India to play again at World Cup 2003 venue

Mohammad Kaif, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan will be in South Africa once again, this time to play in the International Indian Film Academy charity cricket match on May 15.

The match, to be played at Centurion, one of the World Cup 2003 venues, will kickstart celebrations at the forthcoming IIFA Weekend 2003, which will form a precursor to Samsung IIFA Awards 2003, a statement from the IIFA said.

The match, conceptualised by Wizcraft International Entertainment, will also feature cricketers Anil Kumble, Kapil Dev and Ajay Jadeja along with Bollywood stars Shilpa Shetty, Rahul Khanna, Akshay Khanna, Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor and Sunil Shetty.

Lance Klusener, along with another South African sport stars, will also take part in the event, which is being organised to raise funds for providing relief to families of staffers who suffered misfortune during the course of film shooting. The benificiaries will include technicians, spot boys, asssistants and other behind-the-scenes staff of Indian cinema.

Australia's 199 living Test cricketers to be honoured

Australia's 199 living Test cricketers will be honoured at a dinner and presentation night in July, the Australian Cricket Board announced.

Each player will receive a commemorative baggy green cap and the older players will be issued an official Test number.

Players began wearing their official numbers on shirts and caps in the 1990s.

The function, to be held on July 11, is a joint initiative of the ACB and the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) to reunite Australia's Test players.

"The 385 players who have worn the baggy green cap have collectively contributed to a sporting tradition that in turn has helped develop our distinctive Australian national culture," ACB chief executive James Sutherland said.

When selected to represent Australia for the first time, players receive a baggy green cap and an allocated Test cap.

Australia's oldest living Test cricketer, 90-year-old Bill Brown, was the 150th player selected to represent Australia when he made his debut against England at Nottingham in 1934.

The most-recently capped player was Queensland batsman Martin Love against England in last summer's home Ashes series.

Williams to return home from Caribbean

Paceman Brad Williams will return home from Australia's tour of the Caribbean this week following his stint as cover for Glenn McGrath.

Williams went to the West Indies at the beginning of the tour last month when McGrath returned home to be with his ill wife. McGrath subsequently returned to the Caribbean.

Williams remained in the Caribbean on standby during the third Test in Bridgetown, Barbados, won by Australia by nine wickets to take a 3-0 lead in the four-Test series.

"With only one Test match remaining and limited selection opportunities, it made little sense for Brad to remain with the squad when he could return home to be with his young family," chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns said.

Pakistani players hail Jamali's sporting peace overtures

Pakistani sportsmen on Wednesday hailed Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali's sporting overtures to India, saying the best chances for peace between the sports-mad nations lay on pitches, fields and courts.

Among a host of tension-thawing moves announced late yesterday by Jamali -- a former hockey player and national team selector -- was the revival of sports ties, with cricket and hockey designated to lead the way.

"Sports can be a unity binding force between Pakistan and India. Matches between them are tension packed and can bring the people of both the nations close," said Khalid Mahmood, former national hockey captain.

"Jamali, as I know, is a cool, balanced and sports-minded person," he said, recalling his days heading Punjab University's 1964 hockey team in which Jamali played left full-back. "Jamali knows the strength of sports."

India first severed sporting ties with Pakistan after the 1999 Kargil conflict. It boycotted bilateral cricket and hockey series and twice pulled out of the biennial South Asia Federation Games.

The sport worst hit by the meltdown has been cricket. On three occasions since 2000 India has refused to allow its team to cross the border.

Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board Lt General Tauqir Zia said cricket could lead the path to peace.

"Once relations are normalised we believe cricket can top the confidence building measures," Zia said.

The PCB had already started planning to host India's national eleven next February following Zia's meeting last week with his Indian counterpart Jagmohan Dalmiya in Dubai at the Asian Cricket Foundation meeting.

World Cup winners set to rejoin Australian squad

World Cup winners Michael Bevan and Andrew Symonds will fly to the Caribbean to bolster Australia's cricket stocks ahead of a seven-match limited- overs series against the West Indies.

The Australian Cricket Board announced that Bevan, Symonds, Victorian all-rounder Ian Harvey and Queensland spinner Nathan Hauritz would leave on Friday for the second half of Australia's Caribbean tour.

Steve Waugh's Australians lead the four-match Test series 3-0 with the fourth Test and a chance for an unprecedented Test series sweep in the West Indies starting at Antigua on Friday.

Ricky Ponting guided Australia to its World Cup winning campaign in South Africa in February and March and will resume as Australia's one-day captain on completion of the Test series.

The limited-overs series starts on May 17 in Jamaica and concludes in Grenada on June 1.