February 15, 2001
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The 14-member Australian team arrived in India to begin a seven-week tour, which captain Steve Waugh regards as the ultimate test for his world-beating team. The tourists, who flew to Mumbai via Hong Kong, were whisked away to an airport hotel where they will stay overnight before departing for Nagpur for the tour opener starting on February 17 against India A. This match will be followed by another game against Ranji Trophy winners Mumbai at Brabourne Stadium. The first Test is scheduled to start at the Wankhede stadium in Bombay from February 27. The visiting Australian cricket team kicked off their India tour on Wednesday by donating 4.2 million Indian rupees (US$90,130) to the victims of last month's devastating earthquake in western Gujarat state. The specially-designed cricket bat-shaped cheque was presented by Australian captain Steve Waugh, soon after arrival, to an official of World Vision India. World Vision, a prominent international relief and development agency, presented Waugh with a card and a T-shirt. Every word in Steve Waugh's verbal assault on the Indian team is a carefully crafted weapon to out-psyche them, a leading Australian sport psychologist has said. Australian Institute of Sport psychologist Jeff Bond said the Australian skipper was a master at mental warfare, and that Waugh's verbal jousting with his Indian counterpart Sourav Ganguly could decide the February-March series. These tactics, as well as sledging, are what Waugh in the past has called "mental disintegration". Australia are bidding to win their first Test series in India in 31 years and Bond thinks mind games could be the best way to do it. He agreed with Waugh that putting the boot into the Indian team in the first of the three Tests could do untold damage to the home side. Bond also said Waugh had an exceptional ability to prevent overconfidence in his charges. Part of that meant keeping the team fresh and not being afraid to drop even high performing players, such as leg-spinner Stuart MacGill, who was a notable omission from the India tour.  Fast bowler Darren Gough has been rested by England for their final warm-up match before the first Test against Sri Lanka. England take on a Sri Lanka Board President's XI, led by Sri Lankan Test batsman TM Dilshan in a four-day match at Matara. Gough has ensured his inclusion in the Test side with six wickets in the first class fixture in Colombo last week, and two against a Colts XI in the tour opener and England have decided to save his efforts ahead of the bigger match. Gough's place is expected to be taken by his Yorkshire team-mate Matthew Hoggard, who has yet to feature on the tour. Pace bowler Andy Caddick will be anxious to prove his ability in this spin friendly environment in order to secure his place in the Test XI. In the meanwhile Sri Lankan off-spinner Muthiah Muralitharan went for a through medical check on Wednesday as soon as the team returned from its tour of New Zealand. A spokesman of the Sri Lankan board did not give any details, as the tests would take a while and would comment only after the final medical reports are sent to the Board. Mohammad Azharuddin's appeal against his life ban from cricket for alleged match-fixing will be heard on 26 February. A civil court in Hyderabad on Wednesday gave the Board of Control for Cricket in India 12 days to prepare a reply to Azharuddin's petition against the ban. The former Indian captain was banned by the BCCI after he was named in a report into match-fixing last year. He challenged the decision in court on January 30, citing irregularities in the way the match-fixing inquiry was conducted. He named the BCCI, its president AC Muthiah and its vigilance commissioner K. Madhavan in his appeal. The BCCI however, defended its decsion in the Hyderabad court. "We have filed our counter wherein the BCCI has defended the ban imposed on Azharuddin," BCCI counsel Radha Rangaswamy told reporters outside the courtroom. Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar will be asked to review the ICC's standard playing conditions. The ICC in a recent meeting in Melbourne agreed to conduct a review of standard playing conditions. A review is normally held every three years. The ICC will examine the use of television replays in umpiring, in lbw decisions and use of two white balls per inning among others. The ICC has approved the proposal by the South African Cricket Board for seeding and pool allocations for the teams competing in the 2003 World Cup that will be hosted by South Africa. The system is based on the percentage wins in one-day internationals from the end on the 1999 World cup to the end of September 2001. September 2001 has been chosen as the cut of date as the SA Board plan to release the programme of matches in October. Umpires from all Test playing nations will get equal exposure and uniform pay scales if the ICC manages to implement a new package of reforms for the umpires and match referees. Pakistani representative Yawar Saeed who attended the ICC sub-committee meeting on umpiring and referees said he was confident that all ideas proposed would be implemented to ensure higher standards and more exposure to umpires and better pay structure. One of the main reforms being that the best seven or eight umpires would be out under a ICC contract on a year's term and be paid directly by the ICC. Umpires will also be given a chance to visit other countries and officiate in their domestic matches. West Indies pace bowler Marlon Black has said that he considers himself fortunate to have survived an assault by four attackers outside a Melbourne nightclub this week. "I think I'm lucky to be alive," Black said on Tuesday night. "It's something that's going to stay with me for the rest of my life, but it could have been worse," he added. Black recalled how he and his two team-mates were set about by four men after remonstrating with them for smashing bottles in the road. The three cricketers tried to flee but the fast bowler was knocked down and beaten with a wooden implement. Black needed 10 stitches in his head and suffered other cuts and bruises. Castrol India Limited announced its partnership with Rahul Dravid as their ambassador. CEO and managing director Ram Savoor said "Rahul is among the top batsmen of the world and is a model for thee youth, and as far as we are concerned that's a perfect picture." The contract is for three years during which period Dravid will endorse a range of Castrol products. Ajay Jadeja was earlier endorsing Castrol products before he was replaced by Dravid. The Pakistan cricket Board has been in touch with former West Indian fast bowler Michael Holding for a short stint at its cricket academy in Lahore. A PCB official confirmed that Holding would be in Pakistan next month. Holding's visit would be sponsored, with the PCB having talked to McDonald's and Coca-Cola. Holding will be the second international player, after England's Geoff Boycott, to be involved with the PCB Cricket Academy. New Zealand Cricket may have suffered financial losses on the recent tours by Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka but the Kiwis are hopeful that England will generate more interest in cricket followers when they visit New Zealand next year. New Zealand Cricket (NZC) chief executive Christopher Doig said his organisation had lost money this summer, but he stressed there was no need to panic. In their last eleven One Day Internationals New Zealand has won just two and unless the tour by Pakistan, which starts this weekend, captures public imagination, then more financial woes await NZC. NZC marketing manager Peter Dwan suggested the Black Caps' poor form, not ticket prices, has kept the fans away. Cricket is all set to recreate the history of the only second tied Test in history in Chennai on March 17. Allan Border, Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, Dean Jones, David Boon, Geoff Marsh, Craig McDermott, Bruce Reid, K Srikkanth, Chandrakant Pandit, Kiran More, Chetan Sharma, Shivlal Yadav, Maninder Singh, Ray Bright and Tim Zoehrer and Greg Richie will get together yet again for a game at the Gurunanak College Grounds. The organisers have also been trying to rope in Kapil Dev. Skipper Steve Waugh who was also a part of the tied Test will miss the game as the third Test begins in Chennai the next day. Vikram Raju who had adjudged last batsman Maninder Singh leg before will be one of the umpires. Dara Dotiwala the other umpire who officiated in the 1986 game will be unavailable to take the field. Kishore Bhimani who was the commentator describing the historic moment will take the mike once again. Originally the idea of Dean Jones a charity dinner following the game will raise funds for the Gujarat earthquake relief A Mumbai based event management company will organise the event. A Delhi high court will resume hearing on March 1 on a public interest case filed last April by two cricket fans against alleged lack of transparency in the BCCI's activites The petition filed by a lawyer Rahul Mehra and businessman Shantanu Sharma stated that the Board spent only 1.1% of the money it earned and 2.2% of its total expenditure in 1998-99. NKP Salve Challenger Day-night One-day series (Match No 3) at Chennai (India A vs India B) India B: 284 49.3 overs (Dinesh Mongia 83, Robin Singh 30, AR Khurasiya 90; AB Agarkar 3-37, Venkatesh Prasad 4-48) India A: 285-4 in 48.4 overs (S Sriram 85, Rahul Dravid 92, HH Kanitkar 43, JJ Martin 30 not out) Result: India A won by 6 wickets (India A 2 pts, India B 0 pts) Final points table:
Compiled by: Mohandas Menon
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