September and goes on to the 6th October.
The sessions include workshops on theory, video filming, video analysis, and net sessions. The coach of the Sri Lanka team Dav Whatmore will also be participating in this programme. Richards will be assisted by Roshan Mahanama,
Owen Mathau and Hemantha Devapriya. Among the coaches who will be participating in the workshops will be the BCCSL's National coaches, Provincial coaches and Premier Division I club coaches. Barry Richards is currently under contract with The Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL).

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