Badani keen to return

Having reminded the national selectors of his potential with a Ranji Trophy final century, Hemang Badani says his comeback will be complete only when he is included in the India team.

"Getting selected to the India 'A' team is a good feeling but getting back into the Indian team is my aim," Badani said.

The Tamil Nadu batsman, who has been in the wilderness since a home one-day international against Zimbabwe in 2002, scored a fighting fifth-day hundred against Mumbai in the national championship final at the Wankhede stadium early this month, although his effort ended on the losing side.

That century, however, brought Badani back into national reckoning through a place in the India 'A' team for the tour of England in June-July, during when he will also be the deputy to captain Shiv Sunder Das.

Badani, who had played four Tests and 29 one-day internationals in his two-year international career, said the different weather and pitch conditions in England would test the mettle of any player.

"Although we are touring in summer, England is a lot colder than India and playing on different pitches is going to be a difficult task."

"We have to play good cricket, and whoever does well will be worthy of a place in the Indian team," said Badani, who has played in England twice at various levels before.

The Indian team will play two four-day matches, five three-dayers and four one-dayers in England. Except for the opening one-dayer, when they play British Universities, rest of the matches will be against first-class teams. In fact, one of them would be a touring South African Test team.

BCCI fixtures committee meets on June 10

The dates and venues for India's two-Test home series against New Zealand will come up for discussion during the cricket Board's Tour Programme and Fixture committee meeting, scheduled to be held on June 10 either at Mumbai or Delhi.

BCCI secretary S K Nair said besides the Test series, the meeting  would also discuss the venues and dates for the triangular one-day series, also involving Australia, and slated to be held after the Test series in October-November.

"The final decision would be taken during the Working Committee meeting to be held in Delhi in the last week of June after the International Cricket Council meeting, to be held at Lord's from June 14 to 20," Nair said.

"We will also discuss on June 10 the domestic season -- Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy and other one-day tournaments -- so that we can start the matches early as we do not want to drag the domestic season till May like it happened this year," Nair said.

"In fact most of the state associations have requested for an early start of the domestic season next year and even we thought that an early start of season will not expose the players to the scorching heat like it happened this year when the Ranji Trophy final between Mumbai and Tamil Nadu was played in May," Nair added.

Flintoff's hopes diminish

England may not have Andrew Flintoff back for the second Test as hoped, though Darren Gough has now re-appeared for Yorkshire.

After the three-day win over Zimbabwe in the first Test, England have longer than usual to take stock of the latest injury position.

The all-rounder berth normally occupied by Flintoff was occupied by Anthony McGrath at Lord's.

And the Yorkshireman performed in such accomplished fashion that the selectors would face a problem if Flintoff was declared fit for the Riverside.

But the prognosis for the popular Lancastrian is not wholly optimistic.

And there are even concerns that his lack of match practice could count against him for the one-day series against Pakistan from mid-June.

Coach Duncan Fletcher said: "We have been told it could be another couple of weeks so we will probably have to look at this pessimistically. If he comes through any time earlier than that then it's a great advantage to us."

Border-Gavaskar scholarship for three players

Raiphy Vincent Gomez, captain of the Kerala under-17 cricket team, Siddharth Trivedi of Uttar Pradesh and Udit Patel of Karnataka have been selected for Border-Gavaskar scholarship for 2003.

The three selected players will undergo training for six weeks from June 2 to July 11 at the Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy in Australia.

The selection was made by the BCCI, its secretary S K Nair said in a statement on Monday.

This scholarship is decided on the basis of performance and potential of the players, Nair said.