March 8, 2001
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Australia's wicket-keeper batsman Adam Gilchrist has recovered from the hip injury he sustained in the Mumbai Test and will play the 2nd Test in Kolkata beginning on March 11. Sourav Ganguly's patchy 40 and Dinesh Mongia's 66 were the only semblance of a fightback as the Board President's XI folded up for 221 in their first innings against Australia at New Delhi. Australia who were all out for 451 in their first innings were 50-1 in their second knock. The visitors opted for batting practice despite gaining a huge lead of 230 runs. Javagal Srinath and Ajit Agarkar have been left out of the Indian team to play the second Test at against Australia at Kolkata due to injury and ill-health reasons. The others to be dropped were Rahul Sanghvi and Narendra Hirwani. The new players that have inducted are Venkatesh Prasad, Aahish Nehra, Sarandeep Singh and Venkatapathy Raju. The team for the second Test is as follows: Sourav Ganguly (Bengal, captain), Rahul Dravid (Karnataka), Nayan Mongia (Baroda, Wk), Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai), Shiv Sunder Das (Orissa), Sadagoppan Ramesh (Tamil Nadu), VVS Laxman (Hyderabad), Harbhajan Singh (Punjab), Sarandeep Singh (Punjab), Venkatapathy Raju (Hyderabad), Ashish Nehra (Delhi), Venkatesh Prasad (Karnataka), Hemang Badani (Tamil Nadu), Zaheer Khan (Baroda). Ajit Agarkar was optimistic that he would be fit to play the Chennai Test, starting on March 18. Agarkar is suffering from a viral infection. Out of form Australian opening batsman Michael Slater was warned by media manager Brian Murgatroyd that under the ICC rules he is not allowed to make any comments on his verbal abuse of Rahul Dravid. Slater had spoken in a radio interview about how the whole issue was blown out of proportion by the media. Slater was warned to keep his mouth shut or risk further trouble. The President of the Cricket Association of Bengal Jagmohan Dalmiya, appealed to the people of Kolkata to watch the second Test match between India and Australia to be played at the Eden Gardens from March 11 peacefully. Dalmiya warned that if spectators caused any disturbance, Eden Gardens would be deprived of hosting international matches in future. The BCCI's pitch committee members Dhiraj Parsana & G Kasturirangan inspected the pitch at Kolkata for the second Test and expressed satisfaction over the pitch and preparations at Eden Gardens. They had a good look at the pitch the ground and facilities as well. They also met the curator Prabir Mukherjee and other CAB officials. The duo are scheduled to inspect the pitch at Chennai too before the third Test. The BCCI's pitch committee officials has reported that Indian Test captain Sourav Ganguly had interfered with the preparation of the Wankhede Stadium pitch before the start of the first Test match. It is understood that the Indian skipper had put extreme pressure on Nadeem Memon, the MCA curator to shave off the grass and prepare a "turner" for the first Test. However Ganguly's move back-fired as India lost the Test by ten wickets. Meanwhile, the BCCI officials have denied this report saying that they have not heard anything 'official' from the pitch committee and hence cannot comment.  Cricket has a new venue. The Sri Lankan Board today announced that it had received notification from the ICC regarding the approval of the Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium. ICC match referee Cammie Smith had inspected the ground and facilities on March 6 when an exhibition match of 25 overs was played. The inaugural one-day match at this venue will be played between England and Sri Lanka on March 23. Dambulla, incidentally is a town based in central Sri Lanka and is situated to the north of Kandy. In a rather dramatic session of play Sri Lanka who were progressing steadily in spite of the loss of early wickets were bowled out after the touring Englishmen fought back to dismiss the hosts for 297 on the first day of the second Test at Kandy. Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick both took four wickets each leaving the match finely balanced. A pep talk during the tea break from skipper Nasser Hussain and coach Duncan Fletcher inspired the England fight back. England in reply was one without loss. Arjuna Ranatunga was arrested by the local police in Colombo, as soon as he returned from Kenya after participating in a charity match. He was released soon on bail after he had provided a personal bond of Rs. 55,000 (US$ 650.00). He was ordered to appear in court in a week's time. Earlier Arjuna's elder brother Prasanna and four of his security staff were arrested over the alleged assault by the Ranatunga household on four college boys whose cricket ball was played into their compound.
Injury woes struck both the teams before the first Test to be played at Eden Park, Auckland today. This time it was for New Zealand who had earlier lost left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori. In form opening batsman Mark Richardson suffered a strain in his lower back while batting at the nets and may not be available for the first Test match. Lou Vincent will replace him. Pakistan is also looking to redeem themselves after a lackluster performance in the one-dayers and in the tour match that followed. The teams: New Zealand: Stephen Fleming (captain), Nathan Astle, Craig McMillan, Adam Parore,Matthew Bell, Lou Vincent, Mathew Sinclair, Grant Bradburn, James Franklin, Brooke Walker, Daryl Tuffey, Paul Wiseman, Chris Martin. Pakistan (from): Moin Khan (captain), Yousuf Youhana, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Waqar Younis, Mushtaq Ahmed, Saqlain Mushtaq, Salim Elahi, Imran Farhat, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Humayun Farhat, Abdur Razzaq, Fazl-e-Akbar, Mohammad Sami. Wasim Akram has urged the cricket authorities in Pakistan to wake up and act soon or else Pakistan would face the same consequences as the West Indies are presently going through. Akram was reacting to the difficulties Pakistan had in finding replacements to injured players. Wasim said it was an unhealthy sign that players were picked for a few matches and then dropped - never to be seen again. Test discard Sherwin Campbell backed his 55 in the first innings with a quick 86 in the second, as the tour game between the South Africans and a Busta XI at Georgetown ended in a draw. Earlier Lance Klusener's 75 of 60 balls and Mark Boucher's 48 of 49 balls enabled the visitors to reach 289-7 in their second knock. Scores: South Africa 271-9 decl & 289-7 decl; Busta XI 196 & 155-4 The Mumbai cricket team, who are to participate in a Perth quadrangular one-day tournament along with various other national champion sides, will take on the Western Australian side in the first match. The other teams participating in this tournament are South African champions Natal and New Zealand's Central Districts. The quadrangular will be played under floodlights at Perth from March 29 to April 4. All the four teams will play in a six-match round robin league before the top two teams meet in the final. The tournament will be played for the Global Provinces Champions Cup and the winner takes home A$ 35, 000 while the runner-up will get A$ 12, 500. Each of the participating teams will also receive guarantee money of A$ 30, 000. Meanwhile in an interesting development, the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) has dropped the team physiotherapist and in his place a MCA vice-president will accompany the team to Perth. With Zimbabwe being rocked in the recent past by political troubles, rumours were circulating around that the Zimbabwe skipper Heath Streak had been abducted from his farmhouse. The rumours that had been gathering credibility were however put to rest by Heath's father Denis Streak when the Zimbabwe Cricket Union got in touch with him at the family home and confirmed that his son was totally safe. Former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin filed a writ petition in a Hyderabad city civil court seeking production of documents on the appointment of former CBI joint director K Madhavan as the BCCI's inquiry commissioner. Azharuddin had challenged the appointment of Madhavan on the grounds that his appointment was illegal and that the inquiry conducted by him on behalf of the Board was neither transparent nor fair. More news on Azharuddin, but this time of a different kind. The Azhar-Sangeetha Management Services a newly launched event management company will be organizing a fashion show in Hyderabad in aid of the orphaned children of the Gujarat earthquake. Noted names of the fashion world including Wendell Rodricks, Gitanjali Kashyap, Manish Malhotra will be featuring their designs and displaying them on the ramp. Top models Madhu Sapre and John Abraham along with others will also participate in the event. Australia in India Asutralia vs Board Presidents XI at New Delhi (1st day) Australia: 413-8 (M Hayden 31, M Waugh 62, S Waugh 109, R Ponting 102, M Kasprowicz 35; Sarandeep Singh 5-114). 53-1 (M Hayden 26, M Slater 24 not out) BP XI: 221 (M Kaif 33, S Ganguly 40, D Mongia 66; M Kasprowicz 3-68) 2nd Test at Kandy (1st day) Sri Lanka: 297 (M Jayawardena 101, R Arnold 65, T Dilshan 36; D Gough 4-73, A Caddick 4-55) England: 1-0 Yesterday's News
Compiled by: Mohandas Menon
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